What truck and trailer?

Start feeling like an Eskimo doing that?

 

I run a 99 N14 with 10speed. Does fine. 7-7.5 mpg. Gave $8k for it, put 2k in her. Able to do most work myself. Do not....ever.. buy a maxxforce 13. Ever.

 

%99 of what’s on the road are 10 spd. I wanted a 13 spd when I found this truck and even replaced it with another 10 spd. It gets around just fine. I don’t pull in the Rockies everyday and only run 450 hp and I do just fine.

Do I still WANT a 13spd? Yup, but I haul freight everyday just fine without it.

 

Excactly what @Tug Toy said

 

You'll be fine with a 10. I've pulled 100k frac pumps all around wv-pa and the Rockies with 415 mp8 10sp and 425 isx12 with 8LL just fine.

The horse has already been beaten to death but if your mechanically inclined go older pre 2002. And if theirs no paperwork that recent inframe didn't happen.

Total cost of do it your self inframe on a 93 E-7 with mack oem not pai or some off brand.

-3000 6 holes (liners pistons pins rods mains thrust washers
-1000 a piece for heads
- 950 BW s400 h/o turbo
-1000 stage 2 injectors
And a few other odds and ends I'm forgetting. No special tools required made our own liner puller.

Have a shop do all that and your easily pushing 15k or more. My uncle paid 20 to do a ddec4 60 series

 

Good luck. Every used trailer is either so expensive you're better off buying new, or unbelievably beat to crap. Even finding one to rent in the SA houston area is near impossible.

 

They are... different.

For a modern motor, designed to be efficient yet still provide sufficient power and torque, they are fairly decent given their displacement (12.9L). They can be tuned all the way up to 510 hp and 1850 lbft from factory.

Their main issues are "design by committee" and the emissions equipment. Most elements of the motor are not designed intelligently, by someone who understand what it takes to operate and maintain a highway truck. Things are in stupid places, and processes to remove/replace certain things are very complex.

The emissions equipment often has sensor issues, and like everything else, they are hard to access to replace. It almost feels like it was done intentionally to make owners pay more for service, but that has a negative effect on their up-time, and interferes with making money.

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Personally, my experience with them is a mixed bag. Running Canadian weights (100,000 lbs gross), they get poor fuel economy (4-5 mpg) when set at 455 hp/1650 lbft and the emissions equipment is choking off everything.

Removing the problem and setting the motor to 510/1850, I'm currently driving a truck that is pulling B-trains loaded to 137,780lbs gross that is getting 4.5 mpg in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (flat roads). Pulls like a champ and can even climb hills relatively well (it's a 13L motor, it's probably one of the best at this displacement level).

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Would I recommend buying a truck with one? No. Not unless you are a fleet owner and can spread your service costs out over many different trucks and/or have your own in-house service department. They are money pits and not designed to work hard for long periods of time. They barely make 300,000 miles before needing a full DPF service. Everyone says "go pre-emissions" and there is a reason for that.