Why are Volvos so much better than all other Class 8 trucks?

That was an accident that I pasted it there, no kidding. I was going to seek a friends opinion and I guess I had it copied to my clipboard. I'm not to keen with printscreen, I guess. I bid a few thousand more than that plus there's a 1500.00 buyers fee. Well see. I expect its an ugly mess and needs a top end rebuild. But, I love the pre emissions set up!

 

Go ahead guys, but you'd be INSANE to do that!

First, 2005 is not pre-emissions. That 14L series 60 has egr. Secondly, I drove one: it was almost identical to the one pictured! It got 5.7mpg pulling 80k vans. All the others in our fleet got 5.5 - 5.8mpg. That's with the 430/1550 setting. I know guys pulling 140k gvw getting that kind of mileage.

Long story short: I wouldn't touch that engine.

P.S. Do you have the link to that page?

 

Of course. But, I'm not going to advertise it. Sorry, I got a bid in. I think DLJ was telling me that is a good model engine. Under 6 mgp seems to be on the low side. Pulling 80k in a van, is that so bad, really (5.7)? What is your favorite engine and transmission / rear end,, set up?

 

I was thinking, guys will pay huge money for a truck that gets, say 7.0 mpg and has 400k on it.
They have a note of say 1200 per month. If I get a starter truck for say, 10k and put another 5k into it, hypothetically and pay cash. I have 1200.00 less each month that I have to earn to end up with the same result. If I drive 8k per month (I wont work every week) and average 40k loads on a flatbed, and get say 6mpg all miles. That sucks, but aren't I still hundreds of dollars each month ahead of the game and still pulling loads?

I don't know the finer points of various engines, but I understand people like the series 60 detroit engines. Am I wrong there?

 

One guy? What about the other million on the road? I've had at least 3 Volvo techs say they've never been inside one because they just don't break. Clutches are different. A clutch will go out in anything.

I'm not worshipping at the altar of Volvo iShift but they are very, very reliable. People who don't have problems with things don't get on forums, goes for any vehicle or machine.

 

i was just referring to a fellow who was talkng about his Ishift and the 4k he just spent on fixing it, or rebuilding or replacing. I'm not sure if he actually got a new one or not. He also stated his had something like 970k on it and he had driven it for the last 4 years, bought it used.

It was just one guy, saying it was 4k and that a clutch on a manual is under 1500. Sorry, I wasn't saying anything other than the autos, not volvos in particular, are expensive when the tranny goes, compared to manuals. You made a good point. People on forums are trying to solve problems. I get it.

 

No worries, but it will serve you well to realize this. Trucks are commercial machinery, designed to be used and abused and torture tested every day. They aren't Toyota Camry's.

Machines break. All of them. It's not a surprise at all how often any specific truck we might complain about breaks down, what is a surprise is how often they don't for what they can do and hold up to.

 

A big negative back then was the lack of dealers out west. I think at the time the only dealers in BC were in Prince George, Salmon Arm and then down on the coast. Once they partnered with Mack there was a much better service network in the province.

 

Scotty, I get it. These are beasts of burden designed for torture. Seems like you're right, that they are incredible to do what they do, all day long, every day for over a million miles. It's insane. Even the worst of them are pretty amazing. Even my little diesel sailboat amazes me, how it ust runs and runs on about a quart an hour and pushes a 10,400 lb boat. It's different, but same mechanical stuff on a different scale, without the emissions of course.

 

Yeah, that's bad. Like I said, I know guys pulling 5-axle trailers at 140,000 getting that kind of mileage.

I suppose that on this thread I should say a Volvo d13! But the truth is I don't have a favorite. It all depends on what you're doing with it.