Why do so many Americans hate European trucks?

Yep, I change pads myself. I use more time to remove wheel.
To change pads is easy, to change rotor - easy. But to fix caliper... not

Knorr-Bendix use chain to sychronize pistons, Meritor uses small gears. So I like meritor and Wabco calipers

 

I drove a truck with a 3406 & hydraulic retarder. Very nice until it had to be fixed....

Those euro retarders are electric?

 

here retarder is secondary (behind gearbox) , they make these days almost 900hp , power depends on driveshaft speed ( related to tire and differential ratio) , also for different use retarder get different gearing

scania have two version with 3500nm and 4100nm those things dont need some fixing , largest problem can be heat exchanger if you are really hard on it and rubber hoses

in many situations traction is thing which will limit your retarder ability


they were electric back in 80s , first hydraulic retarder for trucks appeared in 1976

 

I found a Freightliner Classic at a lot down in Texas that had that floor switch. I took it out for a test drive and the jake would not work unless you stepped on the switch. It also would not work even with the switch pressed if the cruise control switch was on. So a nice double helping of stupid got left sitting on the lot where I found it. Shame too, it was a nice o/o truck with a 550hp Detroit.

 

That feature is known as Bremsomat, its really gud to use on down hill. There is another switch(RSL/VSG) in Eoro trucks which toggles between Road speed limit & Vehicle Speed Governor.

 

really it is easy to install auxilarry speed limit switch on any US truck, becouse usually engine ECMs have unused input and output pins.

 

Sorry, my objective was not to offend anyone but to put a point what scania man has elaborated here. Dont judge the trucks by there size or massivenes but by their smartness. There is difference between hardwork and smartwork. Like somewhere 98989 has explained how in europe single driving axle is used to climb snow packed hills in northern Europe instead of using tandem axles which are not economical for fuel at least. Is't it smart work using simple laws of science getting the job done.

I am not saying NA trucks are complete crap they have their chracter but they are not keeping pace with the time, my point is they need to consistently improve with time bring out the best of whats going around. Americans are smart people, if they can build Apache or Tomhawks to be #1. Why can't they improve trucks probably this is because of closed market as sm said. NA trucks are rarely popular anywhere in world except few places but european trucks are, there must be reason for this. Whole world has changed to Metric there must be reason for it. I still insist look from technical point, the advantages of engineering that system.

Another example is all of us know Auxillary Heater(Webasto, Espar) used to warm bunks now a days found in NA trucks are coming from Europe. There is no equivalent product here in NA. hope u got the point...

NA trucks are labor intensive. Just compare how much greasing points, oil change intervals, weight of transmission-clutch-prop shaft. difficulty in reaching problem areas, clutch adjustments required, effort required to operate the clutch etc. Inventory of tools required in NA is double because Mechanic has to have inches and Metric both which is a cost. Take a case of working on Volvo truck with cummins engine, Eaton transmission or axles. May be Pablo can put some light on it.

I may sound arrogant to some but my objective is not to offend someone.

 

And of course Americans are putting spacecraft on mars, the sr71 was designed in the 50's while we were still using horse drawn carts, America is so far ahead of the rest of the world but not when it comes to road vehicles, the reason I think that is is plain ole corporate greed

 

OK Pablo,

How many hours to do a clutch in a Euro Volvo or similar? Crank seal too.

How about a complete brake job per, wheel?

Thanks

 

Webasto has been available on NA trucks since at least the mid 80's. The reason they were not very common is likely due to cheap fuel and high cost of the units. Price back then was in the thousands while fuel was less than $1/gallon.
The free market at work.

The burden of cost of better technology will be paid by the user, not the producer. Lower tech trucks allow more people into the market and make the market more competitive benefitting everyone.

If corporations are greedy, it is only because they are owned by greedy shareholders. You know, greedy salaried employees who's greedy pension funds invest in the greedy corporations.