Why I won't buy another Freightliner

Lol ...were good .!

 

I’ve owned freightliner for 15 years( a Volvo also in the mix for 3 years). I just came out of a FL Columbia and purchased a KW(glider). Everyone is spot on about the dash breaking apart despite my best efforts to keep it together. The tabs continually break. When one breaks, others fail right behind it. That was my only real qualm with FL. The engine space was kinda tight also. Now this KW I have(1st time kw owner). It’s more quiet and doesn’t have a lot of road noise. A lot of good in the kw, I don’t miss my freightliner much.

 

My 2020 Cascadia is nice on the inside


Watch out Peterbilt is even using light weight axles on trucks as standard. The axle housing is to thing like .9.5 mm and the flex going down the road making uneven tire wear. You need like 11.5 mm axle housing to not have them flex.

 

My peterbilt horror story .
In 2002 I got a really nice 378 Pete that was loaded ...and pretty .
Problem was the weather outside was the weather inside...it poured in that truck when it rained !
Had a t600 kw same way .
Drove me insane ...that pad on the dash always wringing wet .

 

Any frightliner thats newer than mid 2000's are junk. quality is junk in any pete and kenworth as well these days.

 

Care to explain your opinion ?

 

I've had the unfortunate displeasure of driving nearly every common brand of truck now. Pete, KW, Volvo, FL, WS, Mack, IH and even a Ford and a Sterling.

Whatever makes me money is a good truck to me.

However, of everything I've driven, I've grown to hate the Pete's. I loved the cab, aside from it being kinda cramped. But every one I drove rode like complete garbage. (To be fair, they were all million mile trucks, but well maintained)

The only KW I drove was an 07 W900 that I did one little 500 mile trip in, the truck only had 450k on the clock. That was a sweet ride. Too bad it was someone else's truck that I just ran for one trip.

The Freightliners, well, I ran an 04 Classicc daycab for about 3 years. It was a glider with a Cat. Good solid truck all around. And it rode nice for a daycab. The doors sucked though. You had to open a window to close the door, due to the air pressure in the cab. But, despite that, the doors leaked when I'd wash the truck. I ran that thing about 350k miles, and didn't want to give it up.

The Columbia that I ran was complete garbage. Nothing to elaborate on there. Just garbage.

The 9200 International I ran for two years was a great truck. I got that new from the company and out just shy of 200k on it. I actually loved that thing, aside from the gutless C13 cat and God awful Autoshift transmission. Was a good solid, nice riding truck.

Mack...I ran a CH613 daycab. Loved everything but the lack of legroom. Again, a solid rattle free truck that rode well.

I'm in a 4900ex Western Star daycab now, and I'll never give this truck up. I'll run it until I retire or the wheels fall off. It's a joy to drive.

Basically though, the way a truck is maintained makes a huge difference. You can have a Pete that is junk because of poor maintenance. I've seen many. But you can take a well maintained Freightliner and it'll do the job just fine for quite a while....

 

U forgot to mention freightliners is allergic to offroad. Leave the pavement with full body parts intact come back from the jobsite 2 hours later with 20 yards worth of baling wire holding everything together

 

One thing about freightliners at my company is the makers were smart enough to protect the driver from emf pollution. I used my emf/rf tester and freightliner passed the test. My companies' volvos failed the test miserably. Anyone who drives those volvos are exposed to unsafe/toxic levels of emf pollution

If u dont know what emf pollution is. Its pollution generated from electricity that is kind of similar to cell phone rf rays or radiation. U cant see it but it is arguably bad for a person who is exposed to it alot.

That mere fact alone makes me like freightliners more than volvos. I also find frwightliners to be more comfartible and slightly more stylish.

There is this lining that blocks emf pollution prius makers use it. It looks like volvo didnt catch the memo about safety violations. No one reported volvo yet. But volvo is at risk.