All this downtime is starting to get really boring. Thought of a post I meant to start a few weeks ago. Do they still manufacture cab over trucks? I'm not talking these little 3 ton trucks, I mean the BJ and the Bear lay down to put your pants on highway truck?
I believe COE designs were stopped in production in 2018 in the US, are still some demand for them just not enough to warrant limited runs.
I see some guys with the extended frames, and the gearshift over their heads, older trucks obviously, but a few weeks ago I saw 2 going, no insignia that I could see, but they did have DEF tanks. Nothing fancy, steel buds all around, unfinished tanks, even painted bumpers. They seemed to be newer trucks though
Freightliner still builds a COE called the Argosy and KW is still building on order. The Argosy below.
I wonder if any are really being built or just offered?
Walmart is running some. High cube and less weight.
Nick Morduant heavy haul on Youtube has a buddy he used to run with who had a fairly new Argosy used for heavy haul. Not sure the reason.
I think that is what I saw, but it had a moose catcher on the front, so I didn't see the Freightshaker logo.
Notice right hand drive, Aussie.
The only cabovers I see anymore are vocational trucks like garbage packers and concrete pumps.
I see the occasional Argosy on I-90, seems the long steel haulers like them.
KW still sell plenty over here, along with Freightliner, Euro and Jap makers. Note the disclaimer that the K200 is only available as RH drive etc. https://www.kenworth.com.au/trucks/k200/#1520979778638-e2f4ae41-9a95
i think over here in north america, cabovers are not popular because they don't need to be. cabovers are harder to work on(engine) and harder to climb up into. in europe, asia, nz, japan, etc., the bumper to back of cab dimension can be short to allow a tighter turning radius with a short wheelbase tractor-trailer unit which is a real benefit in cities(especially old cities). also saves on hood/bumper damage from bashing into stuff while turning in tight quarters. most north american truckers are used to having more room to manouvre than their europeon counterparts. some europeon tour busses i've seen even have steerable rear axles. its all a matter of operating necessities.
Absolutely. Also most European countries have overall legal "nose to tail" maximium length limits that would preclude coupling a 40ft-deck trailer to a conventional tractor and still staying within the legal limit. IIRC the UK limit is 16.5m (about 53ft) for normal operations. A cabover is the only tractor setup that meets that law. I agree with 56W, in N America most delivery/parking areas for Class 8 trucks are the area of the proberbial 3-acre field. You don't need a supremely-manouevrable truck/trailer combo to get into and out of them (although Ronsii seems to make a good living out of the drivers who are less-than-capable). In most European cities the streets were built centuries ago for the horse and cart. Aids such as steerable trailers and steerable thrid axles on tractors are very common these days, and it's by necessity not because they are the latest must-have fashion accessory.
Well that depends, there are still DC's that were built for 40' trailers and less. It's interesting to watch a 270 WB tractor with a 53' trailer bump the dock in some places. The power steering pumps are getting over worked and hot as hell. Ruins the steering gears too. I replace at least 9 pumps a year on rigs with only 200,000 on them and at least four steering gears. Mostly it's caused by poor backing skills, what am I talking about {most have trouble driving forward}. And that's running Freightliner Cascadia's-set back steer axle, but when backing up the tag has to be lifted so all that weight goes on the steer axle {cooking the pump}. But as I have said before, drivers here have a tendency of living in their trucks. So no COE's plus as I have said before it's hard to hoist all your biscuits and gravy up the side of a COE, not to mention juggling a bucket of greasy chicken, three german dogs with all the fix'ins and a 48oz coke. Inner city deliveries can still be a challenge no matter where you are.
Yeah I had an uncle that used to talk about some fish market in Boston that was designed for straight trucks, and they expected you in with a 48 foot van. Not sure what he would think of the 53 foot vans. He actually had a cab over Freightliner, and hauled refer trailer
I fondly remember the double "fat boy bars" and steps on the older Freightliners with the doublewide sleepers. I wasn't a fat boy but they were easier to get in and out of. Oh, if you have a TV in the sleeper... tie it down before you tilt the cab, saw a guy dump the entire windshield out of a Pete COE once. It was the glass had 3 wipers and went all the way across.
So do a lot of European drivers. A typical trip from the UK/Ireland to Italy, Greece, or similar in Eastern Europe can have a driver away for probably up to a month. Maybe drivers over the other side of the Pond aren’t such fat b**tards as N American truck drivers..?
I drove plenty of COE's, I remember leaving Ellensburg, Wa on the usual Sunday morning and make it past the bay area headed to L.A. with a short nap in Los Banos. I drove a KW-K100 110" sleep and a 352 Pete 110" sleep and a Freightliner 86" sleep plus conventionals . But the KW was the best out of the batch with a 240 WB and a 400 Cat. The markets in L.A. and the Bay were not semi friendly.
Pretty close to the one I drove except mine was very dark blue.
That's a sharp looking example. I remember a hay hauler that had a truck/trailer setup with a cab like that, black with lots of yellow pinstriping. Really pretty truck.
Used to see many International CO9670's Transtar II with sleeper cabs. My parents had a small motel in the late 60's that had parking for 3 semi's and I can remember a few truckers would let the tractor idle all night long. My employer in the mid 70's had a fleet Ford CL9000's and a few GM Astro 90's all day cabs. All in a much simpler time.
My dad taught me to drive on tractors that had no power steering, and when we did have power steering he would be displeased if I turned the wheel if it was not moving. Never left me, I tell drivers I try to train not to do it either. I wonder how much that has to do with failing pumps, pull forward, stop, crank the wheels all the way over, back up, stop, repeat.
Even holding it cranked against the relief because they just don’t know any better. Or pushing the clutch all the way in while the unit is still in motion. Or even just leaving the cab door open whilst they run back to their car to regain their travel mug. I’m giving myself a headache.
With drop axle up and loaded it's pretty rough to dry steer.
Astro? Did somebody say Astro? Drove one with an 8V-92 for a bit, not bad for a fairly new truck in the day. Same outfit had a couple CL 9000's, I was not impressed by them.
Better yet few of you probably have ever driven a truck with Center Point steering. That's a one to back up and wear your *** out by the time you bump the dock.
Astro was the dog on the Jetsons.
Center point steering? Box mounted in the middle? Sorry I’m unfamiliar with that term.
It put the centerline of the tire over the kingpin. Kinda liked to wander a bit. It did turn the hub into a good step.
Got some time in a K100 with center point and air boost... Know what you mean.
Thank you for the clarification. Not at all what I envisioned.
Center Point-The spindle is short with large bearings and the kingpin is totally vertical-at highway speed it steers fairly easy but at low speed it's a job. A standard steering wheel is 20" in diameter
The caster made them really suck backing up.
Nothing I hate worse than a truck with no clutch brake...... they bought a new little M series Freightliner the other year. Guy went to the dealer and picked it up, drove it for a month. I asked him how he liked it. He said fine, but the clutch brake didn't work. I said you should have told someone. Took it too the shop, the mechanic said it wasn't anything you did, there is no brake on it. Came from the factory like that. Great PDI at the dealer.
Drivers of the Astro 90's complained the units were a job to keep in a straight line.
When center point steering came out it was all the rage because it placed that short fat kingpin in the center of the tire instead of to the inside of he tire. The one big advantage to it was when you blew a front tire with no power steering it did not jerk you toward the side of the flat tire. It rolled straight and was fairly easy to control. They were popular in Northern Minnesota with the loggers where the rock tears the hell out of everything and front blowouts happened more often than you wanted. Once tires got better and DOT scales started appearing a lot of them flats went away.
Years ago the city here tried new buses with power steering but didn't keep them because the drivers would turn away from the curb too sharp and the back of the bus could hit something or someone on the sidewalk. Manual steering they had to be moving and couldn't turn as sharp pulling away from the curb.
My K100 had CP steer, with the obnoxious jutted out Hubs could use for cab steps, WORTHLESS SOB in soft parking lots where had to jockey into tight spots even with tight WB. 90% of the 4070 Transtars at Feld were Armstrong no power steer, Midwestern's Freight Shakers were ALL manual gear steering. Then I worked at MACK and learned ALL about Dual P/S on heavy chassis.
Went to a continuing education medical conference several years ago and one of the lecturers was a Neurosurgeon. He discussed some studies of the long term effect of a specific frequency of vibration on the spine of long haul truckers. My guess even sitting on an air seat would be much rougher on the body as you are almost sitting above the front tire.
Cab overs with short wheel bases like the ones in the photos below just beat the crap out of a driver, and it doesn't matter if it's equipped with air ride or spring. But I have driven conventionals that rode just damn near as rough. It all depends on the axle spread, where the fuel tanks are mounted and type of suspension. I drove a 359 Pete day cab with a 210 wheel base and Pete Air Track that loaded or empty would just slap the front axle. It would turn ice cream into a milk shake and churn butter at the same time. You didn't drink coffee you wore it. Preparation H liked truck manufactures that built crap like that.
Run EB I -10 thru Beaumont and Banning and youre gonna need a lot more than Prep H!
I-5 from Shasta to the Vine or 99 from Manteca to Bakersfield was a killer.
The single axle truck i am currently driving is not a cab over bit it is absolutely terrible. If it is not a travel mug hung off the side of the air seat then you can forget about coffee. Took a look at the door sticker and its a 20k front and 23k rear with leaf springs and says 186 for wb. And to top it all of it turns like garbage
Does not take much to make any truck worthless to be in. Pete I finally stopped driving was a Swimmer, Regular Pete Airleaf Suspension performing vocational work. Rolled in corners evilly and never stopped squirming under a U-bottom Dump trailer. I do not get motion sick but came close a few times in it.
Talking about an *** beater here's one right here, no air ride, no air ride seat no nothing and Gimmer manual steering with probably 4x4 married boxes and a power house 220 when it was new. There was one bonus though the dog house had a trap door on the drivers side by the shifter, set your can of beans on the manifold or top of engine and cook'em while pulling the grade at 8 mph, Van Camps Pork & Beans cooked 220 style.
I never minded driving a cabover so much as those little airplanes flying around your head when you were climbing the side of the building to get to the seat. Then on top of it you had to wear gloves all the time...because after your arms stretched out from scaling the side of the cab. Your knuckles would drag on the ground behind you.
Once back in the day, I got an invitation to drive a day cab Freightliner with an 8V-71T with a wheelbase consisting of front wheel-fuel tank-rear driver with springs on the rear pulling a short set of double grain trailers. 3 trips and "Never again" that was the worst ride i have ever had. It did teach me that a single drive could make a few bucks hauling grain with the right set up due to the light weight.
Now I drove 359 and 379 peterbilts. The 359s ran 400 cats with 13 overs and 3:73s I think. The 379s ran 425 cats with an 8LL and 4:11s All had the peterbilt air ride. i found them to be great comfort. The 4 Kenworths they had, I found that 8 bag air ride always felt like you were driving on ice. They were all long trucks, like a 72 inch bunk, same spread. I used to let the air out of the seat and rest one finger on the wheel. First time I took one of the western star trucks we use for moving equipment where I work now, I stopped at a store to get a sub and a drink, I couldn't eat it because I actually had to drive with both hands on the wheel.
And you of all people passed up that wonderful ride and the sound of Music, i would have never guessed. lol
It all depends on WB and the specs. Some wheel bases can slap the crap out of the front axle at certain speeds combined with distance between splices on a concrete road surface and just how much dip there is after each splice which is created from truck traffic. I-5, 99 and I-90 were real bad before it was surface ground, but those highways are needing it again.
A company my father worked for had a ford LTL. It had the extended leaf henderickson. It would slap you silly without a loaded wagon. Richard always said he needed a sports bra to drive it. They bought the identical truck 5 years later and it was smooth as leaf springs can be. My father checked the pinion angles on both rearends and there was quite a difference. Matched the older truck to the new one, problem solved
It can make a difference but mostly it's wheel base and where the center of the fifthwheel sets.
Drove a IHC similar to that a few times. Empty had to pull myself up close to the steering wheel with both hands. That kept the low back seat from killing me. No one mentioned how they want to swap ends while braking in the rain.
I have had 4 different single screws on 144" wheelbases over the years (IH 1900, 2-2375s, and a CH612 Mack). A couple of long bridges around here, if you run between 50-60 mph, with no trailer, they will start hopping over the expansion joints harder and harder, till you either slow down or lose the truck
IML Eagle Division was where had the K100 leased on, IIRC is was 160" maybe 168? wb Torsion Ride where at Gelco we had 24 Freight Shakers tandem with sleeper with 6" clearance front drivers to short large diameter fuel tanks and the exhaust stack mounted in a inverted C corner of the cab as could not frame hang, those were HORRID as to back slap having the INFAMOUS Bostrum West Coaster Spring ride seat. Cheap Pieces OS. IIRC those had a similar wb to Single Screws as close to 140", could NOT pull a reefer with one.
Preferred Sheppard P/S gears for simplicity, Ross was OK in the early days better after TRW merge, were a couple that discontinued and do not remember most of those names, seem to remember a leak prone Rockwell series. Gemmer Manual gears seem to have been installed on any and every chassis.
I just got a single axle chevy i took it for a test drive down a ruff blacktop. I didnt know if i could drive it 3 hours home but after i got going it wasnt to bad until i came to a over pass i thought the seat belt was going to cut me in half. The belt needs work. The seat is air ride but because of the short pickup cab it dosent have much travel.
Ah ha-Sheppard steering gears----------I hate those-like you hate Leece Neville.
Or Lucas The prince of darkness
Here's something you dont see every day.. Spotted this one at the Loves in Coachella.
That's a nice looking rig RollOver. I remember the first time I went to California in 1969, I thought someone needed to get after them palm trees with a chain saw.
I bet I`m the only one here who can truthfully say I have been snowed in in indio.
Well if it's going to be strange it's going to be in Indio.
you would sure have to have a good pilot crew to get any where with that set up
winter of 67-8 I think 35 inches of snow on the scale at banning all traffic stopped both directions
Lucas Definitely Prince of Darkness!!!
I started reading this thread last night and it sure brings back the memories. Cabover KW, CP steering, CA 111 and 86 that would chip your teeth they were so rough. And the mid 50's Freightliner. Truck Shop, I spent the first couple years of my career in one like that. But it didn't look like that! This 11 axle set-up looks to be two different decks joined together in the center. Early 80's Cozad in front? and not sure about the back half.
Was a weak backed 8664 with a roof mount AC Condenser that curtailed much of my career as a mechanic. Struggled nearly 20 years with incessant untouchable pain that seemed to go away(ignored) if I stayed busy and off a mattress. Built drugs resistance quite rapidly early after the accident, gave up on not cutting the pain and locking my turds down tight INSIDE so just stopped usage of the Demerol then Opioids they had me on. Surgery on that mess occurred in '17, Doc could not do all that much with it yet eliminated some of the pain. Shop clown and practical joker was going to give me a ride, got hold of grab handles and rocked the cab just as I went to stand up and get off it. Came down a little faster than expected due to refrigerant oil everywhere on roof skins from destroyed core I had just swapped out(cab would not raise, typical garbage pump).
Is that guy still breathing? Worked with a moron once that liked to shake the Geni-lift while you were trying to TIG weld pipe in the rafters. I set up a trap that nearly electrocuted him... End of that crap.
Guy felt really bad, worked with me nearly everyday rehab, quit the shop and went back on the family farm with his wife and kids. I dare say he was not a problem as to joking around after. I was back at work in just over three months, and shortly after laid off with a quarter of the garage, seems we were making MORE money than the company owner working the Flat Rate system. Soon after that Midwestern sold the entire mess off to Lend Lease, where today nothing exists but the old main office.
Did you know Lend Lease Bob? He had red hair.
Years ago i worked with a duffus like that, he would bring a bama pecan pie to work with him and set it on his tool box-when ever anyone passed by they would stab it with a greasy screwdriver!
Never knew of McNamara until after a few years of his adventures reported at Gelco, evidently he was quite a piece of work!