10
Seems to work backwards for me.
I think Peterbilt is by far the best bet for my money.
Being a small carrier I cannot afford to have a truck down for a long time. We have three tractors in our fleet and there are 5 drivers on the trucks, hence the tractors very seldom stop. We do LTL and not FTL so therefore time is precious.
So far our best tractor is a Peterbilt that we bought used in 2002. It is a 379 with a 435 Electronic Cat. The only thing changed so far is a transmission we put in a rebuilt 13 speed back in 2004.
The differentials and the motor have never been touched by us (they must have been rebuilt previously). The tractor averages over 2.7 km/l which is quite respectable. The odometer is reaching 3,000,000 kms.
We do carry out oil changes every 25,000 kms religiously with a gallon of Lucas added at every oil change.
The 379 is a little hard to work with and not as comfortable as some, but it is very easy to work on, the complete engine is exposed once the hood is open, making a dream to work on and service.
Our other two trucks are Freightliners and they are the worst pieces of garbage on the road. Very hard to work on, it seems the engineers purposely make dissembling things difficult requiring a bevy of special tools.
Just paid both off and already changed an engine in one and will have to do an inframe on the second. Neither has reached a million miles. Lots of warranty work carried out with always a subsatntial balance not covered. We actually lost the 1st truck for 8 weeks while it was only two years old. This while Freightliner tried to figure out what was wrong. It almost bankrupted us.!!!
The big difference for a little guy like us is that when the Pete has an issue it can usually be reapaired quickly at a dealer in the USA, they usually stock parts that require replacement. ( the model has been around very long and tweaked to weed out problems).
The Freightliners are more of a problem simply because more of them are out there. I guess Mr Schneider owns 15 thousand units himself. When you break down you are almost guaranteed a wait at the dealer, sometimes for days before a simple repair can be carried out.
We also have an account with Penske allowing us to rent anywhere in the USA in case of a breakdown.
I think Peterbilt is by far the best bet for my money.
Being a small carrier I cannot afford to have a truck down for a long time. We have three tractors in our fleet and there are 5 drivers on the trucks, hence the tractors very seldom stop. We do LTL and not FTL so therefore time is precious.
So far our best tractor is a Peterbilt that we bought used in 2002. It is a 379 with a 435 Electronic Cat. The only thing changed so far is a transmission we put in a rebuilt 13 speed back in 2004.
The differentials and the motor have never been touched by us (they must have been rebuilt previously). The tractor averages over 2.7 km/l which is quite respectable. The odometer is reaching 3,000,000 kms.
We do carry out oil changes every 25,000 kms religiously with a gallon of Lucas added at every oil change.
The 379 is a little hard to work with and not as comfortable as some, but it is very easy to work on, the complete engine is exposed once the hood is open, making a dream to work on and service.
Our other two trucks are Freightliners and they are the worst pieces of garbage on the road. Very hard to work on, it seems the engineers purposely make dissembling things difficult requiring a bevy of special tools.
Just paid both off and already changed an engine in one and will have to do an inframe on the second. Neither has reached a million miles. Lots of warranty work carried out with always a subsatntial balance not covered. We actually lost the 1st truck for 8 weeks while it was only two years old. This while Freightliner tried to figure out what was wrong. It almost bankrupted us.!!!
The big difference for a little guy like us is that when the Pete has an issue it can usually be reapaired quickly at a dealer in the USA, they usually stock parts that require replacement. ( the model has been around very long and tweaked to weed out problems).
The Freightliners are more of a problem simply because more of them are out there. I guess Mr Schneider owns 15 thousand units himself. When you break down you are almost guaranteed a wait at the dealer, sometimes for days before a simple repair can be carried out.
We also have an account with Penske allowing us to rent anywhere in the USA in case of a breakdown.
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especially as it has a Meritor tranny. This is actually a Pete 385 tractor, stretched into a tandem straight, it has PM coming out of it's ying yang.... still rubbish to get fixed