18 wheeler pics.

eglplt said:
DesertDog,

Sounds like you have had your fair share of experience with a little of everything. If I were to comment, and in my opinion only, I would whole-heartedly agree with your post. If you ever get in the DFW area, FTW or AFW specifically, let me know, lunch will be on me. Good luck with your training.
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I am planning a trip down there pretty soon. Gotta beat Frog_Flyers Ass.:) Just a joke. Actually have lunch with Raggio, maybe meet some of the Skymates crew, and i am sure I could squeeze in a lunch with you as well. I will let you know when I plan on coming down.
 
eglplt said:
This post kills me, spoken like a true driver! Back in my days of being a mechanic, I loved to listen to drivers and their ridiculous opinions. Most of the time when a driver degrades a piece of equipment, they usually don't understand how to operate it properly. I would love it when a driver wanted more power, gotta have more power. The service manager would call their company to see if a new ecm calibration with a higher power setting would be approved, of course the answer was always NO. I would tell the driver, "oh yeah I went to the next higher power setting" just to avoid hearing him whine. Sure enough the next time I saw him in the shop all I would hear is how much better the truck pulls with that power increase! All I could do is look at him, smile, and think what a typical idiot! This was a common theme amongst drivers.
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I do believe I said it was all opinion. I believe it is a pretty experienced opinion, but hey, flame it if you want I guess.

As far as the Cummins part, I actually have VERY little time in anything with red under the hood. However, as a Logistics Analyst for one of the top 5 largest private fleets in the nation, I have never heard anything but bad things, FROM MECHANICS, about the Cummins motors. The mechanics are elated with our subsequent switch to Detroit.
 
LoadMasterC141 said:
I do believe I said it was all opinion. I believe it is a pretty experienced opinion, but hey, flame it if you want I guess.

As far as the Cummins part, I actually have VERY little time in anything with red under the hood.
This was the point I was making, if you have very little experience than how can you even spout off an "educated" opinion?

However, as a Logistics Analyst for one of the top 5 largest private fleets in the nation, I have never heard anything but bad things, FROM MECHANICS, about the Cummins motors. The mechanics are elated with our subsequent switch to Detroit.
Please don't tell me you are talking about your fleet mechanics. Those guys are nothing more than oil change monkeys who do an occasional brake job! The closest they would ever come to fixing an engine would be calling the Detroit shop and asking the service manager how soon he can get a truck in to fix. Talk to some experienced mechanics who work in the engine shops and deal with the good and bad on a daily basis. Better yet, talk to guys like DesertDog who spend their own money on these products and expect to make a living by doing so. I think his post was quite accurate from everything I have ever experienced in the industry. You fleet guys don't see the whole picture most of the time, no matter how experienced you claim to be. You are working within limited parameters the company specifies. The way you spec out trucks leaves most of the salesmen "trying" to make things work. You usually end up with poor configurations in order to save a little money, I have seen it plenty of times. Then, when your setup doesn't work properly it is the engine manufacturers fault because their engine is junk. I don't buy it at all, go educate yourself a little better then come back and we will talk.
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You are right about one thing---
No one used my humble experience, opinions, or even those of the "oil changing fleet mechs" to decide to switch from Cummins to Detroit.
(Sidenote....Nice generalization on the fleet mechanic anyway. They do almost every bit of our motor work, warranty and non-warranty, for both Detroit and Cummins)

Nope, what we use are hard and fast numbers. We still have Detroit in our older cabovers. Those trucks outperform the newer Cummins still; in terms of MPG especially. It has almost been a year since we switched back to Detroit and have been more than happy with the results. MPG is way up; repairs are way down. I got a raise and a big 'ole bonus:buck:
 
desertdog71 said:
Here is the best way I can describe it.

I big truck engine has a small operating range of RPM.
Usually 1300-1700 rpm.

When accelerating, and you hit about 1700rpm, you pull it out of gear without using the clutch. Then you place it with light tension into the next gear slot, and you can feel your shift lever riding on the gears lightly. As the engine RPM drops to around 1300rpms, the tension on the shift lever decreases and it drops into the next gear. Then you do it all over again.

To downshift, you do the opposite. As you decellerate and rpm drops to around 1300, you goose the accelerated and pull it out of gear. Then rev the engine up to 1700 rpm while not in gear, and then put the truck into the next lowest gear.

These RPMs must natch in order to shift a big truck transmission. That is my piss poor description. :confused:
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Nah, that was good. What I was talking about is the same thing except while braking. I guess you guys with your kick butt engine braking whouldn't need to neccessarily do the heal-toe thing.
 
LoadMasterC141 said:
You are right about one thing---
No one used my humble experience, opinions, or even those of the "oil changing fleet mechs" to decide to switch from Cummins to Detroit.
(Sidenote....Nice generalization on the fleet mechanic anyway. They do almost every bit of our motor work, warranty and non-warranty, for both Detroit and Cummins)
I would love to know how the oem mfg's are allowing and approving your mechanics to perform warranty work? You just proved to me you don't know what you are talking about.

Nope, what we use are hard and fast numbers. We still have Detroit in our older cabovers. Those trucks outperform the newer Cummins still; in terms of MPG especially. It has almost been a year since we switched back to Detroit and have been more than happy with the results. MPG is way up; repairs are way down. I got a raise and a big 'ole bonus:buck:
I don't doubt you may have a few trucks getting better fuel mileage, but that is about it. The 60 series is a throw away engine just like the 8v92, 6v92, and 671. I would love to see your numbers in all other categories. Hey, I guess you have to justify your job somehow.
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eglplt said:
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God I don't wanna play anymore! You are right I have no idea what I am talking about. I was totally making everything up, especially that part about us being licensed to do our own warranty work. YuP;)

Its' all you brudda! Feel good about yourself! You win!
 
I work with truckdrivers everyday. Most of them are miserable but some like it okay. But If you get started with a company like England you wont be able to eat on what they are paying. Some England drivers I talk to have had to take out loans to eat. (Watch out for England drivers they will kill you. I swear they give them an IQ test and if they score above 70 they are disqualified)
 
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