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Any RL truckers here?


Obico

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I'm not a truck driver but because of my position at my company, i have to be in touch with logistics companies and truck drivers. (Mostly, our company's truck drivers.) Because the company has its own trucks, i sometimes have chance to drive them. My total mileage is over 1000 km, and keeps increasing. And i have a truck driver licence ofc ;)

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I love Volvos, they look awesome. Problem with the Volvos I have driven seems to have problems with it's horse power. It's probably because someone gimped the horsepower to make it run longer on the road. I can't think of any reason why a 2007 Volvo, as said to have 500HP, when really it's acting like 350 ish. Oh it's got the torque, can pull really heavy stuff up to 63,000lbs but it's like slow accelerating for light or bob tail. 

 

But yeah, I like Volvos. They are much more comfortable than the stupid old Freightliner FLD120s. Well, that's just my opinion lol. 

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^^

Volvos are much more comfortable indeed. My truck driving school had several 2003 Freightliner Columbias and an FLD 120.

Columbia 10 speed was a first truck which I drove. Nothing but constant problems with the Mercedes engine though.

I have heard about some companies doing lots of different crazy things in order to save money or make their trucks run longer. One day, my former company decided to reduce the speed on all of their trucks to 96 km/h. As a result, that caused serious issues on the highways. Luckily, a few long months later and after numerous complaints from drivers - speed was changed to 103 km/h max. It was getting quite dangerous being slowly passed by motor homes and school buses...

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Oh all of the fleet trucks are set around 105-110KM. It's by law that it cannot go any faster except for going down hill. RPM gauge usually hits around 15.5-16.5RPM.

Is that so? That explains why my boss avoids buying Mercedes engines and prefers Cat, Cummins, Volvos and Detroits. Since most of the time our fleet only works in local areas, perhaps it's rare to see any engine problems. I have heard even more problems with Maxxforce(People call it MaxxFart), so I have no idea how bad of an engine this is. They say to stay away from it since it's really brought nothing but more time spent in shop compared to other engines.

Even with DPF and DEF, to be honest I'm not really sure what it is but some electronic device/system to reduce emissions, they have caused nothing but headaches. I heard couple times that some of our fleet trucks slowed to a crawl then had its engine automatically shut down to "protect" the truck. Had to get a tow truck for that, even worse if out of town. Eventually the trucks "bypassed" the system so I don't even know if it still works. The trucks are still functional and on the road daily.

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Yeah, DPF and DEF can cause serious headaches. If you do a lot of city driving, "System Regen" will have to be done more regularly. Parked Regen takes about 45 minutes and during that time truck cannot be driven at all.  Highway Regen may be done automatically as you are rolling down the Interstate. But for 45 minutes you must maintain highway speeds. Any sudden slowdowns, the Regen is interrupted and you may have to start all over again.

I like to do my Parked Regen when I am being unloaded/loaded and I know that it will take about an hour before they are done. However, some plants have "no engine idling policy." In that case, I try to do my Regen on the highway or a truck stop as an absolute last resort.

Our company Volvo mechanic told me that if "System Regen" is ignored, serious engine problems will occur which may cost more than $10 000 to repair. If the engine is "written off", then you may have to spend $25 000 to $35 000 for a complete rebuild.

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Now that you mentioned that, I don't think any of my company fleet has to do any of this "regen" you mentioned. I don't know if I should be worried or maybe all of these were "fixed".

 

I would really hate to see some of our nice looking trucks break down then requiring a hefty engine rebuild. Boss would not like the looks of the repair bill. By that point, engine is dead means the whole cab is worthless or just not worth repairing. Totaled, might be sold for scrap since $10,000 up to $35,000 for that engine re-build is really hefty. And usually any problems related to the engine is never a good sign. A broken muffler, air dryer, coolant case, air filters, brake pads/chambers are replaceable. But engines is like the equivalent of doing a heart surgery. Honestly, the price of used trucks in our area (pretty much most of our trucks were bought from other owners, all are second handed), would be better off bought to replace a totaled engine-truck than to rebuild it.

 

Pretty much the truck's engine determines it's overall value, well most of it. If the engine is dead, the truck is good as junk and has no residual value, unless it's a Peterbilt (Kenworth as well, maybe?) or really a well-kept old classic truck.

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I am one if this guy can be called a "truck". This thing has the chassis from a minivan and uses gasoline. Mainly used for short-distance cargo delivery.

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-- One banned troll means one sad troll. Conserve banning. The trolls will appreciate it.

҉  PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF RECKLESS DRIVERS

҉  PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF RECKLESS DRIVERS

҉  PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF RECKLESS DRIVERS

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