Who makes the best heavy haul truck? (Semi)

[JDOFMEMI]

On the auto vs stick debate I ring in on the side of the manual every time for a true heavy haul truck. For a lightweight truck, running 80,000# loads or less, an auto may be fine, but for heavy loads and the wide variety of road conditions you need to travel to get to new construction sites, I want to control what gear my truck is in, not some computer that doesn't know what the road conditions ahead are like.

I also agree about the auto leading to problems of driver awareness of what is going on around him. When you do not have to think about driving, gear selection, and such, pretty soon you will not think as much about the basic task of driving, and that may lead you into situations you would not get in if you were focused due to the shifting decisions required.

I have an 18 speed with 2 speed rears, and drive So Cal traffic, which is worse than anywhere else in the country other than maybe some of the major East Coast cities and would still not trade for an auto.

 

[Deeretracks]

KW with an 18spd gets my vote. We have 2 T800's but the W900's are sweet too. It's going to take a while to get used to the 880's I don't care for the exterior looks but the inside of the cab is awesome.

 

[Drewster2016]

KW with an 18spd gets my vote. We have 2 T800's but the W900's are sweet too. It's going to take a while to get used to the 880's I don't care for the exterior looks but the inside of the cab is awesome.
View attachment 121806View attachment 121807

Is the a 880 or is that the 900? That looks sick.

 

[td25c]

On the auto vs stick debate I ring in on the side of the manual every time for a true heavy haul truck. For a lightweight truck, running 80,000# loads or less, an auto may be fine, but for heavy loads and the wide variety of road conditions you need to travel to get to new construction sites, I want to control what gear my truck is in, not some computer that doesn't know what the road conditions ahead are like.

Understand what your saying JDOFMEMI . I'm not familiar with the new model automatics . What I was used to was the older Allison's with the torque converter & shifter where the driver could select the gear range . The 18 speed transmission with 2 speed rears sounds like good combination .

You know ...... Over the years I've came to the conclusion that from a logistics stand point as far as hauling a load the weight is only half of the equation . The other half is where is it going ? Highway / Interstate driving or some back country narrow road . I know you guy's have to deal with both in Southern California along with steep grades .

Most of our work is within 25 miles from the shop . Half of travel time is highway & other half narrow county roads . Looks like this http://s1016.photobucket.com/user/td25c/media/100_2826_zpsd79660df.mp4.html?sort=3&o=10

I still love shifting gears

 

[Deeretracks]

Is the a 880 or is that the 900? That looks sick.

Neither, it's a T800.

Here are pics of A T880 and a W900 respectively. Photo credits Colby Williams Fueled Photography.

 

[Jumbo]

I have an 18 speed with 2 speed rears, and drive So Cal traffic, which is worse than anywhere else in the country other than maybe some of the major East Coast cities and would still not trade for an auto.

With an 18 spd, why the 2 speed rearend? I have an 18 also with a 550 Cat and I have all the splits I can wish for. I know nobody buys a 2 speed rearend without a reason, I am curious about your needs.

 

[Fastdirt]

I drove an automatic Mack Granite tandem for a long time to pull a 20 ton trailer. That sucker would burn some fuel and it would fly empty and with a light load. It was well known that the automatics burnt more fuel. Basically you just put it to the floor till you get above the given speed limit and the converter lets it act like a hydrostatic all the while the motor stays revved all the way up. It makes since it would burn more fuel than a manual that is basically one to one lock up for lack of better description. Also it was only a 6 speed. It definitely needed more gears to get the power out. It would lug like crazy when going in to the next gears. Surely they have more gears now since I've seen 18 speed autos in road tractors. The auto was also heavier at the quarry scales and definitely on the price tag. You could drive that truck way too fast being an automatic but it was gutless loaded with a 400 in front of 6 sp auto when loaded.

 

[CM1995]

You could drive that truck way too fast being an automatic but it was gutless loaded with a 400 in front of 6 sp auto when loaded.

I have had two Mack granites with 400's and 6 sp autos, anything but gutless IMO. One was a tandem hook lift and the other a tri-axle that regularly grossed 85K. The hook lift was an '07 and the tri an '06. The '07 hook lift seemed like a stronger truck but they were spec'd the same.

Pulled a 54K tag behind the tri-axle, hauling a 953, D6N, 315 and D5G regularly.

 

[td25c]

I've always felt the automatic transmissions were easier on drive train , less shock load & so forth with the torque converter .

5240 Grove uses an auto ..... It aint no lightweight .



But then again just give me an old KW with a 13 speed & 4.11 rears and I'm happy . Works fine for hauling equipment and trucks , or ... whatever ?

 

[FSERVICE]

hey TD do you know if the blonde girl still works for RH Marlin? been a few years since Iv been around the company yard. & they don't seem to be down in my area like they were...

 

[td25c]

hey TD do you know if the blonde girl still works for RH Marlin? been a few years since Iv been around the company yard. & they don't seem to be down in my area like they were...

Don't know FSERVICE ? We were working in Bedford IN in the first picture . Had RH Marlin come down & set a pre cast building for a communications company . They done a nice job .

 

[JDOFMEMI]

With an 18 spd, why the 2 speed rearend? I have an 18 also with a 550 Cat and I have all the splits I can wish for. I know nobody buys a 2 speed rearend without a reason, I am curious about your needs.

I got mine 3rd hand. It was originally specced to pull 9 axle trailers at around 250K gross.

I now mainly run a 5 axle up to 126K, and an occasional 7 axle load up to 186K. While I agree I do not "need" the 2 sp rears, I would hate to be without for many of the places I haul to. It puts the gears in the 18 speed about 25% closer on the splits. Normally I run in high all the time, but when running in the mountains I like the splits being closer, and I rarely need to range shift except on the really steep roads.

The low side on the rears really pays off in the local mountains. We have some roads with grades up to 26%, and in excess of 20% is regular on the remote roads. I do not do that all the time, but when I do, especially with a D-8 or a 330 excavator on board, I want all the choices I can get.

 

[still learn'n]

2005 Kenworth W900L C15 Acert 18spd 4.11 rearends I wouldn't want to have my rpms any higher but don't have many mountains in ks.

 

[FSERVICE]

Don't know FSERVICE ? We were working in Bedford IN in the first picture . Had RH Marlin come down & set a pre cast building for a communications company . They done a nice job .

im a little farther south, west of Clarksville. I used to travel ALOT for my previous employer & worked on some jobsites where they would be setting up. she was always on the crew that set up the big crawlers been several years since I saw a Marlin crane, just thought id ask

 

[Hanstrans]

That's a real TRUCK. I have always liked the T8s. NICCCEEE!!!!

Yeah, I never get to drive it tho/just pay for it . I drive the old 379 next to it, with standard specs except for a pretty strong C15. I love the old darlin' either way- good power, smooth riding.

 

[bigjohn4300]

My vote is for the auto(Allison) for the safety side of it, the auto frees up "mental bandwidth" for the driver. Think about it, at a stop sign, waiting for a clear opening, with a standard, one foot is on the clutch, one on the brake, while your mind is trying to calculate if an upcoming opening is long enough. Meanwhile, subconsciously you are planning moving from brake to throttle, engaging clutch while coordinating throttle, and getting it all rolling. Even though you aren't"thinking" theses, it's happening in your brain. The same with up and down shifting, people call it muscle memory, but it is subconscious mental causing it. In 2000 I bought my first class 8 automatic in a Mack RD 688 because my insurance carrier had notified me that in the next few months, my oldest driver, then 74, would hit 75, and thus be un-insurable by them...unless he was in an automatic trans truck, whereas he could then drive another 5 years. I argued age discrimination etc so they emailed me the statistics that the insurance industry had compiled, along with a DOT study, as well as 2 studies done in the European countries where auto trans have had a stronger stand for years, basically the same driver in the same conditions, are less likely to be involved in an accident involving driver judgment in an auto trans vehicle. Well that tri-axle now has 780xxx miles on it, working in soft South Louisiana ground conditions, and other that oil and filter changes, the Allison has not had a wrench on it. We now run 3 tandems, 5 tri axles, and 2tractors, for end dump and lowboys . One tractor is a Titan with the 605/18 speed combo, the other is a granite with the Mp8-445/allison 4700 trans, both tri axles. The Granite is by far the truck the drivers prefer to use, even when they really should be using the Titan.brw, just for laughs, my oldest driver, who said I was taking his balls when I put him in that first auto, wouldn't have traded it for anything after he got over his emasculated stigma, and that didn't take but a few weeks.

 

[blowerman]

We have a 08 Pete 367 with allison auto. Motor is the isx485 cummins. Front 20k, rear 46k with lift axle. As the previous post stated, once we went auto, nobody wants to go back. Smooth, fast and powerful set up.

 

[Birken Vogt]

I am no heavy hauler but I want to throw in another vote for the automatic. Besides what has been said already, it is really nice on the steep uphills where you would not be able to catch another gear on a stick shift. The automatic will keep upshifting until it senses (yes it does actually calculate from engine rpm rise, road speed, etc.) when it cannot pull any more gears. Not like the old days when it might hunt gears at the top, but even then they usually didn't.

One trick I learned is to make friends with the Allison service engineer at the dealership, and they will help you fine tune the shift points and that makes it a whole different animal.

I think that on most any truck that starts, stops, goes slow up hill and down hill, etc. that they should be a money saver all around: less fuel, less repairs, both clutches and internal stuff, also drivers can't really abuse it because the transmission will not allow it to occur, maybe easier on the engine also because lugging or overspeeding is no longer possible; also, I hate to say it but it allows you to pick from a wider selection of drivers.

I have had the odd failure of the computer which cost a grand, like all truck repairs, but that rarely happens and for the most part the mechanicals are pretty much bulletproof.

 

[turbo64]

Fact is if you cannot shift a big truck, you should not be in the drivers seat.

 

[CM1995]

Fact is if you cannot shift a big truck, you should not be in the drivers seat.

I disagree with that. It's the same as saying if you can't grade with a 955A you shouldn't be running a 953.