Low Power Trucks

I recently went from a peterbilt w/a cummins engine to a new freighliner w detroit diesel. My problem is when pulling a heavy load up a hill, I frequently have to drop it down to 6th gear going 21mph. My company says this is normal for this truck but I find that hard to believe. I'm finding this very dangerous, especially for the vehicles behind me. My speed seems to be way out of sync with other semi's. Someone was saying that when regen kicks in it robs power but I haven't noticed the regen going on when climbing hills. I will be looking though. Any advice about this issue. Thanks Bob

Bob, your power to the ground depends on alot of things....the engine type and size...the rear gears...the load your haulin'..and the hill your climbing. now I'm not familiar with the new regen engines..But I always thought that when they kick in, and they heat up, I wouldn't like 800 degrees under my buns..But I've followed trucks up cabbage hill at 20 mph, so they do go that slow. I will also say, that I'm not a fan of Detroit engines. our Pete had one, and it was gutless. but thats just my opinion.

Hill i climb at 20mph are not memorable hills like cabbage hill. More like generic normal everyday hill. Thanks Bob

Every hill is slow. Especially when you're under a heavy load. It won't make any difference if you go 30 mph. Everyone is going slow so don't worry about others. Usually steep hills have an extra lane for the slower trucks so use that truck lane.

I have a 2012 Freightliner currently and I've driven a Pete 386 and a 587 both with Cummins engine and I hardly noticed anything. I prefer my Freightliner.

Bob, I do recall being in our Denver terminal and there was a driving having the same complaint as you. Except he had an International. The mechanics looked at it and said it was because his belt was severely worn.

Now I don't know much about repairing trucks but that's what the mechanic diagnosed it to be. I can't tell you if he was right or wrong but maybe you should look into that.

Thats tje joy of the casscadoa, the DD15/DD13 lacks power, I find that I must keep momentum as high as I can keep it when aproching a hill, or speed up right before it starts to incline, otherwise I will be put putting up the hil @ 25ish MPH.

My first thought is to say that the Particulate Filter is bad. The fact that you are loosing power at such a high gear makes me feel this way. Do you have a "yellow regen icon" to show when it is on or off? The company maybe telling you this only because they don't want the maintenance cost. But you are actually loosing fuel economy with this issue.

Check this link out. http://www.usedtruckcity.com/blog/engaging-an-active-regen-with-a-dd15-detroit-engine/

If you have a company mechanic tell him this is what you want done. And then of course checking the filter. If this does not solve the problem then it will need to be computer diagnosed.

Hope this helped.

I drove DD15 for several months and thought it was normal that it struggled up hills. I have since driven other trucks, and they all do better than the DD15 (Cascadia). This includes a Columbia with a Mercedes, International (the Maxforce 13 not the 10 or 11 or whatever the lesser horsepower one is), trucks with Cummins', etc.