Do You Like CAT, Cummins Or Other?

This whole conversation seems a bit odd to me. A motor puts out the horsepower and torque it's designed and configured to put out. The idea that Brand A motors are stronger than Brand B motors makes no sense. Every brand of motor has designs and configurations to put out a whole range of torque and horsepower figures. There are CAT's on the road putting out half the power of some Detroits, and there are some Detroits on the road putting out half the power of some CATs.

There are tiny little CAT engines running generators, and there are CAT engines bigger than tractor trailers running cruise ships.

That's like saying Chevy's make more power than Fords. Well which Chevys and Fords are we comparing?

Are we comparing a Chevy 3500 to a Ford Fiesta?

A Chevy Equinox to a Ford F350?

My ideal fleet would be:

Kenworth T680 with the PACCAR MX-13 engine and Eaton Advantage 10-Speed Automated Transmission Freightliner Cascadia with the Detroit DD16 engine and the Detroit D12 Automated-Manual Transmission Peterbilt 579 with the PACCAR MX-13 engine and Eaton Advantage 10 speed Automated Transmission.

All three of those trucks would be White with Medium Gray interior in the sleepers. I would also have Tri-Pac APUs installed on ALL Trucks. I would have Air DISC Brakes on ALL Trucks, both on the Steer and Drive Axles. I would have refrigerators and the best power inverters installed in ALL Trucks. If only the parent company for Kenworth and Peterbilt (PACCAR) would put the Detroit powertrains in those trucks. If they did that ALL of these would be the PERFECT trucks. All CDL training trucks would be equipped with MANUAL 10 Speed Eaton Transmissions. I would have about 50 trucks with Manuals at each Terminal I had. That way you could test for your CDL and not get a restriction placed on your license. Also if you are on downtime or even hometime at a terminal, I would keep a couple of those manuals open for people who just want to keep their shifting down even though the MAIN fleet would be 100% AUTOMATICS. I would have some automatics on the training range also for those people who want to get a feel for the truck BEFORE learning the manual and how to double clutch.

After all, I am truly thankful for whatever truck I get because once I have my CDL with CRST and NADTA, I will take just about anything I can get as long as I am not in the shop and sitting. I would even be glad to go and RECOVER a truck and use it until I could get back to the HQ here in Cedar Rapids. EVERYTHING listed above is what I could only DREAM of if I owned a company of that size. One thing though, I wouldn't allow any Internationals in the fleet. When I drove before when I still had my TX CDL, the International Pro Stars were the biggest and ugliest and most unreliable trucks I have ever drove. I have driven KWs, Petes, Volvos, Freightliners and Internationals before. I had really good luck with those other brands but every time I was in an "Intertrashional" as I call them, I was literally one time in and out of the shop every other day. But in the other ones ESPECIALLY KWs and Freightliners, I never had any problems with. I hope I dont sound to insulting about the Internationals (if I do, I most sincerely apologize) but I personally just have had really bad luck with them, however they may be great for other drivers, just not for me.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

Double Clutch:

To engage and then disengage the clutch twice for every gear change.

When double clutching you will push in the clutch, take the gearshift out of gear, release the clutch, press the clutch in again, shift the gearshift into the next gear, then release the clutch.

This is done on standard transmissions which do not have synchronizers in them, like those found in almost all Class A trucks.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Cummins diesel engines were well-engineered, refined and well-balanced.

Looking back at history, Cummins is the first American diesel originally designed specifically for truck use.

Oscar, it's still pretty obvious to me that you're not going to become a truck driver.

But... I do think you'd be an excellent sales rep for Cummins Diesel engines. You've got just enough BS on something that you don't have a clue about that I think some of these purchasing would be like putty in your hands.

Go for it!

The engine I may be saddled with won't be a deterrent for me to become a truck driver. I was just making a polite conversation about engines. I was a diesel mechanic by trade in the army once, you know. I only complained about a CAT I experienced one time in a medium-duty Ford chassis cab. I am sure most if not all modern OTR trucks, regardless of make, engine and transmission, have pretty smooth mechanicals and don't shake like hardware store paint mixers.

There is also a big difference in suspensions vs a Ford cab chassis. Basing an opinion on one encounter and no bed on the truck? Kinda dumb if you ask me.

I have mostly driven cat motors. One isx. I could get used to it with more time. Now I have a series 60 12.7 Detroit that has it's own characteristics. I am beginning to like this little girl.

Cummins diesel engines were well-engineered, refined and well-balanced.

Looking back at history, Cummins is the first American diesel originally designed specifically for truck use.

Oscar, it's still pretty obvious to me that you're not going to become a truck driver.

But... I do think you'd be an excellent sales rep for Cummins Diesel engines. You've got just enough BS on something that you don't have a clue about that I think some of these purchasing would be like putty in your hands.

Go for it!

ZING. Let him play "considering a career" trucker for a bit Old School. The man's just dipping his toes in the water ... or perhaps letting them rest there.

I will say that in my limited experience, a Cummins pulls better than a Detroit, but I hate when a Cummins regens. I don't know if that's how my company has them tweaked, but I see a noticeable difference. Now, at the end of the day, that noticeable difference doesn't influence my paycheck.

There is also a big difference in suspensions vs a Ford cab chassis. Basing an opinion on one encounter and no bed on the truck? Kinda dumb if you ask me.

I have mostly driven cat motors. One isx. I could get used to it with more time. Now I have a series 60 12.7 Detroit that has it's own characteristics. I am beginning to like this little girl.

Dumb? As I have told everybody before, I have never even sat in a Class 7/8 truck, with or without the motor running, so I have no idea what the Class 7/8 engines feel like or sound like in any of them from the perspective of the driver's seat. My only truck experience has been Class 6 and below. Class 7/8 stuff would all be brand-new to me if I were to touch such a truck in person.

Can we please refrain from the name-calling here, Pat?

Maybe you can tell me how a CAT motor feels and sounds as opposed to a Cummins or Detroit in any Class 7/8 truck you may have experienced.

All else the same, does the CAT engine generally cause more vibrations in a Class 7/8 tractor than Cummins or others or is it louder than Cummins or other engine brands? A tractor has no body too just like cab chassis. I would not know how human-felt engine vibration would be affected by the degree of mass over the rear of the chassis. I always thought it was in the motor mounts and the way the engine is balanced and designed.

I take it your "little girl" is the Series 60 12.7 Detroit engine you speak of affectionately. You know.... like calling a ship a SHE.

Oscar, what always concerns us about you is how you are always so focused on all the peripheral things about this career. There's not a new driver out here who cares one whit about how the various class 8 engines vibrate.

That is why we have such doubts about your ability to make it in this business. As an entry level driver, or even an experienced driver, you are going to get whatever engine and truck you get, and if it vibrates some way that you don't like your employer is going to laugh hysterically as they send you back home to your comfortabke position on the couch doing "research" on how to get started at truck driving.

When you get serious, and have some realistic questions about how to make it in a field where 95 percent of the curious minded newbies never survive their first year, we might begin to take you a little more seriously. As for now, you're just sort of amusing.

I'm not trying to be critical or hostile. I want you to realize that based on the things you post in here, you fit the perfect profile of a guy who will never survive out here in this endeavor.

I hope you can make it, but you need someone who will shoot straight with you and get you focused on the things that are critically important.

Oscar, what always concerns us about you is how you are always so focused on all the peripheral things about this career. There's not a new driver out here who cares one whit about how the various class 8 engines vibrate.

That is why we have such doubts about your ability to make it in this business. As an entry level driver, or even an experienced driver, you are going to get whatever engine and truck you get, and if it vibrates some way that you don't like your employer is going to laugh hysterically as they send you back home to your comfortabke position on the couch doing "research" on how to get started at truck driving.

When you get serious, and have some realistic questions about how to make it in a field where 95 percent of the curious minded newbies never survive their first year, we might begin to take you a little more seriously. As for now, you're just sort of amusing.

I'm not trying to be critical or hostile. I want you to realize that based on the things you post in here, you fit the perfect profile of a guy who will never survive out here in this endeavor.

I hope you can make it, but you need someone who will shoot straight with you and get you focused on the things that are critically important.

I'm sorry. I thought this was a TRUCK forum about ALL THINGS TRUCKING. I did not realize that most people here feel the equipment itself in this trade was not a critical thing. It seems to be all about just the training and the driving here. I was hoping people here could lighten up and be a bit more cheerful and perhaps sometimes welcome threads just about anything related to trucks. I did not realize people had to be so grouchy.

The sole purpose of this thread of mine was to get YOUR opinion about commercial diesel engines and not to complain. Some drivers may have a soft spot for some engines and others may not care. After all, you the driver, have to feel and hear your vehicle's engine for countless hours, miles, weeks, months and even years.

I figured some drivers might also be enthusiasts of the mechanical nature of their vehicles as well as what the job pays. To me, the big-rig excitement is all about the grunt of the diesel engine, the roar of the Jake brakes and the whine of the turbochargers as well as how to shift a transmission correctly and back a rig to the dock masterfully. The money is important but it is not about just the money.

Mr. Old School, I DO feel that one does have to be enthusiastic about any career to make it in that career otherwise there might be just day-to-day drudgery on the job.

I wish I could find a Web-based forum where people can just kick back and shoot the breeze about all things trucking no matter how small or tall.

Like Red Simpson sings, "There'd be no truck drivers if it wasn't for us TRUCKS!"

Perhaps, Brett could offer a "Truckers Lounge" or "Home Terminal" forum where anything goes, truck-wise.

PS - If I were to wanna be a truck, I'd long to be a Kenworth classic-hood model sporting a Cummins underneath. I would want my driver to also professionally float my gears.

Oscar, what always concerns us about you is how you are always so focused on all the peripheral things about this career. There's not a new driver out here who cares one whit about how the various class 8 engines vibrate.

That is why we have such doubts about your ability to make it in this business. As an entry level driver, or even an experienced driver, you are going to get whatever engine and truck you get, and if it vibrates some way that you don't like your employer is going to laugh hysterically as they send you back home to your comfortabke position on the couch doing "research" on how to get started at truck driving.

When you get serious, and have some realistic questions about how to make it in a field where 95 percent of the curious minded newbies never survive their first year, we might begin to take you a little more seriously. As for now, you're just sort of amusing.

I'm not trying to be critical or hostile. I want you to realize that based on the things you post in here, you fit the perfect profile of a guy who will never survive out here in this endeavor.

I hope you can make it, but you need someone who will shoot straight with you and get you focused on the things that are critically important.

I'm sorry. I thought this was a TRUCK forum about ALL THINGS TRUCKING. I did not realize that most people here feel the equipment itself in this trade was not a critical thing. It seems to be all about just the training and the driving here. I was hoping people here could lighten up and be a bit more cheerful and perhaps sometimes welcome threads just about anything related to trucks. I did not realize people had to be so grouchy.

The sole purpose of this thread of mine was to get YOUR opinion about commercial diesel engines and not to complain. Some drivers may have a soft spot for some engines and others may not care. After all, you the driver, have to feel and hear your vehicle's engine for countless hours, miles, weeks, months and even years.

You do realize that, even though most of the people here are laid back, they are still truckers; grouchy, ****y, sometimes professional, truckers. No matter what other forums you go to, truckers will ALWAYS be truckers. I'm a laid back person by nature, but I still get extremely ****ed and cuss like a sailor at people cutting me off like a typical trucker would.

As for the engines, I honestly don't even care what engine I have. If it can take me from point A to point B, it's good in my book. My truck has a Detroit DT12 automated transmission. Handles hills just fine; I have a new found love for flying down the east coast mountains in optimal conditions going 66-68 with a 44k lbs load with high Jakes in 11th gear. Usually maintains speed pretty well depending on the grade.

PS - If I were to wanna be a truck, I'd long to be a Kenworth classic-hood model sporting a Cummins underneath. I would want my driver to also professionally float my gears.

This made me laugh out loud, then cringe. I mean, eeeewwwwww. No offense, but if I were a truck, I sure wouldn't let anyone drive me! I'd drive myself!! And what she does with my gears is none of your business!!!

Wait a minute, that didn't come out right. Oh well, moving on.

Oscar, I think the basic problem has already been stated several times, but I'll try one more analogy just so I can say I tried.

Let's say, for example, that this forum was all about how to get started in a career as a software developer. You would expect a lot of threads about whether it's necessary to move to Silicon Valley, which programming language is best to learn first, whether it's worth going to college vs. learning on the job, if college, then what major, what sort of salary to expect as a web developer vs. database developer vs. application developer, the difficulty for newbies when starting out working in assembly on embedded systems, how to get hired, how to get promoted, what sort of jobs are good for starting out, how can anyone get any work done when they're put into an open office seating arrangement, should I quit this job and just start working the gig economy, can I make enough off a website to make it worthwhile while I'm working full-time as a truck driver, etc. etc.

Then along comes a guy who wants to talk about different kinds of keyboards. Do you like the old clicky Model M IBM keyboards, or the rubber dome keyboards, or the tactile keyboards, or the kind that are just sort of rubbery that you can roll up and whip out in an instant when you need to start hacking into the Social Security Administration mainframe like that kid in "Live Free or Die Hard"? Or something else?

Then the people who are actually working as programmers and developers offer a couple of thoughts. Some will say clicky, some will say whatever comes with the laptop, some will tell how that rubber roll-up keyboard really sucks and is a waste of money. Of course, I'm the one who is going to tell you all about how great the keyboards from Unicomp are and then offer suggestions about exactly where to map the Ctrl, Tab, and Esc keys. (This will almost certainly draw Rick S. into the conversation.)

Then someone will point out that, hey, wait a minute, what does this have to do with starting a new career writing software anyway? Yes, the tools are important, but what I really want to know is how do I get past that f'ing whiteboard exercise that Google does so I can get hired there!

And now the guy who wants to talk about keyboards (and previously started threads on which kind of laptop is best, will ARM completely displace Intel and AMD in the CPU market, will tablets completely replace laptops, how much memory should you have on your smartphone, and what sorts of foods are available at the commissary where you work) is offended.

That's what this is like. Sort of.