So I’ve got a “new” truck, Kenworth K100-E Aerodyne, 1997, 475 Detroit Diesel motor in it with an 18 speed eaton fuller box.
they decided since im going to be doing interstate theyd better give me something with a proper sleeper cab, ive just come back from my second melbourne / adelaide trip and while it goes ok pulling 24 tonne, theres plans to put a second trailer on it as a b-double set once i get my licence.
not sure how shes going to pull with that, but i can imagine not the best.
very very rough ride on bumpy roads as well, which ive been told by many KW drivers that thats normal.
While I could ■■■■■ and moan about the rough ride and the shocking clutch, it is nice to have to extra space and to her credit she goes like ■■■■ off a shovel once you get her into the high box.
beattun:
So I’ve got a “new” truck, Kenworth K100-E Aerodyne, 1997, 475 Detroit Diesel motor in it with an 18 speed eaton fuller box.
they decided since im going to be doing interstate theyd better give me something with a proper sleeper cab, ive just come back from my second melbourne / adelaide trip and while it goes ok pulling 24 tonne, theres plans to put a second trailer on it as a b-double set once i get my licence.
not sure how shes going to pull with that, but i can imagine not the best.
very very rough ride on bumpy roads as well, which ive been told by many KW drivers that thats normal.
While I could ■■■■■ and moan about the rough ride and the shocking clutch, it is nice to have to extra space and to her credit she goes like [zb] off a shovel once you get her into the high box.
A 1997 KW with a Detroit but it’s only putting out 475 horses?.They were getting more than that out of the ones you’ll need in that outfit in the 1970’s.It’s probably a later 4 stroke type.The old 8V92 in the TM could put out around 400.A 12V92 would give out nearly 600.Even the old 16V71 without any turbocharging could manage 600+.But with just 24 tonnes on it’s not surprising that it goes like a rocket with the 475 horse.They were running at around 70mph+ with 38 tonners here before the limiters came in with a lot less power than that with wagons like the old DAF 3300.But it looks like for those of us who’d rather be driving something with a proper engine and 'box in it at decent speeds on proper long distance work that’s the place to be.But a cab over will never run a smooth on rough roads as a conventional so why did they go for a cab over one when you can use conventionals there?.And the clutch who cares it should just be in or out with the right revs and the right gear anyway?.
britpete : ill take some photos of the inside as soon as i can find my digital camera (just moved house so its buried somewhere), waste of time taking any with the iphone as the cameras no good without good light, will try and find the camera over the weekend so i get the photos monday
carryfast : murphys run 26 metre bdoubles on interstate, so the conventionals would put them overweight with a 12 + 22 pallet combination, you could use a conventional with a 10 and 22 combo, plus the cabovers are slightly cheaper. the truck i have now is an ex interstater, 1.5 million kms on the clock, it was bought for that purpose, and will again be used for that purpose shortly mores the pity as shes not up to the job anymore. we’re limited to 100kph, this thing will do 105.
as for the clutch, well i dont use it to change gears just kick the revs and slot it in, but for taking off, in particular on inclines, the method ive always been used to driving the euro trucks is find the bite point and then negotiate with the accelerator until she starts to move, with this truck wont play ball with that method at all. have to let the clutch out FULLY and let her start to pull on her own before touching the accelerator, which is fair enough on the flat, but when you got a hill start any touch of the power before the clutch is fully off and you have a massive earthquake happening, im sure its something ill just have to finetune and get used to, but jaysus it really pished me off coming out of adelaide yesterday.
beattun:
britpete : ill take some photos of the inside as soon as i can find my digital camera (just moved house so its buried somewhere), waste of time taking any with the iphone as the cameras no good without good light, will try and find the camera over the weekend so i get the photos monday
carryfast : murphys run 26 metre bdoubles on interstate, so the conventionals would put them overweight with a 12 + 22 pallet combination, you could use a conventional with a 10 and 22 combo, plus the cabovers are slightly cheaper. the truck i have now is an ex interstater, 1.5 million kms on the clock, it was bought for that purpose, and will again be used for that purpose shortly mores the pity as shes not up to the job anymore. we’re limited to 100kph, this thing will do 105.
as for the clutch, well i dont use it to change gears just kick the revs and slot it in, but for taking off, in particular on inclines, the method ive always been used to driving the euro trucks is find the bite point and then negotiate with the accelerator until she starts to move, with this truck wont play ball with that method at all. have to let the clutch out FULLY and let her start to pull on her own before touching the accelerator, which is fair enough on the flat, but when you got a hill start any touch of the power before the clutch is fully off and you have a massive earthquake happening, im sure its something ill just have to finetune and get used to, but jaysus it really pished me off coming out of adelaide yesterday.
It was interesting to read all of that beattun.I reckon that I’d enjoy driving that old beast on Euro work over here where it could live out it’s days at a slower pace of life.With that clutch issue there was always an old saying with Detroit powered motors and that’s drive it as though you hate it and it’ll pay you back well.But that applied to the two strokes and I don’t know anything about four stroke ones if that’s what it’s got in it.Anyway try that old method of taking a lower gear than you think you need to pull away then just drop the clutch while at the same time give it everything on the throttle but make sure it’s in very a low gear.I’ve never tried an 18 speed fuller but the old 13 speed and even some of the euro synchro type ones seemed ok with that with most types of engine.It just means a bit more work upshifting through more of them after pulling away each time.
It’s definetely “interesting” but Yank and Oz trucks look as though they’ve fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. I think ergonomics and aesthetic styling passed a whole generation of Yank and Aussie designers by… No offence… lol Would rather be out there doing that with the nice weather than beating my way up and down the M6 with a ■■■■■■ stick!
Silver_Surfer:
It’s definetely “interesting” but Yank and Oz trucks look as though they’ve fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. I think ergonomics and aesthetic styling passed a whole generation of Yank and Aussie designers by… No offence… lol Would rather be out there doing that with the nice weather than beating my way up and down the M6 with a [zb] stick!
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but compared to an XF,FH12 or most other Euro wagons that old KW looks good enough to me.
Looks good enough to me too!
The austrailian K100 looks a whole heap different to thhe American one, that Aussie truck looks more like an early yank K100 than a '97. Even so, it sure looks bettter than a euro truck.
glenman:
beattun have you took josh’s old truck ? just edited this as i see its not wrong fleet number.
they sold joshs truck a few weeks ago, hes got a lovely argosy now
i dont think the KW looks too bad, im a scania man always have been always will be, but no chance of me getting a scanny with this employer, but while the KW is a pox to climb in and out of etc, and not great to drive, you can clearly see that its built like a tank, and well suited for living in, the 18 speed box is usually a pleasure to drive compared to the 13 by the way
they do build them to last they dont change much,to me that could be a 2007 or a 1987
by the way in the photo with a trailer,has the trailer got a very short overhang?
beattun:
– for taking off, in particular on inclines, the method ive always been used to driving the euro trucks is find the bite point and then negotiate with the accelerator until she starts to move, with this truck wont play ball with that method at all. have to let the clutch out FULLY and let her start to pull on her own before touching the accelerator, which is fair enough on the flat, but when you got a hill start any touch of the power before the clutch is fully off and you have a massive earthquake happening
For the clutch I’m going to suggest quite the same Carryfast suggested. During my conscript service I came across lorries which had this same kind of behaviour that when taking of even a slightest touching of the accelerator made this earthquake to happen but when you applied throttle much enough before lifting the clutch there was no problems then. Much enough throttle in this case was around 1000 rpm.
beattun:
– for taking off, in particular on inclines, the method ive always been used to driving the euro trucks is find the bite point and then negotiate with the accelerator until she starts to move, with this truck wont play ball with that method at all. have to let the clutch out FULLY and let her start to pull on her own before touching the accelerator, which is fair enough on the flat, but when you got a hill start any touch of the power before the clutch is fully off and you have a massive earthquake happening
For the clutch I’m going to suggest quite the same Carryfast suggested. During my conscript service I came across lorries which had this same kind of behaviour that when taking of even a slightest touching of the accelerator made this earthquake to happen but when you applied throttle much enough before lifting the clutch there was no problems then. Much enough throttle in this case was around 1000 rpm.
that doesnt sound like it would be as kind on the clutch, but you know what, stuff the clutch, the clutch has already made an enemy of me, so on monday im going to try your idea and give it some boot before lifting off the clutch, i cant wait now, revenge is sweet
beattun:
– for taking off, in particular on inclines, the method ive always been used to driving the euro trucks is find the bite point and then negotiate with the accelerator until she starts to move, with this truck wont play ball with that method at all. have to let the clutch out FULLY and let her start to pull on her own before touching the accelerator, which is fair enough on the flat, but when you got a hill start any touch of the power before the clutch is fully off and you have a massive earthquake happening
For the clutch I’m going to suggest quite the same Carryfast suggested. During my conscript service I came across lorries which had this same kind of behaviour that when taking of even a slightest touching of the accelerator made this earthquake to happen but when you applied throttle much enough before lifting the clutch there was no problems then. Much enough throttle in this case was around 1000 rpm.
that doesnt sound like it would be as kind on the clutch, but you know what, stuff the clutch, the clutch has already made an enemy of me, so on monday im going to try your idea and give it some boot before lifting off the clutch, i cant wait now, revenge is sweet
Try to avoid giving it too much power before lifting the clutch though beattun!! and try to synchronise lifting the clutch and give it some boot at exactly the same time it’s easier on the transmission not to have much time difference between the two if you can avoid it.If you’re in a low enough gear it should just pull away nicely.I used to do test hill starts with loaded trucks on a 1 in three grade at an army truck proving place like that.
You ought not to be applying any power at all until the clutch is lifted. You can easily “idle away” even a loaded super B if your timing is right. The whole process is only a fraction of a second. If you are finding that the truck is trying to “hop” you are either trying to apply power and slip the clutch as you set off like you would in a European truck with a soft biting point or else you are not in a low enough gear. (ideally first, high split).
If you are doing all these things correctly and the problem is still there it would be worth checking the engine mountings for tightness.
My C15 Cat has an electronic guvoner that is very resistant to stalling and you would have to really ■■■■■■ drive take up to stall the engine although the 1997 Detroit in your KW is older technology it should never stall if you are fluid in your movements.
It may seem strange to have a clutch that is so hard and intolerant to slipping but that is why the clutch in a US truck will last Millions of miles and usually the life of the truck unless one of the bearings go.
Basically US trucks require a much higher skill level to drive than Euro trucks but you will quickly get into the swing of the old beast and when you do you will feel a real satisfaction and well deserved sense of fulfilment.
Would rather be out there doing that with the nice weather than beating my way up and down the M6 with a ■■■■■■ stick! 