I have had an unusual week to say the least.
Got up at 2.00 am Monday, started my truck and came back into the house and made coffee as the truck warmed up. Drove down to Albany NY and dropped the trailer, got some essential items that I would need and got a mechanic to drive me to the airport, caught the 7.20 am American Airlines flight to Chicago where I changed planes for a short flight to Dubuque IA and I mean ‘short’ we took off, levelled out and then started to go down again, it was only a 150 mile hop. I was picked up at the airport by my fleet manager and given the tour of head office, taken for diner and then taken to get my brand new truck. As I was checking the truck out an old pal from trucknet turned up to meet me, ‘Scouse Express’ arrived, I have been friends with him since T’net started all those years ago, we have remained good mates on Facebook since then.
I drove the new truck bobtail to Chicago, collected a brand new trailer and then took 2 days to drive both back to Albany NY where it took me 3 hours to transfer my belongings and equipment from my old truck to my new one, then some twonk refused to deliver a load to Portland ME so I had to go and meet him and deliver the load on Thursday morning, I ran to Milford CT for the night and started again at 04.00am ran into snow by the NH state line and all the way into Maine, thinking I might then be sent home I was quite happy, then I got bad news, I couldn’t go home and had to head back to Yonkers, take 10 hours off and deliver to Ben & Jerry’s this afternoon. Long week but it’s over now.
Nothing nicer than getting a new truck, though I’ve never had the VIP treatment like that! Any pictures? What is it? Would also love to see the interior
I was expecting some nice pictures !!
It’s exactly the same as the old one, which I found disappointing, there are a couple of new extras, a Bluetooth radio and it is already wired for a power inverter. I was hoping it would be the mew model Cascadia but as my company is also a main Freightliner dealer and companies buying new trucks want the latest model they have to get rid of the old style ones within the fleet, it’s still a 2018 model and had 17 miles on the clock.
I took this photo after changing trailers so the new trailer had been dropped.
I took this one on the first delivery, in Portland Maine, it didn’t stay shinny for long.
I don’t know if it will play but I took this of the interior for a friend who asked to see, it’s a but rushed and cluttered because it was the first night with everything installed and there is crap everywhere.
No Pat, it didnt play, try again when you have a bit of time…nice diary of your week too…truck looks ok, not the best, but roomier than what we got…lol
That’s strange, when I click on the link it plays right away 
I have to go out and install some more things today, I will take some still shots.
cheers mate…have a good weekend.
Not knowing a lot about US trucks Pat, but I think it seems to have a Euro influence in the cab design with the higher driver cabin roof.
Twoninety88:
Not knowing a lot about US trucks Pat, but I think it seems to have a Euro influence in the cab design with the higher driver cabin roof.
They are primitive mate, this brand new ‘State of the art’ truck has a dashboard almost identical to the one I had in a 1994 FH12 back in the UK and the gearbox is an Eaton / Fuller road ranger similar to the one I had in a 1985 DAF 3300. These trucks have suspension that goes down to drop a trailer but no trucks here have suspension that lifts a trailer. It’s like the US truck makers hit on a design about 30 years ago and thought ‘Well that’s good, we’ll leave them like this’ LOL.
No night heaters and a ride like a dam soap box cart, engine running all night to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.
No auxiliary heaters at all ■■ blimey, with the cost of fuel, even in the US I would have thought them to be standard. There you go, set up a business importing Eberspacher and Webasto products and retire earlier!
Interesting the comments about the truck design. I know its a show for TV but that’s the impression I got from Ice Road Truckers and Highway Thru Hell. It seemed to be like going back in time to when I first started driving.
What would be interesting would be to put an American trucker in a European one and to see what they thought about ours.
Pat,
Those wing mirrors on the front of the engine are they any good? I can’t imagine you’d be able to see a lot in them or are they for blindspots down by the doors?
Pat Hasler:
Twoninety88:
Not knowing a lot about US trucks Pat, but I think it seems to have a Euro influence in the cab design with the higher driver cabin roof.They are primitive mate, this brand new ‘State of the art’ truck has a dashboard almost identical to the one I had in a 1994 FH12 back in the UK and the gearbox is an Eaton / Fuller road ranger similar to the one I had in a 1985 DAF 3300. These trucks have suspension that goes down to drop a trailer but no trucks here have suspension that lifts a trailer. It’s like the US truck makers hit on a design about 30 years ago and thought ‘Well that’s good, we’ll leave them like this’ LOL.
No night heaters and a ride like a dam soap box cart, engine running all night to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.
I stopped getting excited about trucks years ago, but even I would love to have a go in one of those Yank jobs. 
especially the older Kenworths that Sonny Pruitt used to drive.
From a tramper’s point of view it must be a hell of a motor to live in, in terms of living space.
What size motor is in it Pat? Bet you can make it sing with the Fuller box.
9, 13, or 18 speed?
Oh yeh…just to be a pedantic smart arse btw 
…it was the DAF 2800 DKS that had the fuller, the 3300 had the ZF synchro box in, or is somebody going to make me look stupid here.
It’s a Detroit DD15 so a 500BHP.
I have been out installing the inverter and took these photo’s as requested.
It has a heated wardrobe and smaller cupboard under the pull out drawer and of course lots of storage under the bunk, excuse the mess on the floor, I have been climbing in and out in the snow and treading salt in as I was working on the inverter installation.
robroy:
Pat Hasler:
Twoninety88:
Not knowing a lot about US trucks Pat, but I think it seems to have a Euro influence in the cab design with the higher driver cabin roof.They are primitive mate, this brand new ‘State of the art’ truck has a dashboard almost identical to the one I had in a 1994 FH12 back in the UK and the gearbox is an Eaton / Fuller road ranger similar to the one I had in a 1985 DAF 3300. These trucks have suspension that goes down to drop a trailer but no trucks here have suspension that lifts a trailer. It’s like the US truck makers hit on a design about 30 years ago and thought ‘Well that’s good, we’ll leave them like this’ LOL.
No night heaters and a ride like a dam soap box cart, engine running all night to keep warm in winter and cool in summer.I stopped getting excited about trucks years ago, but even I would love to have a go in one of those Yank jobs.
From a tramper’s point of view it must be a hell of a motor to live in, in terms of living space.
What size motor is in it Pat? Bet you can make it sing with the Fuller box.
9, 13, or 18 speed?Oh yeh…just to be a pedantic smart arse btw
You are right, it was the 2800, at a point when I worked for Swifts I was made to use demonstrators for 3 months, 3 of them were DAF’s, 2100 (total crap), 2800 and 3300.
DadsRetired:
Pat,Those wing mirrors on the front of the engine are they any good? I can’t imagine you’d be able to see a lot in them or are they for blindspots down by the doors?
When I first started driving here I didn’t understand why those were fitted ? They do help with wide turns slightly but one thing I have found about them is that I can actually see the front wheels and the area around the front corner of the truck, which is helpful when reversing in very tight spots where there are objects bellow the line of vision.
Twoninety88:
No auxiliary heaters at all ■■ blimey, with the cost of fuel, even in the US I would have thought them to be standard. There you go, set up a business importing Eberspacher and Webasto products and retire earlier!
The first company I drover for here had 14 trucks, it was a small family run firm, they would leave the trucks running 24/7 during winter and I suggested fitting Eberspachers, the boss said he would look into it and a few days later he told me they were too expensive, the company based in Ireland quoted $1500.00 a truck for them to send fitter over and install them in all 14 trucks, I said I didn’t understand how $1400.00 a truck which will use about a pint in 8 hours as opposed to using about 8 gallons in the same period, spread over a winter that lasts for about 5 months the savings would have been great.
When i was over for MATS, in the show hall was many stalls/shops and i came across one selling night heaters…so i got chatting and mentioned the big savings the yankee operators are gonna make, especially with the fact drivers have to leave the engines running 24/7 to keep warm…OH NO they said…the operators here dont like spending money on something that gives no return !! when i mentioned the fuel saving is the return, they just laughed…so i guess its down to the fact fuel is a lot cheaper than an eberspacher…one day they will learn, that a drivers comfort is an asset…look after the driver…he will look after them…a night heater in europe is practically law…as i dont know many drivers who would work or take a truck on the road without one…or even if its fitted but not working. But i realise the americans learn slowly, but are introducing the tacho which is another benefit, although many drivers dont like them as they restrict the hours they can work…and many get paid by the hour…i was on the radio with Lucy ( rikki`s wife ) answering questions about them from many of the drivers…i havnt heard if theyre getting on with them now.