Horsepower for Super-B

[STRNGR]

We have all aluminum Super Bs, LoadKings & Wilson’s pull same,have a Dopker open end, nice light trailers, just pull a little harder in wind. Also leaving tarps open traveling empty in a wind is a heavy pull !
Take time to source a nice used set of trailers, can find SuperBs for not much more than triaxels in price
We went through the 400 Cummings & 15 spds, 13s better, 18s and lower gears makes it a lot easier on clutch. Everyone has a budget, don’t rush and can find something that will last you a long time !👍

[AlbertaFarmer5]

What am I doing wrong. 430 (470 on cruise) Detroit with an 18 speed, 46,000 rears, and only a body truck with tridem pup, and severely underpowered, I can't imaging pulling super B's with this much HP.

I will agree with above posters, for a farm truck full lockers are an absolute must, Doesn't cost much more to get a truck with lockers to start with, so don't even look at one without.

Local truck repair shop has nothing good to say about QSX, sounds like the Detroits are now the more reliable truck engine(if only I could say the same about the series 60 I have).

[LEP]

What am I doing wrong. 430 (470 on cruise) Detroit with an 18 speed, 46,000 rears, and only a body truck with tridem pup, and severely underpowered, I can't imaging pulling super B's with this much HP.

I will agree with above posters, for a farm truck full lockers are an absolute must, Doesn't cost much more to get a truck with lockers to start with, so don't even look at one without.

Local truck repair shop has nothing good to say about QSX, sounds like the Detroits are now the more reliable truck engine(if only I could say the same about the series 60 I have).

All those horses turn to ponies eventually.

We have had a volvo, two detroits, an ISX and two Cats over the years. The detroits needed the least work, but as they aged they definitely lost power. I think going forward I may look at a truck with a PACCAR.

[helmsdale]

What am I doing wrong. 430 (470 on cruise) Detroit with an 18 speed, 46,000 rears, and only a body truck with tridem pup, and severely underpowered, I can't imaging pulling super B's with this much HP.

I will agree with above posters, for a farm truck full lockers are an absolute must, Doesn't cost much more to get a truck with lockers to start with, so don't even look at one without.

Local truck repair shop has nothing good to say about QSX, sounds like the Detroits are now the more reliable truck engine(if only I could say the same about the series 60 I have).

What's the rated torque?

If it's the 1450lb/ft version, thats your primary issue. Big change in pulling power between 1450 and 1850. Also whats the ratio of your rear ends? Most guys in the days of the 400 cummins and 425 cat were running minimum 3.90's, with most running 4.10/4.11's. Know of one fella that ran a 425 cat with 3.55's pulling trains... took a stiff tail wind going downhill to get a speeding ticket. On the plus side, with the mechanical engines of the day you had glorified speed control, by pulling the screw throttle to the stop.

As far as engines, from what I've seen it's a roll of the dice... Know three guys with 600hp/2150 DD16 Volvos. 2 have been chronically in and out of the shop, with one guy on his 6th set of injectors 1 has worked flawlessly. Know numerous guys with tier 4 ISX's from 2015 on. A few haven't even made it to 6000hrs before they needed a full rebuild, a couple others that have hardly spent a day in the shop aside from a few sensor glitches. Talked to many guys on the road, detroit much the same. Seems that it's more luck than anything. Tier 3 ISX's, Cat's, and Detroits were nightmares for most guys until they deleted them. Personal experience with one 2008 Cat C15 that had a whopping $95,000 in warranty work done to it in the first 3 years of use! Prior to the full rebuild, it chewed out 7 air compressors, 8 turbo chargers, 2 or 3 jugs, numerous injectors, etc etc. Deleted prior to major overhaul and it's been working flawlessly ever since.

[blackpowder]

Yup it's funny. My relate that manages a Detroit/MTU shop says a lot of owner/op small fleet, just overhauling the older engines if truck any good.
All seem to have a year range where they can break you.
DDEC Series 60s have a great reputation.

[blackpowder]

Will add that I wouldn't touch a Navistar for free.

[STRNGR]

Horsepower

Most of our older trucks are 12.7 Litre 60 series 430/470 HP, fine on short hauls & calm days. Now have a couple of 14 Litre 60 series 515 Hp and work fine . Have a 2012 ISX 15 Litre 525 Hp deleted and temp/wind don’t slow you down, just fuel gauge speeds up, moving wrong way 😳. It does most of hauling in winter

[helmsdale]

Will add that I wouldn't touch a Navistar for free.

Massive class action stateside on 15L navistars... not sure what the resolution was