"PyramidHat" (pyramidhat)
12/31/2018 at 23:14 • Filed to: None
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"PyramidHat" (pyramidhat)
12/31/2018 at 23:14 • Filed to: None | 0
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Right, then...
Have they stopped making cab over tractors ? The other day on I-5 I noticed that all the semis were conventional. I’m not talking the little Iveeco’s and such, but the big Freightliners and the like .... haven’t ’ seen a new cabover in ages...
WilliamsSW
> PyramidHat
12/31/2018 at 23:25 |
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For OTR tractors, yeah, I think they’re pretty dead in the US but common elsewhere. Think the perception of them being unsafe for the driver led to then losing favor.
I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker
> PyramidHat
12/31/2018 at 23:26 |
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Believe Volvo is still making them, as are most Euro truck manufacturers. I heard something about how in the EU, trucks are restricted by length, but US trucks are restricted by weight pe r axle, so EU has more COEs and US less.
shop-teacher
> WilliamsSW
12/31/2018 at 23:37 |
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Also, the US deregulated the overall length of tractor combined with the trailer. That used to be regulated here, like it still is in Europe.
ranwhenparked
> WilliamsSW
12/31/2018 at 23:38 |
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Ride comfort was part of it, too, I think, at least for owner-operators.
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WilliamsSW
> shop-teacher
12/31/2018 at 23:39 |
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That’s right - the US regulates trailer length and axle loads, I believe.
bhtooefr
> WilliamsSW
12/31/2018 at 23:40 |
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As I understand, the bigger factors were two sets of law changes:
Length laws that favored cabovers were repealed in the 1970s.
Bridge loading regulations were passed in the 1970s that required long wheelbases to spread out loads, and that made entering a cabover awkward.
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WilliamsSW
> ranwhenparked
12/31/2018 at 23:40 |
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Yeah - sitting directly over an axle generally sucks.
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WilliamsSW
> bhtooefr
12/31/2018 at 23:50 |
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True- those changes eliminated their advantages, and left the disadvantages.
facw
> PyramidHat
01/01/2019 at 00:15 |
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Basically dead in the US. Differing regulations make them quite common elsewhere. It used to be possible to order a Freightliner Argosy as a glider (truck without drivetrain), but it’s not clear that you can do that anymore. The Obama administration tried to crack down on gliders, because they essentially allow truck owners to bypass modern efficiency and emissions standards (the idea is to make it so we don’t have to completely throw away a totaled truck with a good drivetrain, but the rule was exploited well beyond that case). The Trump administration wanted to roll back that change, but I don’t recall that actually happened.