Spring/park brakes on an air drum setup.
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Gotcha, yeah definitely a benefit there especially on slick surfaces vs pinion/tailshaft parking brakes.
Pretty strong cons for a class 8 truck...tare weight is one, maneuverability is another... Not to mention overhead of operating cost increase.. I've yet to see on paper a class 7/8 truck operate less than 1.00 mile which is better part of double what I do know... And rate doesn't change just because I have a bigger truck. So I lose income.
A lot of class 6 trucks are derated class 7/8 chassis.. 10-12k/21k f/r axles..and truck is capped at 26k.. or a 10/17k axle setup
Class 8 brakes cheaper than a 4 wheeler....reason they are cheaper.... Volume.
I've carved out a nice niche market with the company I'm with.. being able to carry 35' and up to 20k worth of cargo.. and I don't have to "fight" our big trucks for loads if you will.. plus I don't "look" heavy
On one hand..I like being over built for what I do... On the other hand being so over built that it drastically hurts your bottom line isnt smart. Even more so if/when freight slows down or if/when fuel cost go up to the extent you can't operate....
3 years ago I was paying upwards of $4.00-$4.50 gallon of diesel in the north east. That ~$2.00 difference Evan At 10mpg that's a chunk of change that just gets rolled through your account.. when compared to today's fuel price avg which I'm seeing floating $2.25 range.
Reduce your mpg and that change gets bigger fast..
Would a class 8 be nice for the 800-1200 mile runs i do absolutely... reality is I'd say 75% of my runs are less than 450 miles one way. Class 8 is just too big/heavy/slow
you look at LTL companies... UPS/FedEx/abf/r&L, their OTR trucks are class 8 and their around town p&d trucks are class 5/6/7 straight and single axle trucks usually.... I do more regional/p&d than OTR work.
Currently my trailer grosses out at 29k which you really see my dually start to get winded at that weight. Especially running hills.
A 5/6 truck with a ~400hp MD engine with somewhere between OTR and P&D gearing, it would be about right on target and easily handle upwards of a 40k trailer. Or at least seams to be.
Side note for those that don't know.. 90s C3500 HD style truck is one of these that I'd repower with a Dmax/Allison. this one I did 4 years ago..