Ford F-Max class 8 tractor

[Renze]

We would rather have the slight inconvenience of putting the stuff back in the proper storage spaces so kindly provided by the manufacturer than needing three football fields to make even the slightest maneuver and still won't fit on most places.

And we do have plenty of axles for heavy loads too, most are able to steer.

Do you work for Laso ? We had a Laso convoy here last month to pick up a 175 ton demolition excavator.

 

[4570Man]

We would rather have the slight inconvenience of putting the stuff back in the proper storage spaces so kindly provided by the manufacturer than needing three football fields to make even the slightest maneuver and still won't fit on most places.

And we do have plenty of axles for heavy loads too, most are able to steer.

The main reason for a cab over is to meet length restrictions that we don’t have anymore. The visibility and turning radius might be a little better but not enough to justify it.

 

[oliver1555]

An old picture of a truck I drove, taken in 1978. The company bought two used 260 inch wheelbase cabovers with tandem steers in about 1980 and put self loaders on them. They didn’t work out and were gone in short order. IH and Peterbilt conventionals all the way.

 

[nisaacs]

Three football fields?

Can you say farms bigger than some country's. This always amazed me, the sheer size and scheduling involved. It is so cool when you see a convoy of them traveling on the highway.

When I was a kid, we had an Allis-Chalmers combine with a 13 bushel hopper, then we upgraded to a 17

 

[oliver1555]

When I was a kid, we had an Allis-Chalmers combine with a 13 bushel hopper, then we upgraded to a 17

That would take a spell to put 1,000 bushels in a hopper trailer!

 

[ptsg]

Do you work for Laso ? We had a Laso convoy here last month to pick up a 175 ton demolition excavator.

No, I don't. They are the biggest specialized transport company here in Portugal and they've been growing amazingly all over Europe.

They've been getting some of the hardest and/or heaviest transports in Europe.

 

[ptsg]

I do like a classic Pete 379 though. With straight pipes and just the right length of pipe above the cab. A proper Cummins or CAT 3406 engine with loud jakes. Sounds awesome to me. But no stretch at all, that's just terrible what some people will do.

 

[Renze]

The main reason for a cab over is to meet length restrictions that we don’t have anymore. The visibility and turning radius might be a little better but not enough to justify it.

In heavy haulage you need a weight, length and width permit anyways so it doesnt matter. In any other transport than volume goods (dumptrailer, tanker, etcetera) length is not an issue, yet they still dont use hooded trucks for that here.

Another aspect is that European truck suspension is more advanced than American, so for driver comfort, you dont need to have the drivers seat in the middle between front axle and tandem.

I worked for an air suspension manufacturer, they met a new customer on the IAA commercial vehicle exhibition in Germany: It was a Canadian manufacturer of feed delivery trailers, looking for a better suspension than Hendrickson because they ripped them apart on farmyards. When we benchmark tested the Hendrickson suspension on our standard lateral load test (welded, pressed steel trailing arms with a big sloppy rubber bushing to allow lateral ground following) they sent us, against our standard, run off the mill European spring steel trailing arm suspension, the Hendrickson set lasted only 20% of what the standard European load collective is, while ours was lighter in weight too...

I just dont hold American vehicle design in high regard because they held on to archaic designs for decades too long... and when you look at it, Cummins is the only American designed truck engine available (Paccar is Daf, Detroit is Mercedes, Navistar is MAN, Volvo/White is off course Volvo) most vans in America are European or Jap (Sprinter is Merc, Ford Transit is European, the Chevy van is a Jap designed Nissan, the Ram ProMaster is an Italian Fiat Ducato...
Ford bought Volvo years ago, in order to put their Taurus and Crown Vic on a unibody, borrowed from the Volvo S80...

 

[oliver1555]

So, being that you hold European design in such high regard, it’s great that you live there. I’m sure we Americans can continue to limp along with our archaic machines, like we have for years and years. I guess I’m done here.

 

[4570Man]

So, being that you hold European design in such high regard, it’s great that you live there. I’m sure we Americans can continue to limp along with our archaic machines, like we have for years and years. I guess I’m done here.

If you can’t at least acknowledge the superior development of European machines you must live under a rock.

 

[BravoXray]

There’s quite a few coke, Pepsi or beer delivery trucks that are single axel. But I agree a single axel cab over isn’t going to be a big hit in the US.

Yeah, from what I've seen lately, a lot of drivers are too fat to crawl up in them.

 

[Renze]

So, being that you hold European design in such high regard, it’s great that you live there. I’m sure we Americans can continue to limp along with our archaic machines, like we have for years and years. I guess I’m done here.

You'd have to ask the Australians: Australia is the only continent which has an even mix of trucks from the American, Asian and European continent: American trucks mostly used in roadtrains, where they are preferred because of bigger sleeper cabs, and because they have some room between the bullbar and the windshield because they hit kangaroos rather frequent. In local traffic they use Euro and Asian trucks.

Off course, European fuel and road tax are a driver of efficient vehicle design.. American manufacturers didnt have the incentive because fuel prices were half of what we pay here.. And with fuel prices on the rise in America too, you see European vans and European truck engines taking over. Because of manufacturers average emission penalties, Ford got interested in unibody construction to reduce the weight (and increase stiffness and reduce rattles) of their large rear wheel drive cars.

Fords previous attempt in the European big rig market in 1975 failed, because the Cummins NT855 proved more thirsty than its European counterparts... in 1984, after selling in total what they hoped to sell each year, Ford pulled the plug on the project.

 

[redman135]

Location: New Zealand
In an earlier post someone said there would not be much call foe 500 hp in town. WRONG! you need big engines to reduce the bullying by car drivers. Keeping up with traffic reduces getting carved up, but you are still not allowed to have any braking distance.
Running local tipper @44 tonne most later model rigs are 500hp. Interestingly the earthworks site trucks are mostly cab overs. We run japanese, european and US trucks here.

 

[Hay Dude]

In comparing European anything versus American anything, one must remember “Europe” is a continent of many countries. America is just one country.
It is difficult for one country to be superior to a collection of small, highly advanced countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, etc).
And while I will say we are in a precipitous decline after what looked like a path to becoming the envy of the world once again, it is not over yet.
I still have faith that the best is yet to come in America and we will once again produce and sell some of the best in the world.
That being said, I own a lot of non-US made farm equipment and my Ram, even with a Cummins diesel and US made Aisin transmission and AAM axles, has quite a bit of foreign influence (ownership and built in Mexico). I have 2 Japanese made Kubotas and a French made Massey Ferguson. Just one US made Case-IH and it’s a monster. Even at 20+ years old, its the strongest most powerful tractor I own. A real keeper.
Anyway, sadly it’s a different time now and the US is in decline. As a nation, interested mostly in virtue signaling and environmental issues. That has a detrimental affect on regulation of industry.
What Renze says is the cold, hard honest truth. You can’t deny how good Mann diesels are. You can’t deny how great Fendt farm tractors are (at least we bought them and made them part of American AGCO). And there’s many, many more examples of excellent European trucks and equipment.
Also, their vans and cars are all over American roads. Scania heavy trucks look incredible. Once those European heavy trucks get a foothold over here, they will become like European farm tractors.

 

[Renze]

We run japanese, european and US trucks here.

Yes, NZ and Australia are pretty unique in that... i think Japanese Hino trucks are only sold in the UK, not the rest of Europe, because both Japan and UK are right hand drive so they dont have to change as much for homologation.

What about Australia and NZ, left hand or right hand drive ?

 

[Renze]

.
Anyway, sadly it’s a different time now and the US is in decline. As a nation, interested mostly in virtue signaling and environmental issues. That has a detrimental affect on regulation of industry.

Europe is in decline too, hence Ford is producing in Turkey... now with this green deal, we are moving from dependence on Arab oil, to dependance on Chinese rare earth minerals, and Cobalt and Cadmium from Chinese owned mines in Africa.... The Chinese colonised Africa before they started to talk as if they were going to commit to the Tokio and Paris climate agreements...

 

[Hay Dude]

Europe is in decline too, hence Ford is producing in Turkey... now with this green deal, we are moving from dependence on Arab oil, to dependance on Chinese rare earth minerals, and Cobalt and Cadmium from Chinese owned mines in Africa.... The Chinese colonised Africa before they started to talk as if they were going to commit to the Tokio and Paris climate agreements...

I just saw last night that one Chinese company makes the bulk of the car batteries for the world.
Cummins still an excellent diesel and finding their way into foreign made equipment. Just rode on a Swiss made train powered by Cummins!
Id consider owning a Scania all wheel drive heavy truck, IF they had a big footprint here, but will probably end up in a Cummins powered IH or Freightliner.

 

[Renze]

Cummins definately amongst the pinnacle of diesel design... Mercedes signed a joint venture with Cummins, for Cummins to develop and build the newest generation of diesels for Mercedes small trucks, to be built in the Mercedes factory in Stuttgart

 

[blacktruck]

Interesting truck. I spent a fair amount of time in Europe and these would fit right in. As a long time driver, I wish they would go back to the COE in the US. The new Ford looks like a comfortable truck.