I love the sound of diesels.
Way back, a lifetime ago, I worked with an old guy that owned a Mercedes diesel sedan. It might have been a mid 70's or somewhere in that era. Those cars could go 300k+ miles. Someone said you'd get sick and tired of the car way before it would ever wear out. On the really cold days, he'd leave it idling in the parking lot at work all day. It was the only way he could make sure it would still start at quitting time.
Those things would basically never die. They were great cars, and I enjoyed driving them. They were tanks. Slow, but you couldn't destroy them.
Okay Ted. Now I had to go out and buy a kenworth so I could have one also.
I like it! I always thought the T600s looked cool. What engine/transmission?
Proof that I made it back:
Today we went for some fun rides around the neighborhood. Keep in mind we live in farm country, not a subdivision. Everyone really enjoyed it. At this point I've put roughly 500 miles on the truck. I'll admit that picking up the truck, I was a bit intimidated after how things went the last time. The last 100 or so miles of the drive was fun, and I've gotten the hang of the truck.
Now comes the question of what to do with it. Real things I'd want different are as follows:
1) Better ride. This thing rides rotten at highway speed. The truck doesn't have air ride. It does have an air ride driver's seat, but didn't seem to do much. The seat is also pretty shot. I figure a new seat would help, although obviously there are limitations. Admittedly I haven't played around much with the current seat to try to see how the air ride is supposed to work, and that would probably help.
2) Cruise control. This thing doesn't have it. Really only a big deal on a long trip, but it would've helped quite a bit yesterday.
3) Aluminum wheels in back. This one looks harder. Although this truck has the 10 lug (I think 10?) wheels in the front, the rears are the big steelies that have 5 or so huge lugs around the outer part of the rim (Dayton style). From what I can tell, I would need to get new hubs to make this work
4) More power. There are limits to what I can do with the L10, but there are some things I can do to it.
5) Quieter. This thing needs a lot of Dynamat.
There are some other things I'd want to add if I keep it, all simple and minor. I would like a jake brake (not quite as simple or minor), but it seems that it's harder to add on to the L10. For my flatland driving that probably doens't matter so much anyway.
Overall now that I'm back home, I like the truck. The cabover's shorter wheelbase is definitely a positive for my driveway, and I think getting a trailer in with this will work if I get the right trailer. I think the real question is whether to keep this one or look for something different. I'd be curious what others' thoughts are regarding the suspension seats and being able to improve things there. Right now it feels like it's not doing any suspension-ing at all, so it might just be completely broken or turned off.
