Watching Cheyenne’s Christmas parade and a beautiful cabover Pete just went by. I’ve seen a couple recently, both KWs and Peterbilts, nicely restored and painted. Love ‘em

TTIWWOP

flashguy

There are a ton of videos on YouTube about guys that rebuild cabovers. Very interesting. I used to drive one in my other life and there were unique.

Now that you mention it, I almost never see a cabover truck any more. Does nobody build them now? I'd figure that style would have a much better turning radius.

Trucking deregulation and the loosening of length restrictions spelled the end of the OTR cabover truck. They have two major drawbacks: awful ride because the driver sits atop the front wheels, and no protection in frontal crashes. You still see them in small box trucks that have to navigate crowded city streets and alleyways.

Message received. Here’s a start.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Trucking deregulation and the loosening of length restrictions spelled the end of the OTR cabover truck. They have two major drawbacks: awful ride because the driver sits atop the front wheels, and no protection in frontal crashes. You still see them in small box trucks that have to navigate crowded city streets and alleyways.

And they have terrible aerodynamics which affects fuel economy.

Living in one would be awful. Could you imagine the pain in the ass it is to secure every single thing in that sleeper every time you need to work on it? My sleeper had everything from my laptop, canned goods, microwave, fridge, clothing, etc. If I needed it, it was there. In a cabover, I'd have to secure all of that stuff before the cab could be jacked up to work on the engine. Nothing like a can of tuna fish through the windshield to ruin your day.

Laying on your back in bed to pull on your pants, and in an accident, the driver is the first to the scene. No thanks. There's a reason you don't see them on the road anymore. Efficiency is one reason, and lifestyle is another. They are cool to look at, I'll give them that.

quote:

They are cool to look at, I'll give them that.

The thread was never about bringing them back in numbers, just that I’ve seen a few recently that were nicely restored and pretty to look at.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:

quote:

They are cool to look at, I'll give them that.

The thread was never about bringing them back in numbers, just that I’ve seen a few recently that were nicely restored and pretty to look at.

Right, but Plugugly was questioning why he doesn't see them anymore.

I'd love to have a mid-80s KW100 with a 3406b. Popping over to truck paper now...
There it is!! Only $87K. Link



Look at all that yellow goodness.

sigcrazy, suppose the guy the owns that KW, uses the handle, "The Bandit?"

Here's a few pics of some pretty ones:

Well, my question has been answered quite well. Thanks, everyone! Now, we return to your thread in progress.

We were just discussing this at work.
Even with all the quirks, cabovers were the best for engine work and such.

Now they use short nose fuckers with 3/4 of the engine behind the windshield.
I just spent 7 hrs doing one injector that pays 4 hrs warranty due to that stupid shit.

Volvo engines are designed for the European rigs, they just shoehorn them into conventional cabs for here, with no thought it seems to working on them later.
Now they are cramming in a compounding turbo that leaks oil, which makes it even more enjoyable.
I haven't seen an OTR cabover in the shop for about 10 years.

How about a bullnose? Squeeze in a DD12v92. On a hard pull, the stacks would burn white hot nearly to the top. So cool.

The cab doesn’t tilt on these. I’d definitely take it to Powermad for engine work. I hear he likes working in the cockpit.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Watching Cheyenne’s Christmas parade and a beautiful cabover Pete just went by.

But did it have a reefer on

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Watching Cheyenne’s Christmas parade and a beautiful cabover Pete just went by.

But did it have a reefer on

Actually, it had a sleigh on it with Santa at the reins, which were tied into the back of the cab.

quote:

Originally posted by powermad:
We were just discussing this at work.
Even with all the quirks, cabovers were the best for engine work and such.

Now they use short nose fuckers with 3/4 of the engine behind the windshield.
I just spent 7 hrs doing one injector that pays 4 hrs warranty due to that stupid shit.

Volvo engines are designed for the European rigs, they just shoehorn them into conventional cabs for here, with no thought it seems to working on them later.
Now they are cramming in a compounding turbo that leaks oil, which makes it even more enjoyable.
I haven't seen an OTR cabover in the shop for about 10 years.

Not at all unlike seemingly every car manufacturer in the auto industry! Ever since uni-body cars w/ crumple zones came on the scene it's like the engineers see it as a challenge to shoehorn the drivetrain into ever tighter fitting confines with almost NO clearance...And it gets worse EVERY year!

We're convinced that the engineers are trolling us lowly techs.
When cabovers were a thing Volvo used a Detroit 60 series.
Those valve covers were a two piece design.
On convential cabs they used the DD60 with a one piece valve cover that you had to remove body mounts and jack up the cab a bit to get them off.

Way back when I first started turning wrenches for a living, Cab overs were very common.
The good: With a full 90 degree tilt, everything was right out in the open. very easy to work on.
The bad: if you had a wreck, you were the first one there.