09' Kenworth T270

[CUMMINZ]

I have been looking at a mint condition 09' Kenworth T270 in the low $50's. It has a Paccar 6. 7L. Any thoughts?

 

[BIGNASTY]

I dont know for sure but Ive heard that the PACCAR motor is just a repackaged Cummins

 

[RustyJC]

A number of truck dealers on the Internet advertise the Paccar PX-6 as being a repackaged Cummins 6. 7L. Here's an example:

2011 PETERBILT 337 PACCAR PX-6 (CUMMINS 6. 7LITER DIESEL ENGINE) 260HP ALLISON 2200RDS AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION AIR BRAKES LOW AIR LEAF SUSPENTION 10K

Makes sense since the Paccar PX-8 happens to be an 8. 3L engine (Cummins C-series displacement).



Rusty

 

[Bill Stockard]

If you are planning on making that T270 that you are looking at an RV tow vehicle, I'm afraid you'll be very disappointed in its performance. You need to look for a larger diplacement engine with 335-350 or more HP with rorque ratings near 1000 lb/ft.



Bill

 

[mwilson]

If you are planning on making that T270 that you are looking at an RV tow vehicle, I'm afraid you'll be very disappointed in its performance. You need to look for a larger diplacement engine with 335-350 or more HP with rorque ratings near 1000 lb/ft.



Bill

X2.

You will hate it worse than a red-headed stepchild after your first loaded trip.



Keep looking, if you want to run with the big dogs you need all your rigging intact... ... . :-laf



Mike.

 

[CUMMINZ]

This is one fine truck and it is equipped to our liking but I did have a few fretful moments when I came home and did some research and found out it was the 6. 7L with 280HP. The salesman did say it was traded to pull a larger trailer. We would also like to have a back seat. We may be looking at just ordering a new one and get the bigger motor.



#ad

 

[mwilson]

As you are taking a giant step up in equipment please take the time to sit in each brand of truck unless you are hopelessly in love with a KW.



I have spent considerable time behind the wheel of a lot of brands over the years and for driver comfort a KW/Peterbilt Cab is low on the list.



The floorboard comes up in the front which creates a steep throttle pedal angle and will cramp my foot after about an hour in traffic.



Cabs are narrow, although that T270 appears to have decent visibility.



Narrow cab trucks require you to turn your head much further in order to get a proper view from either rear view mirror, hard on the neck after a long days drive.



Also try to find Moto-Mirrors and at least a RH Power Window, you'll soon understand why.



Avoid narrow cab trucks with dual stacks, makes the drivers side very blind both with the mirror and looking out the door to the rear.



KW's and Pete's are great looking trucks but to get thru 4 lanes of hostile lane jumpin' day trader traffic on the DC beltway I'll take a wide-cab tractor anyday.



Just a few quick thoughts from the old memory... ... ... .



Mike.

 

[Bill Stockard]

As you are taking a giant step up in equipment please take the time to sit in each brand of truck unless you are hopelessly in love with a KW.



I have spent considerable time behind the wheel of a lot of brands over the years and for driver comfort a KW/Peterbilt Cab is low on the list.



The floorboard comes up in the front which creates a steep throttle pedal angle and will cramp my foot after about an hour in traffic.



Cabs are narrow, although that T270 appears to have decent visibility.



Narrow cab trucks require you to turn your head much further in order to get a proper view from either rear view mirror, hard on the neck after a long days drive.



Also try to find Moto-Mirrors and at least a RH Power Window, you'll soon understand why.



Avoid narrow cab trucks with dual stacks, makes the drivers side very blind both with the mirror and looking out the door to the rear.



KW's and Pete's are great looking trucks but to get thru 4 lanes of hostile lane jumpin' day trader traffic on the DC beltway I'll take a wide-cab tractor anyday.



Just a few quick thoughts from the old memory... ... ... .



Mike.

Excellent advice, Mike. KW and Peterbilt sell their medium duty narrow cabs on their name, not on driver comfort and convenience.



Bill

 

[CUMMINZ]

Bill & MW , thanks for the advice. We are still looking.

 

[mwilson]

Just grabbed the camera and went out in the lot to see if I could find a few examples,,, use the bodies on the first three trucks as a reference point to illustrate the width of the various cabs.



Quite a difference in cab room between the four trucks shown.



Mike.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Mike,



Thanks a lot for the effort. Believe it or not I had never noticed that difference. One of the trucks we have looked at the most is a Freightliner M2 Sport. My rathers is the M2.



#ad

 

[mwilson]

If you start sniffing out the M2's and have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Between myself and Shawn we should be able to answer and advise on components and powertrain specs for the Daimler Products... ... ...



I have 4 M2's in parts delivery service here,



One is a twin-screw air ride with the "C" series Cummins with an Allison Automatic transmission



Two are single axle air rides with Mercedes 900 series power and six speed manual trannies



One is a single axle spring ride with hydraulic brakes, Mercedes 900 series and a small Allison Auto.



EGR coolers are the nuisance item on the Mercedes engines. If they are run for any length of time with a cooler failure it is company policy to change out the rod bearings. It is a directive here.



I can pretty much predict what will fall off in the road first..... :-laf



All have been pretty good trucks so far.



Mike.

 

[CUMMINZ]

Here is the link to the custom bed that this KW had and I liked it better than the other beds I had seen.



J&I MANUFACTURING - Truck Beds for Farm, Ranch, Welding, Oilfield and Industrial applications.

 

[mwilson]

Just went out back and my twin screw M2 is here.



The body on this truck is 6" wider than the previous three that I used for reference so there is an additional 3" of body showing per side.



That shows just how much wider the M2 cab is versus the Paccar products.



Mike.

 

[BIGNASTY]

If you are looking at Freightliners I would keep looking unless you have something to pick up the parts that fall off. And most of all say away from the M Benz motors nice when they work but they hardly ever do and are SUPER BUCKS for parts. Take a look at International I have one with a DT466 I pull a 45 ft drop deck not a rv has plenty of power for what it is and what I load on the trailer, truck opinions are like A holes everybody has one good luck in you purchase

 

[E7mack96]

I feel that the Freightliner product is solid. I've been working on them for years, and they are pretty service friendly, and parts are cheap compared to other brands. just my $. 02

Tony

 

[HBarlow]

For years I've admired and dreamed of a mdt like the ones in this discussion. Every time I have admired a particular truck or classified ad I've asked Bill Stockard about it. Fortunately, each time Bill has thrown a five gallon bucket of ice water on me and my idea. I am grateful that he has. For me, it is a goofy idea.

In my case, owning a big medium duty truck like that to pull a fiver is just a little boy's dream I have never gotten completely over. Unless the buyer is savvy enough to spec one out or fortunate to have friends like Bill Stockard and Mike Wilson to advise him, he is very likely to spend $120,000 and be very disappointed. And from what I have learned from listening to the guys who know trucks like they do, those big trucks just cost three or four, even five times more than our Dodge Rams to do the same thing and except for brakes and mass, can't really do it any better.

Yeah, if I won a $100 million lottery I'd probably buy one but I don't buy lottery tickets, never have, and the likelihood of me ever owning one of those huge money pits is zero.

They look good and I still admire them but no way will I ever own one! I'm satisfied with my little Ram Cummins.

 

[mwilson]

CumminZ,



I just want to toss out some more thoughts, I assume you seek a more capable truck to pull your fiver and they are out there.



The ideal truck for me (Yes Harvey, I suffer from the same thing. . ) would be an integral sleeper cab.

That gives you a rear seating/resting area and many have windows back there, independant AC/Heating systems,TV hook-ups, etc. already in place and an integral part of the factory truck package.

I would seek out a pre-EGR engine, either a Series 60 or Cat 3406 and derate it to 350 horse or so. That will provide fuel economy close to a maxxed out "B" series.

If a big engine frightens you a little both of the engine companies I would use offer very good long term warranties for a fair price, as a matter of fact CAT doesn't care how miles are on the engine as long as it is rebuilt correctly by a CAT authorized dealer.

Then you get a REAL Jake Brake to boot.

Fuller 10 speed transmission, dirt simple, easy to shift and no splitter issues that the 13 and 18 speeds will suffer from.

Singled out Meritor 40-145 rear with driver controlled axle lock. (Locks L & R axles together using a shift fork and air pressure, true locker!!) Again an integral part of the package.

You get an onboard air system and air ride, again an integral part of the truck.

You get dirt simple air brakes and spring parking brakes, again simple and parts are cheap!!!

Price out calipers and rotors for the hydraulic brake equipped non-CDL trucks that you are looking at, it is ridiculous!!!





Now regarding the M2's with fiver bodies that you see on the road,

I have seen many that are built by Freightliner and then go to Fontaine Modification Company for the addition of the cushy seats, wood grain consoles, vanity mirrors, rear seat tv, custom bodies, pretty side fairings, the list goes on.



That is well and good if you are wealthy horse racer type dude but the rest of us will feel the pain when something goes wrong.

The pain is anything that is added at Fontaine or wherever is not an integral part of the basic truck so any foo-foo stuff costs big money and is very challenging to identify when you have an issue.

For example we had one in here a few years back for warranty and one of the many complaints was the remote door unlock only worked on every even numbered Tuesday.

Well, that was not a factory system, it was added by the body builder. That cost that guy quite a bit of extra coin to correct as we had to scramble to find wiring diagrams that were not Freightliner items, the magic box that ran it was not a Freightliner part, etc.

By the time we learned and repaired the system it incurred some additional expense with good reason.



That is why I would avoid the added stuff and go with a factory non-molested retired road tractor.



Just my opinion as a result of what I witness here at the dealer level.



Also bear in mind that I have owned Class 8 trucks and can repair them so it is no mystery that I find them to be far less bizarre than a medium duty truck.

If you have no truck experience maybe it's not a project one should attempt as Harvey says above.



It is a big step and people are going to give all kinds of ideas, thought I would jump right in... . :-laf



MIke.

 

[HBarlow]

I used to follow the discussions on the Escapees website. There are two forums there, one for MDTs and the other for HDTs. Those full time RVers who populate the HDT forum will eventually convince an open minded reader to do exactly what Mike recommended above if you read long enough. Buy a clean, late model retired OTR tractor, remove the forward drive axle if it is a tandem axle, shorten the frame, and add a fifth wheel hitch at the end of the frame. Those trucks will do everything a brand new MDT can do plus a lot more at a fraction of the price of an MDT. The retired OTR tractors have about 400-450 hp, 1400-1500 ft. lbs. of torque, and some have an two pedal automatic or three pedal autoshifter.

If you know what and how to buy one or could buy one from someone like Mike Wilson at the dealership where he works you can buy and set one up for less than any of us paid for new or even late model Dodge Rams.

 

[Bill Stockard]

A neighbor a couple of miles on our county road who raises quarter horses has been towing his long fancy horse trailer with a late model tricked out Freightliner Custom Chassis Tow/Hauler medium duty truck. I noticed a while back is was for sale. Now he is towing his horse trailer with a Ram 3500 dually. Hmm, I wonder why... ?



Bill