Horsepower for Super-B

[LEP]

Ronski, we have a set of super b's , a two hopper triaxle, and a couple tandem axle trailers. At seeding and harvest we don't put the super b's into the field except to haul a load that might be going to the elevator. I have had 13spd trucks on my trains, but more hp and gears are better.

Mostly use just the triaxle and super b's to haul to the elevator from the bins after harvest. Hauling out of the same yard you get pretty much the same number of loads in the day done.

I haven't had custom trucking done for alot of years. How much are you being charged? $7-8 a tonne? If so lets say at $8 x 1500mt you pay about $12k a year in trucking. Plates on a truck pulling super b's is easily a thousand dollars more than a triaxle. More tires, lights and tarps. We use tarp savers on the triaxle which are definitely worth it. 1500mt you are looking at 36 loads on a super b, 47 on a triaxle or 58 on a tandem axle. Even if you are in line for two hours every trip that is only 24 more hours a year.

Personally I think a tandem or triaxle trailer wouldn't be too much of a handicap and much cheaper to buy and license.

[Quadtrack]

Which breed of aluminum?

Doepker Legacy.

[farmaholic]

Wilson aluminum tridem 2 hopper trailer.
2009, T600 Kenworth(daycab)
ISX 485
4way lockers
18 speed
it is a light truck like Tom4___ says, a bit over 14,000.
only one fuel tank and that isn't enough if you're hauling "all" day a long distance.
The truck definitely isn't anything fancy! Clean and in good shape, over 600K kms.

All white truck and trailer, not easily seen in FOG!!!!

And yup, the trailer is a high sided bugger, quite the sail in cross winds.

Simple unit, didn't deck the trailer out in excess lights(bought it new off the lot, not special ordered), I need to be seen but not in a way that says, "look at me".

Good luck with your search, so many options. Too bad farming never paid good enough that we didn't have to settle for the Trucking Industries hand-me-downs. I don't know many farms that are big enough, or can afford, a brand new highway tractor to use solely on the farm. Like anything else, these things(new ones) need to be rolling to pay for themselves.

[blackpowder]

1500 tonnes doesn't need overthinking.
Short hauls. Only 50 trips.
My old 300+ Mack would do if necessary.
Used trains always have had commercial use. Used steel are half shot for their price.
Take your time and find a good used aluminum tandem trailer. The truck can be a throwaway if can't afford better.
Just my opinion.

[helmsdale]

Doepker Legacy.

Like the open end for cleaning and working on. Quite like the non-rigid joints of the legacy. If you've ever stood on the bridge of a super when its loaded and pulling out of an approach, or just moving on uneven ground, its bloody amazing that the rigid welds on most trailers dont crack out more often considering the flex involved in everything. Really like that they've gone to one piece end slopes. Less opportunity for water and salt to get in.

All that aside, I despise the horsepower penalty, and therefore the fuel penalty on open ends in a cross wind. Pulled with a guy on the same fleet when I was commerical hauling. Me pulling open ended doepkers, him pulling a set of wilsons. I could out pull him handily on a normal day, but in a bad cross wind it was like he had an additional 75-100hp rather than the other way around. Fuel consumption was par on a normal day, .5 to as high as a full 1mpg on a windy day. Smooth sides of the legacy could help alot though as well with no corrugations to constantly be dragging in the wind.

Anybody here pulled both a legacy and a wilson or lode king enclosed? Any difference in a cross wind?

[STRNGR]

We have all aluminum Super Bs, LoadKings & Wilson’s pull same,have a Dopker open end, nice light trailers, just pull a little harder in wind. Also leaving tarps open traveling empty in a wind is a heavy pull !
Take time to source a nice used set of trailers, can find SuperBs for not much more than triaxels in price
We went through the 400 Cummings & 15 spds, 13s better, 18s and lower gears makes it a lot easier on clutch. Everyone has a budget, don’t rush and can find something that will last you a long time !👍

[AlbertaFarmer5]

What am I doing wrong. 430 (470 on cruise) Detroit with an 18 speed, 46,000 rears, and only a body truck with tridem pup, and severely underpowered, I can't imaging pulling super B's with this much HP.

I will agree with above posters, for a farm truck full lockers are an absolute must, Doesn't cost much more to get a truck with lockers to start with, so don't even look at one without.

Local truck repair shop has nothing good to say about QSX, sounds like the Detroits are now the more reliable truck engine(if only I could say the same about the series 60 I have).

[LEP]

What am I doing wrong. 430 (470 on cruise) Detroit with an 18 speed, 46,000 rears, and only a body truck with tridem pup, and severely underpowered, I can't imaging pulling super B's with this much HP.

I will agree with above posters, for a farm truck full lockers are an absolute must, Doesn't cost much more to get a truck with lockers to start with, so don't even look at one without.

Local truck repair shop has nothing good to say about QSX, sounds like the Detroits are now the more reliable truck engine(if only I could say the same about the series 60 I have).

All those horses turn to ponies eventually.

We have had a volvo, two detroits, an ISX and two Cats over the years. The detroits needed the least work, but as they aged they definitely lost power. I think going forward I may look at a truck with a PACCAR.

[helmsdale]

What am I doing wrong. 430 (470 on cruise) Detroit with an 18 speed, 46,000 rears, and only a body truck with tridem pup, and severely underpowered, I can't imaging pulling super B's with this much HP.

I will agree with above posters, for a farm truck full lockers are an absolute must, Doesn't cost much more to get a truck with lockers to start with, so don't even look at one without.

Local truck repair shop has nothing good to say about QSX, sounds like the Detroits are now the more reliable truck engine(if only I could say the same about the series 60 I have).

What's the rated torque?

If it's the 1450lb/ft version, thats your primary issue. Big change in pulling power between 1450 and 1850. Also whats the ratio of your rear ends? Most guys in the days of the 400 cummins and 425 cat were running minimum 3.90's, with most running 4.10/4.11's. Know of one fella that ran a 425 cat with 3.55's pulling trains... took a stiff tail wind going downhill to get a speeding ticket. On the plus side, with the mechanical engines of the day you had glorified speed control, by pulling the screw throttle to the stop.

As far as engines, from what I've seen it's a roll of the dice... Know three guys with 600hp/2150 DD16 Volvos. 2 have been chronically in and out of the shop, with one guy on his 6th set of injectors 1 has worked flawlessly. Know numerous guys with tier 4 ISX's from 2015 on. A few haven't even made it to 6000hrs before they needed a full rebuild, a couple others that have hardly spent a day in the shop aside from a few sensor glitches. Talked to many guys on the road, detroit much the same. Seems that it's more luck than anything. Tier 3 ISX's, Cat's, and Detroits were nightmares for most guys until they deleted them. Personal experience with one 2008 Cat C15 that had a whopping $95,000 in warranty work done to it in the first 3 years of use! Prior to the full rebuild, it chewed out 7 air compressors, 8 turbo chargers, 2 or 3 jugs, numerous injectors, etc etc. Deleted prior to major overhaul and it's been working flawlessly ever since.

[blackpowder]

Yup it's funny. My relate that manages a Detroit/MTU shop says a lot of owner/op small fleet, just overhauling the older engines if truck any good.
All seem to have a year range where they can break you.
DDEC Series 60s have a great reputation.

[blackpowder]

Will add that I wouldn't touch a Navistar for free.

[STRNGR]

Horsepower

Most of our older trucks are 12.7 Litre 60 series 430/470 HP, fine on short hauls & calm days. Now have a couple of 14 Litre 60 series 515 Hp and work fine . Have a 2012 ISX 15 Litre 525 Hp deleted and temp/wind don’t slow you down, just fuel gauge speeds up, moving wrong way 😳. It does most of hauling in winter

[helmsdale]

Will add that I wouldn't touch a Navistar for free.

Massive class action stateside on 15L navistars... not sure what the resolution was