Speced out truck ?????????

Reading the post below about Favorite Semi Truck. Saying the truck was speced out the way you wanted it or specing it yourself. Not being a truck driver I'm guessing you are talking about Suspension, Wheel base, Seat, Gear ratio's. Help explain this to a NON truck driver. What are some of the things you can add to a truck SPEC wise to make it the way you want it. Thanks Gerald

You Used to be able to buy a truck with any combo of engines, transmissions, Axles brakes, interior, color even frames.

Suspension i.e. air ride, spring, walking beam, rubber blockcoatings, then axles what type, dif lock, power divider lock. Number of drive axles, lift axles which can be steerable or rigid and all different varieties. Steering and steer axle rating, double steering boxes, tire size, singles or duals, then transmission and engine selections there are dozens of options. Oh and do you want double frame or triple frame for heavy use, a wetline for dump trailers, or double wetline for walking floor trailers. Then cabs, they got extended back cabs for extra leg room, sleepers of all sizes, different style noses and big radiator options for heavy haul or hot climates. There's plenty of options and with good reason, not all trucks do the same work, a freight truck is made to be light and rarely leaves the highway, he doesn't need the heavy steering and low gears of a construction truck or logging truck.

You still can, obviously some options cost more but plenty of options

Don't forget a dozen choices for seats, dash gages, bunks, cabinets, one or two beds. Short, mid height or tall cab. Fuel capacities from 50 gal to 300 gallons. You can even choose how much def you want to haul.

Speccing a truck starts with the obvious stuff, such as engine brand (selection varies from truck brand to truck brand), engine horsepower and torque ratings, clutch, transmission, wheelbase, frame size and thickness, rim and tire size, rear axle weight ratings and ratios, driveline size, suspension, fifth wheel and air-slide brand, sleeper height and length, and on and on. You can also go right into the nitty gritty, such as which gauges are in the dash, how the inside of the sleeper is laid out, different lighting packages, seat brand/style, mirror style, fuel tank size and where they sit on the frame, air dryer brand and model, etc. Pretty well any part of the truck you can imagine, chances are good you have options to choose from. If you are very particular (and I am), it takes hours to go through a truck spec line by line. When you're spending $200k or more on a truck, its worth the time to make sure you get EXACTLY what you want.

Is none an option for def?

gmccool,

Yep. I did that with my truck. Made to order,

Guido.

Lets try to relate this to the common lay person.
When you go buy a Chevy truck or car you are stuck with buying the motor trans and rear end that Chevy specs for that car or truck.

With large class 8 trucks you can buy a cab and frame rails.
No engine trans or rear end.
Then for a complete truck you can add the engine trans and rear end that you want.
While the choices have narrowed a lot over the years especially since caterpillar quit making road motors you could think of it as....
Buying a Chevy pickup; with a Ford motor; a Toyota transmission; and a Dodge rear end.

Another way to think about it is the Ram truck with the Cummins motor.
If we were talking large trucks you would not be stuck buying the Ram truck to get the Cummins motor.
You would be able to get this same Cummins motor in the Chevy or Ford truck.

G.uifo....... In saying that did you get "exactly" what you were trying to outfit the truck with OR did you have to settle on some of the options you sought.
Thanks..... Wingnut

Guido.... In saying , that did you get "exactly" what you were trying to outfit the truck with OR did you have to settle on some of the options you sought.??
Thanks..... Wingnut

Sorry for misspelling your name in the first send. I missed it by pure error.

When cummins tried to buy white truck Co. The feds put a stop saying it was a monopoly. Now alot of truck company offer there own motor.

Thanks for explaining this to me. I had no idea there were that many options & combinations. Thanks again. Gerald

You can even get different levels of interiors in them. Like Jon Said even seats have choices. When I ordered mine I got extra switches labeled as spares for whatever You might want to use them for. I later used one of mine for the blinky light for oversize and and one for something else that escapes me right now. Then a fuel pressure, amp, and suspension gage as extras. Suspension will let you know how much weight you have on the rear axles. Fuel pressure will let you know if you're starving for fuel from a plugged filter or froze line or filter. Single or dual exhaust and sleeper options with and without refigerators and double bunks several sizes of sleepers available also. Separateheat and cooling controls in the sleeper from the cab ones and so on. type and style of air horns and number. Type of lights on the cab roof and air cleaners. Axle sizes both front and back. Like in MI they have what is called the MI special. They will have 44,000 and heavier rears with an 18,000 or more font axle. These will also have wider brake shoes and drums on the front axle. Can or could used to get mountain brakes with wider shoes and drums for the back axles and on trailer axles. usually were about 2-4 inches wider than regular shoes and drums. The pete 357 was a construction model with a sever service or something different about the cab if you wanted. Long and short hoods on the 379 model which is now I think the 579 or something like that. Size of fuel tanks in both length and diameter for different gallon capacities. And lots more options. Been 20 years since I speced a truck would need to look at it again if I was to buy another new one again.

Back in days of old one could get any truck or c ar for that matter the way ou wanted it With a semi you built the truck you wanted for the job you were going to use it on . Myself and just about everyone around me buying a new truck was pulling a coal bucket , we hauled extremely heavy like twice what a freight box would even think of . . So we wanted pony power , a good selection of gears in the transmissions , we needed heavy rear axles and pulling gear as we did not need a truck that could run a 130 MPH as for the most part where we ran 65 was more then enough , BUT sometimes we would go on a long haul and for us that was across the state . Air ride was really not a THING back then and ride was something that was not thougth of much and the norm was for a Hendricks extended leaf of 44000 or greater . Four spring was NOt and OFF road as not enough up and down movement of the drive axles . interior trim level was what ever you wanted from a plain jane up to tucked and rolled pleated you could add the gauge package that would add in three temp gauges for the transmission and both rear ends along with exhaust temp . you picked engine Mfg and horse power for the time k, ya picked yor tire size and tread and tire MFG. . The two I H eagles my buddy and i bought were speced just as if we did the specing . And on them the spec.'s were I H 4300 Eagle with a 210 wheel base two 110 gallon fuel tanks NTC Cummins 350 engines with three stage jake brake , 10.00 x22 tires of Goodyear with custom power drives they had the NEw I H four spring that gave the same flex as the Hendricks but rode like a car. 46000 lb rear axles with 4.33 gear . Road ranger 12513 transmission . Eagle four color paint with pinstriping , twin national high back seats 36 inch Bunk with heat and air. fontain heavy duty fifth wheel with 36 inch air slider , 2500 watt engine heater Full eagle pkg. 10 Aluim BUDD wheels with six fully polished . heavy duty extra bright head lights Dual air horns with snow covers , Single 5 inch exhaust with bright stainless cover and straight top pipe . NOPe i did not want Dualstacks Only BIG trucks run dual stacks and they are loud My buddy and i were doing something different . we want nice looking truck BUT we want to keep them looking as a LITTLE truck . We had our reasons for this . due to the state getting the sixth set of portables and were now hammering on six axles . Mike had just traded his stri axle for a new Heavy built tandem and i was putting in my order for a new East heavy tandem . Little truck don't haul heavy and little trucks don't go fast . well that is the way the cops looked at it . when Mike and i got done with our tweaking and building of the NTC 350's we were making over double the factory rated Hp. and our hauling habbits did not change as we were still loading Charges since the box size was the same but we were now only two axles and a lighter tare weight .When i go my new trailer full of fuel and with 55 gallon of Hyd oil and the wet line kit and half fenders spare tire tarp and bows i weighed in at 27400 on International salts scales and 27480 on Standard slags scales and 27600 on the power plants scales Mike was a 1000 heavier die to the fact that he had the steel frame on his bucket BUT whe we crossed the scales loaded we were always between 10700 and 140000 . My East Dump was designed to haul fifty ton every load with a 25% overage above . OUR experiment on going five axle and the little truck look payed off as the portables ignored us as we never were dragging on the hills and were the ones out in the passing lane smoking everything . Oh look there go two buckets maybe we should pull them over Nah they are not over they are passing freight boxs and they onlu have one pipe up the side . Did we ever get caught yep when i got nailed i refused to weight on the portables ad tey took me to perminents and I BROKE them . Beat that one in court .

There are many applications that require the ability to go off road where traction is poor. These trucks would be speced with power divider lock and axle lock, along with larger wheels and rubber.

If only you could spec out the drivers>>>> Bill

Never heard of a 2500 watt block heater, seems it would be a hassle to find a place to plug into 240! Or a 30 amp 120 circuit was it?

Kats has a 2000

It was a big thing and it would work on a 20 amp 120 with a waring that no longer then a 20 cord was to be used . It mounted to the right frame rail and was over a foot long and about three inches in dia. with two 3/4 inch hoses . When you plugged that one in it sounded like a coffee pot brewing and give it and hour and a half and it would have the water temp up to 180 and a HOT engine start on a 20 below day and instant heat coming out of the heater core. . It was and I H branded one , who made it i have no idea . Only used it a hand full of times as our trucks were the Small cam 350 and had compression release . On days you left them set out and not in the nice warm shop you just grabbed the BIG TEE handle sticking out of the dash on the lower left and PULLLED and push the starter button and got her turning for about 30 seconds and let go she would light but she was NOT happy about it She would miss cough sputter and sometimes even BACK FIRE sounding like a 105 going off and light up the early morning sky and scare the dog do out of you .

The one that was on my 4300 makes that one look like a puppy . It had to built in cast mounting brackets with four holes and sat horizontal on two 1/4 inch thick steel mounting brackets that were bolted to the right frame rail down below the turbo and the outlet howse went to the thermostat housing and the inlet came from the block back by #6 . Just as soon as you plugged it in it was making noise and shaking vibrating gurgling and with in 20 seconds you could not hold onto the outlet hose . Ya did not have to raise the hood to check and see if it was working all ya had to do was just get close to the truck and you could hear it .

Also BACK in the good old days you could walk into a dealers showroom and tell a saleman you were in the market for a new Pick up but you did not see anything on the lot that would fit your bill. He would offer to get you one JUST like what you wanted and wold go get the BUILDERS manual and the two of you would set down and BUILD your new pidck up they way you wanted it in the color you wanted the seat you wanted what you wanted in a transmission engine with power steering and power brakes , Am or Am/ FM radio helper springs a Standard rear end or a posi rear and what gear ration , what engine interior color and cloth or vinyl seats type of mirrors , step bumper, Full spare or just a spare wheel or NO spare , did you want snow and mud tires or hyway tires , tube type or tubeless , Camper pkg or no camper pkg. did you want a snow plow pkg or no snow plow pkg , Did you want the standard heater or did you want the high output that would melt the rubber soles off your boots or did you want heat and A/C , did you want cab lights or not , did you want tinted windows with out A/C as they were standard with A/C and what GVW pkg did you want , What radiator did you want and do you want a transmission Oil cooler with the Automatic do you want and engine oil cooler . There were so many options back then and once you got that all down and figured out in four to six weeks your new as you want would show up at a price you could afford . NOW today it is well this is the way they come and take it or leave it and oh by the way it will cost you and arm leg and first and second born . Last new pick up i looked at that i sorta liked was a two year old left over Dodge/ Ram and i forget if it was a 2500 or 3500 single rear wheel 4X4 with a cummins and a SIX speed one of the last to be had . BUT there were 54748 and Change reasons i did not drive it home and they tried to gaslight me into thinking how great of deal they were giving me and when they got done we were right back at full sticker on the window on a two year old never titled truck. BUT some fool did end up buying it . I find it vary hard to pay more for a pick up that will never make you a dime then i did for darn near a complete semi outfit .

My 1500 watt on my 3020 does that it gurgles and gets hot in about 5 minutes . I put one on my 4020 but I didnt do something right because the water isnt circulating