Yes, Thanks Bill or all the good info. Some of it even helps if you are looking at a conversion. My Freightliner dealer is trying to convince me that that 2006 Columbia's that we are ordering should come with the Mercedes engine (450hp) and the Clutchless auto over the Detroit or Cat with the standard 10C transmission. I am not sure about the service of the Mercedes and I pretty much know what to expect out of the Detroit or Cat. We have 4 Cat's, 5 Detroits and 4 Cummins. We have 4 due in the next few days with the Cat's but for the next group I am leanning to the Mercedes. I am dissapointed with the fuel mileage in all of the rest as we are averaging 6.56 mpg pulling 79,500lbs gross weight with all engines performing about the same. They all have their good points but in the long run the Cat's have cost less and the Detroits the most. We usually run them all to about 800,000 miles before retiring them to trade. We seem to actually make more with the Cummins becouse we get paid by the weight and they weigh about 1800 lbs less than the others. The Mercedes will weigh about the same as the M11's. So any info on the ability of the Mercedes (even the smaller ones) will help me make an informed decision.
Thanks for letting me ramble about non conversion stuff!!
Wick
|