Equipment

By Tom Berg

The Pinnacle-pulled rig weighed close to 80,000 pounds. So how did it pull the hills at such low engine speeds? With 1,860 lb-ft of torque, and with no more speed loss than one would find with higher revving engines.

Tags: Mack Trucks, Mack, Automated Manual Transmissions, mDrive, Downspeed, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

Peterbilt Motors’ Model 567 Heritage combines a rugged-looking vocational truck with special exterior and interior trim that harkens back to the company’s West Coast origins and days of the “large car.”

Tags: Peterbilt, Test Drive, Model 567

By Tom Berg

Not all trash trucks are born alike. The model LET2 CC is a rather roomy example in a world where most refuse trucks seat two, or three in a pinch. Senior Editor Tom Berg offers his hands-on impressions.

Tags: Refuse Trucks, CCC, Test Drive, Refuse Fleet

By Jim Park

Western Star’s 6900XD pulls 70 metric tons through a dirt road course and comes through with flying colors.

Tags: Western Star, Severe Duty, Test Drive, Vocational Trucks, Extreme Duty Trucks

By Tom Berg

Even with a roomy sleeper, this T680 scales at just 14,200 pounds, making heavy payloads possible.

Tags: Kenworth, Test Drive, T680, Lightweighting

By Jim Park

As engine platforms go, Cummins' ISX has to be considered slightly remarkable. It survived the transition to EGR and then to SCR aftertreatment -- while several other engines did not -- and it's still very much alive and kicking today.

Tags: Cummins, Cummins ISX15, Engines, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

What does it take for a pickup to be considered “American”? Nissan is a Japanese company, but its Titan XD is American all the way through.

Tags: Pickup Trucks, Nissan, Nissan Titan, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

If you found Ford’s previous F-650 and F-750 useful, comfortable and easy to drive, you’ll feel the same way about the new generation.

Tags: Medium-Duty Trucks, Ford, Ford F-650, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

Like the diesel version shown off last December, the gasoline truck's capabilities lie between traditional half- and three-quarter-tonners. Senior Editor Tom Berg has first driving impressions.

Tags: Pickup Trucks, Nissan, Nissan Titan, Large Pickups, Gasoline Engines, Test Drive

By Jim Park

We get behind the wheel of the newest fuel-efficient version of the Cummins ISX and find there’s much to look forward to.

Tags: Cummins, Diesel Engines, Cummins ISX, Test Drive, Engines

By Tom Berg

This ‘Baby 8’ Kenworth T370 has serious carrying capacity, with a midrange-size powertrain that performs well but saves money and weight.

Tags: Kenworth, T370, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

For years Eaton has been improving its UltraShift Plus series to make the heavy-duty automated manual transmissions do more things and do them better. Blended Pedal, Urge to Move features make Eaton automated gearboxes more useful.

Tags: Transmissions, Vocational Trucks, UltraShift Plus, Eaton, Test Drive, Automated Manual Transmissions

By Tom Berg

The beefed-up chassis puts the new truck between ½-ton and ¾-ton pickups, but the star for now is Cummins power.

Tags: Pickup Trucks, Nissan, Test Drive, Nissan Titan XD

By Tom Berg

Truckers who used to crave a long-nose Pete with a big-bore engine might be surprised by Paccar’s new smaller powerhouse.

Tags: Paccar, Peterbilt, Test Drive, MX-11

By Jim Park

First revealed at the Mid-America Trucking Show in March, Dana's Dual Range Disconnect drive axle system gives users the fuel savings of a downsped 6x2 drivetrain and the traction and performance of a conventional 6x4 setup. How's that possible you ask?

Tags: Dana Spicer, Advantek40, Downspeed, 6x2, Test Drive

By Jim Park

The T880 was introduced a few years ago but in just six short months, orders for the new vocational platform overtook its worthy predecessor, the T800. In the heavy duty market, that's quite remarkable.

Tags: Kenworth, Ultimate Test Drive, T880, Vocational Trucks, Test Drive

By Jim Park

True zero-emissions freight transportation is closer to reality than you might think. A California-based technology company called TransPower USA has five Class 8 tractors in service now working out of the Port of Long Beach. Jim Park takes one for a drive in this Focus On... video.

Tags: Test Drive, Battery-Electric Vehicles, TransPower

By Jim Park

We got a sneak preview of the MX-11 in a Kenworth T880 dump truck while at the Eaton Proving Grounds in Marshall Michigan - the one with the dirt track with grades of 20% and worse.

Tags: Paccar, Vocational, Test Drive, Paccar MX Engine

By Tom Berg

A dual-turbo V-6 makes Ford’s new Euro-style cargo van fast, while the large unibody provides a lot of cargo space.

Tags: Cargo Vans, Ford Transit, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

What’s better than an mDrive automated manual transmission if you’re running Mack dump or mixer trucks? An mDrive HD, for (extra) heavy duty, the company says. Senior Editor Tom Berg's driving impressions.

Tags: Mack Trucks, Automated Manual Transmissions, mDrive, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

This long-hooded model with forward-set steer axle is the nicest-driving Cat Truck yet.

Tags: Caterpillar, Test Drive, Vocational Trucks

By Jim Park

Kenworth’s bold and unapologetic limited-edition “large car” doesn’t disappoint.

Tags: Kenworth, Test Drive, Icon 900

By Tom Berg

Volvo Heavy Duty model has its own styling and extra-strong specs, but retains most of the comfort of better-known VN road tractors.

Tags: Volvo, Test Drive, Off-Road

By Jim Park

TRW’s new ReAX electric/hydraulic power steering senses vehicle speed and proportionately assists the steering effort, which is great in tight spots.

Tags: TRW Automotive, Test Drive, Steering

By Jim Park

Aero device manufacturers now have a choice of test methods to prove the effectiveness of their devices. Are consumers any better off?

Tags: SmartWay, Fuel Efficiency, EPA, Test Drive, Aerodynamics

By Tom Berg

The tough, burly tractor and its 600-hp diesel work hard to pull a heavy “train” trailer in frozen conditions.

Tags: Western Star, Test Drive, Heavy Haul, Dump Trucks

By Jim Park

Is SmartWay verification enough to calculate the return on investing in add-on aerodynamic devices?

Tags: Fuel Efficiency, Aerodynamics, Test Drive, SmartWay

By Jim Park

A new powertrain, enhanced aerodynamics and light-weighting make the T680 Advantage the most fuel-efficient Kenworth ever.

Tags: Kenworth, Fuel Efficiency, Test Drive, Kenworth T680

By Tom Berg

Senior Editor Tom Berg explains how he and the other judges picked Kenworth's T880 vocational truck as the ATD's 2015 Commercial Truck of the Year.

Tags: Test Drive, ATD Commercial Truck of the Year, Vocational Trucks, Kenworth T880

By Tom Berg

Most customers won't need a full-size van with this kind of off road capability, but for those who do, the Sprinter proves it can handle rough terrain.

Tags: Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, Full-Size Vans, Test Drive, Mercedes-Benz, Four Wheel Drive

By Tom Berg

Ford showed off the new ProMaster City compact van last week. It’s a neat truck that drives like a comfortable and roomy auto-based minivan, but it's based on a Fiat commercial van.

Tags: Ram, Test Drive, Cargo Vans, Compact Vans, Ram ProMaster City

By Tom Berg

Business-like in appearance and set up for bridge-formula states, the latest Cat Truck will suit dump, mixer and snowplow applications.

Tags: Caterpillar, Mixer, Snow Plow, Test Drive, Dump Trucks

By Jim Park

Western Star’s 5700XE might just be everything to everyone. It’s a big classic-styled truck with second-to-one aerodynamics.

Tags: Western Star, Test Drive, Aerodynamics, Downspeed

By Tom Berg

Heavy haul is one of many tasks that the increasingly popular vocational model has been engineered for.

Tags: Kenworth, Test Drive, Heavy Haul, Kenworth T880, Automated Manual Transmissions

By Jim Park

A comparison between a set of standard halogen headlamps and LED headlamps reveals, well, there is no comparison.

Tags: Headlights, Truck-Lite, LED Lighting, Test Drive, Lighting

By Tom Berg

Aluminum body and bed, redesigned steel frame, and a small but lively V-6 are the new truck’s highpoints.

Tags: Ford F-150, EcoBoost, Aluminum, Test Drive, 2015-MY

By Tom Berg

Precise concrete placement is a traditional feature for this front-discharge mixer, but relatively new is natural gas power.

Tags: Natural Gas Vehicles, Oshkosh, Test Drive, Concrete Mixer Trucks, Vocational, Medium-Duty Trucks

By Jim Park

Peterbilt's new Class 6/7 COE is ideally suited for city P&D as well as landscaping applications.

Tags: Paccar, Peterbilt, COE, Peterbilt Model 220, Quick Spin, Test Drive, Medium-Duty Trucks

By Tom Berg

This 10-speed brings continuous power to a crowded field of smooth self-shifters.

Tags: Allison Transmission, Test Drive, Navistar, Transmissions

By Jim Park

Cummins and Eaton may have finally nailed it with their SmartAdvantage Powertrain combo, reports Equipment Editor Jim Park in July's Test Drive. The SmartAdvantage powertrain offers fuel and weight saving, as well as a very, very good driving experience.

Tags: Cummins, Eaton, Test Drive, Transmissions, Automated Manual Transmissions

By Tom Berg

Combine the frame from the vocational VHD with the comfort of the VN highway tractor and you have something strong for long hauls.

Tags: Volvo Trucks, Test Drive, Mid-America Trucking Show, Volvo VNX, Heavy Haul, Class 8

By Tom Berg

From the ground and behind the wheel, you’d think this Freightliner Columbia is brand new. This was obvious on a run out on Interstate 70 in eastern Missouri, pulling a hopper-bottom trailer with a heavy load of granulated lime destined for an animal-food plant in Montgomery City, west of St. Louis. It rode, shifted and ran like new, and was just as comfortable.

Tags: Freightliner, American Power Group, WheelTime Network, Test Drive, Dual Fuel, Glider Kits, Clarke Power Services

By Tom Berg

Senior Editor Tom Berg takes Volvo's lightweight Optimized VNL430 for a drive near Volvo's New River Valley plant in Virginia.

Tags: Volvo, Test Drive, Lightweighting

By Tom Berg

“Proprietary” is a magic word among truck builders. It describes components of the company’s own manufacture or design that are installed on the company’s own trucks. For truck users, this can be a good thing, because they’re designed to work specifically with a company’s other components.

Tags: Detroit Diesel, Mack, Freightliner Cascadia, Test Drive, Daimler Trucks North America, Transmissions, Engines, Automated Manual Transmissions, Detroit DT12

By Tom Berg

Does a bigger cab merit a larger model number for a truck? It does with Peterbilt’s 567, the builder’s latest vocational truck, which will eventually replace the current 367.

Tags: Paccar, Peterbilt, Test Drive, Vocational Trucks

By Tom Berg

Is this single-rear-axle truck the type of medium-heavy-duty model that Mack should have brought out first? I asked that question two years ago when I saw the initial offering, the tandem-axle Granite MHD. I figured other than the tandem, it was just right for municipal fleets and others who don’t need high carrying capacity.

Tags: Cummins, Mack, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

My drive of the Cummins Wesport ISX12 G was at a mid-July “natural gas summit” hosted by Kenworth at its plant in Chillicothe, Ohio. A half-dozen gas-powered KWs built for different applications were offered to dealers, customers and press reporters for inspection and evaluation. A few fellows with CDLs, like me, took them for drives, and I had – how shall I say? – a learning experience while in a T800 short-haul daycab tractor pulling a 53-foot van trailer.

Tags: Kenworth, Cummins, Natural Gas, Test Drive

By Jim Park

Freightliner’s Cascadia 113 and the ISX12 G from Cummins Westport aren’t exactly strangers. About 100 of the trucks have been in customer hands for some months now. Equipment Editor Jim Park takes one for a spin.

Tags: Cummins, Natural Gas, Freightliner, Cascadia, Natural Gas Vehicles, Test Drive

By Tom Berg

Time is money, and that’s the essence of a front-discharge mixer. It drives right up to where concrete’s needed and, after the driver adds chute extensions, starts offloading. Terex/Advance Mixer in Fort Wayne, Ind., makes rear-discharge drums for mounting on conventional truck chassis, but its heart is in the front-discharge version that it builds all-new and as glider kits.

Tags: Terex, Test Drive, Vocational, Mixer

By Jim Park

Equipment Editor Jim Park still recalls his first meeting with a T800. It was in the fall of'86, the year the truck was introduced and a little more than a year after the T600 had made its game-changing debut.

Tags: Kenworth, Test Drive