Question About a D Unit

carstea · May 11, 2004

If a person got a straight truck - D unit with a 22 foot box, and a sleeper box - what kind of gas mileage would the truck get?

Also I hear folks talking about fuel surcharge, what is a fuel surcharge, how is it applied/determined, and when does it apply?

From what I am reading from you folks it sounds like a D unit is the way to go for a husband and wife team. Seems like you would be busy hauling as often as you could keep up.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

RichM · May 11, 2004

Many factors affect fuel mileage,the engine size, the weight of the load,adverse weather (strong winds are a killer) and driving habits.When you idle you get 0 mpg,I have always driven in a conservative manner and usually get about 10.5 to 11.5.This is for a D unit with a Cummins 8.3 liter engine and a 6 speed. Empty weight of the truck is about 19,000 lbs.
A fuel surcharge is an additional charge that carriers charge to the shipper over and above the normal tarrif rate. This is cover fuel costs when they spike ,such as now. The charge can vary all over the place and some shiipers have contracts that do not allow additional charges so you won!t get the extra charge and have to absorb the higher fuel costs yourself.x(

ATeam · May 14, 2004

My wife and I drive a class 8 D-unit: 2001 Freightliner, CAT-10 engine, 10-speed auto-shift transmission. 22 foot box, lift axle, and eqipped with a reefer and generator (both of which consume fuel). Truck weights about 15 tons, (30,000 lbs) empty. As RichM said, many factors affect fuel economy. We too are conservative drivers that drive with fuel economy in mind. Our mileage ranges from 8.5 to 11.5 depending on conditions, with our overall average at 9.5 MPG.

ATeam · May 14, 2004

It's hard to argue with the idea that a D-unit is a good way to go for team drivers. D units can and often do haul D, C, and B loads. C and B units can't haul D loads. That gives you a leg up. A D reefer unit opens you to even more loads. Being a team also opens you to more loads. You can do both short and long runs.

That said, the new truck we are preparing to purchase is a C unit. When we weighed the number of D loads we'd lose against the more sleeper space we'd gain with a smaller-cargo-box C unit, we found that only 6% of the loads we carried were D loads. Since we're in the truck 100% of the time when we're on the road, and since we're on the road a lot, we decided C.

Times are good now. When freight slows down, as it surely will in this cyclical business, I already know we'll look with envy at the D loads we chose to give up. Good thing we'll have a nice sleeper! Our C-unit decision means we'll sometimes be sitting while D-units are running.

romoore245 · May 14, 2004

We drive a Frieghtliner with a 530 detriot and 10 speed autoshift the addedd horsepower makes the difference. We get the average 9.5 to 11.5 depending weither we run steady no iddling and stay on the highways. Another factor to look at is how many miles the truck will hold up to I hear the FL70 is only good for 300,000 miles before major overhaul, or 500,000 before engine replacement. The stretched tractors are good for closer to0 900,000
good luck

RichM · May 14, 2004

I may regret saying this but our FL 70 is pushing 800 K with no major problems. We put it into sevice in June of 1996,but the actual build date was August 95.Only repair over 1k was transmission and clutch repairs for $1800.Nice to have no payments.

romoore245 · May 15, 2004

really, that is great to hear, maybe all the folks i've talked with had really mistreated their trucks. Were you the only owner or did you get it used?

RichM · May 15, 2004

I bought it new.It was speced and built for another guy but when they tried to reach him, he either had died or was in prison etc. His phone had been disconnected and his house was empty.It sat on Orlando Freightliner!s lot for about 7 months and I heard about it,negoiated for a couple of weeks and bought it.