My latest gig has me behind the wheel (of a straight truck) a lot and when you're behind the wheel of something a lot, big and little things matter a lot. Thus, this installment.
For a while there I was behind the wheel of a Ryder truck. After a stretch of ten or more in the cab of one of those you get a feel for every little thing a Ryder has to offer and can relate to it perhaps like the men of old talked about the particular classes of ships they were steering across the briny deep or the masses of iron and steel that they were at the control of as those behemoths puffed and snorted their way down the line.
Now if there's one thing that any pilot knows it's that if there is more than one vessel, and that vessel came from the exact same manufacturer and was built at nearly the same time, it doesn't at all mean that it will run the same as the other ones in the fleet. No way! Each vessel has a unique temperament, one that could even be called a disposition. Each vessel will handle differently, its power train will function differently, and this or that function on the dashboard (the 'controls') will bring you a slightly different response. Also, each vessel has little quirky things that an experienced pilot of said vessel has to know and contend with if they are going to operate it at maximum efficiency. The manaufacturers will say this ain't so but it is. Each vessel has a personality.
I think that certain machines have a life of their own and that if you treat 'em right, like everything else, they will treat you right in return but that could be just me blowin' smoke, which I ain't, but there will be those reading this that might agree with that last notion. Be that as it may, I still believe. Why? 'Cuz I drive these 'machines' a lot and they respond to my particular touch...
....but maybe that's a little far out so let's just talk about the basics, to get you non-pilots out there up to speed. Let's talk about the simple differences between just two manufacturer's offerings.
Now the Ryders in our fleet (there were at one point three, but now there are two) are very similar on the inside. Same engines, same controls. They respond differently, as all machines of similar construction will do, but not so differently as to be highly noticeable, aggravating, or in other ways much of an issue. Ryder has, I think, got the idea of what a truck oughta be able to do down. Their trucks are suitable instruments for the job of hauling freight. Oh, the air conditioning systems inside 'em are pretty weak, the power windows don't like going up and down so much, their sound systems are basic, and so on. Could anything more be asked for in this regard? Apparently not. Trucks are trucks. Not built for comfort, they’re built for duty. Without any comparison to be had to alter my perception, this was the thought I held. And then one day I got put into one of the other trucks in our little fleet, a Kenworth. Or, as they are known, I got put into a 'KW'.
Right away the differences between the manufacturers were glaringly apparent. The KW was larger, it was an imposing unit. The Ryders were less stately, they were the kinds of trucks that weekend warrior movers used, driven by the kind of people that drove cars the rest of the week. Not so does that apply, to the kind that drives KWs, for the KW is a trucker's truck, pure and simple.
The KW takes no gruff from hill country.
Ivan Diaz- Unsplash.com
First off, to initiate my list of differences between the two, the KW's have air conditioning down cold. Leave the AC on too long in a KW and the inside of the cab can get as frosty the inside of a walk-in cooler. I haven't tried the heater yet (I live in Hawaii) but I'll bet that baby throws off some serious hot.
The power train in KWs is geared differently. While the Ryders are quicker off the line, the KWs start off much slower. KWs don't like in-town driving so much (they hate traffic lights) but when you get one up to speed that's when they're in their element. Their power band is so smooth above forty that you could easily drive them anywhere, whereas the Ryders complain about going anything over forty five, and seem to struggle at fifty five. Who knows if they could go faster than that without serious complaint.
The driver's seat on the KW is form-fitting comfortable. You instantly settle in, like you're in a La-Z-Boy. Now, these next three items might seem to be minor things, but they're mucho importante. The armrests on the driver's seat are the perfect height and width, and the outside rim of the steering wheel is a little fatter than most. That steering wheel rim is made of soft material, yet it's somehow firm, and that is a nice little touch if you're going to spend hours upon hours holding one.
The driver's side window ain't no power operated thing that can fail. Here you have an old fashioned crank window, which is easy to open and close, while the power window switch on the super comfortable left armrest operates the passenger side window. Truly, this truck was designed to be operated by one person only.
The sound system in the KW has some of the speakers above and in front of the driver, positioned in an inset in the cab's roof, so you can clearly hear your music. This is far better than having the speakers placed in the dash or the door, where the sound is either glaring or muffled. Guess which truck has that setup.
Speaking of sound, the doors on the KW are so strongly soundproofed that you can't shut the doors easily if the windows are rolled up. The air pressure is too great. It's easier to shut the doors if one of the cab's windows is slightly cracked. Then, once those doors are shut properly, you can be rolling down the road with windows up and ac on and not be bothered by annoying road or engine noise as it's very quiet in the cab. Conversationally quiet in the cab. What a big plus!
The windshield wipers on the KW are small, but the windshield they have to wipe ain't that big. You got good enough visibility though, and the wipers fold in on themselves, not swish on big sweeps to and fro across the glass. This way, the driver's view is clear for the longest time. This is important, if you’re piloting a lot of weight down the road.
Another thing that's neat about the KW is because the cab sits so high, it's hard to tell where the front edges of the truck are, but the manufacturers of the KW have this issue adeptly figured out. They've got, attached to the right and left front edges of the cab, high rods (with little amber lights atop) to let the driver know where those edges are. These rods are highly useful when the driver is negotiating tight spots.
An interesting thing to note about driving a KW is that there is almost no difference in height between the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal. In most other vehicles the brake pedal is inset a bit, you have to extend your foot some to hit the brake, but in the KW there is none of that distance. You swipe your right foot directly to the left to hit the brake. This can be disconcerting to a novice driver, and takes a little getting used to.
Employing the 'Jake' brake (the use of engine braking) is a feature that all trucks have where the engine can be used to assist in braking through a sort of exhaust gas rerouting/valve redirection function. The Ryders have Jakes and they slow you down pretty good, they deaccelerate you and your load pretty fast, but the KW's Jake is more powerful. You have to be careful when applying it because it will slow the truck down fast. It's best to use it on steep hills and in certain situations only.
The one drawback our KW has is it can be noisy in town. Get 'er hot and its engine cooling fan comes on a lot, which is a common design feature employed in vehicles to keep the engine coolant at a certain temperature. All buses, cars, and trucks have cooling fans, but few in my experience have ever been this noisy (except in a bus I used to drive- you could hear that thing for blocks). The engine in our KW gets to be too hot and bam!- a big ol' thundering fan comes on in its engine compartment, spinning at very high revs to dissipate the excess heat. As in everything else about the KW, the builders didn't skimp in the heat removal area. This fan will take care of any heat buildup no problem but what's more important when you're driving a truck? The removal of engine heat and continued Cool Runnings or the noise threshold of some sensitive and sedate dog walking neighborhood? Like, duh!
That minor issue aside, all in all the KW is a sturdy truck, a trucker's truck, one that rolls with a solidly built feel. KW trucks are like trains, in my estimation. They are built to run and run. Not a lot of down time is to be expected from them and unlike cars, their initial 100,000 miles of operation is commonly referred to as 'the break in period'.
Nobody- even KW drivers- likes driving on a rain day.
Charlie Deets- Unsplash.com
All truck drivers know, and most pickup truck owners know (or used to know) that the difference between trucks and cars is that trucks are built to last. It must be stated here right away that commercial trucks don't wear out due to age, they wear out due to the amassing of many hundreds of thousands of miles more than passenger cars, up to ten times more. The maintenance/insurance cost to keep commercial trucks on the road simply get to be too high over time, and upgrading the heaviliy used fleet- a business consideration- greatly aids in driver retention. That's really why commercial trucks get taken off the road, but take a look sometime to see how many pickup drivers are still proudly driving their old 'relics' around. They're driving them because the components of trucks, the basic aspects of the vehicle- all those metal parts underneath that you don't really see- were made stronger to last longer. Unlike throw away cars, trucks give you far more years of comparative service if you treat them right (and even if you treat them wrong). Cars are eye candy and psychological ego balm for the fickle appearance crowd who need to have a new one every few years. Trucks are made to get muddy and dented. They're made for work.
Sadly, nowadays pickups have gone the keeping up with the Jone's appearance/turnover route and aren't as spartan and utilitarian as they were before. This cannot be said about the tried and true trucker's truck, the KW, though. I enjoy operating any finely thought out machines, and I think that those kinds of machines enjoy the touch of appreciation that I return to them. We're kinda made for each other. I just wish sometimes that the KW was faster off the line and not so damned noisy in town.
But, I'll take the keys to it over the keys to a Ryder any day.