Class 8 gear ratio swap.

[Cummins610]

We're looking to buy our first semi, found a pretty straight low hour pre emission Series 60 in a Sterling chassis. It has 4.56s and a 18speed, from my reading this is really steep combination. Is it an option to do a gear swap or should I move on to a different truck? Truck will be 90% highway with relatively light loads(flat deck), no pulling super b or anything like that.

Thanks.


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[jfaulkner]

We're looking to buy our first semi, found a pretty straight low hour pre emission Series 60 in a Sterling chassis. It has 4.56s and a 18speed, from my reading this is really steep combination. Is it an option to do a gear swap or should I move on to a different truck? Truck will be 90% highway with relatively light loads(flat deck), no pulling super b or anything like that.

Thanks.


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I would move to a different truck simply because it's a Sterling, horrible pieces of crap.

 

[Cummins610]

That's another question, is it worth paying over double over what they want for this Sterling, to buy a Pete or KW with twice the mileage/hours?


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[jfaulkner]

That's another question, is it worth paying over double over what they want for this Sterling, to buy a Pete or KW with twice the mileage/hours?


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IMO from owning KW's and working on all of them there is a huge difference. Sterling was a bad experiment of putting a pickup truck interior inside a class 8 truck. Add to that the feeling they needed to put more than 1/2 the engine under the cab. I would run, not walk away from a sterling.

 

[bigstacks95]

That's another question, is it worth paying over double over what they want for this Sterling, to buy a Pete or KW with twice the mileage/hours?


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We have a 01 Sterling rollback. Its a decent truck but it has been aweful to get parts for. Everything is 3-4 days away. You'd be better off with a Freightliner if you are looking for a budget price truck, IMO

 

[Joesixpack]

My uncle had a Sterling with a Mercedes and that was the biggest heap of **** that ever rolled.

The Ritchie sale is coming up in Edmonton. Usually some good trucks there but the KW's are still a premium. The Vulva's usually sell cheap and are mostly light highway spec.

 

[chevota84]

If you're running it full time, I'd look for something else. They're fine for part time work. The one we had only had 400,000 on it and you could see daylight through the door seals at highway speeds and it was loud as he!! Inside. It got around awesome though, turned super tight and the Hendrickson air ride was pretty impressive off road.

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[gorilla550]

If the price is right research the trans and see what high is and gear accordingly we have two Ford 9522 trucks which is what the Sterlings were based on. They both have over 2 million miles on the chassis's I actually prefer the dashes in those trucks more than my annoying FLD120 spine breaker. The biggest problem with the dash was breaking around trailer valve the update helps with that. And if it falls apart they are still available.

 

[Rkimball12]

If you want to swap gears you're going to spend a little bit. About an extra 8 to 10k depending on what gears and warranty. So on and so forth. Kenworths are nice. Peterbilts are nice as well. Have two of them. But parts for both paccar products really stink lately. But you can get lemons anywhere.

 

[Ram12vcummins]

Kw is the way to go. But if your wanting a price on gear swap 8-10k is way to high imo. Your prob looking for a good used set of pumpkins for 4K plus 1k install. Cheaper if you only want pdl or if you want 3 or 4 ways.

 

[Cummins610]

Well ended up with a KW, not a full blown class 8 but will fit the bill better for what we need. 2013 T370, air ride with hydraulic brake and a 8.3L @ 350hp and a 3000 series allison.

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[CorneliusRox]

Well ended up with a KW, not a full blown class 8 but will fit the bill better for what we need. 2013 T370, air ride with hydraulic brake and a 8.3L @ 350hp and a 3000 series allison.

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Not a bad truck!
I was going to say, if you were going Class 8 and not planning on going to 80,000lbs, 10 speeds are awesome. They make the truck feel like a light duty truck. They do suck if you've got a ton of weight and steep grades though!

Also, swapping gears isn't fun or easy. We used an engine hoist every time with some big pry bars...