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FedEx Freight | City Drivers - How New is Your Tractor

SwampRatt said:
And? You don't like city bids including road units? Hard to deny the cost effectiveness of slip seating.

We do have a bunch of city units. I think the return of the city unit comes from the fact that for a time the fleet was allowed to be run down to such point that even the re-class process could NOT provide enough reliable trucks to operate cost effectively.

Long story, but it was a big deal back when the decision was made to spend significantly on fleet upgrades.

These are a few of our city units. KW & Pete, new in 2015-2016 respectively, I seem to recall.

nAWUeMV.jpg
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There ya go! Those would be nice to have.

Why not want the safest equipment for the job? Ah, but pretend macho-truckers like CrazyDouche run twin-screws and '53s in the City. I'm not worthy!!
 
dsh69 said:
There ya go! Those would be nice to have.

Why not want the safest equipment for the job? Ah, but pretend macho-truckers like CrazyDouche run twin-screws and '53s in the City. I'm not worthy!!
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Who ever said anything about twin screws? Like I said you must be a rookie, get some time under you're belt and it won't matter what you drive. No need for name calling junior.
 
dsh69 said:
No, but I run twin-screws and 53's in the City. That's my point, DB.
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A KW T680 or a Volvo VNL daycab (the majority of the FXF road fleet) have excellent FOV and were designed as such.

Even T660's aren't bad. I own one with a sleeper on it, haul nothing but 53' vans with it and get into places designed for straight trucks with it all the time. That's not being a super trucker, that's getting the job done.

And frankly, there's no difference between the average road tractor and the average city tractor. They're all two axle daycabs with the same number of mirrors and windows and the same frame length. If you're running a twin screw with a 53' van, they're not going to buy a twin screw Class 7 just for you.

Not very often I agree with CT, but you're not complaining about your rig here. You're complaining about your bid and the equipment you have to use to run it. A Class 7 like what Swampy posted can't haul a full van.
 
Canadian Flyer said:
A KW T680 or a Volvo VNL daycab (the majority of the FXF road fleet) have excellent FOV and were designed as such.

Not very often I agree with CT, but you're not complaining about your rig here. You're complaining about your bid and the equipment you have to use to run it. A Class 7 like what Swampy posted can't haul a full van.
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Nope. Just complaining about the equipment. I like the bid. I bid for it :) All I started out saying is they buy many more road tractors than city. And Swampy's pic shows, yes, some terminals DO get city tractors. Why buy city tractors AT ALL unless they are more advantageous in the city?

And because of CT's post this has devolved into a "you can't drive" thread. At least we've skipped the hats.

And, yes, road Volvos are just fine. At least they can maneuver. The KWs can't get out of their own way.
 
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dsh69 said:
Nope. Just complaining about the equipment. I like the bid. I bid for it :) All I started out saying is they buy many more road tractors than city. And Swampy's pic shows, yes, some terminals DO get city tractors. Why buy city tractors AT ALL unless they are more advantageous in the city?

And because of CT's post this has devolved into a "you can't drive" thread. At least we've skipped the hats.

And, yes, road Volvos are just fine. At least they can maneuver. The KWs can't get out of their own way.
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The wheelbase on both is within half a foot, and at about ten feet long apiece for two axle units I really don't think it's that bad. It's really not that hard to widen out a turn or wiggle forward if you need to.

Why buy Class 7 city units for some barns and not others? The Class 7's are less versatile overall, however in areas with low obstacles a tractor with no fairings and a low-height trailer may be required. They are also more fuel efficient for doing what they do. That said, it's not a practical expense to purchase separate city units for every single terminal in a 300+ terminal network.

LTL carriers have been doing this for years. There are city guys at YRC driving road tractors that were retired 13 years ago. CF had road tractors from the 1980's in their city fleet when they went out. But in metropolitan areas LTL carriers try to have some dedicated city units.

Frankly, the only city drivers I have ever heard whine about not having a new, dedicated city tractor because road tractors are too big and too clumsy work at FedEx Freight. Most are happy to have a tractor less than five years old with less than 600,000 miles on it. Sorry if maybe nobody's taking you super seriously, but you have it pretty good here where equipment is concerned.
 
dsh69 said:
I was going to ask 'how new is your equipment' but I'd never get a straight answer :)

We get road hand-me-downs. I think our newest City unit is an ex-Road with number R12... . Can't remember when we actually got a new CITY tractor.

Of course the Road guys are always getting new stuff. City is the red-headed stepchild.
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Not just with equipment either
 
Canadian Flyer said:
The wheelbase on both is within half a foot, and at about ten feet long apiece for two axle units I really don't think it's that bad. It's really not that hard to widen out a turn or wiggle forward if you need to.

Frankly, the only city drivers I have ever heard whine about not having a new, dedicated city tractor because road tractors are too big and too clumsy work at FedEx Freight. Most are happy to have a tractor less than five years old with less than 600,000 miles on it. Sorry if maybe nobody's taking you super seriously, but you have it pretty good here where equipment is concerned.
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Wheelbase? Wheelbase has an effect on turning radius but the vehicle has to be designed to turn more tightly and in my opinion the KWs don't turn worth a ::shit::.

Oh brother. Ok, you got me. I'm whining because YRC uses ancient ::shit:: and I should be grateful.

At least you're not praising up the UNION on me.
 
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dsh69 said:
Wheelbase? Wheelbase has an effect on turning radius but the vehicle has to be designed to turn more tightly and in my opinion the KWs don't turn worth a :::shit:::.

Oh brother. Ok, you got me. I'm whining because YRC uses ancient :::shit::: and I should be grateful.

At least you're not praising up the UNION on me.
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YRC uses ancient ::shit:: for city, but everyone else still uses old road tractors for city. That was my point. The union has nothing to do with it because EVERYONE does it. The closest I've seen in terms of age and scale are Estes and OD, and the problem they have is that they've been in such a push to retire pre-2008 tractors (Estes got fined by California pretty severely) that they're short on tractors period. Road drivers are having to wait for city to finish with their trucks before going out, and vice-versa.

You are griping about something that is a common practice, and something that FedEx is still better about than most at that. XPO still has Sterlings that pull double duty at 750,000mi and a decade old alongside considerably newer Freightliner M2's dedicated to city. Why? Because the Sterlings are still usable and it costs money to replace them with dedicated city units that can't go road if needed. Dedicated city units are generally bought in batches for large metropolitan areas and serve a long, long time. Ask the AF guys how long the Smurfs were around.
 
dsh69 said:
Nope. Just complaining about the equipment. I like the bid. I bid for it :) All I started out saying is they buy many more road tractors than city. And Swampy's pic shows, yes, some terminals DO get city tractors. Why buy city tractors AT ALL unless they are more advantageous in the city?

And because of CT's post this has devolved into a "you can't drive" thread. At least we've skipped the hats.

And, yes, road Volvos are just fine. At least they can maneuver. The KWs can't get out of their own way.
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No body said you couldn't drive, I said you need more experience. I drive a kw road truck in city every day, it's been my truck for the past 5 years. I had a chance to get one of the baby peterbuilt city trucks and passed, because those trucks don't have much room for big and tall people. This time of year, if my truck is down, I will drive whatever as long as ac works.
 
Crazy Trucker said:
No body said you couldn't drive, I said you need more experience. I drive a kw road truck in city every day, it's been my truck for the past 5 years. I had a chance to get one of the baby peterbuilt city trucks and passed, because those trucks don't have much room for big and tall people. This time of year, if my truck is down, I will drive whatever as long as ac works.
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And you probably drive the same bid, day after day, same customers, day after day, so at this point you could drive a dump truck and get the job done. So a KW, the same KW for 5 years, would suit you just fine.

I can drive two different states and the District of Columbia in the same day.
 
dsh69 said:
And you probably drive the same bid, day after day, same customers, day after day, so at this point you could drive a dump truck and get the job done. So a KW, the same KW for 5 years, would suit you just fine.

I can drive two different states and the District of Columbia in the same day.
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Yes I have only had the same run for 2 and a half years, before that i ran a different route every day. I run 300-365 miles every day most of which is on 2 lane back roads in mountains. The city tractors would not suit me very well I haul a lot of weight mostly mining stuff. I don't know what any of this has to do with this discussion. :scratchhead:
 
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