Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/472327
34 | Overdrive | March 2015 SEVERE SERVICE By Jack Roberts W hat do you do if you're a truck maker and your over-the-road market share numbers are in the stratosphere? If you're Freightlin- er, you turn your attention to the vocational truck market. About four years ago, the company decided to update its work truck lineup to take advan- tage of powertrain and ergonomic upgrades found on the Cascadia. Many of these upgrades are in keeping with Freightliner's "Real Cost of Ownership" concept to make certain that every component contributes to the customer's bot- tom line. The result was the SD series that comprises three models: a 108-inch BBC, a 114-inch BBC and a 122- inch BBC. All accept a bewildering array of bodies and allow for easy spec'ing of compressed and lique- fi ed natural gas systems. Freightliner's new vocational product manager, Mark Howerton, off ered me the chance to compare the 108 BBC and 114 BBC models on drives through the Texas hill country, based out of Freightliner of Austin. The 114 BBC truck was outfi tted with a roll-off body and an all-Daimler powertrain: a 475-horsepower DD13 mated to the Allison 4000 RDS auto- matic transmission. In contrast, the 108-BBC dump truck featured a 9-liter Cummins ISL diesel with Aerodynamics aren't critical for most vocational appli- cations, so the SD series sports bolder styling than its Cascadia cousin. Texas two-step Freightliner leaned hard on its highway tractors to develop the SD vocational line. That's a good thing.