Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/521868
June 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com 94 sight lines to all instru- ment clusters is excel- lent and the steering wheel is designed in a way that allows you to check primary gauges at a glance, without ducking your head to see around the steering wheel spokes. Similarly, all switches on the center panel were within easy arm's reach. Grouping switch- es logically is a detail that all OEMs struggle with. And Howerton noted that Freightliner has been pondering tweaking a few details in that regard. But I found everything to be well situated once the drive was under way and would be hard- pressed to recommend any changes. I mentally awarded the SD model serious points for overall visibil- ity from the driver's seat once I was settled in behind the steering wheel. Visibility is always critical in any truck. This is particularly true for vocational models, which routinely deal with ever-shifting and highly dynamic landscapes of obstacles, people and equip- ment. Needless to say, Freightliner engineers are aware of this prob- lem and responded with excellent sightlines out of the cab – par- ticularly downward and over the sloped nose of the truck. Views to the rear are outstanding as well. And the rear-view mirror design is both tough enough to take a whack from a passing wheel loader and still remain remarkably vibration free at highway speeds. Out in the rolling Texas hills, both trucks proved to be nimble in tight construction zones. I've said before that I find Freightliner trucks to have the most automobile like feel on the highway. This is a combi- nation of traits – mainly handling, visibility and sound levels inside the cab. But it culminates in the feeling that you're not really driving a Class 8 truck. In many respects, you can easily imagine you're behind the wheel of a Class 5 pickup truck. Both powertrains performed exceedingly well on the road. The 114SD was not hauling a container, so the DD13 seemed particularly aggressive both starting from a dead stop and when a burst of throttle was required at highway speeds. Testing a truck with a full payload is always preferable. But in this case, I found the unloaded ride to be much smoother than I anticipat- ed. Credit here goes to Freightliner's proprietary TuffTrac rear suspen- sion system. A key TuffTrac design point was to ensure a smooth ride, whether the truck is loaded or not. And the suspension works remark- ably well in that regard. In contrast, the 108SD was fully loaded with gravel in the dump body. And I wondered if the 9-liter Cummins ISL would strain under that load. But there was no need to worry: The ISL performed seamlessly and delivered plenty of power regardless of terrain or traf- fic. And while the preponderance of AMTs in my test drives these days means I've gotten pretty rusty on my manual shifting skills, the Eaton-Fuller transmission proved to be as dependable and effortless to shift as always. After a long day spent compar- ing the two trucks, I realized that Freightliner has nicely blended seri- ous vocational power with handling and finesse that would be right at home on a much smaller vehicle. It's quite a feat and a real credit to the planning and attention to detail that went into this design: Tough trucks that can take a pounding without beating their drivers half to death. That's a win-win combina- tion on any jobsite. trucks | continued Although its bold styling is a departure, Freightliner's SD series takes definite ad- vantage of recent Cascadia ergonomic and powertrain enhancements. The trucks are available in 108-inch BBC truck, a 114-inch BBC version and the 122- inch BBC model. All three models are configurable to accept a wide array of vocational bodies.