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6 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

agree- looks like "110" is the bracket and the tensioner is  what looks like rod going down to block/pan with an oil line attached to it?  Or was there some sarcasm in your comment?.  In any case can't imagine what the big deal was.  You design a new power plant for medium duty and and an air compressor is viewed as an after thought?

 

I'm sure it was more "using an industry standard" and less as "an afterthought"

 

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Well, they say the 7.3L's 'profit center' is the 250-550 Super Duty, so anything specific to the 650 and 750 probably is something of an afterthought.  Given there is probably a lot of room under the hood of a 7.3L powered F-650, Ford probably stuck the air compressor in the most efficient (cheapest) location possible that requires the least number of modifications and unique parts.  Hope that left engine mount is sturdy........ 

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4 hours ago, twintornados said:

 

I'm sure it was more "using an industry standard" and less as "an afterthought"

 

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My point TT was the compressor was not shown when the engine was released.  Then it  takes two years to make it available.  And to 7m3's point that it was an afterthought for 650/750, he may be right  but I would suggest that as the class 6 and 7 markets have no conventional cab with a gas engine,  those two classes were targets right from the beginning.  

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I've seen a new (Avon grille) F750 drill rig and a small crane and both had a Powerstroke Bob!  Also seen were 2 light duty car transports with 3 each blue Amazon Ram Promaster vans on the top deck.  The USPS (Postal Service) has also bought a ton of these and I just saw a UPS one!  How does FCA do it?  What is Ford doing wrong? Why aren't these Transits?

Edited by Joe771476
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On 4/24/2020 at 10:35 AM, Joe771476 said:

I've seen a new (Avon grille) F750 drill rig and a small crane and both had a Powerstroke Bob!  Also seen were 2 light duty car transports with 3 each blue Amazon Ram Promaster vans on the top deck.  The USPS (Postal Service) has also bought a ton of these and I just saw a UPS one!  How does FCA do it?  What is Ford doing wrong? Why aren't these Transits?

Cost. They are not Transits because Ram is discounting to move whatever they can.

 

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5 hours ago, ausrutherford said:

Promaster has also been around since 2006. Its coming up on 15 years old.

 

It's a box with an engine in it, the fleet buyers could care less if it gets the job done.  Just means the tooling has been amortized for longer and the margins are higher. 

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Got the opportunity to pop the hood on a 7.3 powered 650 yesterday.  Note alternator position.  The compressor will mount next to  that per previous picture posted-that big pulley is going to be tight.  Oil fill on street side-can't understand why they didn't put a neck on that.  All fluids checked from curb side.  

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On 4/24/2020 at 7:35 AM, Joe771476 said:

I've seen a new (Avon grille) F750 drill rig and a small crane and both had a Powerstroke Bob!  Also seen were 2 light duty car transports with 3 each blue Amazon Ram Promaster vans on the top deck.  The USPS (Postal Service) has also bought a ton of these and I just saw a UPS one!  How does FCA do it?  What is Ford doing wrong? Why aren't these Transits?

 

Ford sells plenty of Transit to Amazon, USPS, and UPS as well. In fact, that is the reason why Transit sales are going gangbusters. Ford can only build so many so there is room for Ram to bottom feed on the margins. 

 

 

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On 4/24/2020 at 9:35 AM, Joe771476 said:

I've seen a new (Avon grille) F750 drill rig and a small crane and both had a Powerstroke Bob!  Also seen were 2 light duty car transports with 3 each blue Amazon Ram Promaster vans on the top deck.  The USPS (Postal Service) has also bought a ton of these and I just saw a UPS one!  How does FCA do it?  What is Ford doing wrong? Why aren't these Transits?

If you're talking about Amazon, they are. Amazon has been buying Transits, Promasters, and Sprinters--there's a big UPS/Amazon hub down the road from my office and a holding lot for new Amazon vans even closer, so I see a LOT of them. I'd imagine that which ones they buy in any given purchase has more to do with which ones come in with the lowest bid when Amazon puts out that RFP than anything else. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm seeing an abnormal amount of Western Stars lately.  Are they giving them away?  Construction Magazine had a 2 page Western Star ad. They just recently sold their 200,000th truck. Maybe Daimler doesn't think that number is high enough!  They dropped Sterling for supposedly lackluster sales!  Like I've said before, if they dropped Western Star, those logging boys up in the northwest corner would go bonkers!  And Daimler knows it!

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3 hours ago, Joe771476 said:

I'm seeing an abnormal amount of Western Stars lately.  Are they giving them away?  Construction Magazine had a 2 page Western Star ad. They just recently sold their 200,000th truck. Maybe Daimler doesn't think that number is high enough!  They dropped Sterling for supposedly lackluster sales!  Like I've said before, if they dropped Western Star, those logging boys up in the northwest corner would go bonkers!  And Daimler knows it!

Joe, I think  Daimler is making a concerted effort to make Western Star the off road/vocational truck of  choice vs. Freightliner-just as Volvo  is trying to  make Mack their vocational brand.  If you look at the monthly sales rags-TBG and Truck and Equipment Post for New England you will see the bulk of the new heavy tandems/triaxles that Freightliner dealers are stocking are W'stars.

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19 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

Joe, I think  Daimler is making a concerted effort to make Western Star the off road/vocational truck of  choice vs. Freightliner-just as Volvo  is trying to  make Mack their vocational brand.  If you look at the monthly sales rags-TBG and Truck and Equipment Post for New England you will see the bulk of the new heavy tandems/triaxles that Freightliner dealers are stocking are W'stars.

 

Interesting that there is that "split" by both of those two...makes Alan Mullaly's "One Ford" concept more interesting, especially in medium and heavy trucks.

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3 hours ago, twintornados said:

 

Interesting that there is that "split" by both of those two...makes Alan Mullaly's "One Ford" concept more interesting, especially in medium and heavy trucks.

Well TT I think the "split" is just on the marketing side.  Under the hood, the powertrains in a  WS is the corporate hardware- same as if it a F-liner Coronado or a WS.  Same with Volvo.  There is no more  exclusive Mack powertrain.  The engines that come out of the former Mack Hagerstown plant end up in a Volvo or a  Mack......"One Volvo, One Daimler" as I  see it.   Daimler recognizes there are still a lot of old guys who grew up with Macks.  My fear is some day the Swedes will say....."but most of these guys are dead!.  Why do we have duplicated marketing staffs blah blah"- 

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On 5/14/2020 at 10:01 AM, Bob Rosadini said:

Joe, I think  Daimler is making a concerted effort to make Western Star the off road/vocational truck of  choice vs. Freightliner-just as Volvo  is trying to  make Mack their vocational brand.  If you look at the monthly sales rags-TBG and Truck and Equipment Post for New England you will see the bulk of the new heavy tandems/triaxles that Freightliner dealers are stocking are W'stars.

 

Yep....Daimler is no longer running Freightliner and Western Star as separate brands like they used to.  They are going to make them more complimentary going forward where Western Star is the premium vocational brand and Freightliner is the on-highway / medium duty brand.

 

They are certainly not giving away Western Stars right now.  They are the most expensive truck out there.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

I saw a post in my email about BYD supplying batteries for electric vehicles to Ford in China, but I can't find it here in the forum.  But is this the same BYD that makes entire trucks? Meanwhile latest edition of HDT seems to have no monthly report or breakdown on class 1 thru 8 truck sales.  But Transport Topics May ( I think) edition reports Class 6 sales of Freightliner 697, Hino 523, and Ford with 497, but I wouldn't get too upset yet because of the plant closures.  But how does Freightliner go from  412 to 3166 in a year in class 5???!!!   Huh?  Ford still leads with 3478.  Like I said, it's easier to go down a class or 2 and dump excess capacity into lower classes and offer big discounts.  Even though a medium class cab on a class 5 chassis looks like overkill and basically ugly!!  Ford better get into class 8 soon, or they'll be out in the cold.  You have to be a one-stop shopping destination when it comes to trucks and be a full-line producer!  Supposedly Mitsubishi-Fuso is leaving the USA market.  Work Truck magazine reports Ford mediums win truck of the year again. 

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Interesting numbers, but Freightliner's performance in class 5 really isn't a surprise when you consider that Freightliner's subsidiary FCCC is a big (maybe biggest?) player in the stripped chassis  business.  Most of those products are class 4 and 5, and there has been huge orders coming in from UPS, FedEx, and whoever else is in the parcel delivery business these days.

 

BYD will (try) to build anything.  BYD actually stands for 'Build Your Dreams', but a few years ago Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit's dream of BYD built BEV transit buses turned out to be a BAD nightmare.  But hey, nightmares are dreams too, right?  Supposedly BYD got their act together and is supplying L.A.D.O.T. (different agency) with absolutely swell BEV buses, but we'll have to wait and see about that.

 

In news somewhat related to both of those topics GM is going to introduce a BEV commercial van late next year.  Wonder if it will use that rumored million-mile battery GM is developing with LG?  Wow, maybe those clowns really are serious about commercial vehicles again. 

 

Believe me, Ford does not need to be in class 8 again.  They are doing fine with what commercial product they presently have, and the best we can hope for is they decide to stay in traditional class 6 and 7.  Maybe that new 7.3L gasser will get Ford more F53 sales too.  

 

Yes, Fuso is pulling out of North America.  Let me start off by saying I have no experience with those trucks, but those I know that have were never really impressed.  Even with the mighty DTNA behind them and pushing all their Freightliner dealers to carry those things Fuso was always in Isuzu's rear view mirror.  

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4 hours ago, 7Mary3 said:

Believe me, Ford does not need to be in class 8 again.  They are doing fine with what commercial product they presently have, and the best we can hope for is they decide to stay in traditional class 6 and 7.  Maybe that new 7.3L gasser will get Ford more F53 sales too.    

The only reason Ford got back into Class 6 and 7 was they figured out a way to make some profit without too much investment.  F53 and F59 always did okay.  Building a Class 6 and 7 using existing engine and transmission was the key.

 

I still can not understand why the F53 is getting the old 6R140 transmission.  I am sure they are planning on stopping production, if they have not already.

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6 hours ago, theoldwizard said:

The only reason Ford got back into Class 6 and 7 was they figured out a way to make some profit without too much investment.  F53 and F59 always did okay.  Building a Class 6 and 7 using existing engine and transmission was the key.

 

I still can not understand why the F53 is getting the old 6R140 transmission.  I am sure they are planning on stopping production, if they have not already.

 

E-series, F53, and F59 are all still using the 6 speed auto with 7.3 V8 so I figure it is due to customer preference. 

 

Also, maybe there is no room in there for the 10 speed? Or it will involve some structure change that won't be cost effective?

 

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