workhorse P700

TooTechie

Geek in Brown
Sounds like a pedal failure. No messages on the dash about limited power? An easy fix if it is.

No messages or other dummy lights. Just the generic engine light came on.
Response from dvir write-up from mechanic was that he checked wiring harnesses and test drove it.
It ran fine today. By the way, occasionally when using the fob to start the truck it won't start. The first push of the start button works but the 2nd push never fires the starter. It only happens like once a week so never bothered to write it up. I'd imagine it is probably unrelated to the other issue.
 

downtime8763

Well-Known Member
Drove 655260(1996model) for years and before that 19226 (1976 model)with international diesel the fuel economy was 30-40% better as well as the power do to the constant ft lb of tork at all rpm ranges. When I retired two years ago it had close to 500,000 and still runing when I was at the center back in February.I got that truck new after 19226 body was found to be rusting off the frame,great truck hated to see it go,no heater in winter or a/c in summer,no power steering.
 

TooTechie

Geek in Brown
They ended up red tagging my regular 2010 workhorse p700 for like 2 weeks. In the mean time I've been driving a bunch of spares and I think I actually like one of the spares better. The spares were late 90s 700s diesel with spicer transmission OR 2006 freightliner diesel automatic. I hate the spicers....but I absolutely love the 7 year old freightliners even better than the 2010 workhorses. It has some power...I think turbo diesel because it has that whistle. It has a lower step than the workhorse, larger cargo area, rear door slides horizontally instead of the barn doors that open out and the ride is incredible. The workhorse is so rigid and you feel every bump but the freightliner appears to have shock absorbers in the front instead of just leaf springs. The freightliner hesitates a little at first but doesnt have that annoying torque that can empty your shelves. Only downside of the freightliner is that step down at the back of the cargo area. I keep forgetting its there and almost killed myself 4 times today. ;)
 

cosmo1

Perhaps.
Staff member
.....Only downside of the freightliner is that step down at the back of the cargo area. I keep forgetting its there and almost killed myself 4 times today. ;)

I'm guessing a 665xxx Freightliner. Along with my old 654xxx Navistar, my favorite ever.
 

Wally

BrownCafe Innovator & King of Puns
The Freightliners 7's were the best! My old one had 450K on the odometer when they scraped it. Turned like a small car! The cab had that flat dash, perfect for delivering.
 

TooTechie

Geek in Brown
This is what the sliding doors look like I was talking about.
2013-04-04_08-47-07_683.jpg
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
interesting. for some reason they don't look too secure.
They are garbage, its a constant hassle with envelopes and small packages getting wedged in and stuck in them.

The cars they come on are also crap. We call them "skinnys", they are supposedly P-700's but they are about 12" narrower than a conventional P-700, and 2 or 3 feet longer. They have the turning radius of a freaking school bus.They do not have duallies in back; with only the single rear wheels they are at serious risk of getting stuck on wet pavement or grass and are therefore worthless on a rural route or in hilly country where snow is an issue. The other drawback to the single rear wheel is that the wheel well in the package compartment is only about a foot wide, so any package you try to set on it simply slides off onto the middle of the floor where you spend all day tripping over it. They also have a very mushy, wallowing suspension. Pure junk, whoever designed these damn things obviously never ran a route or delivered a package in their life.
 

sortaisle

Livin the cardboard dream
That looks like those Sprinters they tried to enlarge with an ambulance back on them. Instead of 47's they wound up being 52's or something. Single axle's are a good thing over here. Better in the snow when they're chained up. Duals for some reason get stuck because you can't chain up the inner dual.
 

1BROWNWRENCH

Amatuer Malthusian
That looks like those Sprinters they tried to enlarge with an ambulance back on them. Instead of 47's they wound up being 52's or something. Single axle's are a good thing over here. Better in the snow when they're chained up. Duals for some reason get stuck because you can't chain up the inner dual.

you can chain up the inners, but nobody wants to handle 3railers and keep them untangled.big pita
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
That looks like those Sprinters they tried to enlarge with an ambulance back on them. Instead of 47's they wound up being 52's or something. Single axle's are a good thing over here. Better in the snow when they're chained up. Duals for some reason get stuck because you can't chain up the inner dual.

Single axles are fine as long as they are on a vehicle with a relatively short wheelbase.

The wheelbase on the skinny 7's is so long that they have the turning radius of a school bus. What would be an easy U-turn in a conventional 7 is a 4 or 5 point turnaround in a skinny, and THAT is where you wind up getting stuck.
 

reydluap

Well-Known Member
The Freightliners 7's were the best! My old one had 450K on the odometer when they scraped it. Turned like a small car! The cab had that flat dash, perfect for delivering.

Scraped it at 450K? Heck, it wasn't even broke in yet. I've had one package car that was close to a million miles on it and a couple with over 750K miles on them before they were scraped. My air car now has about 500K on it and still going strong, probably about the best package car in our fleet! Talk is that UPS has purchased a bunch of those new 'plastic tote' styled package cars and I'm going to get stuck with one. Hmmmmm.
 

browntruckmechanic

Well isn't that special ?????????
Training? What's that? Our management teams are the only one who get trained, there suppose to come back and inform us as the all the tech specs, Had a supervisor go to Allison Transmission training back in Nov last yr, he was suppose to make up a packet for all of us, well he has since been shipped off to another assignment. Yep we are still in the same building with no one trained as usual.
 
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