Sports chassis and similar units becoming obsolete?

[aarondeere]

I haven't posted here in some time and honestly haven't even looked at the forum in quite a few yrs but while recently camping at a large resort saw a few freightliner medium duty trucks and got me wondering. Pickups have come a long ways these last few yrs with hp/tq and tow ratings. Almost to medium duty numbers. With this do you think the days of medium duty trucks are somewhat numbered? I mean pickups aren't cheap but for 80k I can get a fairly loaded dually with 4x4 and all the gizmos. A sports chassis doesn't have much of that and costs 150k plus along with the higher maintenance costs. I know they'll last longer but at the price difference you could bank the difference and buy another truck down the road when the pickup is done. Maybe I'm wrong. Also fun to read the posts after so long away. Not much has changed. Lol

[pitch]

well he is not moving over 20MPH with his Fendt, 90% off the time probably between 8 and 12. I don't know what kind of fine he could get or who would issue it.
Normally the DOT cops don't patrol fields.

[JRscooby]

aarondeere wrote:

2oldman wrote:
I own one, and it's Sport Chassis, not Sports.

Air seats, air cab, air hitch, air shocks. And plenty of headroom. And you sit up high. And 22.5" tires roll smooth.

I will admit one annoyance.. I'm constantly battling air leaks. Nothing critical, but I wish someone could fix them for longer than 6 months.

Sorry sport chassis. Get use to air leaks. Winter time is the worst for me with the fittings shrinking. Have 2 fendt tractors that have air brakes and there is always something hissing a little. Mechanic says only worry when the leaks get big. Having all the air suspensions sure does sound like a nice ride though.

Running off in the weeds here. Will that mechanic pay your fines? If the leak is big enough to hear, it can get you put OOS. There is a minimum amount of time the vehicle must hold pressure. I but hundreds of thousands of miles on old trucks. Fixed many a leak. Most times I fix one it never leaks again until part wears out.

[carringb]

F-series MDT 7.3 is production constrained right now. Order bank for 2021 is closed. That’s why you don’t see more.

[theoldwizard1]

aarondeere wrote:
With this do you think the days of medium duty trucks are somewhat numbered?

Medium Duty/Class 6 and 7, (think F600, F650 and F750) are the back bone of local deliveries. Most have a medium to large "box" mounted on them. Many are made into dump trucks. Very few would have ever been used as RV chassis.

Personally, I am very surprised that these local fleets have not switched over to the Ford chassis with the new 7.3L gasoline engine. Lower initial cost and lower operating costs, admittedly at lower payload.

Some might call the Ford E450 a "medium duty", but it is really at the very bottom of that scale. The F550-F600 woul make a much better RV chassis Class C motorhome chassis, except for the height and no pass through from the drivers area to the living area.

[2oldman]

aarondeere wrote:
Have 2 fendt tractors that have air brakes and there is always something hissing a little. Mechanic says only worry when the leaks get big.

I have hydraulic brakes, which to some people is a total surprise. Some don't even believe me.

[aarondeere]

2oldman wrote:
I own one, and it's Sport Chassis, not Sports.

Air seats, air cab, air hitch, air shocks. And plenty of headroom. And you sit up high. And 22.5" tires roll smooth.

I will admit one annoyance.. I'm constantly battling air leaks. Nothing critical, but I wish someone could fix them for longer than 6 months.

Sorry sport chassis. Get use to air leaks. Winter time is the worst for me with the fittings shrinking. Have 2 fendt tractors that have air brakes and there is always something hissing a little. Mechanic says only worry when the leaks get big. Having all the air suspensions sure does sound like a nice ride though.

[aarondeere]

valhalla360 wrote:

carringb wrote:
I think they'll make a come-back soon.

Biggest detractor is lack of a good 4x4 option. Any true MDT with 4x4 is too high for towing most 5th wheels.

Once somebody offers a series-hydrid powertain, front electric motors will make 4x4 (or really AWD, but in some ways this can perform better) feasible without raising the chassis-height.

Articulated transit buses already offer a similar powertrain. Diesel gens-set is mounted at the back. Rear and center axles are electric-powered.

I don't think 4x4 is really a factor. MDTs are usually towing monster 40ft+ 5th wheels...not many people drag those off road.

If you are thinking to go off roading once unhooked...a diesel dually 1 ton, is a lousy off road option. If you are into off roading, it usually means a toy hauler and the toys are used for off road play.

It's a factor for me. While at this campground lakewood a fl106 got stuck in sand. Doesn't take much. Wet grass up a hill a little mud in a campsite.

[Grit_dog]

valhalla360 wrote:

carringb wrote:
I think they'll make a come-back soon.

Biggest detractor is lack of a good 4x4 option. Any true MDT with 4x4 is too high for towing most 5th wheels.

Once somebody offers a series-hydrid powertain, front electric motors will make 4x4 (or really AWD, but in some ways this can perform better) feasible without raising the chassis-height.

Articulated transit buses already offer a similar powertrain. Diesel gens-set is mounted at the back. Rear and center axles are electric-powered.

I don't think 4x4 is really a factor. MDTs are usually towing monster 40ft+ 5th wheels...not many people drag those off road.

If you are thinking to go off roading once unhooked...a diesel dually 1 ton, is a lousy off road option. If you are into off roading, it usually means a toy hauler and the toys are used for off road play.

But any pickup is a far better choice as a daily driver or even a runaround vehicle when camper is parked. Nevermind the fact that the MDTs have stagnated in terms of power for the last however many years and any of the new diesels will destroy a MDT from a power standpoint.
Add in the ability to get well appointed class 4-5 trucks that have similar gearing and adequate rear axle capacity for the big trailers, and more power and more user friendly and less costly, it makes the MDT haulers an even more limited use, one trick pony.

But when I win the lottery, I'll still buy one to drive to the Home Depot....because I can!

Side note, buddy bought an older one, stretched the frame and nose and dropped a warmed up 400 Big Cam Cummins in it. Holeeee ballz!
It's a monster!

[Cummins12V98]

When I bought my 11 DRW RAM I noticed about that same time many MD Trucks were for sale. Talked to one guy and he said as soon as it was sold he was buying something similar to my truck. He was having a hard time selling it, he said as many like him were doing the same.

Fact was these guys that wanted to to tow a heavy RV like mine had to go MD. Now for example I tow my 24k Mobile Suites at and under my trucks SAE numbers. If my RV was a triple axle I could tow much heavier.

[2oldman]

I own one, and it's Sport Chassis, not Sports.

Air seats, air cab, air hitch, air shocks. And plenty of headroom. And you sit up high. And 22.5" tires roll smooth.

I will admit one annoyance.. I'm constantly battling air leaks. Nothing critical, but I wish someone could fix them for longer than 6 months.

[valhalla360]

carringb wrote:
I think they'll make a come-back soon.

Biggest detractor is lack of a good 4x4 option. Any true MDT with 4x4 is too high for towing most 5th wheels.

Once somebody offers a series-hydrid powertain, front electric motors will make 4x4 (or really AWD, but in some ways this can perform better) feasible without raising the chassis-height.

Articulated transit buses already offer a similar powertrain. Diesel gens-set is mounted at the back. Rear and center axles are electric-powered.

I don't think 4x4 is really a factor. MDTs are usually towing monster 40ft+ 5th wheels...not many people drag those off road.

If you are thinking to go off roading once unhooked...a diesel dually 1 ton, is a lousy off road option. If you are into off roading, it usually means a toy hauler and the toys are used for off road play.

[carringb]

I think they'll make a come-back soon.

Biggest detractor is lack of a good 4x4 option. Any true MDT with 4x4 is too high for towing most 5th wheels.

Once somebody offers a series-hydrid powertain, front electric motors will make 4x4 (or really AWD, but in some ways this can perform better) feasible without raising the chassis-height.

Articulated transit buses already offer a similar powertrain. Diesel gens-set is mounted at the back. Rear and center axles are electric-powered.

[valhalla360]

MDTs have always been specialty items and have never made up a significant percentage of the RV market.

Most that I've seen have been in the carney business. If you are doing 50-75k miles per year towing massive 5th wheels, the long term durability may make sense. For a more typical full timer doing 10-20k/yr, it's more a neat toy and I'm betting most of the people buying them will continue to do so.

From what I've seen, they don't retain value significantly differently, they still need trailer brakes and modern pickups are darn comfortable to ride in.

[aarondeere]

Great points made. I should have clarified in my original post I was only referring to the rv market part. I have a 2012 mack pinnacle with a automated manual I use in my business and love it but wouldn't really want to use it pulling my camper and then sight seeing in it. Too big,restricted places it can go, can get stuck easier, etc. I guess the point I was making was with pickups ever increasing capability, the advantages of a medium duty like a freightliner class 6 are disappearing unless you're pulling one massive 5th wheel. And with changes happening so fast in the industry now and so many new advancements do you really want to keep a truck that will last forever? Thanks for the comments. They've been great.

[Grit_dog]

^This.
But sports chassis haulers are super cool!
Disagree with spoon though on value compared to pickups. I believe that pickup trucks retain just as good a % of retained value, compared to new.