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Change of Heart
550 hp Detroit and Eaton AutoShift sweeten a Volvo 770
By Paul Abelson
The Swap
It was gorgeous enough to win awards at truck shows, but by early 1998 Bob and Suzanne Stempinski were shopping for a replacement for their '96 Kenworth W900L. They wanted something more aerodynamic for better fuel economy, but still comfortable and good-looking. And they wanted new-tech components. By September, they had decided on a Volvo 770 with all the goodies a trucker could want, including an Eaton Fuller 18-speed AutoShift transmission behind the soon-to-be available 14-liter Detroit Diesel 550. It was supposed to be ready when the Volvo was scheduled to be built, but things seldom go as planned.
The delays arose because of the EPA's new, stricter emissions laws, as well as Volvo's concern whether those laws would affect anything. As a result, they were still waiting early last year with the 1999 Mid-America Show approaching fast and the engine still not yet released for installation.
Both Detroit Diesel and Volvo wanted Bob and Suzanne to show off their products in the truck beauty show at MATS, so they made an offer the Stempinskis could not turn down: Take delivery with a 500, and the 550 would be dropped in as soon as it was released.
That wound up being late summer. Bob and Suzanne had scheduled time off from their usual weekly turn between L.A. and Chicago right before Labor Day, to prepare for the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas.That's when the Volvo went to Inland Detroit Diesel, Carol Stream, Ill., where the new engine was waiting.
While Inland technicians Jeff Redman and Ron Bock were removing the radiator and preparing to swing out the 500, Bob was removing every part that could be chromed off the new engine. That same day, Suzanne took them to the plater. "We paid a king's ransom to get the parts back in two days," Suzanne said. "When Bob brought them back to Inland, the engine was in. It just had to be put back together."
Removing the 500 and swinging in the 550 was no easy task. During manufacture, the engine goes in first and the cab assembly comes later. The rear of the engine is buried in the firewall. When removing the engine, it has to be swung forward, turned sideways to clear the hood, and then lifted out. Then the process has to be repeated in reverse to install the new engine.
Jeff and Ron did much of the preparation and detail work on the day shift, while assistant foreman Frank Gatz and Bill Nellett swung both engines on the night shift. It took six hours into the second shift, at 11 p.m. Thursday, before the new engine was finally dropped in. On Friday, they finished the installation and added the newly chromed accessories.
The Stempinskis took their tractor home to polish and add lights. Then they picked up their loaded trailer at Dawes Transportation's Bollingbrook terminal, and took Labor Day Sunday and Monday to run to Dallas. After delivering their LTL freight on Tuesday, they zipped over to the Dallas Convention Center, cleaned and polished all over again, won their class and tied for best-of-show. Whew!
The Ride
Fast forward two months to Nov. 10. Our schedules finally coincided so I could make my extended test drive. I'd driven this Volvo before, at the Waupun Truckers Jamboree Parade of Lights, but then, the trailer was empty.
When I met Bob and Suzanne at 5 a.m. at the New Lamont 76 truckstop, they had just been loaded at Dawes. Their scale ticket read 79,460, and I added somewhat more than 225 pounds to that, with my luggage for the overnight. No problem finding room to store it under the bunk.
It was just beginning to get light as Bob took us over the scales south of Bollingbrook. Being more used to writers' hours than truckers' standard time, I figured it wiser to nap for the first part of the trip, which was easy to do in the oversized Comfort Ride seats. I wanted to try the rig through the Ozarks going across Missouri. The Illinois prairie presented no real challenge to the vehicle or its engine.
When I awoke, Bob and I chatted about the new engine and his maintenance program. He had switched from Mobil Delvac 1300 to fully synthetic Delvac 1, which he credits for the engine running cooler, from 193 degrees down to 185.
The old engine came out with about 65,000 miles on it. The new one had less than 35,000 when I did my test. We started with 97,505 on the odometer, and on the return run, after just six-and-a-half months of actual service, the Volvo turned 100,000 miles.
After breakfast, Suzanne and Bob changed places, He climbed into the back for some rest. With the curtain shut and the radio on, Suzanne and I could speak in normal tones and not disturb him. That's when I realized how quiet the cab was.
I kidded Suzanne about their wanting the then-biggest available Detroit engine just to show off and score points at truck shows. Not so, she said. "We run a lot of mountains. The difference between 500 and 550 hp is not enough to make it worthwhile, but the extra 200 lb.-ft of torque is. It means the motor will work smarter instead of harder.
"Because it's so easy pulling up the mountains, we're actually getting better fuel economy with the bigger motor," she added. "We were getting from 5.2 to 5.7 mpg. Now we're consistently in the sixes, and it's not even broken in.They say it will only get better.
"We leave the terminal at 5 a.m. Wednesdays and can make it to L.A. easily by Thursday evening, for Friday deliveries," she added. "Last week, they didn't have us loaded until 11:30 a.m. and we still were in L.A. by 11 p.m. Thursday. We normally like to stop two, three or even four hours every night. We couldn't on that run. We didn't get married not to sleep together, and no freight is more important than our personal safety and well-being," Suzanne added.
"As smooth as the Volvo is, the best sleep we get is when we're stopped. Even the best truck has to contend with the condition of the road. That late departure took our options away. It was run, run, run. I'd grab sandwiches while Bob was fueling. Then, run hard again, but the way we're set up, the truck was doing some of the pushing, not just us."
Normally, they head west on Interstate 80, turn left at Salt Lake City and take I-15 down to California 60. "Sometimes in winter, or just for a change of pace, we'll take this route [I-55 to I-44 to I-40 to I-15]," she said. "There are some pretty steep hills in Missouri, but you'll find that out soon enough.They'll let you see what the engine's got."
The Drive
We crossed the Mississippi and it was my turn. At first it seemed strange to have an automatic, or at least automated, transmission, but soon, I got used to it. I tried a few practice up- and down-shifts using the "Hold" position and the up-and-down arrows on the handle.
I'm glad I practiced, because shortly I crested a rise at 70, to find a long, steep downhill with a construction zone at the bottom. Without the construction to worry about, the Jake Brake would have held speed easily. Instead, I had to scrub off 15 mph in a hurry, downhill.
No problem with this setup. One stab of the service brakes took me out of cruise control and low enough on the tach to split manually down to 17th. The Jake was in stage three, and the truck slowed smoothly.
I repeated the process into 16th, and went into the work zone at the posted 55. It took two brief applications of the brakes, and the truck did the rest. Normally, I'd be hesitant to shift down on a hill for fear of missing it. With this transmission, there's no problem. It's a safety feature as well as a great convenience.
Coming out of the construction zone, I faced the next big hill. I re-engaged cruise control to see what the truck would do. It wasn't fast enough for me, even though we were passing trucks that were in the far right "slow traffic" lane. I again took it from "D" to "H" and from 17th to 16th.
With my foot to the floor, we maintained 55 all the way up the hill. Most of the mountains were easy to climb at the posted limit, using the 1,850 lb. ft. of torque the 14-liter Detroit produces. The slowest we ran uphill was 53 in 16th gear. Going down, I pulled it to 15th to get the rpm up for the Jake, although I really didn't need to.
When I mentioned how easy it was to drive, Suzanne replied in a tongue-in-cheek manner, "I haven't heard any gears grind since I first got behind the wheel last March. Not that I would have missed a shift anyway, but this ensures it."
My driving impressions of the Volvo 770 echo those of my colleague, Tom Berg.
The ride is excellent. The visibility is superb. The stability and handling are outstanding. But being the technical editor, I had to try the gadgets, the big new Detroit and the Eaton AutoShift. I may upset some purists, but I accept big power and automation wholeheartedly. They make drivers more productive and safer. Perhaps Suzanne summed it up best.
"If ever there were some spoiled people, it's definitely us. The motor and transmission make driving so easy. Put it in D and have a nice day," she said.
"They work great with the Jake Brake. The truck decides what gear you need," Suzanne continued. "It's much smarter than your foot. The transmission skip-shifts and it never grinds. It makes trucking a pleasure.
"At the end of a (driving) shift, after eight or 10 hours, I used to be pretty tired. With all this, it's just a lot easier. I'm not nearly as tired at the end of my driving day," she concluded.
I know now what she means. Power and automation are the future of trucking, not because they will make it easier, but because they are safer and drivers will be more productive.
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