2007 Engines- Mack/volvo Vs. The Rest

[GearheadGrrrl]

Say what you will about the 2007 engines and their Volvo heritage, but compared to the rest of the industry they don't look so bad. The best seller DCX 60 series has been cut back to 515 horse and weight is up to 2600 pounds. Despite being opened up to 14 litres, the 60 series toque curve is anemic- 90% of peak power is only available down to 1400 RPM at best, and some of the power curves fall off even at 1500. It's thus no surprise that the 1800 RPM governed "economy" ratings have disappeared, with governors now set to 2100 RPM. Cat managed to keep their 625 horse C15 alive, but like DCX the torque curve is anemic and it weights over 3000 pounds. Again, governors are set for 2100 RPM and Cat is recommending at least a 13 speed transmission. Mack's MP engines put out over 90% of peak power as low as 1300 RPM, so Mack is still able to offer economy ratings with 1800 or 1950 RPM governed speeds.

With no need to rev up their engines to get any power, it looks like Mack will have a significant fuel economy advantage over their competitors. With the torque to use transmissions with as few as 6 forward gears, Mack drivers will have a lot less gear stirring to do also...

[Barry]

Plus, the new MP engine platform has been around for awhile with Volvo...tried and tested means less bugs for new Mack owners to work out! (Also, some parts of Europe have been running 10 ppm fuel since the 90's!)

Like any Mack Fan, I was hesitant, but after seeing these bad boys, I am excited about them!

[mackboy]

so you can say that the new engine familie is running exelent the mp7 and mp8 but something else did MACK solve the problem whit the 2004 engines do they have a new suplier for the camshaft i now here in europe a huge amount of renault trucks whit mack engines are standing in yards whit broken camshaft and also 2 macks are not running and waiting for answer from mack if they have a replacement

[ThaddeusW]

Sorry about this lengthly post but:

As for power curves international is claiming full torque starting at 1000 RPM with their MAXX Force/MAN engines. Those guys at MAN know Diesel engines, Diesel invented it while working there. And the Swedes aren't slouches either, they are on the ball too.

I would like to see the automatic transmission for the MP10. It sure ain't gonna be an Allison and the eaton 2 pedal autos are a joke. I gotta rant a bit and say that Eaton/fuller has to be the poorest excuse for automating a manual transmission. It looks like a 2 year engineering students final project (I could do a better job for petes sake). They shift worse then a 2 week truck driver graduate. An Allison that could take the full 2050 or 2250 ft/lbs weighs about 2200 pounds which is the M6600 off highway model. The heavy duty 4700 7 speed model can take 1850 foot pounds and weighs 1070 pounds. The only auto for the MP10 would be the Volvo gear box, and we all know it will be used because more and more trucks are going auto. Plus the Volvo auto gear box weighs less then an Allison auto.

The Europeans have their stuff together, single heavy countershaft, double cone synchronized, helical cut gears and they shift smoother then an Allison from what I hear. The trick is they use the same shifting setup thats used on those tiptronic car transmissions. 2 pistons per shift rack (proper term?) one to push the gear in and one to pull it out. this means that you can shift the next gear in while pulling the previous gear out ensuring a smooth as butter shift. and the synchros only help make it better. My friend has one of those new Volkswagon Passat's that has the tiptronic and man its as smooth as a torque converted transmission.

Why are the Europeans so on the ball? Easy most of those truck manufactures are from different countries so it becomes an international competition. No one wants to be the country with the crappy trucks. Even if they are from the same country the competition is fierce. Here in the USA its all the same; IH, Sterling, Freightliner are the low end, Paccar the fancy high end and Mack the tough as nails no bull s--- trucks (id say Western star falls in between). Daimler Chrysler has just about killed off detroit diesel discontinuing the series 50 in favour of the MBE900 and the series 60 will soon go out to pasture. The MBE4000 and possibly the Mercedes 16L V8 diesel like those found in the Actros will replace them (there was a V8 Freightliner test model made). We will continue to see more and more European truck technology introduced.

Face it the Europeans are taking over because we are well behind in terms of comfort, braking, handling, and safety (for petes sake why do we still have drum brakes on every axle?!). Times change and here in the USA we are resistant to change. It looks like the Europeans are starting to push things along for better or worse.

[GearheadGrrrl]

Thad, you make some good points-

Navistar's new MAN diesel sounds interesting, but the details so far have been kinda vague. It's announced home, a Navistar's medium duty cab with a stretched sleeper, should be good for at least 200,000 miles. None the less they'll probably undercut DCX on price and the fleets will buy 'em by the thousands.

Now with Navistar bragging up their new diesel and Paccar calling DAFs newest engine a "Paccar" diesel, Cat and Cummins must be sweating a bit. Of course, Navistar and Paccar may just be bluffing- I bet Navistar execs would love to goad Cummins or Cat into buying them out so they can make a juicy profit on their stock options...

As for the automatics, Eaton has been playing with theirs for 3 decades now, and apparently still can't get it right. Mack should have bought Allison years ago, but Volvo's automatics should fill the bill, providing Volvo will let Mack have them. According to Volvo's world website their automatic is already an option on the 16 liter engine and will be coming to america in 2007. Given that the Mack and Volvo conventionals pretty much share the same chassis, one would think that Volvo could at least build one with the 16 liter motor, plop the "Mayflower" cab on top, and call it a Granite...