Cabovers More Dangerous?
 

I love cabovers, but have been told they are death traps. I was told by a trucker that the pins break in an accident and the cab comes forward. He says he has had to berry a few truckers from collisions in cabovers. Is this true??? Are they not as safe as a regular hooded truck??

not sure, maybe older ones but newer argasis and such I would think would be safe enough. Only issues I can see would be that there is no hood between you and the truck in front of you and maybe the way you have to step up into the truck. I have heard of ppl getting thier feet cought in a step and breaking thier leg in the fall but other than that I wouldn't think so.

No more dangerous than any other truck except it's easier to fall when getting in or out. If you rear end another truck then thats' another story! As far as the cab flipping over B/S just isn't going to happen on it's own, you would have to fail in locking it down with the hydraulics and that 's not going to happen.
I drove one for awhile and loved the maneuverability of it but engine but is pretty scary till your used to it. Driving one you will NEVER EVER tailgate !

Try bobtailing one in the rain. I did about 2 360*'s on accident.

Conventionals FTW!

Drove one briefly when I did some ride-alongs with this Dairyland Hay Co. out of Chino.

These were those really short Freightliners with a literal "bunk" as a sleeper.

I drove a cabover in the early time of my driving career. I enjoyed it. I don't recall any more problems with a cabover than conventional. The big problem can come in should you decide to hit something with the front of your truck. :lol:

You're always the first one at the accident.

I hated the ride, sitting on top of the steer axle. Spinal compression.

Good view though.

Ran thru some freezing rain and later stopped for a whiz and slipped on the icy step and broke my ankle but aside from that, (my own clumsy mistake), I had no problems with cab overs.

Gunfighter

That was the one thing I did realize very quickly. That left front tire constantly kicking my butt.:eek1::hellno:

I have a cab over. STOP trying to scare me! lol. I dont see a chance my cab coming over. the hooks stick & I have to manually pull hooks out, then the hydraulic takes over. the hydraulic arms are too strong to let cab over. it has a self locking mechanism. you are not getting that cab up or down without the hydraulic shocks cooperating. as far as hitting something in front of me.. that would be my fault. the cab is very heavy. if the pins did break, I still don't see the cab going over. if I unhook my lock down hook's & try to lift up cab without using the hydraulics, I would lift entire truck off the ground before the hydraulics would give way.

what kinda berrys?

A cabover should not be any more of a death trap than a conventional. Any of them can be considered a death trap if you drive like a maniac. There were many cab overs that could do triple digits back when they were more prevalent on the highways. I don't recall seeing more accidents back then as now. Unless you tailgate you should not have any more concerns with a cabover than a conventional.

IF you knew enough about COE trucks to love them, why would you have any concerns about their safety?

I hate crawling into and out of the dang things....Mack, International, Freightliner, KW, Pete.......Cabovers suck.........Conventional all the way for me.

I drove cabovers from 1997 to maybe 2005. My CDL says I'm 5'10", which is how tall I was when I was 16, but last time I measured, I was only 5'8.5" or so. That spinal compression is no joke man!
I'll never forget my first trip in a "hood." I never did get used to the weird reflection off the weird thing out in front of me that first night. It kept freaking me out until I rememberd what it was and calmed down. Making my first turn into a tight parking lot in that thing was fun too. It turned pretty tight and there wasn't much difference in where I could put it, but all the angles were wrong, and it felt enormous.

I don't have any desire to go back to driving cabovers. They suck.

I wouldn't worry about safety though. The cab isn't going to flip over, and you're probably more likely to drive the truck away in one piece than a conventional. We had a driver who had the biggest, prettiest, fastest truck on the yard. It was a triple-digit, candy apple red cabover Pete with a queen sized sleeper. The boss's little brother, truck number 1. He totaled it one foggy night when he hydroplaned and jacknifed and bounced off the walls repeatedly going over a bridge. He tore that poor truck all to hell, but he drove another 1,000 miles to get it home. He had worn brand new tires down to the wires in that distance, because the alignment was so screwed up, but he came out of the ordeal in one piece.

I wouldn't want to try that trick in any modern conventional.

Come to think of it, I ass-ended a lawyer in a cabover myself. A truck up ahead of me freaked out at a low bridge he had plenty of room to get under, and I just barely didn't get stopped in time to avoid tapping the four-wheeler in front of me. I pulled over and got my insurance information ready, and he walked up and said "It's a good thing for you I'm not a plaintiff's attorney. I've got to be in court right away, and I don't have time to deal with this, so have a nice day."

GULP!

The truck was fine. So was the car. It was a very low-speed tap. I had forgotten all about that one. Oh well, it's not on any record anywhere, so it never happened, right?

Right.

hey you yanks are pusseys caboveras are the way to go .in our job ure bonnetts are a pain in the arse and that true haha now were dos this cum from

Try ENGLISH................ Most of us are not from New Zealand..... I don't think your statement would make sense even in New Zealand. :smokin:

HEY! I ain't no pussey!! :pissedoff:



















I'm a chicken. :lol:

With the flat front, does mpg decrease with a COE as compared to a conventional? I would think wind resistance would factor in....

You would think that a flat front would get much worse fuel mileage than some of the newer aero trucks. That is not necessarily correct. I think that one of the most fuel efficient cabovers of yesteryear was the Peterbilt 367 (I believe). It has been so many years since I have driven a cabover I don't remember. At that time most of us didn't give much thought about fuel economy.

Peterbilt 372 ?
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/...42547098_z.jpg

I believe that you are correct, TK. Thanks. It has been some time since I have seen one of them.

That is an ugly truck. My old G.M.C. Astro was better looking than that.. :smokin:

We can all see the reason to why they're not seen any more. OMG - a Columbia is a better looking truck than that, and Columbia's are ugly MoFo's.

But i still turn my head and say WOW i remember driving one of those... I remember the company used to have a cabover Ford that had a air-ride cab or something. The first time i drove that thing i swore i was gonna tip over.. I don't know what it was, but for some reason every time you turned that steering wheel the cab would lean over so far that you would swear you were gonna tip over... It was so messed up, i remember almost turning around and taking another truck.. :smokin:

I remember the GMC Astro, Ford, KW, Peterbilt and International. Those are the cabovers that I remember most. Had California not changed their length laws, we would all still mostly be driving cabovers.

I've always wanted an old cabover Kenworth like this one. All restored, probably all black. I just don't think I would want to live in it for weeks at a time. I used to ride in one with my dad when I was a kid and seem to remember how terrible it was trying to sleep because the one he drove had a tiny sleeper. I used to wake up in the middle of the night freezing my ass off because the engine idling wasn't putting out heat so I would climb up front and step on the pedal for a while and when it got warm again and I'd back to sleep. My dad would never even know I had done that, I was only 8.

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The Cascadias aren't much better if not down right HIDEOUS!!!

I was always afraid the truck going to fall forward when you come to a stop, slow down, etc.

Do they even make cabovers anymore??

Now that is a good looking cabover

Yes. I've seen quite a few new Argosy's lately. I don't know who's been buying them, but it certainly ain't us. I also agree with Doctor Who. Crapcadia's are downright hideous.
By the way, wasn't that Pete a 362, or was that the model that preceded it?

I thought it was the 362 also but when I googled it the regular square shaped cabover came,then I remember it being 372.:cool:

peterbilt 372 - Google Search

Every now and then I see a KW cabover on the road that's been restored, they are sharp. Sometimes I get on truck paper and look at them.

Ahhhh, the Darth Vader

I have personally owned 2 cabovers in my career.... a 72 KW B-Model and a 82 FTL. I liked the trucks looks and reliability. Maintance was a pain cuz everything was under the truck, but the 300" wheelbase made for it not spinning out like someone else said.

I have been looking at a 77 Pete here lately, but just as a show ride.

I owned the blue FTL for a total of 24hrs. I bought it in NJ back in 2003 and the next day a guy I worked with bought it from me for a nice profit. He has since sold it and I've seen it 3 other times at shows. The rest are just pics


http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...212/ftlcoe.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...htlinerCOE.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...2/petecoe1.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...406_364862.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...lenosecoe1.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...lenosecoe3.jpg

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...lenosecoe2.jpg

These trucks should not be allowed on the roads
 

You should be scared. I could show you pictures that would give you nightmares. My brother was driving a cab over truck and was killed instantly when hit head on by another truck. There’s no doubt in my mind that he would still be here today if not in that death trap!

Yeah.. head on crashes in conventionals are never an issue....

:):):)

Or rear enders..........