Fitzgerald's glider kit
 

I put a deposit down on a Pete 389 glider kit from Fitzgerald's last week, so today I made a trip down to the factory to check out my truck and their operation.

First off they are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but I have to say from what I saw today everything about the operation seems top notch. There are probably 300+ gliders sitting on the yard. They are doing 1 Peterbilt and 2 Freightliners a day, and from the couple in the shop that I looked at it appears that no corners are being cut and they are very experienced in what they are doing.

I took an experienced mechanic with me and he couldn't have been more impressed. He said and I agree if you sat that truck in a parking lot and asked anyone if it came straight from the factory no one would deny it, every hose and clamp are top notch and professionally tied and protected. The shop is huge and although not NASCAR shop clean it was very nice and organized.

I am very pleased with my decision to go the glider route after what I saw today.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps0c471fa4.jpg
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congrats!


i'm up in the air about getting one myself. whats really stopping me (besides i gotta wait at least 2 years..) is will the factory trucks beat these in fuel milage to the point its just not worth haveing a pre emissions motor anymore and.. i live in NY.


what specs did you go with? thats a damn good looking truck. i'd love to build a 386

Glider kits seem like the way to go now a days.

How are the factory trucks going to compete with the pre emission motors as far as fuel mileage is concerned?

It's not even close when it comes to downtime and being able to get repairs done. I'm not sure what NY has to do with it, but I don't run there anyhow, or CA for that matter.

It's got the 12.7L Detroit series 60 with an 18spd trans 3.55 rears on 24.5 tall rubber.

I think NY wont let you register one, unfortunatley more and more states will go that route, gotta keep the air clean ya know............Cali already has some strict laws in effect.
, for emissions and older trucks. In Jersey I have to have mine "smoke tested" every year......$75 bux........$750.00 fine if ya don't do it, first offense, $1500, 2nd offense

I think the gider is a good idea, but it won't last long once the tree hugers get involved

Good looking truck. If i was in the market for a new truck i would look at a glider. But it would be hard for me to buy one since Mack don't sell gliders :mad: If you don't mind me asking?? What is the final price tag on them??

volvo might sell a glider they the same as mack lol

wow.. here you just have to try again. and yes i'm worried about registering it here.

i was reading an article (maybe landline?) that a cascadia has got 9.33mpg.. BUT is that real world running? weight, highway speeds, hills etc. i still gotta wait a few years before i gotta worry about a new truck anyway. hopefully by then someone will figure out how to delete all that crap.

anyway, good luck with the glider. its a really good looking truck.

like 140,000 after i added lights,visor, 7" stacks and custom paint

went to the Louisville truck show today and took these shots from Fitzgerald's display.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps6bdbf23c.jpg
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I would guess the new production trucks with the emissions stuff have quite a ways to go before they can even come close to being as cost effective as a well built glider. My 2013 FL Columbia glider with a 12.7 DDEC IV 60 pumped up to 550 hp and 1850 torque, 18 speed in front of 2.64 rears, riding on wide based low pro 22.5 rubber gets nicely into 7 avg mpg territory in the winter and nicely into 8 avg mpg territory in the summer. Sure, I am not heavy all the time. Average payload in the box is around 35K. Considering the greatly reduced initial cost and smaller overall operation cost of a pre-egr engine and the fuel mileage one can tweak out of them, there is no way the new stuff will compete favorably for quite a few years. If I need to I can carry 2000 more lb payload compared to a similarly spec'd new production truck with all that emissions stuff also. Again, no contest. And one also has to figure in that a glider gets to avoid the Federal Excise Tax also. When you step back and take a long hard look at everything, there is no production truck going to beat a glider for a long, long time.

I took a look at what cost would be for a number of other new trucks spec'd identical to mine. Cheapest I could negotiate, with FET, was $160,000. I got my glider for $112,000, ready to work. It is going to take one heck of a lot of extra fuel mileage to make up for the over $40,000 I saved in the purchase. And not too many new trucks are beating me in fuel mileage now. And they sure are not going to beat me in overall operation costs when you include maintenance and repairs on the engine components.

Pics are on my profile page.