Kenworth Comparisons

I have a 2003 T600 the cab/sleeper is exactly the same as a W900. Only difference between the 2 is the W900 has a longer hood. Careful with any 2003 year model tractors as you could end up with a CAT bridge motor engine serial # prefix MBN or an ISX Cummins with EGR. Or you could get an '03 with the the pre-emmisions serial prefix 6NZ CAT or non-EGR ISX Cummins. Obviously you want to avoid a CAT bridge motor like the plague and/or getting an EGR ISX defeats your whole intention on this purchase. Educate yourself. '03 is a mixed bag '02 or older is clear cut.

 

What Rolling Coal said. For a given model year, the T800, T600, and W900 are the same truck inside. Only one that's different is the "wide body" T2000 which has TONS more headroom, more width, more room between the seats and more cabinet space.

T600 and T2000 have alot of fairings and stuff that seems to wear out and shake. The fancy expensive aerodynamic mirrors don't last (glue comes apart and the glass vibrates).

I'll take the W9 and T8 for durabilty.

Sorry 'Coal. I don't mean to bash your truck. I liked my time with our 1995 T6 but I got tired of fixing the shaky mirrors and got tired of taking the fairings on and off to pressure wash the salt of the fuel tanks. We found if you don't do that up here the fuel tanks corrode. We have an '08 T660 that's about to get it's third set of tanks.

 

No you're spot on. I've had to replace broken brackets that hold fairings on that were welded by the previous owner because they broke. Down at the bottoms where they fit snugly and pivot out some of those points have shaken for so many miles they're busted and without some strategic baling wire application on the back sides of the fairings they'd be flopping in the wind. The mirrors suck exactly like you said. Kenworth has the most ingenious (not!) way of attaching stacks to a cab. I will say on the inside the old girl is still relatively tight and they do put together a good sturdy cab imo. It is easy to work on too except for crawling under it because of the fairings. With the benefit of hindsight I would pick a T800 or W900 over a T600 if I had it to do over again. When I was a kid in the 80's and anteater's first came out I thought they were the coolest truck and always wanted one. Yeah that's why I got a T600 lol.

 

Yep. My '98 is tight as a drum and so was the '96 when we let it go.

+1

 

Whatever KW you get, make sure it has gauges instead of idiot lights. It should have 20-22 gauges on the dash.

 

Most guys out here on the road wouldn't kno what 16 to 18 of those gauges were telling them Six.

 

The new T680 is supposed to be very reliable and well built.

 

LOL that is what the salesman at my local KW dealer said in late 2007 when the DPF trucks came out and then again when the DEF Paccar came out.

 

Truth. But any owner operator that plans to stay in business will realized that he will need a crash course in trucking education and not rely solely on service writers, and shady wrench turners who want to experiment on driver bank accounts.