Ha, small world Coal. I've seen that Volvo in town. Is that the same guy that used to have the little International that was the same colour? Nice trucks.

Yes, I found that out with my Powerstroke. EGR coolers, oil coolers, headgaskets, pinion seals, axle seals. You get no life out of tires and I can well imagine the trans will be an issue soon enough.

Like I said, I realize I will loose fuel mileage, but you have to factor these costs in. Not to mention the class 8 truck dealers around here are cheaper than the auto dealers for parts and service. I still get sick every time I buy my air, oil and fuel filters for this pickup and see that they cost more than the Caterpillar branded ones I use in my dump truck.

As far as parent bore blocks versus rebuildable wet sleave......I see the point, but after seeing the outcomes of some rebuilds on class 8 trucks by my local dealers, might be better to go with a crate engine anyway, lol.

I agree on the crate engine, way better route. The International, no, that is his first HDT.I painted the truck to match the trailer he is hauling, but don't have a recent pic on the puter.
I know some guys are getting over 10 mpg with thier HDT. Was looking for a Volvo there a month or so back for a guy out in BC, came across a fair number of them in around 25k. Decent trucks are out there. Volvo is cheap on parts too. Nice ride and condo type sleeper. Add on a deck etc?

Oh, ok. There was/is a gentleman in the Sault that was pulling his rv with a little 4000 series International, same colour as that. But I haven't seen it around lately.
So some guys are pulling 10 mpg with a HDT? I wasn't sure how good you could get with proper gearing, single axle, etc. I've only ever heavy hauled with mine, so all I know is the 3 to 5.5 mpg range, lol.

If you could get 10, that puts you right into MDT territory.

If it were me, hdt singled with large sleeper, some sort of deck to carry spare tires tools etc. Fridge microwave etc in the bunk. Espar type sleeper heater mandatory. Better ride, cheaper on parts, and easily serviced anywhere.

MDT with a large box toterhome, again, your creeping up on your weight, throw on a large fifth wheel and your getting close to max again. The smaller motors in the MDT will work harder, consuming more fuel and wearing out quicker. The HDT will just loaf along like nothing.

Some fleets I do, are reporting close to 9 mpg, 80000 pounds tandem tandem dry van, food for thought????????

Ya, if a guy were to go new HDT, those new Volvo XE/Mack Super Econodyne packages are getting awesome fuel mileage.

My 2003 Topkick has a 8.1 gas motor with factory propane conversion (ex Schwan's truck). First trip out 6.5 mpg in hilly Pennsyvania, still learning gear selection and throttle position for grades. My 8.1 gas dually with the same trailer gets 7 mpg. But propane is generally way cheaper than gas or diesel so I'm ahead of the game on the swap. One of these days when I have some time and somebody tells me how to post $%^&* pictures on this site I will start a build thread.

Yep - I can tell you fer sure that 3500 ain't gonna haul it far. I lived in Wyo for about 28 yrs - windy as heck and no place for puny trucks hauling 5ers.
We used Pete's and KW's to haul horses all over the west slope with nary a problem, exc on portables.

I had a Westport CNG conversion - which got me about the same mileage as your Schwan. It was designed for inter-city transport, not open road. When I drove in Germany it was all you saw - COE's with dual fuel.