The major Kenworth and Peterbilt medium duty upgrade includes the adoption of the 2.1-m wide cab from the heavy duty trucks, with a much more modern interior and dash and controls than the three decades old previous models, PowerTorque’s US Correspondent, Steve Sturgess takes a look at the new models.
As commented previously, the Kenworth and Peterbilt medium duty trucks are virtually the same with some slight changes to interior trim and different badges.
The biggest new feature of both the Kenworth and Peterbilt mediums is the all-digital dash. It features gauge options that drivers can select using a rotating finger control on the multi-control smart steering wheel. A supplementary display is offered which can show a wide variety of information including infotainment and navigation.
Judging from the presentations, it would appear that Peterbilt took the lead in the design process with Phil Hall, Medium Duty Market Segment Manager at Peterbilt, taking credit for the new cab/chassis combo that includes the same bonnet and forward lighting for both Peterbilt and Kenworth models.
“For this new medium-duty lineup, I challenged our design team to think in terms of a ‘qualitative’ engineering process,” explained Hall. “This meant focusing on customer need and understanding why they do things in certain ways when they’re using our trucks.”
Technology has been incorporated where it makes sense, according to Hall. He pointed to the new dash display and said the new trucks incorporate common diagnostics across all Peterbilt products. And making drivers as productive as possible included things like cab access and other features that make for good health and safety.
Starting the engine means a wait while the airbrake system does a valve check, then the engine is keyed on. Selecting ‘D’ on the multifunction stalk to the right of the steering column and releasing the park brake is all that is needed to get smoothly underway with the smart acceleration from the all-new Paccar torque-converter transmission, which then shifts gears extremely smoothly. The TX-8 really is a good transmission with built in features like shifting to neutral whenever the service brakes are applied, hill start hold, skip shifting, manual mode and more.
The Kenworths rode exceptionally well during a test drive on the rough roads of downtown Phoenix where KW chose to debut its new models. The different branded trucks certainly were quiet with the windows up and even with the windows down which shows good aerodynamics around the cab. Steering was precise and light and together with the TX-8 transmission should mean less driver fatigue even in the heavy traffic days these trucks likely will see in service.
Engines are the Paccar PX-7 for the lighter trucks. With 300 or 325 hp, they are basically Cummins B6.7 engines; for the heavier trucks, the Paccar PX-9 is specced with 300 hp and with 380 hp for the three-axle baby 8s. This is basically a Cummins L9. The TX-8 transmission is the newly introduced ZF PowerLine torque-converter eight-speed.
At last year’s reveal, ZF said that the new 8-speed will cover all of Allison’s 1000, 2000 Series automatic transmissions and much of its 3000 Series transmissions. “With one product, we cover about 90 per cent of our competitor’s volume,” said Andre Kohl, ZF’s North American Business Development Manager.
The Paccar medium transmission line-up, however, includes Allison 3500 and 4500 RDS models according to weight class.
Both brands are built in the same factory in St Therese, Quebec, Canada so the commonality of the different branded trucks makes sound commercial sense from Paccar’s perspective. And it also works for the various end users who have their own brand preferences.
Whichever brand customers select, this major Kenworth and Peterbilt medium duty upgrade means they get a fine new-from-the-ground-up truck in the weight range they need, from a last-mile delivery truck to a versatile three-axle dump truck that can push a snowplough. With the North American transportation market poised to take off after the pandemic they’ll offer Freightliner a mighty challenge for leadership in the medium-duty segment.
