Moresmoke

Volvo does offer such an animal in Europe. The rear axle has a clutch in the differential that disengages the axle. They call it a liftable tandem axle. To the OP if you are shopping a new truck, ask about rear suspension options. The standard Volvo/Hendrickson air leaf is not the greatest for axle articulation. The old style walking beam suspensions set the standard for off road use, but not something you want on your RV hauler. A suspension like the Hendrickson Primaxx EX will give you the axle movement you need to keep all the wheels on the ground. Not sure what Volvo would offer for options.

For airing tires and such, connecting to the red brake line works fine. As mentioned above, you have to push the red knob in to supply air to that line. There is enough restriction through the various valves that you can’t really get enough flow to use most air tools well. I have a hose reel mounted between my headboard and the cab. 50’ of hose hidden away, I have not had any issues with the reel yet. My hose reel is hard plumbed to one of the air tanks with a ball valve before the reel. I keep the valve closed so I don’t have to worry about the hose blowing and loosing air. Volvos with an Ishift have a pretty stout air compressor. Other configurations, some are good, some are a bit lacking. Tires- the front tires have enough load on them you need to be @ 100-105 psi. The rear you can run softer, for me 75 psi is as low as I will go. The rims have taper beads, and you can knock a bead off the rime fairly easily at lower pressures. Lower pressures reduce the basketball effect on the rear tires, especially with wide base singles.

If the D12 were built by Cummins or Detroit, it would have a reputation similar to the Series 60 Detroit. Volvo is just not a macho enough brand for some.

Twice the price but not Amazon

If I were in your shoes, I would do the engine oil and fuel filters to start with. Coolant can be tested easily with test strips to figure out where it is at. The only reason I changed my coolant straight off was that it was only strong enough for -20F, and I had no idea what exactly was in it. So I just started fresh with ND appropriate mix. Generally transmission and rears are recommended at 500k. I would pull the plug on the rears and see what it looks like. So long as the oil is clear and not milkshake looking you can wait a bit if you want. The transmission has a little window for the oil level. Same thing there.

Just for peace of mind I use a separate checking account. When I buy fuel, or know I am going to, I just use my bank app to move some money to that account. It usually takes TSD a day or two to debit the account.

The discounts are small everywhere right now. The truck stop operators can offer discounts because they work the futures markets when buying fuel wholesale. With the rapid drop in fuel prices last spring, it became much harder to work the market. On the plus side fuel is still relatively cheap right now so we can live with a smaller discount. Hopefully some of these companies got cheap futures locked in when they had the chance. One discount card not yet mentioned is the Good Sam - Pilot/Flying J RV card. Not a huge discount, but something may be better than nothing.

Similar to the others, depends where I am. I have the TSD card mentioned above, best part is it does not cost anything if you don’t use it. It is handy along interstates where the chain truck stops push up the prices. The discounts with the TSD card are currently less than they have been in the past, just another side effect of what is going on in the world. Small town rural truck stops have fair pricing most times, at least from what I have seen. One of the big benefits of having an HDT is the ability to shop fuel prices. Gas buddy, the TSD app, or other sources can give you price information for where you are traveling so you can pick your fuel stops. Keep in mind crossing a state line can make a big difference in the price of fuel. One thing I really don’t miss from traveling with an F350 is the 250 mile range. All our stops would end up planned around buying fuel.

Your future gooseneck ball hitch would be best bolted to the frame and not the bed structure. I would just go ahead and figure out where the ball needs to be and get it over with.

The 11 liter is anemic at best. I know. I have one. It works for me and I paid a little more than half of what they are asking for that one with less miles. You can get a cheaper out Volvo too, it all depends on the spec when it was built.

Some of the farmers around here use the adapter you show to pull gooseneck flats. The commercial hitch needs to be blocked or pinned so it does not flop front to back. And it sits higher than a gooseneck ball in a pickup so the trailer is either running uphill, or they need to adjust if switching between tow vehicles. To use that Anderson adapter you would need to take the Goosebox off correct? If that is the case you are going backwards to mount that directly on the commercial hitch with an adapter. If I were in you shoes, I would mount a gooseneck ball towards the back of the frame. Especially if you are looking for deck space on the truck. On my HDT the top of the ball is just about level with the top of the frame.

The air pressure is not the issue, the volume is the problem. Trucks aren’t plumbed to provide the volume of air a 3/4 impact will draw. Many of the newer trucks have compressors that can keep up, but you would have to be plumbed direct to the wet tank.

Another one. That is probably going to be a pretty rare spec. When I was shopping a couple years ago, I did see a few batches of 6x2s run through one of the auctions. Brought too much coin for me to have any interest.

Thanks, just trying to figure out how to get in-line pictures to work again.

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https://i.imgur.com/PIDPjZll.jpg

I mounted my Jackalopee to the front of the aluminum headboard I have on the truck. Not the most serviceable spot, but out of the way. I use the Jackalopee as a junction box. One cable in that plugs into the original socket on the back of the cab, one commercial cable out to a socket on the headboard by the air hoses. One cable out to a 7 pin RV plug at the bottom of the headboard that my bed plugs into and supply’s the bumper hitch plug for our TT. The last cable out goes to another RV plug next to the gooseneck ball hitch on the back of the frame. This pic of my wiring give some folks here heartburn, but it works for me. Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4 Pic 5 Note: I have a removable bed so that is the reason to have the bed wiring plug in. (My toy hauler is a hydraulic detach...) I use a P3 for a brake controller. Some folks look down on them, but for moderate sized electric brakes trailers I think it works just fine. My TT is really no consequence as far as braking is concerned, but I do pull a 20k gooseneck and I am satisfied with the P3 on that.

Massaging seat was the ticket here...

Local KW dealer’s prices beat anything I have found online. Haven’t wanted anything they didn’t have in stock yet.

This is what I have. No problems with wetness so far. The drawer slide is made from angle iron and 2” rubber non caster wheels. The inboard side is also expanded mesh for venting.

I add Howe’s or Power Service anti gel to mine. Never know if I might need to move it for whatever reason, and much simpler if something does come up. Don’t trust modern #2 diesel below 20F. Other than that, battery tender or pull the cables off. It will be fine come spring.

I went with a P3 and it works think it works great. My bigger trailer is a tri axle gooseneck, hit the brake boost button on the P3 one time for loaded or leave it off for empty, and it brakes just fine. TT is light enough the brakes are just there to be proper.

Depending how an HDT is set up, you can overcome the in bed hookup issues. My gooseneck ball is right at the end of the frame. You can walk up behind the truck to get hooked up. Note, the camper is a TT. I use the gooseneck for other trailers.

Also Digikey and Delcity. Some suppliers have better catalogs/websites than others.