Century 120 vs Volvo 760

[GlennWest]

Looking at a 2006 Freightliner Century with a 70" sleeper. Has a 224 wheel base. Looking in Resource list and it shows Volvo's. Don't know size of sleepers on Volvo either. Would singling mid work with this to carry a Smart, boxes, flat bed?

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

We/you need to get some measurements. Overall wheelbase in the mid position, , amount of frame rail behind sleeper, how much rail you would need to add. Anything is possible, you just need to do some measuring and figuring.

[GlennWest]

I know I need 150" from back of cab to center pin on hitch. Reckon my question should be the needed distance for this

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

 

Looking at a 2006 Freightliner Century with a 70" sleeper. Has a 224 wheel base. Looking in Resource list and it shows Volvo's. Don't know size of sleepers on Volvo either.

I assume the title Volvo 760 is a typo. Also, since the Volvo sleepers are detailed in the Volvo Product line, I am not sure what "size of sleepers on Volvo either" means.

 

If you are looking at wheelbases, there are no standard wheelbases. There are wheelbases that are rather common but there is no staandard to list.

[GlennWest]

Well. I give up.

[rdickinson]

Glen, mine is a 730, You may have meant a 780. Gregg on RV Haulers has the line up. The 700 series have a 78" cab, 600 series cabs are 61" I think. My wheelbase was 229, it was singled mid. Bringing in the rear set of wheels 24".

 

Sooo, with your wheelbase being 5" less than mine and the cab being 8" shorter, you should be OK.

 

Not sure if the distance from the front of the sleeper fwd is the same or close to a Volvo. With my setup, there is plenty of room for the Smart, even if the wb was shorter.

 

Roger

 

 

[GlennWest]

If I go with this truck I sorta in unknown territory. Tons of info here on Volvos. I think signing mid will work. I will do some measuring soon as I get to truck

[Star Dreamer]

Glen,

 

Unfortunately, there are not as many Freightliner or other brands that have been converted to RV use as the Volvos but we are increasing in numbers. Since there were mainly Volvos that were converted in the early days by forum members that contributed information, that is what is in the resource guide. You have to understand that the resource guide is a compilation of that information that was posted over the years. As more of us Freightliner owners contribute information, the hope is that more of that information will make it to the resource guide. The resource guide is a volunteer effort with no funding so we need to aware of that when using it and the person that handles it does an excellent job with available information. Because of the lack of Freightliner information, it just means we have to come up with other means to do our research, thankfully the internet helps and there are many of the trucks on the road to go take field measurements.

 

I did some measuring on our Century. I am not sure where the 70" sleeper configuration comes from. As best that I can determine, Freightliner Century's and Columbia's come in two different sleeper lengths based on cab length. There are an 112" and a 120" length versions. We have the 120". This the measurement from the front of the cab by the engine to the rear of the cab. (You will usually see a larger space between the drivers door and the small compartment door on the sleeper on eth longer cab). With that length, we have 60" of depth from behind the seats to the rear wall inside in which there is a 40" wide bed and a 17" wide cabinet, with space between the seats and the cabinet and between the cabinet and the bed to make up the 3" difference. We have a mid roof XT which is 77" inside height clear. I do not know what the condo cab height is but obviously taller than that. We can easily walk around in our cab but do not have the double bunk set up like a condo one would.

 

Our truck was singled short by a previous owner. Currently we have a 205" WB which means the original wheel base would have been 231" slightly longer than the 224" you indicate the truck is. We have sized our bed to handle a smart car and have made provisions to move our hitch back when we do. Singling Mid should work good for that truck to haul a smart as long has you locate hitch pin correctly. You can always extend the frame rearward if you need more space. Before you make modifications, you should weigh the truck and then do calculation to verify that you will not overload the axles (either front or rear) once you single it. You may find it may be better to leave it tandem but may also work very well to single it. Much of this will be determined by how much your bed weighs, how much you store in boxes and were they will be at along with hitch placement, etc...

 

Some more dimensions for you from our current set up:

Right now from the back of the truck to our hitch pin location we are 122". We are at about 53" from center of axle to hitch pin. I would have to go get our weigh tickets, but I believe we currently run about equal weight on the front and rear axle at around 10000#.

 

We can move our pin rear ward by 32" more, and more if I change brands of hitch. I do not want to do this until we weigh with a smart car on the bed to make sure I do not lighten the front axle up too much to cause handling issues, especially if I do not have the car on the back of the truck.

 

Back of our cab to the axle is 69". The side fairings stick out off the back of the cab by 19". My current calculations show, if I can leave the side fairings on, load smart car, hook up our current trailer and if I move my hitch to my rearward position, we would have 16" of clearance between trailer and smart during level turns. We currently have a 48" deep removable box located a couple of inches behind the fairings and have quite of bit of clearance for trailer swing.

 

if I need to move weight forward more, I can eliminate the side fairings and gain at least 17".

 

Let me know if you need more dimensions. The snow has arrived but I might still be able to go an do some measurements.

Dave

[GlennWest]

The 70" condo is how it is listed by dealer. I choose the figure of 150" back of cab to center pin on hitch based on Jack's recommendations. He stated his is 145" and should have allowed for new Smarts extra length. I choose 150" based on this. I wanted to go look at this truck today but they close at noon and I worked last night and is 4 hour drive. Have to wait. Thank you for your measurements. I want to single based on input from rv parks and also some had trouble with insurance coverage tandem. Give me more storage room also.

[rdickinson]

My deck was about 3000 lbs

[GlennWest]

I won't go with a custom Herrin type Smart bed. Can't see 23k bed on 21k truck. A heavy duty flat bed, dovetailed will work for us. I can put boxes on sides to cover gaps. The current modular bed being developed is interesting to say the least. May go that route. Thing is I can get singled and bed in same shop. Hugh plus. One stop.

[Star Dreamer]

Yes, I have seen the 70" sleeper size called out on a lot of the Century's. We also have seen where you can't trust what people post on Truck paper! We have seen trucks saying they were autos and pictures clearly showed a stick. Saw other adds with pictures showing the same truck as other adds. All very confusing. Sometimes we had to take the VIN number and call our local dealer to try to get the correct info, that is assuming the VIN # is correct in the add.

 

We had one dealer send of pictures of a Volvo 730 we were interested in. Said it was a southern truck and never saw snow. Google the trucking outfit that was on the side of the truck in the pictures and found they were based in South Dakota. We still stopped by and checked the truck out and you could see where they had repaired the bottom of the doors for rust and the frame they had painted over the rust (didn't even grind it down).

 

If we move our hitch all the way back we will be at 154" which gives us room to move it back forward as needed to clear the smart. Singled short we have a large overhang which could cause some issues with dragging but so far as not been a problem.

 

We custom built our bed and would do another but the modular deck looks like it would be a very good option and probably quicker to install.

 

Dave

[GlennWest]

Time not on my side. I could build a deck. Working full time just don't allow it.

[Jack Mayer]

The 70" condo is how it is listed by dealer. I choose the figure of 150" back of cab to center pin on hitch based on Jack's recommendations. He stated his is 145" and should have allowed for new Smarts extra length. I choose 150" based on this. I wanted to go look at this truck today but they close at noon and I worked last night and is 4 hour drive. Have to wait. Thank you for your measurements. I want to single based on input from rv parks and also some had trouble with insurance coverage tandem. Give me more storage room also.

Note that the measure on mine from the back of the Drom to the kingpin is what you really need for space....plus the 5" you referenced. Unless you are adding a drom just like mine. So that would be 125"+5"=130. That would be a decent measure. Of course that assumes removing the fairings. If you leave the fairings you are back to the BOC to kingpin on my truck (since my drom is inline with the fairings). That is the 145".

[GlennWest]

Plan on leaving the fairings and considering a drom box. Seems all the storage I can get would be beneficial. Thanks Jack and everyone for your help.

[RickW]

I want to single based on input from rv parks and also some had trouble with insurance coverage tandem. Give me more storage room also.

 

In 6 years of RVing with a tandem HDT, I have never been denied/refused service to any RV park. If the park is big rig friendly, they are already use to having large tandem axle motorhomes. I know that some others have had issues in the past but I do not recall of anybody in recent years having issues. Like I said my personal experience is being a tandem HDT has never come up as being a problem when finding a campground.

 

I have found insurance to be a non-issue too. The biggest concern has been how the truck was titled/registered. Once established that title and registration are both "Motorhome" then the concerns of it being a HDT don't seem to matter. Now if you intend to use the truck as a daily commuter for work, I could see that being a bigger red flag than being tandem axle when it comes to insurance.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

We were told entering Peculiar Park Place RV Park in Peculiar, MO that we would not have been allowed if we were still tandem.

 

His concern was ripping up the pavement.

 

We tend to relate ourselves to diesel pushers but we have to remember that a diesel pusher is not tandem, the second axle is not driven.

[CDR]

Glen;

 

Freightliner sleepers are as follows.... 70", 58", 48", no sleeper.

 

Older Classics offered an 80", modern 70" is as big as the factory offers.

 

Curt

[GlennWest]

So that is the largest condo then. Have to verify this Wednesday. Looked on his website and list as mid height xt. Picture is double bunk condo. Has a 07 also. Reads double bunk condo and picture is mid roof. Think wording is reversed on the two.

[bigstick]

We were told entering Peculiar Park Place RV Park in Peculiar, MO that we would not have been allowed if we were still tandem.

 

His concern was ripping up the pavement.

 

We tend to relate ourselves to diesel pushers but we have to remember that a diesel pusher is not tandem, the second axle is not driven.

I believe if a vehicle has 2 rear axles it is a tandem. Does not matter if the second axle is not powered.

[Darryl&Rita]

I believe if a vehicle has 2 rear axles it is a tandem. Does not matter if the second axle is not powered.

 

Wouldn't a second axle on an HDT be un-powered, until the power divider is locked?

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

 

I believe if a vehicle has 2 rear axles it is a tandem. Does not matter if the second axle is not powered.

You can say that but driven tandem dual axles have greater action on the pavement. A tag axle only has singles.

 

When twisting a dual axle, one set of tires set the speed of rotation and the other set are being dragged. For example, if the outer tires are setting the speed, the inner tires are turning faster than they nedd to cause extra scrubbing on the pavement.

 

Now double that with tandem duals. Four tires at one speed the four other scrubbing on the pavement.

 

Even with a tag axle, the dual axle will probably be the center of rotation and the tag axle will just scrub sideways. That is why many diesel pushers with tag axles nave the ability to raise the tag axle.

 

The scrubbing of tandem duals is why the effective turning radius of a truck singles long is shorter than a truck with tandems duals even though the effective wheelbase is shorter for the tandem duals.

 

Use all the logic you want, the guy who owns the park has the deciding vote.

[GlennWest]

One of our favorite parks don't want a tamdem truck in there. It is fine rock surface. He also has to rack it every time I come in with our 3 axle Teton. Don't seem to mind that. Go figure. That and I can have more boxes is my reason. It not that much money and same shop for bed. I would use it for when I need a pickup but that not often

[NoDirectionHome]

 

Wouldn't a second axle on an HDT be un-powered, until the power divider is locked?

 

No unless the truck is a 6 x 2 which is very rare. 6 x 4 have a differential between the drives and the locker removes the differential capability and locks the axles so there is no slippage between them.

 

[NoDirectionHome]

 

When twisting a dual axle, one set of tires set the speed of rotation and the other set are being dragged. For example, if the outer tires are setting the speed, the inner tires are turning faster than they nedd to cause extra scrubbing on the pavement.

 

Now double that with tandem duals. Four tires at one speed the four other scrubbing on the pavement.

 

Only if you have differential locks and they are engaged. The differentials allow just the opposite of what you describe as happening > differential speed of the inner and outer wheel sets.