Thanks to collaboration between aftermarket service shops and their vendor partners, a power take-off (PTO) installation problem impacting Freightliner Cascadias has hopefully been resolved.
Trucks, Parts, Service was recently alerted to an issue impacting 2016-2019 Cascadias with DT12-DA transmissions in which the clearance space off the back of the transmission between the driveshaft and an exhaust pipe create challenges for customers who want to install a PTO. The transmission has a mounting position for an external PTO, but close proximity to the driveshaft and a nearby exhaust pipe allow barely 4 in., of space for the PTO. The service provider who alerted TPS to the problem said that amount of clearance enabled a PTO to be affixed but wasn’t leaving enough extra clearance for a pump mount.
That was major problem for the service provider’s customers, who bought the tractors on the secondary market with intent to use them to haul dump trailers.
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“It’s been a real issue for us” he said. “The customers to look at these trucks and they see the mounting position so they think the truck will work for their application. But then when they bring them in to us, we have to tell them that it’s not going to be so easy.”
The service provider said the first few occurrences with these trucks were the hardest, with the shop and the customer both flummoxed as to how to get the PTO in place under the vehicle. The service provider didn’t want to turn any customers away but also was struggling to find a way to fit the hexagonal peg into the proverbial round hole. “The customers thought the trucks were programmed for a wet kit and they definitely were not,” he said.
Yet as more and more of these trucks entered his market, the service provider also realized the clearance problem wasn’t rare issue but a legitimate flaw. He said newer model year Cascadias with the same powertrain configuration do not have the clearance issue, nor has it appeared with any other OEMs.
