My Western Star long hood conventional would be lost without an 18 speed Roadranger and so would I. Always been a Star fan as they are all I drove for the company I retired from, drove them for over 26 years and 99% of them were big Cats. A couple 13's and the rest 18's All on air and all with double bunks. I really liked the 97 Star I drove with the 'Vestibule' sleeper in it. Sort of a 'private entrance' to the sleeper and a great closet to keep work clothes in. We all drove large cars that never went anywhere actually. We we all home almost every night and if for some odd reason we did get hung out, the company covered us staying in a Holiday Inn and paid our dinner and breakfast as well.
I only ran Northern Ohio and lower Michigan and rarely a trip to Gary, Indiana to pick up a permit load of master coils.
The reason why the owner of the company bought large car Stars was for eventual resale. In fact they always had a waiting list of drivers who wanted to buy them and they came out of fleet at 750L miles, sometimes less. When I retired I bought the tractor I was driving so it retired along with me and they gave me a fantastic deal on it with the stipulation that if needed, I would pull their Talbert detachable when big stuff needed moved. I complied with that, no issue because it not only paid well but they got all the permits as well. I moved many large, heavy and od machinery pieces for them as they were in the steel processing business and that entails large process machinery.
I remember one time I moved an overwidth machine base from Gibraltar, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio and the routing was down
M125, smack through downtown Monroe, Michigan and I hit it at rush hour and the road was 2 lane and I took up every bit of the south side plus the berm and I pizzed off a lot of drivers that day. Glad I had a Michigan State Police escort on my rear end. If I remember, I was 14-6 feet wide. Not high but real heavy as well. Had the flip axle down and all lit up and all the signage and flags in place. Took a pair of mobile cranes to lift it off. I hauled many oversized in width and height pieces for them and then they divested themselves of the trucking company and it was no more, but I still own the Star and a Timpte 42 foot hopper bottom trailer. Complete OO package inside and a sleeper I never slept in.
twin 1220 gallon polished tanks, all polished aluminum wheels, inners and outers, diamond tufted interior, wood laminate dash, Newway air ride, 44K rears, every factory option available. It's bright red metallic with black interior. Air ride seats on both sides too. 255" wheelbase and a football stadium sized turning radius.
Quite a unit that I only use for hauling local grain now. I should probably sell it.
not that I would test it.
