More Than Just a Pretty Truck

First impressions are important, especially when you’re running a business. But we all know that what’s under the hood is what customers will remember. Yager Bros. Trucking chooses Freightliner for both of these reasons.

Beautiful and brawny

“We like to get noticed,” said Warren Sewell, fleet manager of Yager Bros. Trucking. “It says a lot when you pull into a mill or a customer’s yard and they see a nice, shiny, good-looking truck. I think it shows them that they’re going to get their load the next day, that we’re reliable, and that we take care of our equipment.”

But that would mean nothing if these trucks weren’t also tough. Yager Bros. Trucking is a heavy haul trucking company that specializes in feed and fertilizer for the agriculture industry, as well as beer byproducts.

“The cab and chassis in the Freightliner^® 122SD have been pretty strong suspension-wise. We get into some farm yards that are bumpy and require a tight turning radius, and then we get back on the highway and drive for four hours,” said Sewell. “They’ve been pretty tough.”

Pop the hood

The Detroit^® DD15^® engine is the real powerhouse behind these trucks. It delivers up to 505 horsepower and has a proprietary asymmetric turbocharger to reduce weight and complexity, while still delivering improved performance.

“We went in the direction of Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) emissions, and it really changed things,” said Sewell. “We found that it puts a lot less heat in the engine, versus the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), and that helped make them more reliable.”

In addition to performance, the fuel filter module uses a two-filter system that decreases the need for service by up to 100,000 miles, and the DD15 provides easier access to the water drain and needs fewer priming strokes, improving serviceability.

“The Freightliner 122SD keeps it basic, which makes the trucks easier to work on,” said Sewell. “They’re not too complicated, and they have widespread parts availability. It makes it easier as a mechanic to get into spots and get things changed out faster.”

Founded in 1998, Yager Bros. Trucking runs a large fleet of Freightliner 122SD tractors equipped for heavy haul with 14,000- to 16,000-pound front axle and 46,000-pound rear axle capacity. They are located in Ontario and haul goods within a 300-mile radius to Buffalo, N.Y., using dump trailers, hopper trailers, tankers and live bottom trailers.