Author:
Jeff Miller
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Date Posted: 02/ 20/ 03, 8:34am
The 31/33/35foot FC all get the same engine. In pre-83 it was a 210hp 3208na, in '83 a 225hp 3208turbo, '84 a 250hp turbo, in '87 a 300hp turbo. The turbo coaches usually had a taller differential so that they could run lower RPM as the turbo engine is limited to a lower RPM, pretty much a 67mph-70mph gearing. The '83-up also have a "retarder" which helps to keep speed down on the downgrades, especially helpful when pulling a heavy trailer I'd expect.
It will tow, but I found my 210hp 31' coach to be sluggish even in rolling terrain with 6000# in tow. The longer coaches will weigh more, the 35' is probably 5000# heavier than the 31' for the same year.
There are also pushers, starting in '82. They were pretty much all 330hp/5-speed DD 6V92TA turbos until '86 when the 450hp-500hp DD 8V92TA/4-speed became available, standard in widebodies and ran through '94.
A 250hp 31' or 33' would be a pretty good tugger in an FC, the additional wheelbase of the 35' is nice but with an extra 3000# over the 33', and the 300hp '87-up are nice tuggers also, it depends on how big a hurry you're in and whether you spend a lot of time in mountains. The pushers will typically be better tuggers although I have no complaints about the towing manners of my FC.
This is pretty much only about power/weight, as far as other factors like crosswind resistance and truck wake handling, any (properly aligned) Wanderlodge in these years is head and shoulders above a typical plastic disposable unit. Underpowered? a relative term and since you can pretty much just keep the hammer down up mountains without hurting anything, it is not as big a problem as in a gas unit which often can't handle extended pulls at full power without damage. They're built to take hard use.
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