Saw a fleet of garbage trucks at a rest stop last Tuesday and it clicked for me

I was grabbing coffee at a Love's off I-40 in Oklahoma and noticed five different garbage trucks all parked together. They were all different brands - a Mack, a Freightliner, a Peterbilt, and two Internationals. The drivers were just hanging out and I asked one of them about it. He said they all run the exact same Cummins ISL9 engine under the hood, just different cabs and badges. Has anyone else noticed how much badge engineering happens in the medium duty world?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin_wright18d ago

And @willow_ellis is right, I read a piece saying the ISL9 is in like half of all garbage trucks now.

willow_ellis18d ago

Yeah that "different brands, same guts" thing is super common in medium duty. If you're ever spec'ing out a truck for a small fleet, just pick whichever cab and dealer support you trust most, the drivetrain will be basically identical. Saves a ton of headache on parts and maintenance down the road if you standardize.