From St. Petersburg to the Finnish port of Hamina about 250 kilometers. Just a three-four hour drive and an hour for border procedures in Torfyanovka. And now the reservation is fenced with a net and barbed wire, where more than two hundred colored “Americans” are sad without work. Colors - red, white, yellow - in a past life, a component of the corporate identity of the carrier company. A connoisseur will determine on which routes the tractor worked. Indeed, the wear of the aggregates in the highlands is one, on the plain - another. Mileage, as a rule, is close to a million, but the truck is able to wind up the same amount in a foreign land. One factory warranty is worth three years or 560 thousand km.
However, apart from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan, in other countries there is no interest in the used Yankees. In rich Europe, there is nowhere to put their own trucks with such mileage - again, they are bringing us.
Raising the cab is extremely simple - I turned the spool flag up, then I pressed the electric pump button. If it does not work, it means that the cab lock is not unlocked, its key is on the dashboard. So again, Hollywood is cunning, when at the most inopportune moment the cab of the beskapotnik leans back.
Americans have always loved powerful engines. But in Russia, carriers moan from diesel fuel prices, so motors choose more economically, up to 400 forces, with a volume of 11-12 liters. Current diesel engines of the New World are not gluttonous European, especially since structurally they are becoming more and more similar. Composite pistons, electronically controlled pump nozzles, decompression engine brake. These are the fruits of cooperation: Detroit Diesel belongs to Daimler-Chrysler, Scania and MAN cooperate with Cummins, and there are no numbers for small alliances.
Washed in America diesel looks like new, but its number cannot be discerned without cleaning. Across the ocean, no one is interested in him; for five or six years, he has overgrown with rye, and as a result, “misunderstanding” may arise among traffic cops. But the plates on the block with service phones are well preserved. For each of the Americas, Canada, Australia, he has his own, but combines their time: 24 hours - the delivery time for spare parts for the engine. I called - and no problems: they will contact the nearest service, they will send a tow truck … It's a pity there is no Russian phone there.
Outwardly, the Argosi’s cabin looks like another beskapotnik, a long-time rival of the International 9800. Only the rivets that secure the aluminum and plastic panels to the steel frame are invisible. The cab floor is almost flat, the tunnel protrudes less than three inches. The height of the ceiling can compete with the "Khrushchev", the width is also used to the maximum, and the internal length of more than 2.5 m allows you to place almost home furniture. Cabinets for clothes and utensils, a mezzanine over the windshield, a shoe box, a food container, a video double bedside table - and this is with a double bed. Under it there is still room for a refrigerator, but for some reason there is no top shelf on the sleeping bag.
Another feature of the configuration - all cars with air conditioning, but the "autonomy" - a rarity. The buyer has to take care of it. Who puts the German on diesel fuel, who tries to convert the Zaporizhzhya stove to gas (all truckers carry propane cylinders for camping kitchen), but there is also a new Russian “invention”. A power station of 3-5 kW is placed behind the cab, and 220V wiring is placed inside. Anything can be connected to the outlet - from the kettle to the oil heater.
Domestic problems are solved - you can get comfortable behind the wheel and consider the workplace. Both air-suspension seats with traditional Yankees armrests. The adjustable steering column is also air-tightened, and its button is located just to the left of the clutch pedal.
Instrument scales are digitized in the American way, and in order not to be retrained, ours prefer once to compile a plate on the conversion of Fahrenheit degrees to Celsius and other "Americanisms".
The gearbox lever resembles a joystick - it stands on the panel, but, including the transmission, you understand that there is no electronics and pneumatics in the drive of the main box. With the palm of your hand you feel the movement of the locking couplings. They synchronized the main box with synchronizers, there is a pair only in the planetary demultiplier, but the gears are engaged clearly and easily. But the clutch is tight - the system of rods and levers does not imply an amplifier. The "driver" uses the pedal only when starting, and then it just pushes the gear. It’s possible that they’re driving along highways from ocean to ocean, but in traffic jams on the MKAD it’s impossible without coupling, and the left leg will not last long. It’s not surprising that our craftsmen add a Mazov pneumatic amplifier to “inter” and “fred”.
