Review: Kenworth T909

Bruce Honeywill puts the latest version Kenworth's flagship T909 to the test over the lonely roads of outback Queensland

It feels good to drive the 'King of the Road' and to get paid to do so. King of the Road? Well, it's a subjective tag, but after decades as a truck journalist I know full well that Kenworth tops many people's wish lists, from tyre kickers through the custom enthusiasts to hard-nosed, transport company bottom-liners.

Why is this? Pretty much it's because Kenworth builds a damn good truck and its models hold some stylistic references to what we used to think made trucks look individual and great. Most Kenworths with two and three million kilometres are favourites of the owner-driver brigade. They're easy to customise and they look superb. But what are low-mileage examples like?

The image of Kenworth as King of the Road has to peak with the T909. It's a big, bullish prime mover. With a tennis court of a bonnet sticking out in front, it's a heavy-duty beast that has a competitive tare weight for highway running and the specs and grunt for heavy road-train work.

I’ve just knocked over 40,000-plus kilometres at the wheel of the latest iteration of the Kenworth T909, in this instance powered by a Cummins ISXe5 engine. The fleet in which I drive has made the change to the Cummins SCR engine for reasons that will soon become apparent, but first let's take it for a drive…

Midnight. Western Queensland. Winter. You lean against the ute and wait. You hear the truck coming; the 'shadda-shadda' of the e5 engine is much louder, for some reason, than the previous ISX Cummins using EGR emissions management. The engine brake too seems louder as the truck slows at the speed limit signs entering the long straight into Longreach. The Kenworth turns into the parking bay where we change drivers, the four trailers in an ABB configuration dwarfing the big prime mover.

While Brian completes the bookwork for his Toowoomba to Longreach stage I walk the trailers, hitting tyres with my steel bar, checking air and electric fittings in the white light of my LED torch. All is good and Brian heads for bed. I climb the three steps on the exterior of the fuel tank and settle back into the ISRI.

Tonight’s task is to take these trailers 530 kilometres north to Cloncurry, drop them and pick up another set of trailers and return the same 530 clicks to Longreach, where the Toowoomba driver will keep the outfit going south. The 14-hour shift fits comfortably within my BFM framework.

Sitting in the driver’s seat in the Kenworth is akin to an aircraft cockpit. Something like 20 gauges illuminated in orange stare back at you. A couple of trips are needed to sort out the priority for checking the instrumentation, knowing that with the computer-managed engine a warning will let you know in no uncertain terms if there is the potential of a heart attack under the bonnet.

The computer talks to the driver through a small readout screen with a typeface that is far too small for me to read while driving. However, the bar of info and warning lights across the top of the dash is a far more comfortable connection, although it can be hidden behind the steering wheel.

After completing my checks and paperwork I pull out, swinging wide so the 53.5-metre combination crosses the road and settles in line. The long line of orange clearance lights always gives my heart a skip, just for the sheer size of this thing. I slowly negotiate Longreach's two roundabouts and work up through the gears in the Eaton 18-speed transmission.

The controls for the engine brake and cruise control on this latest 909 have changed from behind-the-wheel wands to finger-tip controls on the steering wheel. Cruise control is now on the horizontal spoke to the left with the engine brake to the right. Switches are delicately illuminated for easy finding at night.

Fully loaded with the Cummins 550hp-rated ISXe5, the combination takes about four kilometres to get into top gear and by five clicks has reached the road speed limitation of 90km/h.

Kenworth’s marketing blurb paints a broad picture of the T909's abilities. “Whether in single-trailer or multi-trailer road-train configuration, on highway or the roughest outback track, the T909 has been designed, engineered and built in Australia to deliver unmatched performance in the harshest possible conditions,” it states.

The ISXe5 version of the T909 comes with varied horsepower options from 485hp to 600hp, or the beefed-up torquey Signature option: 600hp with 2779Nm (2050lbf)t of torque.

Cummins has not travelled without difficulty over the past years, experiencing turbocharger issues and other problems. These issues have impacted on Kenworth more than they would have historically. Cummins has provided the only engine option for the T909 since Detroit Diesel was tucked under the feathers of mother hen Daimler Trucks for exclusive use in the company-owned Freightliner brand and other family members. And the Cat engine was likewise taken off the OEM market for exclusive use in Cat Trucks.

Cummins battled its issues with strong backup and a variety of ‘turbo packs’ that reduced the problems. The ISXe5 is a further step away from those older glitches, with its new common-rail system that takes away the need for a second camshaft to mechanically drive the injectors. The waste-gate turbocharger is a move away from variable-geometry turbos in the EGR ISX variants. The ISXe5, as its model number suggests, meets Euro 5 (or ADR 80/03) emission standards.

The most noticeable change ushered in by the ISXe5 version of the T909 is the Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) tank squeezed between the two big fuel tanks on the driver’s side of the truck. Most commonly known these days as AdBlue, the fluid is a 32.5 per cent solution of urea in water and under heat it converts the dirty nitrogen oxides to harmless nitrogen and water.

The SCR engine runs cooler and with better fuel economy than the EGR engines. While a subjective comparison, at the bowsers at Cloncurry there seems to be an 80- to 120-litre improvement after the 2000 kilometre pull from Toowoomba. Most operators seem happy to fork out a little extra for AdBlue to gain these advantages.

The 550hp-rated version has a very flat torque plateau peaking between 1150 and 1600rpm. This graph plays true in real life; this engine can really hang on. Horsepower peaks at 1800rpm, but is close to peak at 1600rpm while the engine is still at max torque – a power and torque combo we would have only dreamed about a few years ago. The Cummins engine brake builds to 600hp retardation and is noticeable with a 100-tonne combination.

This major contender for the title of King of the Road draws its heritage from the classic Kenworth W Model; blue-blood DNA indeed. There would be many who might dislike the big bonnet sticking out in front, but machismo comes at a cost. This is a truck that meets the hyperbole of the marketing brochures. It’s a hell of a truck to drive, modern yet it has not forgotten the classic days. It's a truck designed for professional drivers. There are simply too many T909s on the road to think otherwise.

* The accompanying photos have been provided by Bruce Honeywill and courtesy of Kenworth

KENWORTH T909 SPECIFICATIONS

ENGINE: Cummins ISXe5

POWER: 550hp (405kW) at 1800rpm

TORQUE: 1850lbft at 1150rpm to 1600rpm

EMISSIONS: ADR 80/03

STD TRANSMISSION: Eaton 18-speed Roadranger

OPT TRANSMISSION: Eaton UltraShift Plus

CONFIGURATION: 6x4

TARE: According to specification

GVM: According to specification

GCM: 90,000kg (standard, higher on application)

WHEELBASE: According to specification

BRAKES: Drum

CABS: Day cab and a variety of sleeper cabs available

WEB: www.kenworth.com.au

Review: Kenworth T909

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