Details of Cars

Kenworth T300: Kenworth’s first medium-duty conventional

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Kenworth T300 tractor unit at North Fremantle
A Kenworth T300 tractor unit at North Fremantle, Western Australia, in 2020. Photo by Bahnfrend, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The T300 was the truck that took Kenworth into the medium-duty conventional class. Introduced in 1994, it adapted the aerodynamic T600 to a lower Class 7 weight rating, and until 2008 it was the company’s main medium-duty bonneted truck.

Kenworth T300 at a glance

Kenworth T300 key facts
Introduced 1994
Class Class 7 medium-duty conventional
Based on Kenworth T600
Significance first medium-duty conventional truck from Kenworth
Same year Aerocab sleeper introduced, cab and sleeper as one unit
Replaced 2008
Successors T170/T270/T370 model family, Class 5–7
Maker Kenworth, a PACCAR company

Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on Kenworth; the T300 is described there in the company history, so this page covers only what that article states.

History of the Kenworth T300

Kenworth built only heavy trucks for most of its history. The first step into lighter classes came in 1987 with the Mid-Ranger cab-over, and the second in 1994 with the T300, the first medium-duty conventional the company had offered.

White Kenworth T300 tractor near JFK airport
A white Kenworth T300 tractor near JFK airport. Photo by Mr.choppers, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The T300 was not a clean-sheet design. It took the T600, with its sloped hood and set-back front axle, and adapted it to the lower Class 7 weight rating, giving operators a conventional truck for regional and delivery work in the same style as the aerodynamic heavy trucks. In the same year Kenworth introduced the Aerocab sleeper, which integrated the Aerodyne II sleeper cab and the driver’s cab into a single unit.

The T300 stayed in the range until the modernisation of 2008, when it was replaced by the Class 5–7 T170/T270/T370 model family. The change also brought a new low-cab COE, based on the DAF LF, first sold as the K260/K360 and renamed K270/K370 for 2013; those medium-duty cab-overs later received battery-electric versions, the K270E and K370E, for 2021.

Design and features

  • First of its class: Kenworth’s first medium-duty conventional.
  • T600 basis: the aerodynamic cab and sloped hood carried over from the heavy T600.
  • Class 7 rating: a lower gross weight than the heavy trucks, for regional and delivery work.
  • Same-year innovation: the Aerocab sleeper arrived in 1994 as well.

Kenworth T300 versions

  • T300 (1994–2008): the medium-duty conventional.
  • T170/T270/T370 (2008–): the family that replaced it.
  • K270/K370: the medium-duty cab-over line of the same period.

The T300 was the smaller relative of the T600 and the T800, and it was replaced by the T370 family. Its cab-over contemporary was the K300. More trucks are in the Kenworth collection.

Sources

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