So you just leased a truck eh?

Discussion in 'Lease Purchase Trucking Forum' started by Rawze, Aug 14, 2013.

  1. Rawze

    Rawze Medium Load Member

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    Getting on top of your truck problems...
    Some info on solving some common problems that cause first-time owner operators to struggle
    and/or fail at leasing a used truck in the dry-van/reefer market...
    (by Rawze sept. '2012).

    So, you have just leased that first truck and have moved from company driver to Owner-Operator. First of all, you have my congratulations and sympathies at the same time, for you have now dedicated yourself to something that can either make your pay-checks a lot higher, or consume you for all you are worth depending on your decisions as a vested truck-owner. Many drivers that switch from company driver to owner-operator do poorly for many reasons, but most of those reasons can be easily solved through some basic education. No one wants to fail, or is even thinking about the consequences of failure when they are signing that lease or purchase agreement, yet statistically, 80% of first-time truck lease operators do in fact struggle and/or fail.

    First, if you haven't leased a truck yet, you need to ask yourself how you, as a new lease operator are going to be better than the 80% who have come before you and had problems. Secondly, you need to take a hard look at the things that caused those people to fail and ask yourself “What would I have done to overcome the problems that caused these people to fail”. Most lease-operators that are struggling and/or failing that I have met are not failing because they refuse to drive the truck. Driving the truck seems to be the least of their worries. Its not the miles they drive that cause their problems, or even the settlement expenses that occur every week. Its the constant unpredictable expenses and problems accompanied by bad driving habits and bad business decisions that eats their paychecks and ultimately consumes them.

    I have spoken to many owner-operators over the past few years and I seem to hear many of the same common things when it comes to failing, and/or struggling. It seems very clear that the problem is not the amount of income they are receiving when they are moving freight, but rather the downtime and expenses that end up out-weighing their nicely earned pay-checks. First of all, if you haven't figured it out yet, much of owning a truck is to manage those things that cost you money. Its a fact that your truck consumes lots of fuel, and that it will break down with unpredictable failures, but there are many things that you can do to convert these “unpredictable” failures to predictable ones. By making your problems predictable, you can then plan and manage them. One good example of this is performing a very thorough inspection of the truck you are about to or have just purchased. If you cannot crawl under and around your truck, get dirty, and give it a very close inspection, then you should have never purchased it to begin with. You are no longer just a truck driver, you are now a truck owner. I hear too often, truck owners claim “the shop inspected it”, or “I just had this looked at”. Its a great idea to have someone else look at your truck, but relying on that persons opinion alone, even if they are a professional, is a very bad business decision. Instead of paying someone else to look and inspect things, learn how to do inspections yourself. Every CDL holder in the United Stated today is required to be able to do a 112-point inspection on their vehicle. Learn to do this inspection thoroughly, looking for signs of future component failure. Find out what is acceptable, and what is going to cause you problems in the near future. A simple missed inspection like the amount of hub-oil in your steering axle can not only put you on the side of the road, but cause you to kill yourself and/or someone else. You are now the person solely responsible for ensuring this does not and will never happen, not the mechanic that just inspected everything and said “looks ok to me”.

    The EPA and CARB, are two organizations that have indirectly caused many truck-owners to struggle and fail as well. Engine manufactures are now required to install EGR, DPF, and DEF systems on modern trucks. These systems help clean up the air pollution from large trucks, but do so at the cost of the truck owner (meaning you). These systems, integrated with the now “computerized” truck engine make troubleshooting engine or after-treatment problems difficult and very expensive. These technologies are still very new to the trucking industry, very problematic, and many mechanics are under trained, or do not understand these systems enough to effectively troubleshoot them. Sure there is lots of computer software they rely on to tell them what to do, and what components to replace, but, at best, this only patches the problems without any long term solutions. It is a fact that if your truck is newer that 2006, you ARE going to have problems with these systems, and at some point, you will have major expenses correcting them. As an owner-operator with one of these trucks, it is a very bad business decision to solely rely on “the dealer:” or “the shop” to solve these problems. Gather information about these systems and how they work. What they do and how they effect the operation of your truck. Most of the time, if you begin to see signs of trouble from these systems, they are already in need of some major work. Do not wait until you get engine warnings and shutdown alarms before having these systems serviced. Read the owners manual for your truck and what is recommended by the service manual for your truck to keep these systems healthy. It is much less expensive to change that “after-treatment injector” and do a very close inspection of your exhaust system to correct even the smallest leaks every 150-200k (like the service manual recommends), than to wait until you are getting “parked regen” lights regularly. 2 or 3 “parked regens” can consume enough fuel to pay for that service you should have had done long before you got to that point. Many mechanics these days also seem to forget this as a diesel engine that these systems are attached to. Diesel engines produce a lot of soot, and the entire EGR and intake system attached to them slowly build up with soot creating a condition known as “EGR congestive failure”. Its just simply the fact that soot builds up in ALL the components over time and every 300+K miles on the truck requires the entire intake and EGR system and its piping need to be removed and cleaned out. It is this same overlooked maintenance that makes your fuel economy slowly drop over time, costing you thousands and thousands of dollars in extra fuel making your engine and truck less and less profitable. As a truck owner, learning to service, change or clean a sensor or part here or there yourself can potentially save you tens of thousands of dollars.

    When you first get your truck, don't set yourself up for failure. Most of the drivers I have talked to that fail, do exactly this, right from the start. First thing they want to do is spend several hundred dollars to pay someone to “cut out the governor”, or “turn the truck up”. This is actually a very very big mistake and waste of money. If your focus is to “get more miles by turning the truck up” to earn more money, then you have already horribly failed as a truck owner. Increasing the speed of your truck does NOT and CANNOT earn you enough money to cover the increased cost of fuel and maintenance associated with doing such a thing in todays economy. It is however a very GOOD thing, if you have some extra cash, and have already ensured all maintenance is up to date, to take your truck to the dealer to get a full ECM report. One that shows the Regen history, the driver abuse history, The list of faults that have accumulated over time, and anything else that will tell you how the truck was driven, and things that will point you to maintenance issues you are likely to have in the near future. If your truck has in fact a DPF, then the Regen history will tell you how healthy that system is and could potentially save you thousands of dollars in unnecessary repair bills. For example, if the last few Regen cycles show the temperature lower than normal, then its a good chance the after treatment injector is failing, or that you have an exhaust leak somewhere. Discipline yourself right from the start to earning a profit without having to drive fast. It is this discipline that will set the correct attitude for success for you and you new business.

    Know what your number one expense is, and understand it very very well. I spent $72,000.00 in fuel last year out of my own pocket after discounts. Although I spent more money on fuel than anything else, Fuel cost was NOT my number one expense. Your number one expense is actually not fuel price, but fuel economy. As fuel price changes, so does fuel surcharge to compensate for it, but if the fuel economy of your truck changes, it is simply an outright and almost always unnecessary expense. A 0.1mpg loss in fuel economy over 1 year, if you drove 100,000 miles (conservatively), will cost you roughly $1,000.00. If instead, I spend $250.00 on installing a pyrometer, and turbo-boost gauge set, and it helps me save fuel by letting me know when to back my foot off the accelerator when climbing that steep hill, I have now lowered my fuel cost by several thousand dollars a year. The driver is the number one factor in improving fuel economy. Having, for example a turbo-guage in your truck will help teach you to become a more fuel efficient driver by as much as 1+mpg, even if you are already very fuel-minded. The second factor in fuel economy is how fast you drive. On average, most trucks will loose 0.1mpg for every mile per hour faster it is driven. This means if you slow down, you will ultimately have more money at the end of the week in your pocket. I haven't heard of any drivers failing to make their settlement expenses from driving 55-57mph all week, but I have seen many who cannot make their truck payment that are running 65 or 70+. slowing down forces us to manage our time more wisely, and doing this ALWAYS puts more money in our pockets.

    Stop making bad business decisions. A good example of Bad business: You have a used truck, and the A/C just went out. Your already $600.00 in the rear for other problems this week, and its 94-deg outside today and you have to sit all day. Running off to the dealer, they tell you $1200.00 to fix it, after spending $120.00 for them to trouble-shoot it. Now your putting yourself $1200+ further in the hole, for something, yes, very uncomfortably, you could have waited to have taken care of for much less money at an automotive a/c shop for 1/3rd the price during your home-time, and without the 2 days of lost freight waiting for the parts to arrive. Another example: No problems all week, suddenly Your “regen” light going off like mad, and your engine it threatening to shut you down. You scramble off to the dealer, who then tells you 3 days wait to get to it (about 2K in lost revenue for the downtime alone),. You get a hotel (another $250 for 3 days), and wait it out only for them to crawl under your truck and find a loose crossover tube and a melted sensor. A thorough inspection of your DPF components, and its very likely you could have spotted this 3 days ago, bought the sensor for less than you spent on the hotel, and have been on the road the same day. So what, you got a little dirty,...So maybe you had to buy a wrench to take it off, and spend 3 hours on the phone with someone who had to show you where to look to find the problem. This is how you learn, and ultimately how you stay profitable. Most people that buy a used house, are prepared to do at least SOME of the fixer-upper stuff themselves. A used truck is not much different.

    All trucks have a recommended maintenance schedule. As a former OEM engineer, I can tell you first hand, that there is a lot of research behind these schedules, and they should not be taken lightly. Get a printed copy of the schedule for your truck from a dealer, or find it in the owners/service manual. They exist for all trucks, and I am not referring to how often to change the oil and filters, I am referring to an actual detailed schedule that will have the 15k, 25k, 50k, 150k, 250k, and 500k recommendations that include things like the crankshaft damper, coolant, decadent, and crank case filters, and much more. When you first get your truck, do ALL the maintenance required by the service manual and service schedule bringing the truck up to spec according to its mileage. Even if it seems that it does not need it. Any component replacement as part of the maintenance schedule should be verified that is has been replaced recently as well. Skipping even a small part of what is recommended can cause you some big problems. One example, is not replacing the crank shaft damper at 500k miles. Many mechanics will tell you they do not go bad, but this extra vibration to the engine causes some serious long-term problems with many components getting loose and or failing, including sensors and wiring from this excess vibration. Another example, is if the truck was primarily used for OTR operations, and the transmission and drive-axle oil has not been replaced for more than 250k miles. Eaton-Dana recommends this oil to be replaced at 500k if the truck is line haul, or “locally driven”, or at 250k if used for OTR. The 250k recommendation for OTR has good merit, despite what any mechanic will tell you, because the constant steady higher temp will cause the additives to separate more quickly, and the added wear to the components contaminates the oil with metal dust. This causes, at the very least, premature axle seal failure even before the oil will actually “look” dirty. It is cheaper to replace the oil in both drive axles and inspect the breather tubes than it is to replace an axle seal. My point is just simply do what is recommended. When rolling down the highway, that investment, especially, early on by putting those first few paychecks back into your truck to get these tings done will ensure your truck stays healthy and profitable.

    Turn your truck expenses into investments that reduce operating costs. Don't ever just simply have something “patched” of “fixed”. Look at what is needed, find out how to spend the money to have that repair or maintenance item done so that it reduces your costs in the future. Just about everything you will ever have to fix or have replaced on your truck can be done this way. With a little research, and asking around, many times, not only will you be able to find a better solution, but quite often spending a little more on a better component, will actually earn you more money back than the money you have just spent. One very good example of this is tires. More fuel efficient tires will, without question, earn you more money back in fuel savings, than the extras money needed vs the cheaper tire.
    A $600.00 low rolling resistant fuel efficient tire can and will save you several thousand dollars a year in fuel vs that $150.00 recap from the local tire shop in just its first year of use. Knowing this, is like jumping over a dollar, to grab a dime. Hmmm,... $600 now, and I get $1800+ by the end of the year in my pocket, or $150.00 now and I give pilot/flying-J $1800 more this year in hard earned money from wasted fuel economy.

    I have compiled a list of the things the 80% of failing owner-ops do that have contributed greatly to their problems, that profitable truck owners do not do. If you are one of these people that is struggling and/or “not making it”, no offense, but maybe you should re-thing your entire strategy. For what its worth, here is what I have seen...

    Not driving their truck fuel efficiently. Lets face it, we all think we are good at saving fuel, but its a fact that a truck equipped with extra gauges that help us monitor how well we are saving fuel will always be more profitable. Instant mpg , turbo-boost, and pyro gauges are not very expensive.

    Thinking that less then 7mpg in a modern aerodynamic truck is “OK”. This is very wrong. Unless your driving a “classic”, you should be getting at least 7mpg out of your truck, there is something wrong with it, you are not driving it right, or you are driving too fast.

    Driving too fast, and even driving faster when strapped for cash. Getting somewhere early, or stopping too much is not profitable. Use any and all extra time on that load to slow down and save fuel. Drive that truck like you would if there were a watermelon lying loose in the floor and you don't want it to roll. Gentle accel. Gentle around curves, and lots of space in front of you. Keep to a minimum speed and use the right gear up that hill. Loads that are tight scheduled means you manage your time more efficiently, not speed up. This always creates more profit. If your running 65 or 70+ all the time, and are “broke”, then try running under 60mph and being very easy on the fuel pedal for a week or 2. So what you are an hour late on a delivery, its cheaper than loosing your truck for lack of payments. You will be very surprised.

    Buying the cheapest tires they can get away with. Its a Very big mistake to ignore fuel economy, especially with tires.

    Signing the lease to a used truck assuming it will be ready for freight when they get it. This is a big one. Plan on spending about $5000.00 up front. Even if the truck is in very good condition, you will need $1000+ dollars to have EGR and DPF systems inspected and cleaned. $1200-$1500 will be needed for getting all service schedule items up to date. I am not referring to PM items, I am referring to things like overhead set, decadent filters, and the things a PM does not cover. A few hundred at the dealer will be needed to get a full ECM report with some recommendations, and a Dyno-test will reveal much. Know what condition that truck is in before putting freight behind it. I cannot count the hundreds of failure stories I hear because new owner-ops cannot keep their truck out of the shop long enough to make a profit. This absolutely can be prevented, and it is up to you, the truck owner to ensure you don't end up there.

    Blaming everyone else for the problems you signed for. You signed the lease, you inspected the truck, you should have had that up-front maintenance and inspection done, and now you are the one that is responsible for all the potential problems and expenses that accompany your truck. Blaming someone else, especially the entity that sold you the equipment, will not get you anywhere. Its your success that you are gambling with, and it is up to you to have done the necessary steps to ensure you don't loose this game. Read and understand what is in this document, Research and find solutions to your problems, and try to work with, instead of against the others that you must involve yourself with. No one wants to see you fail, and many are more than willing to help you as much as they can.

    Not following a detailed maintenance schedule. Many studies have proven that waiting until a component fails costs 2 to 3 times the cost of having it serviced. I have actually met more than one owner-operator who completely destroyed their engines by not using a $2.00 test strip to check the PH of their coolant.

    Pouring money into their A/C system over and over. If you have extra cash to spend on accessory items (your A/C is NOT going to stop you from hauling that next load), by all means do so, but not when you don't have the extra cash. Secondly, Find an actual A/C mechanic that specializes in such things. Most dealers are actually under trained when it comes to A/C service and they like to throw a lot of expensive parts at it instead of taking the time to really understand the problem.

    Idling their truck for long periods of time. This is a very very “very” bad thing to do to a modern EGR diesel engine. If you Idle your truck a lot, the I hope you have a few thousand dollars lying around to replace EGR and DPF components regularly. Spending some cash on a generator, or even a portable A/C and generator for when you are parked is WAAY cheaper than idling that truck (about $80.00 for every 10 hours maint. And fuel). If you have to shut down in hot weather, and have no APU, use some smarts. Park nose-in near a grassy or shaded area, at the edge of the parking lot, and open that hood to let the heat out. The inside of Your truck will cool off more rapidly this way, and the parking lot will get cooler after it gets dark near its edges much faster than in the middle near the c-store.


    Running to the dealer too often. When you get that engine warning light, or when something starts to go wrong with your truck, make a few phone calls. Call a service center and get some recommendations on things you can do yourself to figure out the problem. Many trucks have a way to see the warning code, and from that, you can usually solve a problem easily without having to wait several days. In all actuality, The dealer is the LAST place you should be taking your truck to have it fixed unless you are on an already scheduled down-time. Then dealers are very good at some things, and are not always the best choice when it comes to repairs.

    Running to the repair shop too often. If you have a small problem, then you should at least get some information and try to fix it yourself, Even if it requires you to go out and buy a tool to get it done. One good example is getting a radiator leak test kit. Its just simply a radiator cap with a bicycle-pump handle so you can put a bit of pressure to your radiator making it very easy to find and fix a leak. Spare fuses and a hose clamp or 2 can get you off the side of the road saving you a LOT of money.

    Refusing to get dirty and do some of the work to their truck themselves. Anything you can learn to do to your truck will save you big money. You are a truck owner, not a truck driver. Learn to keep it running safely and what it takes to keep it on the road. The more self-sufficient you become, the more money you will have at the end of the day.

    Spending money on non-truck related things, and their truck is in need of service. “My moms hot water heater broke and she needs a new one”. Nothing wrong with helping mom out, but that way-overdue overhead set your engine needs in actually more important. You hold off the overhead set, and buy the hot water heater only to next week, throw a rod through the top of your engine, and now your looking at $27,000 in repairs.

    Ignoring D.O.T., Federal, and State Regulations or violating H.O.S. Rules. There is no profit when you have to give it to someone else, or got shut down. Also CSA follows you like a bratty little sister trying to tell on you everywhere you go. Just learn to work with it, not against it.

    Not investing in having the proper tools for the job. (just a silly example): You stop at a rest area and see one of your fuel-tank straps getting loose, and want to tighten it up. You grab a pair of pliers and start cranking the strap tighter, and figure it needs tightening really well so it does not come loose again, then all of the sudden “PANG!”, the entire strap breaks and the fuel tank hits the ground. At that moment you then realize that you should have had a torque wrench, and have called someone to find out the correct setting.

    Not investing in parts and equipment that will make you more profitable. A $2.00 coolant test strip can tell you if your coolant is eating holes into your cylinders. A $10.00 tire pressure gauge can assist you in minimizing tire wear and help fuel economy by a large amount. A $50.00 radiator pressure test kit can tell you if your EGR cooler is starting to fail long before it causes major damage to your engine and DPF system. An EVAP machine ($800.00) can help you find all kinds of seal, intake, and exhaust leaks, and can even help improve your fuel economy greatly by revealing air to air issues you may not even know you had.



    Taking that ego-driven “Cowboy Trucker” attitude or opinion over a serious Professional viewpoint. There are “Old-school” truckers and there are professional drivers. There are Also “old-school” mechanics, there are “ASE certified” mechanics, and there are “Owner-Operators”. The reality of it is that “Old-school” mechanics and trucking, though helpful, simply no longer qualify in todays standards. Trucks are no longer built solid like the iron bridges of the early 1900's. They are made of plastic, fiberglass, and precision components that require precision tools and thinking to keep them on the road. This means professionalism must be held to a high standard. Successful owner-operators learn this quickly through the trials of their errors.

    Relying too much on the “mechanics” opinion. There is no doubt that most mechanics know how to do their jobs, otherwise they would not be a mechanic for very long. On the other hand, there is definitely more repair shops and dealers out there that are just simply horrible than good. Find a good repair shop. Build a reputation with them, but always remember that the person sitting behind the wheel of the truck all day can get a pretty good idea of what might be wrong. If you have doubt when having a repair or maintenance done, take the time to find the correct and accurate method for replacing that component. Question the mechanic, and if they do not have the correct and professional answer, then I highly recommend taking your business somewhere else as soon as possible. Seeking a professional solution to a problem is way more important than any individuals opinion. Even if they do claim to be “ASE certified”.

    Not tracking expenses closely to identify and reduce costs. Your $200.00 in the red this month, and you just realized you spent $190.00 last week eating out at restaurants. Hmmm..., something wrong with that logic I think.

    Bad business decisions from not understanding or finding actual cost effective solutions for their problems. (just an example):You just found out that your Teflon king pin bushings are bad yet again. Again you spend the money to have the dealer fix it. How about instead, seeking a shop that specializes in front-end work and getting some quality steel after-market bushings designed to solve this specific problem.

    I think at this point, if you are still reading this, it has become clear that to be successful as a one truck owner-operator, you need to take the initiative and learn a thing or two about the investment you have just made. You have the ability to greatly reduce your number one expense (fuel economy) in how you drive and the investments you make in your truck. Aside from driving safely, Saving fuel should be your primary focus while going down the road at all times. Proper trip planning far outweighs speeding up a bit to get a load to the other end on time, and this also makes you much more profitable at the end of each day. On those days where you find yourself sitting, you should be using that time to learn about your truck, doing thorough inspections, getting under and around the piece of equipment that has the final say in weather or not you are profitable tomorrow. If you find your miles are short this week, then find ways to reduce your costs for the week to match it. Making less miles for the week, as an owner operator does not necessarily mean making less money. This is why we are in business after all.

    Trucks are not a living thing. They cannot heal themselves, and it is up to us, the truck-owner, to ensure the constant wear from its use does not get out of hand costing us unnecessarily. It is unfortunate that not everyone has this opinion, and if you have purchased a used truck, you are likely now burdened with these cold hard facts because it is a very rare thing indeed to purchase a used piece of equipment of any kind that is in perfect working order. I am not telling anyone they must become a mechanic to be successful, but the more they can do themselves to keep that truck rolling cost effectively, safely and reliably, the more chance they will have at overcoming the 80% odds that are against them. Even if you don't own a single wrench, and never plan on doing any of the maintenance yourself, it is paramount that you learn how it should be done, and stop relying on everyone else's opinions and recommendations. Learn and understand your problems as they arise, take the time to find out what it takes not only to correct the problem, but what was its most likely cause, what its going to take to correct it, and to inspect closely everything related to the problem as well. This is what must happen in order to ensure you stay successful because at the end of the day there is only one person that it will effect, and that person is you.
     
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  3. FLATBED

    FLATBED Road Train Member

    cetanediesel Thanks this.
  4. TruckerPete1990

    TruckerPete1990 Road Train Member

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    Dam its word for word as other site. Copyright? Lol
     
  5. j-dawg

    j-dawg Light Load Member

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    Why dont you read the top few lines of the article, then pm rawze (terry) and ask him his name? Boy, some people would couldnt put 2and2 together if they were paid to do it. This guys trying to help you and others make a profit and thats your response.
     
  6. Rawze

    Rawze Medium Load Member

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    inmytruck
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    Last edited: Aug 14, 2013
  7. Kansas

    Kansas Road Train Member

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    Ill agree with a twist. I would add: Way too many times ive seen the owner of a truck tell the mechanic exactly what to fix, so the mechanic does, and that wasnt the actual problem.

    My suggestion, help guide the mechanic. Explain the symptoms, make lite recomedations and let mechanics give you their opinion. Guide that mechanic and make yourself available through the process with frequent check-ins with them. This goes hand in hand with finding a reliable shop to use again and again. A know-it-all always gets exactly what they ask for...

    Example: you say the alternator is shot, and instruct the mechanic to install a new alternator. the mechanic has already observed a severely corroded or loose battery terminal. He charges you $250 for a new alternator, $180 in labor. So you roll out in your truck, and notice low voltage same as before. So now mr know-it-all says "i need new batteries" so the mechanic charges you $400 for new batteries and a $150 to install. He cleans your battery terminals, and now knows you're good to go. You paid a grand an wasted an entire day because you knew better than the mechanic. Truth is he didnt rip you off. He did exactly what you told him to do.

    For me, any shop that wont allow me into the service area to "occasionally" observe the progress is a shop i wont do business with.
     
    Willypeter, SheepDog, Rawze and 3 others Thank this.
  8. texasmorrell

    texasmorrell Medium Load Member

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    FLATBED Thanks this.
  9. texasmorrell

    texasmorrell Medium Load Member

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    I agree. I always ask if they have a problem with me watching the mechanic do some of his work. If they say I'm not allowed in the shop. I say good day. Truck drivers are different from normal consumers. We have a much higher stake in the condition of our trucks and we're usually more knowledgeable about the mechanical operations of them. So we have a vested interest in seeing what's going on. It's also unlikely were going to get hurt in their shop because we are truck drivers and we're used to being around those sorts of things.
     
    Rawze and trees Thank this.
  10. FLATBED

    FLATBED Road Train Member

    j-dawg "Boy, some people would couldnt put 2and2 together if they were paid to do it."

    Sorry I did not have TIME to VERIFY the post on the OTHER site , or a search of who he is thats the REASON I asked " is that part of your claim to fame as well ? "

    To which you could have posted Yes its the Same Guy.
     
  11. Boardhauler

    Boardhauler Road Train Member

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    Having survived in this industry since the mid 1970's I totally agree. I almost wish that you wouldn't offer this knowledge to people, then I realize that it doesn't matter. All the supahtwuckahs will ignore it anyway.

    And double thanks for your Cummins advice. I've spent a fair amount of time staring at ISX's & have really felt that the basic architecture of the engine seemed pretty clean. I could never understand why almost everybody I knew that owned one was having horrific luck with it. You've shed enough light on the subject that I'm willing to consider an ISX for my next truck, which expands my options a ton.
     
    luvtotruck, j-dawg and Rawze Thank this.
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