Local independent contractor?

You have an idea, but you need more experience before you put together a plan. Find a job driving. learn some of the basics of the industry from the bottom, then you will understand the answers to the questions you ask. Trying to explain them in a post, with your limited knowledge, would be almost futile.
Your idea is a good one, but you need some experience to make it work.

 

Prolly should post your question on the "Ask an O/O" forum. Those guys can help answer most of your questions.

 

Why do you want to downgrade to class B?
most of your questions can not possibly be answered
there are too many types of truck to possibly list
A lift gate will add weight to the truck so lower how much weight you can put in it, but will not affect how much you can "Pull", can't tow anything with a class B. A trailer would make it class A
Two axles raises the amount of weight you can haul.
the rest reallycan't be answeredd without a lot more info

 

Hate to tell Ya,,,there is no one place that has all the answers,,,your success is going to be determined by your due diligence. Start with Google. Search FMC/DOT sites. Search for load boards,brokers,etc,,,found in this forum. OOIDA has lots of info and suggestions for newbies...driving the truck is the easy part,,,I think new drivers believe bump the dock, and collect a check.
You will need to analyze lots more things besides lift gates,before you are ready,,how much cash do you have to invest ? Financial planning is more important than trip planning. Without all the numbers in place you will have no idea if it's a profitable run...
The I-70 Lane you mentioned is very popular and well established by existing carriers,,are you going to be able to do things they can't do for less money,and for a profit....

not on trying to beat you down,,but hate to see you loose everything. Good luck.

 

If you're young n healthy, you can make a very good living in a straight truck in the moving business. They'll hire you and give you time to learn, the faster you learn to LOAD it yourself, the more you'll make. If not I'm sure there are brokers that need hotshot loads moved all day long in Metro city areas.

 

What types? There are a bunch of different types. The type you'll choose should depend on the kind of work you intend to do with it. The kind of work you intend to do will depend on which company you sign with assuming you sign on with a company.

First of all with a straight truck you don't pull weight, you carry it. Second why are you sure you want a lift gate when you don't even know what kind of work you'll be doing yet? Box trucks by their nature are tight on weight from the start. Adding a lift gate further decreases the already limited amount of weight you can carry. Why would you want to do that if you only end up using the lift gate once every two months?

Also keep in mind that most lift gate designs make the rear structure of the floor and box less strong when it comes to bumping docks. My company has a few lift gate equipped trucks that bump dock every day. We are constantly welding cracks and fabricating reinforcements because the lift gate assembly just isn't built to slam into docks day in and day out.

Benefits: Higher gross vehicle weight which equates to the ability to haul more weight. Downsides: Higher gross vehicle weight which equates to more fuel burned for every mile the truck runs regardless of whether you're fully loaded, lightly loaded or completely empty. Also you have four more tires and rims to maintain and replace. So this another area where the type of work you get will dictate what type of truck you need. Unless the bulk of your work requires the extra weight capacity of tandem axles, and therefore pays an extra premium to you, probably better to stay with a single rear axle or else you'll be watching profit go up the exhaust stack every mile.

Same as above, depends on the work you intend to get.

Depends on the numbers in the lease and the numbers in the work you intend to get. In most cases, the numbers don't work on a lease but there are exceptions.

Authority is your authorization to move freight for money. You get it one of two ways. You either get your own authority and then find your own freight to haul anywhere you can anyway you can. Or you lease your truck on with a company and operate under their authority and move the freight that they find for you. Getting your own authority isn't impossible but it also isn't simple and it isn't cheap. And then you have to go out yourself and find every load you haul. Probably better to sign on under someone else's authority at first unless you have connections that can get you a steady diet of good paying freight.

Sure.

Those tick most of the boxes. The trick is to not underestimate any of them. Most guys starting out vastly underestimate how much maintenance will cost. You can sneeze on a truck and run up a $5000 bill without even thinking about it.