Need some help on TMC trucks

The main reason I'm considering buying a TMC truck is because I know how they are about keeping their trucks in good shape vs some of the other megas. No way would I touch something like a schneider or swift truck if they gave it to me because I have looked into their maintenance plans and it seems like they don't care if drivers beat the hell out of them. I know that new guys fresh out of school drive at TMC and they probably aren't the best drivers so the trucks take a little more abuse than they should. But, if you look at a comparable truck at a dealer or that is privately for sale, they want 70k for it and my budget for a truck, trailer, paying my fees to get started, and 10k for fuel for the first month is only 80k. So you see a 70k truck would be out of the question.

Most of them are around 900k miles. If I can get 1 year out of it before an in-frame then that will be fine. I've actually seen them sell a few that have already had the in-frame done so if they had one like that I would go for it but they don't like to release a trucks maintenance records for liability reasons.

I want a Peterbilt. Not just because it is a sexy truck. It is a business decision. Sure I could go buy a 2009 freightshaker for 20k with 500k miles but in 2 years I wouldn't be able to get 15k for it. You can pay 40k for a pete and in 10 years still get 40k back if you sell it if you kept it nice and didn't beat on it. Seeing as how TMC is the only company that I know of that runs Petes and sells them, they are my first choice. They tend to be more expensive when you buy them from a dealer. As a matter of fact, our local used dealer just got a very nice pete in. I got on the website to look at the price. It's a 98 379 with a Detroit S60 and a 10 speed with 1,700,000k miles and they want $40k for it. TMC has their 06 petes with 900k for $40k and cheaper.

I would go with a 24.5 so that would probably help a little. I really don't want to buy a truck and have to go changing the rear end gears but if I can get one from TMC and change the rears cheaper than I can buy one already spec'd with a lower gear then there is no questioning which choice would be better. Rear ends have to be changed/rebuilt eventually and I would hate to spend more on a truck with lower gears and end up having to rebuild the rear anyways when I could have spent less and still swapped the rears out and had brand new rears.

 

And they are selling the 2007 petes as well. But, it says they still have the 3.55 rears. Same as the other ones. http://www.blackandchromesales.com/inventory/specsheet/?ID=8087692

 

Thanks that is what I was looking for. If I put 11R24.5's on it that would put me at 67mph at 1400rpm and 72mph at 1500rpm with the 0.74 ratio and 3.55 rears. I can live with that. And I'm sure swapping over to the 24.5's would be cheaper than changing rear gears.

Without changing the tires and keeping the 22.5LP's I would be at 1600rpm at 70mph. That sounds like a good way to make an engine come apart.

 

Its not so much the mpg that I'm worried about. Its the RPMs at 70mph. I'm about to start running a lot of Texas stuff and I went down to los indios this week. Even in my 70mph truck I might as well have been in a swift truck in the 75mph zones. Our stuff runs for a car manufacturer so our deadlines are tight. It has to be there and it has to be on time and they pay enough that the offset in mpg lost wont be a factor.

Everything on their site says they all have 3.55 rear gears. Maybe they have some with the 3.36 rears but just put the 3.55 on the website because most of them are 3.55? I guess I will have to call and ask to see if they have any with 3.36 rears.

As far as getting printouts on maintenance and repairs, from what I've read on here and other places, people have trouble getting the printouts because of the liability. If they replaced a steer sector and hand you a sheet of paper that says they did and you go down the road and it locks up and you wreck, they are in a lawsuit. I am going to make sure I can get all the records before I make the drive/flight up there and waste time.

Derailed, most of the pre-EGR trucks I find are way more expensive than 40k or they aren't set up the way I want it as far as trans, engine, sleeper, etc.