The results of my first week as an Owner Operator

Well, the first week is on the books, well, 1.5 weeks

load 1 1400 miles 4 stops , reefer, $7000
Load 2 1600 miles reefer, $4000
Not bad I guess? Looks like rates were down this week... I havent lined anything up early.

On the plus side the new truck has 0 issues... and that was unexpected.... Every truck I have heard of being used came with issues. So far the only thing I had to replace was the plastic lines form the truck to trailer. They snapped in 0 degree weather. 13 liter paccar is an odd beast. in the top two gears she only revs to 1600 for an unknown reason. It also hates to be below 1300 RPM. The first few days I was running 64MPH, and it would need to drop a gear for a hill. I bumped it up to 70 and dont have to downshift. Overall great. 8.5 empty, 7.5 loaded on winter diesel.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Glad I got the APU. I spent a lot of time sitting for appointments, in comfort.

 

10 speed handshaker. The other gears are limited to 1800RPM

 

LOL I was expecting it to break. I had a fist full of cash(not actual cash, as I forgot my debit cards at home ) waiting for the failure. I have to say I went over the entire truck, both personally and had an incompetent TA mechanic do a prepurchase inspection on it... save your money, he thought my exhaust brake was my wastegate... on a VNT turbo... and tried to argue the point with me.... That was a waste of a day. Still, it was twice inspected prior to purchase, and once more after purchase. No one could find anything wrong. Still was expecting a failure, and still am. If something fails, its going to be internal, or a turbo. When you put full load on a truck that sat for a few months, issues can pop up... so far...

 

Lucky for me I am over 90% competent with trucks. I only fall short on air brake systems.