my first week as an owner operator..ouch!!

Worth it? I think being an owner operator is a bit like your choice of owning a Honda or a Harley. I choose the Harley. I know it's going to cost me a bit more and I'll be wrenching on my days off. The old analogy is...."If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand.", is how I pretty much answered any negative responses to my owning a truck in the past.

 

Irondog: Sums it up very well,

 

I like to think so.

 

Exactly. You must define this for yourself Grasshopper.

 

PLEASE DON'T SPEND MONEY AT DETROIT FOR THAT!!! It is a problem in almost every '05 14Litre including mine and I did spend money chasing it until W.W. Williams (Detroit) in Atlanta said and I quote "until it throws a code all we can do is change parts out" when they say parts they mean...EGR, EGR Cooler, VPOD, and Turbo and none of them is cheap. He advised me to drop a gear and try to stay around 1500 rpm and ever since then I've only had it happen a couple of times. Also put a pittsburgh power muffler on it....I jumped up .4 mpg for a $140 muffler and no the donaldson muffler that everyone says is the same thing DID NOT give me any gain, I'm not trying to be pushy or a know-it all or hi-jack your thread....I just hate for someone to throw money out the window for nothing, especially when there is a couple of threads on TTR with this same problem of "a fart" and poor fuel economy out of this motor.
By the way Love the thread!!

 

Wow, You had a wonderful week Actually, LI is not NYC. I have ran NYC,5BR and LI for 17 years. If you were 13' or shorter you could get out to LI and back for $20...a little traffic but what do you expect that many people running around. I ran dump and flat all over that area.

 

That is what I think it is

 

Rich,

Try changing your fuel filter first. If it still farts at 1300,it might be turbo starting to go. Is it a DDEC 3,4,5?

As for the Authority...why wait? If your calling around for loads...that is no different now or later. Just make sure you have all your paperwork in a row,license,registration,MC#,Dot# and Insurance. You can either wait 30+days for settlement on loads or sell the bills for % of the gross. Logs,etc...#### paperwork...you will be a secratery! Get a girlfriend or a wife to do it.

Dude, dont be hard on yourself about the mistakes...THERE IS NOT ONE GUY OUT THERE WHO HAS NOT DONE SOMETHING STUPID OR CARELESS!
So dont beat yourself up...Oh, and buy your own trailer...why pay someone elses payments...If you could manage the financing..go for it.

If your pulling flat...you should be getting a lot more then 1.40-1.60 a mile. Those brokers have a hell of a lot more room to work with. I have a friend that is a freight broker and he makes 500K a year...TO HIM..

Good luck to ya!
Joe

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. Ya def. take M.M. advice.