Buying a Super Cheap Super Old Truck

they are all over the place here in the west.

i've even seen them pulling shopko triples. the truck is the same blue/white color as the trailers.

ups and fedex also have a few pulling there triples.

 

Ha! I was in a Shopko the other day, a trip straight back to the 80s. Glad to hear the blast to the past extends to their transportation dept.

 

Well, not sure about that, but experience has taught me this, in 99% of situations, you get what you pay for. So, if you buy , say, a $10,000 truck, you get a 10,000 truck.
What does that mean? It probably looks pretty good, "seems to run pretty good" , drives nice. You are thinking as you drive it home, "Hey, I did allright" Now I can go trucking, and it only cost me 10K. The problem is all the stuff you can't see, and starts to give you problems after you put it to work. And boy can it add up in a hurry! However, IF you are pretty mechanical, and IF you have work that doesn't take you too far from home, and IF on the highway breakdowns aren't going to cause you major headaches in towing, and then looking after the load that is sitting out there somewhere. Oh, and did I mention deep pockets to pay for replacement parts?
Then by all means, go for it. I love the older trucks too, and seeing them still on the road. Good luck!

 

The truck has noting to do with EOBRs, there isn't a mandate for the EOBRs to be hooked to the ECM of the truck. However the truck itself has nothing to do with the engine, you can put a new engine in an older truck.

 

I run a 1994 cabover all over the us and Canada with no problems cal has never bothered me.It has a 3406c cat and I get 6mpg with it. I have been running it for 12 years now, Paid 9500 for it and have grossed over a million with it. Have I done ok?

 

I saw a 50's Kenworth a couple weeks ago on I84 in NY. I tried to get him on the radio but one of my antenna's was broken so I couldn't hear anything. It was cool to see some old iron still working.

 

You have the same ''business'' plan as me...
Laughing all the way to the bank...I paid 7,200 for my old truck.I brought home close to $2,800 to the dinner table,after all expences in a 4 day turn this week.I have grossed a Million with ''ole betsey''

 

Old trucks are like old people,they can still do a lot of work it may take a few minutes longer and they have to rest now and then. Look at it this way a man can walk farther up a hill with a hundred pounds on his back,than he can run up that hill. Old trucks are the same.Mine still has the original transmission and rears from the factory with over 2 million miles on them and when I was a steel hauler I almost never left Baltimore or Chicago with less than 75000 on the trailer and many times with over a hundred thousand pound payload.