The risk of running older equipment

There are 10 million things that can go wrong in any truck new or used. But I agree that truck cant be more than 7 years old, and that is newer than anything I will EVER run

 

The Boydstun that manufactured that equipment went out of business in 2009, so it's at least that old. 388's came out in 06, so that truck is between 11 and 14 years old.



Looks fairly well taken care of. Not sure if Boydstun was using the same axles, but Cottrells of that same era had axles with unitized wheel ends, almost all of which were replaced under a recall for bearing failures and fires.

 

I couldn't agree more!! Very well said!

 

I read awhile ago an owner/operator saying the megas need all those things in order to be able to afford to compete with him and his customer service. If it weren't for their discounts, they couldn't compete.

 

That I am not sure of. But you can look up any CEO on a company and they make millions. As an owner operator all we have to offer is reliable service. I have found over the years, that the megas can't can't compete with service, they always seem to bite off more than they can chew, and have service failures. As I am sure you know companies want their freight picked up on time, delivered on time for the cheapest price. With that said, I have lost a dedicated run because they found a cheaper truck. Sometimes the truck fails on service and they call me back, other times they don't. Unfortunately that's how trucking works

 

You and I are saying the same thing. I just didn't say it as clearly as you did.

 

No problem

 

The Buying power of Large Companies has a lot to do with it. They get huge discounts. It makes economic sense to buy every 3 yrs.