Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

Exactly. I get an oil sample taken every oil change. This time around, I was on the road a bit longer than normal and decided to have a oil sample and B service done during a 34.

Apparently, the Freightliner in Redding, CA is Clown World. They do not send out oil samples.

However, they did have oil sample kits that could be processed by a third party.

So I had them take a sample, and I would send it in. Not what I wanted, but I could make it work.

While filling out the documents in the sample kits, I noticed that the Redding, CA Freightliner gave me prepaid sample kits that belonged to another company.

Several phone calls later, the company whose sample kit was given to me was made aware of the problem, so they could address the Redding Clowns with what happened, if they so desired, and I verified with the testing company that they would accept a single sample from a owner operator without an account.

Then I spent two hours getting the sample packaged and mailed off through a UPS store.

You might ask why I didn't simply dump the sample and have another sample taken at my next oil change.

This oil sample is the last sample before my 1 year engine rebuild warranty expires. The oil was changed. The truck has lost a bit of coolant recently, and I cannot see where. This sample might well be critical.

And... on the topic of engine issues. The truck threw another L1 engine code indicating a problem with the crankcase breather unit's RPM. Replaced the RPM sensor. No change. No oil leak from the breather, so I am going to roll it into Denver and then get it to a shop for a deeper dive repair. The breather unit itself is not a terribly difficult replacement job from the look of it, so hopefully it can be done fairly quickly. It might also be truck electronics, but I hope not.

 

So. I have not discussed plans recently, or financials.

Time to do that now.

The only reason I am still in this truck is because I am single and can afford to ride it out. I do not want to damage my credit by dropping the loan, but I do not want to use all of my money and credit all at once to pay off the loan.

So, I am grinning and bearing it until I can pay off the loan without putting myself in a weak financial position.

Once that is done, I will have over 2 years as an o/o and @ 6 years as a driver and a credit rating of around 800.

I will then buy either a Kenworth or Peterbilt on the longest term allowed by my bank, using my current truck as a trade, as part of the down payment.

I plan on moving over to Schneider Select (or whatever Schneider calls their o/o fleet that runs off the load board.)

The bottom line suggestion I have for other drivers looking for advice is that if you buy a used mega truck, your next couple years are not going to be good money. The first two years as an o/o with a used truck have only one purpose. Establish yourself as a small business and keep your credit rating high enough to buy a new truck when the old truck is paid off.

Old iron might also be an option some would consider. Old iron is much less efficient in fuel, but much less difficult to maintain. I will let someone else's thread address that potential choice.

For newer trucks with ELDs and DPF systems though, once the manufacturer's warranty is done, it is almost certainly NOT going to be a reliable moneymaker. The trucking industry has moved away from durable trucks to disposable ones.

If you aren't trying to build up self-employment history and/or credit to buy a new truck, the only thing modern trucks with over 500k miles are good for is local boys with friendly shops, or parts trucks.