Old (pre 2000) Trucks vs New Models

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Bret1984, May 5, 2022.

  1. Bret1984

    Bret1984 Medium Load Member

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    Yeah, that's to be expected. Older vehicles usually need a lot of work. However as @GYPSY65 stated that $50k or $60k is replacing things that are probably going to last awhile so the maintenance cost gets lower over time. I guess the solution is just to anticipate that and consider it part of the acquisition cost and be careful not to overpay. If things are as bad for the road drivers as many are claiming then we should start seeing some deals on used tractors popping up.
     
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  3. Bret1984

    Bret1984 Medium Load Member

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    I've also observed in my brief time in the industry (started in 2013) and I could be wrong so please correct me if that's the case but it appears that the freight market goes through cycles like every other market. I seriously wanted to buy a tractor in 2014 and I got scared off because as soon as I mentioned it on a trucking Facebook group I was immediately bombarded with drivers wanting to sell me their trucks and cheap too! These guys were really just trying to get rid of them. I got offered beautiful 379's and W900's with big CAT motors for as low as $40k for $60k the retiring old hand will throw in his reefer trailer. The fuel prices were too high and the freight rates were too low. So I ran away from all those deals scared for my life! Look at the used truck listings today. Had I took the tired, retiring old hand up on his custom W900 and rode out the storm I could sell that truck right now for more than double but I let the market scare me off. Right now prices are high but we may be heading to a point where the deals come out again and maybe I'll get another opportunity to buy low in a down market.
     
  4. SmallPackage

    SmallPackage Road Train Member

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    I’m not so much thinking about the driverless thing as I am about all the tech making us into mindless zombies.
    This goes for all tech in the world not just the automotive aspect.
     
  5. Bret1984

    Bret1984 Medium Load Member

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    Oh yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Try reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley if you really want to get freaked out by the evolution of technology. It's in the sci fi/dystopian genre. Maybe get the audio version to listen to while driving if you're a bit of a nerd like me.
     
  6. Lexuslane

    Lexuslane Medium Load Member

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    Yeah but he’s not going to be sitting for weeks waiting on a $200 sensor from china .
     
  7. Bret1984

    Bret1984 Medium Load Member

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    That's my biggest fear with those.
     
  8. staceydude

    staceydude Road Train Member

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    Before you fall for too much of the Peterbilt hater bullchhiitt… comparing a 389 hood price to a pre-2000 truck is pretty asinine. 389 wasn’t even in production then… however they ain’t cheap either… good thing is a 389 hood or a 379 hood is aluminum and you can replace parts and pieces for much cheaper then a fiberglass hood. Otherwise don’t you think all these dudes running fiberglass hood truck would actually just go get a good fiberglass part and replace it? Or pay a fiberglass guy to fix them? Better yet try that with a plastic truck. Maybe compare the 389 fully loaded hood to a Coronado that isn’t… the Pete hood without the stainless grill is about the same price as the Coranado unloaded hood. sure Peterbilt will charge more. I’ve seen these aftermarket hoods in person and would not hesitate to buy one if I did not need to just replace a panel for less than a K, or a fender vs a complete fiberglass hood.
    if someone knows how to rivet a bit an aluminum truck is nice. I have experience riveting and fiberglass and composites from my aircraft experience soI can fix a lot of shat if needed. Trust me I’d rather do aluminum.

    On that note, I would gladly take a nice older Freighliner, international, Kenworth, Pete, Volvo if it was a well maintained truck and I could make money with it and not dump to much money into it. Crawl over, under and around it. Look for corrosion and stay away from the truck that is eaten up. Even some newer ones you’ll end up spending more time cutting shat off then you will just unscrewing a simple bolt. I have a 94 379 and have not had to torch a single bolt off yet because it was a SOCAL truck with zero corrosion. I got lucky and bought before the bull #### got crazy out there with prices.

    As far as motors. I have a Cat 3406E I love it. However I would not be opposed to a Cummins or a Detroit. Really whatever works in the best package you can get. Mechanical over cosmetics all day long. I’m sure a Detroit/Cummins would be a cheaper overhaul. For CAT parts I google everything and look for the cheapest. I don’t even want to talk about my motor because I don’t want to jinx myself but I’ll just say it has been great. Knocking on wood and whatever else helps…

    1D4FC166-BACF-481D-9288-65E19D1D392D.jpeg 18E1AD4B-BE17-4062-8AF7-08D3F26D180B.jpeg 7468347F-531A-493B-87B8-C2AA724AF15C.jpeg 3592EDC7-592D-477D-A3E7-F9F3B41BFB3F.jpeg
     
  9. Brettj3876

    Brettj3876 Road Train Member

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    Both of our trucks 93 & 99 came from texas minimal rust. That's not fun to deal with at all. The 99 was a local Texas truck that never saw any salt until we brought it up here.

    Since all we run is the northeast we touch em up every spring. Actually wanna send out the 93 this year and get blasted at least from sleeper back. Remove the 5th wheel and get around there good. That's really the only bad spot.

    The steel nowadays just isn't the same quality
     
  10. Bret1984

    Bret1984 Medium Load Member

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    Nice response and I'm not hating on any trucks. There wouldn't be so many 379, 378 and W900 tractors if people weren't making money with them. We even have whole companies running fleets of them. If they weren't profitable certainly no fleet would touch them. As for riveting aluminum panels I'm definitely not aircraft engineer level of riveting but I have replaced rivets on M2 50 cal bodies before so I think I could rivet a hood panel if I had too. The ability to buy panels individually has perks too. If something happens that destroys the entire hood you probably got more than just a hood to deal with. I'm definitely more concerned about maintenance than I am about fuel. I barely do any highway driving so my mpg's are going to suck in anything. It's slowdowns, stop and go everywhere then off-road. So the body and frame should be tough enough to take a beating. Detmar runs Volvo's which are phenomenal road trucks but not offroad trucks. Mack's, Pete's and KW's seem to do better offroad from what I've seen so far.
     
  11. skallagrime

    skallagrime Road Train Member

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    If the technology was what scared you about brave new world, not the social engineering, we read a different book :p
     
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