Just how long will these trucks last?

When I was in high school, I attended vocational school. They had just about every engine known to man in the shop. about a dozen CATs, ten Cummins, five Detroits, all kinds of gas motors, we even turned a 350 olds diesel motor into a gas burner... I saw a lot of cool stuff in there, but what amazed me the most was a Cummins that came out of a UPS truck. My instructor, Joe Pietrosky, told me it had over 3.5mil on it. No rebiuld or anything. He said Cummins bought it from UPS when the truck was useless, and when Cummins cleaned out a warehouse, they donated it to the school. Mr. P used that engine to prove how important maintaining your equipment is.

Like it was stated above, Grease is cheap, parts are not. It all depends on how the truck was maintained, and what it was used for.

 

That was probably true right up to the point that the EPA got their clean air noses involved.

 

Well lets hope the global warming garbage gets discredited pretty fast (thankfully its already started... UN using a climbing magazine as a "scientific source" for their copenhagen report ought to be a good start) so the EPA doesn't start regulating our CO2 emissions too!

Nothing like 7 dollars a gallon for diesel to stop transportation!

 

Shhhh! Don't give them anymore ideas!

Something else, what are the values of '03-'10 trucks going to be in two or three more years? Unless Navistars hyper-EGR what ever really works, no one is going to want to deal with full out EGR type stuff? Guess I shouldn't say much as I do not know the technologies in depth enough to comment. Just seems like more people are going to get the short end of the stick as the EPA makes knee jerk mandates. Heightened purchase prices on the front side for the new technology that the EPA desires at the moment, & lower resale because the technology changes when you are ready to trade.

Anyway, sorry to be off topic... but back to the original question. How long a truck will last...

Recently looked at an '04 KW T600 C15(MBN motor) with an Eaton Auto Shift. 762,000 on the ECM, the parts list that was turned in w/invoices at trade from the previous owner that covered approximately the previous 12 months.

New Simplex stationary fifth wheel

New Rod & Main bearings

New Turbo

New Injector(1)

New starter

New Batteries

New steering box

New computer & XY shifter for the autoshift trans.

Replaced an input shaft & seal on the rear

Overhead ran 3 mo.'s ago

New blower motor

All repairs noted above were done at branded dealers of various sorts with a dollar total between $13,500-$14,000.

From what I can gather, it was originally a Trans Am truck for the first 400+ thousand mile range, then this o/o purchased it. It drove extremely well, just couldn't get past the idea of how much more it may need.

 

Even with all the descriptions you gave of the above trucks it is very hard to tell how long this truck will run...a cost of replacement parts will be even harder. Basically you need a trained and expereinced mechanic that you trust (not the dealership where you are buying it) to go through the truck with a fine tooth comb. If the oils have been in the motor and drivetrain for any length of time, I would have those sampled go get some decent ideas on any issues. Also throwing the truck on a chassis dyno will show more than a person knows...especially if the results are looked over by a trained eye. The other big factor is how many miles were ran between oil drains and what type of oils were ran. Since its not noted I'm guessing that the truck doesn't have a bypass oil filter system and many of these larger fleets run 30,000+ miles between oil changes. On a stock filtering system this is way to far. Also I don't like auto-shifts of any kind and they can be pretty expensive to rebuild if they weren't cared for.

But as for the question of how long can a truck run...well thats kind of a loaded question. It depends on what a person considers. I know of a few guys that have had their trucks for 15+ years. One of them has even replaced the frame rails. To me this is normal if the truck is kept for a long time. Currently I own a '06 379 Pete that I will run for at least the next 10 years (unless the EPA makes me retro-fit the engine). I'm gonna spend a little extra on maintance now to save me in the future. That means better grease, better oils, bypass oil filter, better quality parts, waxing it, washing it, and many other small things that get over looked. So really there is no limit to the life span of a truck if it is cared for properly and speced to do the job its doing.

 

TDJ, I sold my 379 in '05 to Champion Truck Sales in Odessa TX. I bought it brand new at Dallas Peterbilt in '99. You can see pics in my album on here.
It had close to 900,000 miles with original drivetrain. Maybe one clutch adjustment left and starting to hear a little racket from the transmission when I idled along at low speed.
Still had original water pump and injectors. New turbo around 600,000.
3406E 550 HP, 18 speed, 3:55
I ran the overhead on a regular basis.
Didn't skimp on oil changes and got oil analysis a few times a year. I ran out west mainly and kept an eye on all my temp gauges.
Didn't push hard in the heat of the day across the desert, but would stretch it out at night sometimes.
Like the guy who bought it told me, this truck could go another year or two with no problems with the right driver.
Or it could blow up next week with some leadfoot running it like a maniac.