L-10???

L-10's were known for having less than adequate power on the highway with more than 40,000 gvw trucks. Fuel mileage is possible if your not going to overload it. Had issues with intake and head gaskets. Best of luck.

 

When set right they run good. The main problem was head gaskets, but for no more weight that you are going to pull I wouldn't worry too much. They did leak oil though.

 

As far as smoke goes, they are like any mechanical engine, the smoke when cold, and smoke more when real cold. If the pump is turned up they will smoke going down the road when pulling. This truck won't be legal in California, if you ever plan on going there.

270 to 300 is the most common horsepower settings I have seen on an L-10. I've pulled 80k gross quite a few times with an L-10 set at 300. Remember this is a mechanical engine, so no cruise control. You would need to find an M-11, or other electronic engine to have that, plus help control cold start smoke.

 

As these guys have said and... outfit i worked at quite awhile back had a fleet of them, they would eat a cam occasionally....

 

We had a couple of them in cement mixers. They ran good, but we did put a head gasket in one of them. I would personally look for an M11 like others have said. They can go to 400hp if you want, and they are really reliable. We had a bunch of them in day cabs pulling belly dumps. All had over 800k and no major engine work was ever done.