Buying a truck advice?

A couple of years ago, my cousin purchased two older, yet decent-running semis for around $10,000-$12,000 each. While he was out on the road with one, I took on the task of fixing up the other. We alternated with him driving one, noting what was wrong, and then swapping it out for the other until both were in top condition.

One truck needed about $11,000 worth of repairs, including electrical, suspension upgrades, and a complete brake overhaul. The other truck, which had a more extensive overhaul, required around $22,000 for a major engine rebuild, transmission swap, and some bodywork issues. Despite these significant investments, we found that rebuilding these older trucks was more cost-effective compared to buying a new truck AND we knew what we had.

To put it in perspective, buying a $10,000 truck and investing $11,000 into it, or even $22,000—was a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new truck, which could easily exceed $100,000. Plus, he bought everything with cash so no worries about interest, banks, loans, folks calling looking for payments, etc. Additionally, both trucks are now outfitted with cost-saving features like generators instead of APUs, diesel bunk warmers, in-dash GPS and 12V fridge/freezers. These upgrades not only enhance comfort and convenience but also contribute to long-term savings on fuel and maintenance. From the outside they look decent...not brand new but decent...and on the inside they're nearly as comfortable as the expensive trucks.

 

There’s more to a truck then an engine, you can pay cash as you go with repairs but you haven’t even scratched the surface yet even with the 22k truck,

couple grand on brakes and rebushing is trivial

You realize there is a difference between purchase price and running price right?

 

I know this reply has nothing to do with anything i said but just curious what big items would you be expecting to fail next?… I personally can’t say we have much trouble with rear ends or transmissions but maybe I’ve just been lucky.

 

trans
Rears
Drive shaft itself
Radiator if not done with motor
Suspension bushings
hubs/wheel seals/spindles
King pins/leaf springs
Steering box/steering lines
Fuel lines
Air lines
5th wheel,
Fuel tank brackets
Guages/sensors/switches,
Heater box/cores
Seats

I’m probably still forgetting some things

 

you know guys, trucks are tools, they wear, they get abused and they break.

Many don't bother to do the Due Diligence and buy a truck blind. They don't want to put the money into selecting the tool that will make them money which is dumb.

Many here will say "well ... just just saw it on fill in the blank and called the guy up, he is a single owner and went over there and bought it, it never broke down on me" <<<< thats the exception NOT THE RULE.

Some of the worst junk I have ever seen was an owner operator's truck who was barely making it and thinks that his W900L is worth gazillions because it is a single owner truck that he is emotionally attached to.

But again people get lucky, and then many don't.

The dumbest and most asinine thing I keep hearing when I read or called up for advice is this 'the truck passed the DOT inspection' and I tell people that this is meaningless, it is like telling me it has a badge on the front of the truck.

Like abyliks listed, those items are EASY to deal with, most of the time major componets are swapped out and could be repaired later.

The most costly thing for me within my fleet is a serious electircal issue. I have two trucks being at the dealer and having Freightliner district people and a couple engineers looking at it, it has an electrical problem that they can not find, and they built the truck.

All other issues are easy to fix, many of them are prevented by routine and amortization planning but electrical is the devil to me.

 

I like how you think, my friend, but we're a dying breed, you know. My 1st truck was a 1982 Western Star sleeper conv. I bought for $22,000 in 1988. Had a fresh rebuild, 350BC, I put maybe another $20grand in repairs over a 4 year period, but made money with that truck, and I didn't mortgage the farm to get it. In case anyone that has FB wants to know, I punched in 500 mile radius of central Co., and some great examples came up:
1985 IH 9670 sleeper-$15grand
1982 4300 day cab tandem-$3,000
1978 GMC Brigadier single axle( remember those?)-$5,500
1974 Pete 352 daycab-$3,700
1979 Transtar sleeper, twin screw-$7500
the best one, a 1959 W900, big sleeper, newer motor( BC400), 13, are you sitting down? Price, $25,000, down from $33,000.
and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think there was a short "flash in the pan" for older trucks to skirt the regs, but I think the pool of available drivers that would put up with an old truck, is fading, fast. I bet all these trucks they can't give away.

 

I've seen $8k trucks. They are nowhere near road ready. Good enough for a farmer but that's it.

 

Everyone knows the real money is on DAT right now!

 

electrical alone was enough for me to swear off used equipment and was really not happy to buy my current trailer when that was all I could find after my first one got totaled

my first trailer, I took a full weekend, and cut a 5 gallon pale worth of butt connectors, jumper wires, and random bits of red wire off of it, drilled 2 new junction boxes, and rewired every single light from new,

there’s two things I hate, taxes and wasting time, the nice thing about having an old truck is it is a minimal cost to leave it parked in the drive way to do nothing with if you can’t find anything profitable vs a $5000 a month payment, the repairs are all a write off but then again so is depreciation ,

pre ELD/emissions large car market is totally different then fleet spec when it comes to pricing, a rattle can inframe and rolled on paint is pretty easy to spot, but a truely restored truck will cost you a lot of money because there is a lot into them, and they are usually built to know what you have.l not for resale

they are a necessary evil, but they still suck, took a lot of money for me to be able to trust a 27 year old truck 3000 miles from home on the opposite coast