Buying 1st truck

Oh, one more thing for SunnyD to think about. The T-2000 is 3-4 thousand pounds lighter than the W9 depending on specification and build-out. I have seen some as light as 16,550 lbs with a 12.7 detroit.

 

As far as the wheelbase of the truck goes, you probably want to be in the 225-235" range, so look closely at the 230" trucks.

First, the longer the wheelbase, the better the ride of the truck will be. Drive over a rough road in a crewcab dually pickup, and a Honda Civic, and the vehicle with the longer wheelbase will always give you a better ride, because there is more distance between the bumps hitting each axle, and this allows more time for the suspension to work.

At the same time, the shorter the wheelbase, the easier it will be to manuever into parking spaces and back into tight docks. Again, our two vehicles handle differently, whit the shorter wheelbase car running circles around the truck.

So, you need to find a happy medium between these two, with a reasonable ride, yet decent ability to maneuver, plus you ned the correct amount of wheelbase to allow you to properly adjust the weight between the axles when loaded. And for this, 230" is going to be pretty close to ideal.

The reason for this goes into the arerodynamics of the truck, and this particular part of aero is the same whether or not you have a aero or classic style truck.

The simplest device used on trucks to improve their passage through the air is the cab extenders munted on the back of the cab. They are metal plates that fool the airflow into thinking that the tractor body is longer than it is. What you want to achieve when pulling a van is to keep the air gap between the trailer and the truck down to about 24" in length. Any more gap than that, and the airflow falls off into the space between the truck and the trailer, which creates turbulence, causes drag, and the only way to overcome increased drag is to use more energy (fuel) to overcome it.

With a standard sized 72" sleeper on a conventional tractor, most companies that spec them specifically to pull a van get their wheelbase set right in this range. Check out JB, Swift, Schneider, Prime and almost any other big company you want to, and you will find that this matches their company specs. And whether or not you like their operating practices, the big companies do know how to spec out a truck to be the most effective money maker that they can get their hands on.

A simple process for specing out a truck is to look at what similar large companies are doing, and follow their lead. Especially in buying a first truck, look at what they do and play follow the leader. If the company you drive for now has you in a 400 hp, 10 speed OD, with 3.73 gears, and it gets you there right on time, keeps up with the flow of traffic well, doesn't require excessive time to climb hills, and gets decent fuel mileage, then consider strongly buying a clone of a truck with specs that you already know will work well.

It's a method called "piggybacking" where you essentially let the people that make their living make the choices for you and you follow along. remember, the first truck is probably the most important one you will ever buy, because it's got to pay for itself and put your business on a firm financial footing. Don't buy more truck than you need to do the job, buy the truck that is the best bargain for the work you want to do. After a few years in that truck, if the business is making money, then you can buy your dream truck with all the bells and whistles.

Don't get overly enamored of one brand over another for yoru first truck. Pick out something that you can live with, get good specs, and then get it out there and making money. If you want to pull a van cross country, you can do a lot worse than to look at a used truck set to those specs.
Stick with the major brand engines, loke Cummins Cat and Detroit, that have a big service network, and stay with as simple of a trans as possible. Part of owning a used truck is the knowledge that an overhaul of the engine, trans, and rears lies ahead in your future, so stick to components that are easily repaired or replaced. A 9, 10, or 13 speed trans and clutch can be installed for about 3k, a 15 or 18 speed is in the 6k range.
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Get a copy of the Truck trader paper, and a big black marker, and look through it ans see what is available with those kinds of specs. You will find lots of them and decide that there are some good deals out there.

 

Were I to buy a truck for flatbedding, instead of buying a full condo tractor, I would look for a midroof, with an air shield on top. In the midroof, you have almost as much usable space as you would with the condo. Face it, you are not really going to make much use of the extra 3 foot of space above your head in the condo. The advantages are going to be that a midroof is usually a much better aerodynamic fit for the majority of flatbed loads, is less fibreglass to push through the air when empty, and if you switch over to a van, you can bolt the air shield back on in about 30 minutes time and be compatable with a van.

There are two other, somewhat more subtle advantages to a midroof over a condo, which are these:

With a condo, if you accidently hit something like a low obstruction, you damage the structure of the truck, and the entire truck is down until you can effect repairs. I have seen two condos this week alone, that have had damage to the condo upper structure, being towed off for repairs, when a truck with a simple airshield would have been able to continue working.

If you look careful;ly, you will find that Hunt, Schneider and many others are buying midroofs, not condos.

Second issue is hotel services. This is the ability of the trucks systems to heat and cool the interior space and maintain temps. With the greater surface area of hhe condo, it heats up more in summer, putting a large load on the A/C to cool the interior, and loses heat in the winter, making more work for the heater trying to maintain the warmth. Your trucks heating and cooling have specific outputs, and the less interior area they have to maintain, the more effective they are.

By the way, notice that if a condo is involved in an accident, it has to be hauled on a lowboy trailer, and have all the tires and wheels removed. This service does not come cheap, since there is a lot of time and labor involved in doing the work and securing the 10 tires on the trailer. A wrecker picking up a condo has to worry about the height of the truck being towed if it gets to the 13'6" mark.

 

As for the various truck models you have asked about, I make it a general rule not to suggest one brand over another to someone. Concentrate on getting the running gear correct, then worry about what body is over it. I'm not brand loyal, and would happily buy whatever machine comes along that I can live with, regardless of the label on the hood.

But, I will break (slightly) my rule in this area. You asked about the T-2000, and the Western Star. Every T-2000 I have ever been in looked like a nice enough truck from the interior, but I always thought that they had poor vision around the truck from the drivers seat. The T-2000 and Pete 387 are Paccar's first attempts ever at a wide bodied truck, vice the narrow cabs they usually build, and I am not sure that they got it quite right.

As for the Star, nicely appointed interiors, but I always get the feeling that I am stepping into an updated 1970's truck when I climb into one. They tend to have a "big " feel to them, and I am not sure that I can put into words what I mean by that. They are also probably the least aerodynamic brand of any out there, with even their most aero model being close to a classic style.

My suggestion: Do a lot of looking at interiors of various brands, have both hubby and you sit in the cab and look around the truck, feel for the switches, find the cubbyholes, cupholders, and all the little things that really matter when you drive 125,000 miles a year in a vehicle. All the manufacturers pretty much get the big things right, it's the little ones that will sneak up and make you miserable in a truck. Get a real feel for how you interface with the interior of that truck. I think a lot of people let brand loyalty drive them further than they should, and buy something because that's what they think they should have, regardless of whether or not it's the right truck for them. Spend a lot of time on selecting the interior, because that's the point where you are going to have to interact with the truck for the next 5 years or so. Make a bad choice, and you will be unhappy campers.

And if the interior you truly like and can live with has a different body than what you planned, then you have to decide if you can live with a different brand than what you thought of. I think the exterior of the truck (and the name on the hood) is the least important part of the decision. Some here will disagree with me, but that's my story and i'm sticking to it.

By the way, one more comment before I go night night. As always, you are getting free advice from a total stranger over the internet, so take it for what it's worth.

 

When I worked for Stevens, I was driving a T2000 with a 435 Cummins N14, 10 speed direct Eaton and 2.85 rear end. Top end was 68 mph. I'd have no problem averaging 6.5 mpg or better.

 

Dear Sunny D

I am assuming that for prime you had one of their century class models, so be aware that unless you are looking at a T-2000 your fuels cost will rise a small fraction.

I have been in the industry for 18 years and i have my opions on most trucks (however i am bias and dont like any of the newer models that have slant hoods)
KW's are up there in reliability and maintanance (sp?) and as for the cummins engine, try to get one prior to the new emmision regs, as they are very powerful and can get great fuel mileage if you know how to set them up. I had and 01 Freightshaker with the "signature 600" and got an average of 8.36 MPG
However the KW's are a little heavier then some but not near as heavy as the volvo or Western Star
Their studio's are great in comfort.
Since you are looking for a used model try looking at a company in Denver Co called Western. I have seen their trucks inside and out and the maintanance on them is very well.

Not sure this helps but good luck in your new adventure

 

Sorry, should have specified the new C-15 Accert. Nothing wrong with the 3406.

 

One thing no one mentioned is do a download of the trucks computer. So drivers never shut their trucks off and run them into the ground. Seems most have 40-50% idle time. Peterbilt told me they had one truck in there complaining about poor fuel mileage and he had 70% idle.

Also make sure the truck gearing will run in the sweet spot for the speed you plan on running.

As for fuel mileage I will go by what the trucks computers shows. Computer can't make up numbers.

You can figure a big Classic will cost you about 1 mpg on average ove the areo stlye. That comes out to around $10,000 a year.