Advice on buying a truck

What are you looking to do with the truck? Dry van? Flatbed? Oil Field?

 

If you're gonna put a driver in it I would find the cheapest thing I could regardless of looks, trade-in value etc. Get one that's had a dyno run, oil analysis, good tires all the way around, nice simple tranny, i.e 10 speed, 9 speed etc. You are about to get an education regarding your fellow man and you sure a hell want the cost to be as little as possible.

 

Sort of depends on their past....I know trucks that drive like absolute garbage because their entire lifespan of 250K miles have been abused by inconsiderate drivers of company vehicles. Or ones with really high mileage that the "new guy" always starts out in...those are fun lol. But we have a truck with 600k (Peterbilt with CAT C10 and Sicer 10) on it, and one with 500k (Peterbilt CAT C12 and a Fuller 10) on it. Both have had the same driver since new....those trucks are nice n tight....dreams to drive. No rattles, smooth shifting, overall a well maintained truck because the driver takes care of his "office" that he is in 12 hours+ per day.

My experience has been with Peterbilt but there are other manufacturers out there for a reason, they can compete.

 

I believe it all depends on how the driver or drivers before took care of the truck. If I were you I would have a professional go over the tractor and give you the report. It might just save you money in the long run.

All of our trucks were slip seats but we all took extra care of them. The company would sell the power unit at 5 years and the trailers at 10. I saw one of our power units go up for sale and it sold for $55,000. But those were part of super tankers and the power unit had a tank that held over 5000 gallons. Plus the unit had a drop axle so you could haul some gallons in certain states. But other than that it was just a good safe truck. KW K100 w/444 Cummins. The 444 had the factory mod to make it a 450 and you wouldn't think 6 hp would matter but the extra sized turbo must have put tons of torque in that motor. You could fly up the grades on the interstate as long as you weren't overloaded.

 

I have great advice. DON'T DO IT!