Best Truck for the Buck(s)

Well, to be fair, the term "Value" is subjective. To ME, value is how much money the truck has the potential of earning (and how much of that goes into my pocket). The OP wasn't very clear on what value meant to him. If it's resale, then you are probably correct. But I've seen Petes beat the **** out of too. I mean literally torn up cloth or leather seats, stains that looked like someone took a dump on the floor of the sleeper, side doors not being able to be latched.... etc.....

Obviously, this all depends on how the previous driver took care of it. Like I said... I love Kitty Cat engines, but after my only experience with one as a company driver, I don't think a new O/O should be running one (Just my opinion).

On the other hand, if you check out RedForeman's thread, he picked up a very well taken care of 03 FL Century for his son to drive and it certainly appears to be in great condition for the price he paid for it. Hell, I'd drive that thing any day! If it'll make me money, I'll drive it, no matter how ugly it is or what the resale value is. I could buy a brand new Pete, sit it in the yard without ever running it, and sell it two years from now with a great resale value, but I've still lost way too much money. Even if I ran it and only got say 4.5 mpg because it's a "wind pusher" and I got a huge C15 in it, I'm going to pay for that better resale value with all the heat going out of those pipes.

Anyway, it's for him to decide what "value" is I guess. I have my wants, then I have my needs. I don't care what brand name is on it.




ETA: The OP actually DID specify his definition of "value": Reliability and price.

 

The Internation we have is a 2007 9400i, we just recently purchased it from a man we know who retired. It is a good truck and our first Cummins, but the previous owner didn't have much trouble with it.

The Cascadias have had a few minor electrical problems, but it seems all the newer trucks I've had, including my 2008 W900 had electrical problems. The electronics on all the new trucks seem to be very sensitive and every #### thing on the truck seems to be conected to sensors. Most of the time when things started acting up all it took was shutting off the key and letting it reset itself.
My KW W900 would loose all the dash lights sometimes. Sometimes they would come back on if I reset it sometimes it wouldn't, just quirky little things like that.

The interior is very comfortable and quiet and there is plenty of room in the Cascadia's and our drivers really like them for that reason, you don't have the old dash rattle and those horrible doors like the old Freightliners did. Overall I have been very impressed with them.

I have never owned or driven a Volvo, so I can't really say anything about them, but I know several people who swear by them.

 

Lil Devil

2008 W900L I had also had the electrical glitches , leaked like a submarine with a screen door and the Airglide 200 suspension rode like a buckboard. Have owned a lot of KWS that one was the worse.

American Trucker , just love your replies ( legend in your own mind ) never came across someone who has done as much at 21 years of age ( Aircraft mechanic , automobile mechanic , financial expert , knows a lot about trucks and thats theres more to Armour All than the rubber treatment ) and has all the info as you in such a short period of time.

I sort of can GRASP what the OP was looking for in VALUE. I owned trucks with well over 1.5 on then , was no picnic and for someone starting out not always the best deal. As for driving by SELECT TRUCKS gee 98% of the Freightliners on their lots are fleet spec trucks so yes the KW's and PETE's ( usually repo'd O/O units ) sitting there will be priced higher. Sort of be like driving by a double wide house trailer and a 6 bedroom custom built home.

 

Glad I'm not the only one who thought that about AT. He strikes me as probably a nice fellow, but, is the type who likes to hold court at the lunch counter or drivers room. And has no problem letting everybody who will listen how much he knows about everything.

 

All I know is=the older I get the less I seem to know--LMAO

 

my first truck was a classic with a cummins n14.I paid 35,000 for her.she was a great truck and made me money

 

Where did that Mack get it's million miles vs. where did that pete get it's 1.2 million miles? A million miles in the oil fields, job sites, and woods is going to be rough on ANY truck, where that pete's million point two highway miles are the easiest sort of miles any vehicle can have. That pete would have been junk in 1/2 a million miles running where that Mack ran. Not only that, but that Mack probably had either an E6 (672ci) or E7 (728ci) under the hood, where that pete probably had a 3406 (964ci). Like they say, there is no replacement for displacement.

Peterbilts, Kenworths, Freighliners, Sterlings, etc...are all the same. CAT/Cummins/Detroit under the hood....Eaton or Meritor transmission....Eaton or Meritor drive axles. Only the cab is different.

Volvo and International have their own engines, but the transmissions and rear axles are still vendor components.

Mack is the ONLY truck manufacturer that will put their own engine, transmission, and rear axles in a truck. Sure, you can buy a Mack with vendor drive line components...but why would you want to?


Before any determination can be made as to what the "best" truck is for the money, you have to figure out just what you want that truck to do. Are you going to run coast to coast on the superslab? Are you going to run local? How much time (if any) is going to be spent off the beaten path? What sort of trailers are you going to be pulling? How heavy are you going to be running down the road? Etc...etc...etc...

Gotta spec the truck for what you want it to do. You wouldn't take a stretched out, chromed out, geared fast, highway cruising show truck to mines, quarries, and job sites pulling a dump bucket, just like you wouldn't want a short wheelbase, camelback spring suspension, geared to pull Mack daycab to run coast to coast on the interstate. Neither truck will last long because you are asking it to do a job it wasn't spec'd to do.


I bought my Mack truck 3 years ago, and I've never once been afraid to take it wherever the customer needed me to go in order to load or unload. I carry a 20' long 3/8" G70 chain in my side box, but 9 times out of 10 I'm using it to pull out a stuck Peterbilt.

Freightliners are generally going to have a lower price tag...but you get what you pay for with the cheap plastic interior parts & pieces.

Petes are nice for the highway....but not for the jobsites.

Only Internationals I've ever driven were 4700 & 4900 series wreckers. Did alright for what they were.

Main thing for WHATEVER you buy, is you have to be able to get parts for it, and it usually helps if there's a shop nearby to take care of whatever you are unable to do yourself. If you have to drive 100 miles one way to get parts, and the nearest shop that will touch it is just as far, you're pretty much on your own when things break....and it doesn't matter WHAT brand truck you buy, things WILL break. If one truck make has a dealership with a well-stocked parts counter right there in town and no other truck make has a presence within 50 miles, you are typically going to be better off buying the truck you can get parts for locally so that when you have time to work on your truck, you can spend that time actually working on the truck instead of driving all day chasing parts.

EVERY truck will pull a trailer down the road with a load in it. Spec it right, and it'll make money for you. Spec it wrong, and your cost of operating, maintaining, and repairing it will be considerably higher.

 

Macks are tough. I have logged alot of miles in a CH 600

 

Or: "The older I get, the better I WAS".

 

Look for a good used pre egr Kenworth T600 they have good aerodynamics and are usually competitively priced with everything else cause there was lots made and not as popular as the big hoods, but you still get the same quality.