A First O/O Truck, what would you buy?

Stay away from twin turbo accert cats, my company truck gets terrible fuel mileage. goodluck.

 

Man- I like this!

Transmissions- it comes down to personal preference, but I would choose a direct drive high gear. Thirteen speeds are my favorite but ten speeds are lighter. And rears that keep the RPM's at about 1100 to 1250 at cruising speed for best fuel economy.

And insulation- Good thought! I've insulated ALL of my trucks. The lumber store has hard foam boards in varying thicknesses with foil on one side, two or three 1/4" foam panels each with foil facing to the outside works really well. If you want to do a top notch job and have the time, get a roll of good, thick plastic sheeting and make a vapor barrier. (After you hang your insulation, cover it with plastic sheet and duct tape the seams). This keeps condensation from forming inside the walls and pooling in the bottom corners of the cab and sleeper.

I also insulate the cold lines on the A/C, it helps the compressor cycle less and saves wear. Any H A/C shop has that in stock.

And fuel mileage? That's a lot more complicated, but I want to give everyone a tip that gives me another mile per gallon, and it's SIMPLE. You can mix mothballs into your fuel. Got to make sure they're 100% NAPTHALENE mothballs. Wally-World sells 48 ounce boxes of ENOZ brand mothballs for about $4.70. Pour one box in each tank when you fuel- two boxes work good for 300 gallons.

Won't hurt the engine, won't stop up filters or fuel lines, burns cleaner, doesn't smoke and gives you a crisp throttle response. You can feel the difference. Something I've been done in all the tractors I've owned.

And ten MPG's? That's possible. Don't waste time wondering if you can do it, figure out how it's going to get done.

A fixerupper is a great way to start out and now is a good time to find used equipment at a fair price.

Make the whole thing a project and post updates, we could all use some tips on how you did it!

 

pre egr ser 60 detroit, /w 10 spd trans. I get 6.5 m.p. in a 95' intl coe running 1800 rpm's =72 m.p.h. 62-65 m.p.h. & I'm at 7.0-7.4 m.p.g.

 

09' Kenworth W900L 86' studio 290'wb 600 cat 18spd.....the "ONLY" truck I could "EVER" own....period.

 

My advice would be to stay on the company truck. You didn't say if you would stay with the same company if you get your own truck, but a gig like you've got would be hard to beat. In my opinion the T2000, and the Pete 387's are both trouble with no resale value. 10 mpg is a great tale but I sit on mine.

 

Good gig, good luck, good bye.

 

Dave26027, mothballs, everyone thats ever told me that has also said to get ready to do a valve job shortly after. But they also said that she'll run like a bat out of Haiti's for a little while.......