Just can't decide

To many miles for me. I bought a used truck with 500,000 and was worried about that let alone one pushing that many miles. Thats just me!

 

I'd agree the miles are high as WCM said, but that engine might go 1.5 million before it scatered itself all over Kansas. The trick is to make sure it doesn't.

Have a CAT dealer cut the oil filter (primary) and squeeze a chunk of the element in a vice. (ask them...they'll know what yer talking about) What's in the element will be metal.
Flakes of aluminum, & or steel.
Aluminum is pistons, rod/main bngs.etc.
Steel (magnet test) is crankshaft, camshaft, etc.

Like was said above, a dyno test doesn't tell ya what ya need to know other than "blow-by" which is almost always rings.

Most fleets have been running synthetic or synthetic-blends of oil in their trucks from day 1 to extend the oil-change interval. Problem is that after 1/2 a million miles, the rings still haven't seated properly, & this is where the blow-by comes from.

Have the oil analized for contaminates...(gaskets, coolant,"O"rings etc) cut the filter,(hard parts) and you will know with-out a doubt where yer at! A dyno test tells you,,,basically nothing you need to know about that engine before it becomes part of yer family!

Since an "in-frame" costs as much as the truck did, itud be good to know what your buying before ya buy it.

 

you've been driving the truck for awhile. those are the best trucks to buy.

your engine should have a breather hose from one of the valve covers. that will tell you blow by. you'll see smoke. all engines will have a little smoke. but if it looks more like a cloud instead of light vapor then you need to be concerned.

depends on the price of the truck.

i'm doing the same thing your considering. with the same miles and the same year. although mine is an 05 w900 with an isx 450. but the price was right for me so even if the engine "blew up". i could overhaul and still come out ahead of the asking prices i've been seeing advertised in the papers.

to me though, it isn't about buying a truck. it's about my wallet. and if i'm still here after 3 years and i get the truck. then that's just an added bonus to my wallet.

 

You know the truck, which is a huge plus. Miles mean little in reality, compared to service and maintenance. If your comfortable driving the truck as a company driver, you'll be fine as an o/o. You didn't mention pay at all, which is an indicator that the compensation isn't enough. Take your last month of runs and figure out what it would of cost you if you were buying that truck, plus $3-400 a week into a maintenance fund. You should be making at least 50% more money and preferably 100% more after everything is deducted compared to your company driver pay. Anything less than 50% isn't worth the headaches.

 

An imperial gallon is about 20% larger than a US gallon, so your US mpg would be around 5 to 5.5 mpg. This is pretty normal for a "hood" truck, maybe a little low for a truck pulling light loads. (But what is a light load for a Canadian, anything under 100K?) I wouldn't drive a truck that the mpg was so low on, as I feel that most of my profit comes from getting a much higher than standard (6 US) mpg. My mpg is usually in the low 9's.

There are a number of things that can be done to improve the mpg's of a truck. Getting the engine turned up to 550 will help, getting a ecm tune that "adjusts" the emission settings can be a great help and well worth the price. Driving the speed limit is legal in most states as well as parts of Canada.

I have no concerns about getting a high mileage truck. A truck is just a collection of parts slowly wearing out. You really only get into trouble if too many wear out at the same time. I have a 2000 Century that should hit 1.5 million miles in a few months. My maint costs have been about 10 cpm, and that includes having the engine rebuilt and the clutch replaced, and many other repairs as well.

Fuel will be your biggest expense. As you have been driving this truck for the last four years, you should be able to sit down and pencil out the costs to see if it will produce a reasonable return for you.

It sounds like the company wants it to work out for you, and that's the best thing to have on your side.

Good Luck!

 

this.

Are you canadian?