HELP! Advice Needed On a Reliable First Truck for the Oilfield

So I know this one of those questions that is hard to answer but here goes anyway.


I drive in the oilfields of ND and I'm very seriously considering buying a truck and leasing on somewhere to haul crude oil but with all the options and choices out there when it comes to trucks I thought I might seek out some advice from those more experienced than I.


I've been driving about 7 years, the majority in the oilfield, so I do have my preferences but the absolute most important thing would be the day-in day-out reliability of my truck. There is a major shortage of good mechanics and shops around here and generally its not the cost of the repairs that will ruin a guy but the downtime. It's not uncommon for even basic repairs to down a truck for 3-4 weeks or more.



Most days the truck won't get driven more than 100-140 miles so fuel economy is not that high on my list of priorities. And while I do appreciate the look of a long nose Pete or KW, I need a workhorse not a show horse.



With the low miles I'll be driving, if I can just get 100k miles out of a truck without any major repairs I'll be more than happy. There is a lot of off-road driving, as well as about 6 months of winter a year to contend with and I plan on doing my own maintenance/service.


What I hear is that Petes are built very lightweight and are great interstate trucks but they can't stand up to the inherent abuse of the oilfield. Macks and KW T800s are supposed to be good for this sort of work but it seems to me that the three most important things for my first truck are reliability, reliability and reliability.


So with that in mind, any advice as to make/model/year and of course motors would be a huge help.
My tentative thoughts include a pre 2003 with a 15 or 18 speed with full lockers and a Cummins N14, does that sound like what I need? Would I be better off with just a simple 10 speed? I was planning on spending in the neighborhood of 30k.

Also, should I look for something with a wetkit already installed or just plan on having a new one installed?

 

what motor do you have in that 379? How is the overall reliability?