18yr team buying 1st truck, need advice on used truck purchase

The DD engines seem to be the best now. Your fuel milage is not great. Try to get a truck that gives you a chance to get that # up. A 13L motor would save some tare weight and might be the best deal.


Is an apu and auto trans must have items?

 

No this is not correct.

Carb website.

Compliance Requirements Summary

The summary has a chart for what year engines and when they need the retrofits or when they are no longer any good in Ca.

 

Most likely a 2007 model year truck has a 2006 engine, making it need a DPF retrofit by 2014. I haven't heard of any aero standards on the trucks themselves, just trailers.

 

According to that, aero requirements are for model year 2011 and newer. Any truck that is Smartway certified has the aero requirements, 2011 or newer. You'll just need LRR tires by 2013 if it is 2010 and older, which you'll want anyway with the miles you'll be running.

 

Our 2004 Volvo with a 450 ISX rocks! We get between 6.5 and 7 mpg and it is the best pulling stock engine I have ever drove in the 25 years I've been driving.

 

If you know that you are going to stay busy and on the road that much, and you are going to stay a team as you have done for so many years, I would advise an ICT or ARI sleeper. You get an Onan APU with all the bells and whistles and you can get one almost as light as a regular truck. Plus if you are going with a Volvo, you can get a larger sleeper on a Canada legal frame which would be good in California also. I would seriously consider this. Having a shower, toilet, kitchen, satellite tv, and extra storage makes life on the road actually nice and waiting in docks and for shippers and receivers even nicer.

Whenever someone says "it'll be a couple of hours until we get to you", I push for detention and then I can use my own bathroom, take a shower, make a meal, watch one of my favorite shows, or just stretch out on the bed and take a nap with the ice cold A/C on while I am not idling my truck engine. If you are going to be an owner operator and you are going to start with your experience and know how, crunch the numbers. You should find out about getting a Volvo with a 244 inch frame and find out the largest sleeper that will fit on there (maybe 96 inch or 100 inch?). Then call ICT or ARI and see how much to build it. Trucking takes on a whole different feel when you are driving around in an RV with a trailer behind it. This is something that company drivers rarely ever get to experience, so look into it. Also the money you will save not eating out, staying in hotel rooms, renting cars, and idling will pay for the sleeper in the first year.

California keeps changing the rules though. I would press ARI or ICT for a Smartway compliant sleeper and also you may have noticed that Natural Gas (CNG) stations are going in nationwide at all TA's, Petro's, Pilots, Loves, and Flying J's. There will be natural gas trucks on the road by 2014 and they will be the standard by 2016. Diesel will be out and you may even have a hard time selling the diesel by then. Something to consider when buying. Look into Westport Innovations, Cummins, Volvo's Bluepower project, and Navistar's CNG engines due out in 2013. The goal is to eliminate all dependence on foreign oil. Also over the next ten years the price of oil is expected to double whereas we have enough Natural Gas to get us by for the next 100 years.

CNG will be the standard. It sucks, but when the government is driving the truck, you'd better be on board or get out of the way.

 

So get a good price on a truck needing a rebuild and have a rebuild done . Then you know what you have .