Question For O/Os regarding expenses

Don't get me wrong, I worked hard and stayed out on the road and paid my dues. I also do something that most say can't be done where I live. If I lived in the Midwest, I could probably work 6 months a year for the same money, but I earned that knowledge. I also am leased to a carrier that could care less if I work today or not, just like when I had my own authority.

 

That's the only way to do it right there... that's what truck ownership ought to be for everyone if they want it.

 

Buy a really old truck and only work 6-months a year.

Don't you just love all those people that tell you something can't be done or you don't know what you are talking about. Success is the best revenge.

 

Not counting the overhaul you have taken more than a month off haven't you?

 

Your personal financial situation is the #1 factor in how much time off you can afford to take. And starting out with an old truck, a lot of your time off will be when the truck is in for repairs. Which might not be the days you want to be off. Plan on working a lot until you get up and running.
Once you have the $$$ you can worry about the 3 months off.

 

This may be straying a little away from the topic and if that's the consensus, please say so and I'll try to move this to another thread. I haven't been able to find much information on this through my searches but it may be a problem with my search method.

I want to say up front that I am more than a few steps away from pulling the trigger on this, on many levels, but this thread and the recent availability of a truck have brought up a few questions that I'd appreciate any answers you all would care to offer. Some is obviously just my lack of knowledge about trucks and I guess the rest is me just wondering if this could be made to work. There were several references to "older trucks", which mainly seems to be within the last 4 to about 8 (?) years. I've seen some brokers etc that won't take older than the last 5, but that's not all that relevant, I guess.

My questions are along these lines: What if- a 1991 freightliner, with a Detroit (less than 200k old in frame) was available for your start up, at about 9k? recent kingpins, brakes, bushings, air compressor , tires etc. etc. fairly clean, but with a super 10 and was used to pull flat beds (saw an o/o thread about his troubles with that, and don't think I want anything to do with that trans after reading his sad story). Here's some of what I don't know: it seems like trucks don't change as often as cars or motorcycles. Are manufacturers required to, or do they support older trucks with parts for longer than the 10-15 years you find with bikes/cars? are parts generally available for a truck like that because the trucks change less, am I mistaken here, or would it be a situation like trying to find a 440 six pack out of a 71 challenger rt convertible in the middle of nowhere when it came to chasing down parts?

Are parts on a truck that old fairly cheap or going up in price? Guys here often say run the numbers, maybe I'm being a little lazy in that respect, but wanted to see what you all thought before I spent that time. If someone was to stay within about a 500 mile radius, does anyone think this would be worthwhile and workable, or do you think something newer would really be more practical and this is really just a recipe for disaster? Has anyone here made something like this work, or had it go the other way, and if so, how and why? Again, I'm not ready or able to do this at this point, but am really wondering about how it could or couldn't work. What am I missing? Thanks in advance...Jeff

 

best way to answer that is to take the VIN, go down to the dealer and ask if they can still get you parts....


You'd likely have a little issue getting parts in a normal channel, but going to truck used parts lots, not likely so much. You may have to just not worry about it at all.

 

I've taken off 3 months year to date. Overhaul was 3 weeks of that but likely I would have knocked off those 3 weeks anyways. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be another couple of weeks off, to hell with the money, unless they want to pay through the nose like $6+ a mile and then I will still catch all kinds of grief for leaving out might not even do it then LoL.

 

That seems like a lot of money for a 22 year old truck but it may be worth it I dunno.. Anyways parts should not be a problem. Never seen or heard of any broker wondering what year model truck a guy is running. You have brokers confused with companies that lease o/o on. Many companies do have age requirements - every one of them that does is not worth leasing on with the rates are unprofitable.