Advice on buying older trucks

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...2292-battle-mileage-2007-century-14l-egr.html

I'd consider an N14 Cummins too.

 

I bought an 05 International 9400i with 700,000 for 21k a little over a year ago and it's been working out pretty well for me. In hindsight I could have gone a little older, even late 90's. Mine has an EGR which hasn't been any trouble yet, but still looking to get rid of it at some point. I wouldn't even get too hung up on mileage. Just check the truck out real well. Take your time, there's lots of trucks out there. You can hurry after you buy it.

 

Buy the drive line you want. Don't worry about the wrapper

 

one thing to think about is like you said you are looking to spend 20-25k on a truck. And that's a lot of money. But think that you will likely spend 100-125k or more PER YEAR on fuel !! I will be honest, when I bought my truck I didn't place a lot of importance on mileage, luckily mine gets 6.5 and now I'm doing a few things to improve that. Be sure to do the math based on how you plan on running, one truck may pay itself back over another if you can get 0.5 mpg better or something.

 

I've got a 2005 w900 with a C15 acert cat engine,18 speed box and 3.55 rear ends it had 850k miles on it when I got it 12 months ago. I get between 5.5 and 6 mpg depending on load , terrain and wind conditions. I got the truck for $37k and have since put 15k into it in the last 12 months. I have changed out all hard parts though, not thrown money down the drain looking for gremlins.
I have put in new 4 row rad + all stainless piping, new batteries(3), new starter motor, reman water pump , all 6 axle ends full brake overhaul drums shoes s cam shafts and bushings etc, replaced all the IVA solenoids and connectors, new clutch, replaced exhaust y pipe and all flex piping, new drive shocks. Plus all the mandatory servicing and a few tires as well.
If you plan on buying an older used truck and keeping it for 10 years then you will need to do most of this stuff in the first few years you own the truck.
As for engine rebuilds, you need to know the history of the engine in the truck you plan to buy. You need to see as much service records as are available to you as well as oil sampling from those services. If you are happy with that info then have the truck on a dyno as the next step. If the oil samples and dyno are showing reasonable results for the engine age then you're good to go. Start putting money aside for a rebuild but if you keep on top of regular oil samples then you will know what's happening long before any nasty surprises arise. I don't plan on rebuilding my engine until I see reason to from either oil samples or some other obvious need, ie head gasket go's and starts eating coolant or something of that obvious kind. Save the money for it but do it when necessary.
Tires on a used truck are a good thing to look at too. If you are looking at a truck with worn down tires then definatly knock down the buying price as you're looking at at between $2k to $6k for a set of drives depending what you go with and a good chunk of change for steers if needed as well. This is a cost that if you need to cover in the first year can be hard to come by if you're running on a tight budget.
Maintenance is key with older equipment. Look after it and drive it like a granny on a Sunday afternoon and it will last 10 years more. Neglect it and push it hard and it won't last another year!