To upgrade or buy newer

I am not offering any advice or guidance, but I can tell you that the overwhelming consensus on here will be to do the upgrade and keep on trucking.

 

If you like the truck why get rid of it? Spend some time and money on making it exactly what you want, plus it's almost paid off. Especially if you're doing heavy haul make sure that whoever does the work doesn't try to throw a cheap 18 speed with a low torque rating in there... I'd imagine your CAT is probably making at least 1850 ft/lbs so make sure the clutch, trans, and the rest of the driveline are up for it as well.

 

Coming from someone that has actually hauled heavy loads, get the truck for the job. Yeah you can try to "make it work", but if you are going to go over 6 axles, you will break stuff that wont be cheap to fix.
A HH truck will have the following as a rule...
Bigger radiator, 46k rears, at least 16k front or 20 with twin steering boxes, double framed or the heavier single frame and possibly an insert, larger trans cooler, HH 5th wheel, heavier driveline, and so on.
If you are going multi axle (3+2, 2+2+2 etc) then get the truck to do it.
To go up to 6 axles, you will be fine as you are. A heavy front end, at least 14k, will be a godsend. At least 44k rears will also be as nice for states that allow it. A 40k set of drives is only rated to pull so much weight period. So even if you have 40,000 on the drives, and you are grossing 150k plus, you are going to put a LOT of stress on the driveline and rears, and they will break at the worst time.
My current truck was a bargain, but if I was to go back to a 4 axle truck, I doubt I would just hack this and slip another axle in there. It can be done, but there are lots of other things that go along with it. In my case, heavier front axle and suspension, heavier rears, heavier trans and cooler, different ratio, and so on. Compare all that to trading it for a 4 axle, and it makes little sense if you want to do it right.
Just my .02 from actually doing it for may years, as I crack up when I see a normal 3 axle going down the road with a multi axle trailer with a driver thinking "I dont know WHY them guys spend all that money on a 4 axle truck".


Martin

 

I too cannot not offer advice or guidance ,but the above post is spot on from my perspective.I have a friend who has a 4 axle tractor with a 2 axle RGN with a flip axle. Normal 130000 lbs gross. Always trying to save a buck. Buy's a pete 379 1.1 million. Factory 260 wb 3 axle setup for legal hauling. Stretches the frame for 120 " ICT. 1 year later stretches it again for adding a lift axle. Then double frames part of it. Truck has had radiator, power divider, transmission, head, turbo,and other issues. He has spent a ton of money on this thing. I hate to see anyone else fall into the trap he is in.
Proceed with caution. Have you talked to any big truck driveline shops locally for there feedback ? Good luck to you !

 

I agree with leftlanetruckin and Ok big boy some times you spend a lot more money to get a vehicle upgraded to do a job it was not designed to do, then buy one that was factory build and at the end you may not get what you wanted,

 

Hi Patronas, that's true. I found that out with a Harley I bought once.

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4418181]Hi Patronas, that's true. I found that out with a Harley I bought once.[/QUOTE]

What were you hauling with the Harley ?

 

Ha, good one. Just me.(no riders, get your own bike)