Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by double yellow, Nov 5, 2014.

  1. dannythetrucker

    dannythetrucker Road Train Member

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    I hope you come out allright DY, the best thing you got going for you is 12.7 Detroit. cheap and simple, hopefully even a RedForeman recommended shop can't screw that up.
     
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  3. Knucklehead

    Knucklehead Road Train Member

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    So you're going to send some green to red, so yellow won't be blue? That'll make things just golden, assuming he stays in the black. :cool:
     
  4. Old Man

    Old Man Road Train Member

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    40 hrs is standard time for a inframe, 20 for head replace, don't skip on the the bull gear, doing it by its self is quite expensive, you got it all apart take advantage and replace everything, it will pay off in the long run.
     
  5. Old Man

    Old Man Road Train Member

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    I replaced my harnesses and a lot off weird things quit occurring . Still got some strange codes until speed sensor in transmission was replaced, no more codes. Only CEL in the last year was low coolant, and that was a bad sensor.
     
  6. double yellow

    double yellow Road Train Member

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    There is very little cost difference with the head already off -- replacing the bull gear would be $2800 if done now vs $3000 if done later and instead of being ready Friday my truck probably wouldn't be done until the following Wednesday or Thursday. Plus if I did the bullgear I might as well do the damper, further increasing costs.

    The timing just isn't great; in the last 3 weeks I paid HHVUT ($550), renewed my IRP ($2300), bought new insurance ($8700), replaced the radiator & repaired power steering ($1500), repaired my A/C ($800), will be paying ~$14,200 for the inframe next week, and sending the IRS ~$1800 for my quarterly.

    That'll take my $30,000 cushion down to just $150. Champ to chump in 3 weeks, but hey, that's trucking... I do have a little over $4000/week in maturing receivables over the next 3 weeks so I *should* be able to stay out of debt, but it makes me very nervous...

    So I'm doing what I've previously rallied against and making a slightly -$EV decision in the name of cash flow...
     
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  7. Old Man

    Old Man Road Train Member

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    If the bull gear breaks what will it cost? Dampener should be replaced about every 500,000, worst problem it would cause is a broken crank, not near as common as it was years ago.

    One thing I have always said is that trucks eat money and it's hard to explain to someone getting into the business, on the good side my shop is only $80 per hour and they don't mind if I shop and provide parts.
     
  8. Skate-Board

    Skate-Board Road Train Member

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    Replacing the bull gear is not part of an inframe. The radiator and other parts in the front are not taken off. The bull gear is a totally separate job. You save nothing by having it done at the same time. I would do the minimum to get going again until you build up your cash reserves again.

    There's a few places down in Texas close to the border that do inframes near Juarez. They had 3 going all the time. If I remember it was around $8k for a Detroit and 4 days.

    You can always factor also. Paid the next day at 7am.
     
  9. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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    Well. On the bright side of things - you now have a pretty close idea of what size hole it's going to leave in the wallet.

    I'm with @Old Man on the bull gear - as I understand it's a critical item, especially if you're going to inframe. (correct me if wrong).

    Though it's another $3,000 down, it completes the main course, like you say, the -$EV (I don't know what that means, but it looks like running in the hole for a bit) will protect the cash flow going forward.

    I heard the nervous loud and clear. Every . . . nervous . . . "what was that noise?" . . . mile down the road to build up the reserve.

    I thought I was in Dutch draining my maintenance reserve of $2200. Looks like I've got a bit to learn.

    I'll be watching.
     
  10. double yellow

    double yellow Road Train Member

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    It's an investing/gambling term meaning negative expected value. If I charge you $2 for a 10% chance of winning $10, my EV is +$1 and your EV is -$1.


    See now I'm the one looking up terms

    in dutch
    phrase of Dutch
    1. US informal dated
      in trouble.
      "he's been getting in dutch at school"
     
  11. 062

    062 Road Train Member

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    It seems to run in cycles,for me anyway. I'll have 6-8 months where it's just regular service. Then 2-3 months of one thing after another.
    During the good months I put every spare penny back for the bad months. Right now I'm in the bad cycle. In the last two months I've spent a third of last years total repair bill.
     
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