Double Yellow's Company Driver to Independent Thread

I would agree with this except I don't see any way of coming in under the cost of a new glider...

The parts prices are crazy, and how about labor .....

 

SDP - I think guys who say do it that way have a big paid for shop with every tool imaginable and the skills to take apart and rebuild anything on a truck without even looking at a manual. If that were the case yeah I can see doing a frame off resto on an older truck making it brand new again coming way under the cost of buying a built up glider from Harrison or Fitz. But that person would be investing the hours and labor for free. Nothing wrong with that but it is a cost never the less. Heck, for that matter a person with those abilities could buy a brand new glider and assemble everything themselves cheaper than a resto maybe?

 

I'm a little short on skill....lol

 

Me too lol

 

It really doesn't take a lit of specialized tools. I have a handful of specialized tools I use once or twice a year, like the injector height tool for a Detroit. Think it was less than 50 bucks. the vast majority of the tools required can be picked up in a standard craftsman socket and wrench set at Sears for 300 bucks max. My shop is nothing but a pole barn, and it's so filed up with junk I end up working on the truck in the drive way. However you are right about the time involved. Time absolutely has a cost factor. for something like a frame of complete restoration, I can see it being done in a month if you treated it like a job and kept busy ten or twelve hours a day. Would you work a month to save thirty thousand or more? Im a believer in the penny saved is a penny earned adage. I've only cleared thirty grand in a month once, so for me, I'd absolutely invest that month into saving that money.

 

It's my opinion that if you're going to run an older truck you really have to like it. I'd hate to see my bill if I charged myself $110 an hour for labor.

Actually, I think I'll start. That will be interesting to track and report after a couple months.

 

You're exactly right spyder. I do my own tire changes and oil changes even though it saves me very little and is actually pretty exhausting work for someone doing it in a driveway that doesn't do it every day. A penny saved is a penny earned. I guess maybe I am a little over my skill set changing out a gear set or rebuilding a rear chunk. I just toss that out there I don't know. Even king pins is a little more than what I am comfortable tackling. There is a lot of the heavier and technical stuff that would be a huge challenge for a guy like me who would have to learn everything from acratch, trial, and error. What i'm saying is, it's a rare operator who does their own inframes, some even do out of frames, and such. My hat is off to guys like you who do.

 

Start another business, ABC Truck Repair, and every time you do any maintenance or repairs to your truck, charge the trucking co. standard going rates for the work. Legal way for you to keep more of the money you make.

 

And to think i have been paying taxes on the profit my shop makes working on my trucks all these years.