TRUCK FINALLY PAID OFF BUT NOW...

Love that colour. Nice looking rig.

 

To me, the biggest issues are reliability and fuel economy. The new trucks have better fuel economy, but you can't rely on them. That's quite a dilemma. New trucks depreciate, old trucks don't. New trucks require interest, old trucks don't. So the math, really, comes down to whether depreciation plus interest plus repairs on a new truck are larger than the repairs on an old truck.

I just turned a million miles on my 9200, and she has new pumpkins, an over haul, new power divider, new turbo, alternator, manifold, and water pump. She ain't depreciating, and all that is left is a transmission and wear items. She's going to be around a while.

 

There's a reason they don't warranty the turbos. Lol

 

That means they have made good decisions and had a bit of luck along the way, the important question for you is in hard times the company survived, how did their O/O's do? That's the important question for you.

 

A lot of what you described could have been taken care with better preventative maintenance.

When I'm home 50% - 75% of my time is spent going over the the truck and trailer looking for things that need attention soon. Air line, hose or wire chaffing. Suspension bushings and connector.. air bags dry rotting, bearings, any leaks, drums, shoes, mechanicals, rust on frame, basically anything that is showing signs of wear.. I replace it before it breaks or leaves me on the side of the road costing 4 - 5 times as much.

I mean a simple coolant line you can replace yourself for about $10.. or pay a road mechanic $350 to come out and fix it while your on the shoulder.

Truck is paid for.. if the truck is well maintained and kept up you won't have many problems. You just have to stay on top of things.

I'm pushing 1.3 million with my Columbia. C15 CAT.. I recently went had a choice.. spend a ridiculous amount of monew on the motor.. or buy anothe truck. I know my truck.. I know what I have in it. Motor is now good for another 1 million easily. Truck is a money maker. So I think it would be foolish to start over with another truck fixing someone else's problems.

Try to handle some of the smaller things on your own. It's not a company truck.. it's yours. I think many guys buy a truck and can't let go of the company driver routine when it comes to the truck. You'll go broke paying other people to fix every little thing.

Hurst

 

Give him a little slack. I've greased mine every 6,000 miles and a u joint still went out. Its just eventually going to happen. I agree though a guy ought to have been able to feel or see it needed to be replaced before it ruined everything.

 

Yeah I'm sorry I saw the next post down after I responded.
Keep what you have. Your married to it now. Too much invested and lots of new parts. Besides the realized savings of better fuel economy is going to take twice as long now with fuel at $2

 

my 2 cents, buy a pre egr truck for 15k, spend another 20 on it, run trouble free for at least 3 years. Or buy new, run until warranty expires, get another one. Everything in between is bad.
To the OP. Old Freightliners are crap. Sell it and do what I have mentioned above, but if buying an older unit get a Pete or KW