Appreciation of elders

I'm an O/O and in one overnight run I profit more than most company drivers make in a week. In 3 days I profit more than any company driver makes in a week. We aren't all running for free.

 

I'm sure you do and good for you but you're not the norm. My dad and LOTS of my friends are owner operators so I know they're not becoming millionaires.

 

I wouldn't exactly call what you have an aero truck. My def. of an aero truck is a Cascadia, Volvo VN, KW T660 etc. I'm not much a fan of the slammed and lowered Pete/KW long hoods. Stock height, standard hood length on tall 24.5 looks better IMO.

 

All my friends tell me It's just another Aero truck then they ##### at me when I take 3 weeks off for Christmas in California and fly first class both ways while they're struggling to stay in business lol.

 

Amen to that.

I'm surprised to see so much bickering about the "best" kind of truck here. The "best" kind of truck is the one that fits the job. Pulling a van for a mega? Obviously you want a Cascadia or something similar with a tiny engine and automatic transmission. You are pulling volume, not weight.

Now what about that 11 axle RGN setup? No way you are pulling that effectively down the road with a 13 litre Detroit aerocab. You'll be wasting money getting up to speed. You need something with 18 gears and a 600hp motor.

Fit the equipment to the job. It's why even Freightliner still makes these things:

 

My sloped nose posted above has a 3406E in it and a tag axle and could pull that load just fine. Their is no benefits to crappy aerodynamics just because your pulling big loads.

 

They fail to specialize. If your not specializing as an independent O/O your wasting your time. I'm in one of the last fields the Megas haven't been able to touch yet. If a swift,werner or prime truck is doing the same job as you your wasting your time as an independent O/O. They own the Dry,reefer and flat market. Do what they can't if you want to do well.

 

There's no real advantage to a sloped nose north of 200,000.

 

True, but how many people are north of 200k every single mile they travel for the life of the truck?

 

Few if any, we run two Western stars pulling lowboys, on setback axle one set forward. There's very little fuel economy difference. Personally I like the T800 the best I would take one over a 379 or a W9 but I've ran s lowboy on a mixed fleet all my career and there's not a lot of difference.