Some Help For An In-Experienced...

I'm looking for some help in considering which truck to buy. I am a recent layed-off oilfield worker. I'm 26 and have been working in the oilfield since I was 18. The past 6 years I worked for the same company. I started from the bottom and worked my way up to an Operations Manager. I worked on the drilling side of things so everything is 24/7 on call work, handled all of the sales, dispatching, hiring, safety, equipment repair and maintaining, and regularly covered jobs when things were busy. Yes, all that, by myself. I moved to San Angelo, TX, to open a new yard for my company. I was supposed to have an assistant manager come with me, but he never made it. Time went on and as the owners of the company started to see I was capable of doing it on my own, reinforcements never arrived. Those 6 years were tough and trying as I had no management experience what so ever. However, I'm grateful to have had those 6 years as I believe I learned a great deal of many different aspects of running a business.

With that being said, I am somewhat knowledgeable on running a business, picking up work, maintaining work, and doing what it takes to overcome competitors. I've tried looking for work, but its extremely difficult not only because of the oilfield still being horrible, but because It's hard to realize that I'm going to have to start completely over somewhere else. I'm not one to be picky, either. I've thought about my options over and over and I don't think it seems fair to myself to have to do that. I'm going to have to do it anyway, though.

So, I've decided that if I'm going to have to do it, I might as well do it for myself, not someone else. I may be a fool for trying to do something I have little to no experience in, but I'm going to give it all I've got.

I would like to purchase a tractor and belly dump. I have a few contacts and I believe I can keep it working steady. My concerns are spec'ing a truck, the perfect truck for the job, as well as bottom dump trailer.

Luckily, my credit is still great and I, well my wife is very good with money. We would be okay without work for a good amount of time, I'm just not one to sit back and watch everyone else better themselves while I sit and do nothing.

So, some information on what I think I'll be doing -
Hauling sand, gravel, soil
Probably within a radius of 200 Miles

I have a contact who owns a large hauling operation and his own materials. So, I believe I can pick up work a bit easier knowing where to get the materials and at a discount I might even be able to make some money off of it too.

And to the point, I believe my budget for a truck and trailer combined is going to be about $30,000. $15,000 to $20,000 for a truck and $10,000 to $15,000 for a bottom dump trailer. I contemplated starting of with a straight dump truck, but I feel I would be limited in the amount and availability of work to bring in would be. I'm not looking for anything fancy or new and definitely do not want anything to do with DEF. I know very little about the trucking industry and I'm trying to learn as much as I can. I just need a truck that will be reliable and perfectly suitable for hauling a belly dump up to 88,000 lbs. Can you guys give me some insight on what size of engine, hp, torque, transmission and anything else that could help me? I know for sure I want a day cab. I can look this stuff up all day, I just don't want to end up with what I thought was a good truck for a good price and it end up being the one year model that no one would touch with a 10 foot pole.

As far as the trailer, I just need it to be functional and ready to take a beating. Any help or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

 

I came across this 1998 Peterbilt 378 with a C-15 engine. It's a 10 speed though. I'm assuming walking beam tandem axle might mean the wheelbase is adjustable? Looking at regulations, in order to be up to 80,000 gross lbs, your wheelbase must be 51 ft. from front axle to rear trailer axle and 36 ft. from front drive axle to rear trailer axle. Is this correct?
Also, I'm beginning to see that mileage on these trucks offers very little insight on its actual over condition. What are some other factors I should be looking at when determining overall condition of the truck?

 

I believe Ive decided on a 1998 Freightliner FLD120 Detroit 60 Series. 500,000 miles. What do you guys think?