Owning multiple Trailers

owning multipul trailers isn't a bad thing. i own a belly dump and a side dump and i rent a hopper bottom sometimes, but looking to buy one whenever the right deal comes up at the right time on one. i don't do fall harvest but i typically do spring fertilizer and maybe some grain loads here and there mid summer in a lull between large road projects. the grain trailer i rent from the broker i use for my hopper loads he charges 10% of the gross to use his trailer. all in all it works out. i would like to own a hopper though because then i could do hopper loads for other people and sometimes i am available and he has good paying hopper freight but no trailers available.

upkeep on multiple trailers isn't bad, there is not much that goes wrong with them just from sitting like on a truck and yearly registration ect is pretty cheap. give them a good fresh grease job before they sit a while. and most the time all they need is to be hooked up tires checked and rolled out next time your ready to use them.

my belly dump doesn't get used very often. if i have a job that i can use the side dump or the belly dump i pull the side dump as its about 20 years newer as well as i like running the side dump better. i use the belly dump when a job specify that i must use a belly dump all other times i use the side dump. my belly dump sees maybe 10k miles a year at the most. it was the first trailer i bought and it works good and mechanically in good shape. sense i got the side dump my average yearly upkeep on the belly has been mabye 500 bucks a year less than 100 for registration. the trailer is paid for and not worth that much so i don't have full coverage insurance on it. so my yearly cost of ownership of having that trailer avaiable when i need it is well under $1000 per year.

i know this post is getting pretty long but that old belly dump trailer i bought 5 years ago and started my business with cost me $9500 when i bought it. it has been used to gross at least $300k sense i purchased it. it currently probably grosses me somewhere around 20k per year and cost me under a grand a year to keep it around so to me yes it is absolutely worth having a second trailer around.

 

that is a consideration as well. i rent a shop that has some fenced in yard space. anytime you have large stuff where your going to park it is always a consideration. hoping in the next few years to buy a chunk of land and build my own shop.

i suppose that portion of the operational cost is not included in my figure but i would be renting that space weather i had 1 trailer or 5

there are other options for parking too though. there has been times when i am switching trailers frequently and i will find a place to stage them near by where i need them. a company yard of someone i have done work for in the past is normally first choice and normally comes at no cost.

 

Unless you can do 100% of all mechanical work that an antique truck with a mechanical engine will need don't waste your money on a truck like that.

 

if your mechanically inclined nothing wrong with a older truck my mack is a 2000 i bought it before the e-log mandate came around i wish it was a 99 even though its a 99 build date its a 2000 by the vin. my freight-liner witch was the first truck i owned i sold a couple years ago. the fld was a 95, it was a good truck when i bought it wasn't in great shape when i bought it but i only paid something like 8-9k for it. some time and not being afraid to get my hands dirty that truck made me a lot of money. had to replace things like all the belts and hoses radiator cac ac condenser, some ac line rebuild the drive lines new clutch breaks and tires alternator water pump had to replace all the fuel lines air compressor dryer ect ect ect. it was starting to burn some oil, about a gallon every 6-7k miles. sold the truck for i think 13k if memory serves. The truck was speced all kinds of wrong for the work i was doing with it so i bought the Mack. the mack was in good shape when i bought it had a fresh in frame on it. but it still takes keeping it up. its been a good truck but iv done much of the same list i did to the fld, other than it hasnt needed a clutch or a cac or fuel lines an alternator or a water pump. i have done rear suspension bushings on the mack as well. they were in great shape when i bought it but a alignment shop melted a couple of them trying to get bolts out using a fire wrench. the thing with a older truck is to stay ahead of things, keep an eye on whats starting to wear out and replace it BEFORE it fails, when you can do it on your time, do it yourself and save money and downtime. if your not going to work on it yourself don't buy a old truck.

 

I bought a 98 international once for 12,600 bucks and have worked it for three years and only done minimal work in it. Heck I drove it today on a local run. I wouldn't be scared of a cheap truck at all.