Frieghtliner Gliders?

Thoughts ...

Sorry but you need to learn how to run the business first, you seem to see dollar signs and don't understand that the truck isn't the most important part.

I don't get why you consider a glider lower maintenance costs, any truck can be costly.

I will not buy a glider unless I am the one overseeing it, I've had a few in the fleets I bought - utter ****ing junk and the companies who put them together would not fix the issues that they had from day one.

Your ROI should already be projected, it will tell you where you want to land, but again if you are asking owner/operators, you are really asking the wrong people, they are not fleet owners and don't see the details of more than one or even two trucks.

why an authority, it doesn't mean big bucks. More paper work, more man hours spent being compliant.

I would take that money and invest it into something else or leverage it in to four trucks, finance them and accelerate the pay off period by 3. Without taking money out of the truck's profits, you can do a pay off in 3 years or less.

 

You mentioned most reliable and most fuel efficient. You may not find both of those qualities in the same engine.

 

And a hater. I posted from my experiences. Anybody with.precinceived ideas can come to any conclusion as far as what they like and don't. Myself and several of my friends have different opinions. I feel the same way you do about the crapcadia and freightliner lack of warranty help to a single truck owner. Don't own a fleet, too bad, you can live with that problem. And that's a quote from the freightliner warranty rep.
ANY truck from 08-12 a far as I'm concerned is a crap shoot. ANY TRUCK. They all had problems. My 2013 780 had almost zero. And after owning and driving a lot of trucks is the most quiet and smooth truck out there. Wish I still had mine.

 

Of course I'm a hater. I drove those pos. Either you love them or hate them, no in between. I think that among drivers who have not been conned into thinking that Volvos get the best mileage and are the best thing since sliced bread, the feeling is unanimous; they suck! My W900L gets better mileage than the pos i'm driving right now (licensing issue, not mechanical).
As far as any old truck can have problems, that's true. The ones that Volvos have are unique to Volvos, most are electronic in nature, and most shops are unable to deal with them. If that in itself is not a reason to not recommend one, enjoy!

 

Wow. That doesn't even make sense.

 

I remember the VNL670's that I drove in my company driver days as good overall tractors. They did have lots of random "check ECU" that lit up the dash for no apparent reason.

Which was always ignored and the truck did fine. Our shop never bothered with it. I had two different 2004 models with 400hp ISX and one 2007 model with I think it was a 500hp VED12? Lo-pro 22.5 steen tread on all 10 wheels. 3:55 ratio. The Cummins equipped tractors would out pull the Volvo engine by a long shot.

They were easy on fuel. Very easy to set up for backing, good visibility, good turning radius, etc. The only problem I had was the ECM wire to a fuse on top of the batteries corroded one time and left me stranded on US35 eastbound on a two lane stretch several miles before I made it to St. Albans, WV.

A hook came and got me. I didn't know wtf the truck just died while I was driving talk about a puckering moment lol... With the benefit of hindsight that is known to be an issue on those trucks if they do a lot of travelling on treated winter roads. Other than that I thought they were decent overall trucks.

I wouldn't have a VNL780 as a solo driver though. Too heavy. VNL670 was a lightweight tractor just right for solo regional.

 

I now have 676,000 miles on my 2013 Columbia glider bough in August 2012 with a factory reman S60 in it. Been the most cost effective truck I have ever owned. I didn't give rip about resale value, as my intent was to own it as long as practical to do so and wring out every bit of life from it I can. I don't use resale value as a gauge on what truck to buy, as resale values change all the time. Currently, you just about can't give a used truck away. Used truck prices are in the basement and one can finagle some very low prices and dealers are not making near the profit margin on used trucks like days gone by. So resale that one counted on getting now when they bought a truck a few years ago means nothing. Basing a buying decision on resale value later is a stupid way to buy a truck.

I got 447,000 miles out of last set of wide based drive tires on this glider. It was ordered with Meritor Dual trac 14x axles and wide based tires from the factory. I Have averaged around 225,000 miles on steer tires, and have 228,000 miles on current set with 9/32nd tread left and nice, even wear. The engine has averaged 7.9 mpg for the life of the truck, and still only uses about 1/2 gallon of oil in 20-22,000 mile oil changes, and that is using 10w30 in the winter and 15w40 in the summer (I stay up north all year). I send in used oil samples to the lab at each oil change and samples look as good as ever. No major work on engine, just a couple of exhaust manifold bolt replacements. Original alternator, starter, clutch, and turbo. One set of batteries changed out and a cracked windshield. Interior not all falling apart like many fleet spec'd Columbias. Everything still nice and tight. Sure, occasionally will have to tighten up a screw here or there. I got every insulation package available put in the truck when I ordered it including premium noise abatement package and premium arctic insulation package.

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I would keep this truck and keep using it. I would just trim back on how much hauling I am doing.

 

The one thing that is forgotten is the serviceability of the truck, one reason why I went with Mack and WS, they do have more dealers around. I know it may not sound like it with mack but I found the reliability is better than the KW, Petes and others I had. WS can be worked on at the FL dealer but one reason why I never bought a Volvo is hearing from owners having issues with proprietary of the system and the problems they had getting the odd problems fixed.