want to buy. auto or manual

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by deepsingh, Nov 1, 2008.

  1. RickG

    RickG Road Train Member

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    Jul 22, 2008
    Owensboro , KY
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    After you pay $15-$20 thousand down how much cash reserve will you have to operate on while waiting for for bills to be processed and paid ?
     
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  3. deepsingh

    deepsingh Bobtail Member

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    Nov 1, 2008
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    i can play with around $5000
     
  4. bowhunter3125

    bowhunter3125 Light Load Member

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    Oct 15, 2008
    klamath falls Or
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    smart thing for ya to do Deepm would be to look for a good used truck, 05 or newer, ya should be able to get it for less down, plus look at CFN or Pacific Pride for a fuel card, it will help with start up costs. insurance and permits are gonna be a large cost for start up
     
  5. deepsingh

    deepsingh Bobtail Member

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    how reliable are auto transmissions if you buy em new of fairly new. i mean w hen do they start taking money out of your wallet
     
  6. Section Eight

    Section Eight Bobtail Member

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    Nov 8, 2008
    Spartanburg, SC
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    The Eaton auto shift works pretty good on the hills... knock it back one click into manual and it will not shift until you click the up or down buttons with your thumb. Hated mine at first, but have come to love it.
     
  7. Elvenhome21

    Elvenhome21 Heavy Load Member

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    Sheboygan, WI
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    ive driven 2 ultrashift trucks and 4 10 speed trucks. For teaming the autos have minimal advantage for new drivers that cant shift smoothly. but I hated both ultras from the day I got in it.

    First thing and biggest problem i had, starting from stop is horrible when: bobtailing, starting downhill, sliding tandems, pulling 70K+.

    Bobtailing sucked the worst, YOU WILL wake you teamate up at just about every stop light. It cant shift quick enough and when it tries to it loses to much momentum and reshifts that gear rocking the truck like you dumped the clutch.

    Clutch life is horrible, the first ultra I had blew the clutch at 208,000 miles, the 2nd truck blew it at 253,000. These were both freightshaker centurys with a 12l in them set at 375. Granted I always seemingly pulled 70k plus so that im sure has a lot to do with it.

    Only thing that was conveinent was in mtns you just have to tap the stick to shift and you can finish eating something leaving a truck stop and not have to shift.
     
  8. englewoodcowboy

    englewoodcowboy Light Load Member

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    Feb 14, 2008
    Chilhowie, VA
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    Well here is my experience. First time I got in it I was a bit leary but then it grew on me. After a while I started to ask questions about how it shifted and paid close attention to my truck to realize I had a problem with it. The problem was prior owner issues as well as when I took it into the shop for ECM updates they only updated the engine, not the tranny. The prior owner had the tranny out for an unknown reason but put the clutch back together and swapped the disks around causing uneven wear and he did the biggest mistake and that was putting anti-sieze on the input shaft. Eaton paid for the clutch, I paid the labor and after all of the correct updates where installed the tranny is now gaining my trust. Here are notable but fixable problems to limit clutch wear etc. First get the 13 not the 10. Second order it with a lower reverse gear. When backing a manual you can idle in reverse and your ground speed is very controllable, in the ultra with the same reverse gear you cant idle, (idle = neutral) so when the clutch engages you are having to rev the motor to above idle and at that point in tight quarters you are slipping the clutch heavily causing premature wear. A lower reverse will solve those problems and the tranny is a good fit. Now when in the mountains climbing grades all you have to do is push the low button and it will pull nicely and usually keep your speed up well. When you hit the summit put it back in drive. I am in the process of growing my fleet, we have 3 trucks now and are looking to expand to 10. I am weighing heavily between a 13 manual 1850 trq or a 13 Ultra at 1650 trq (1650 is all you can get for the Ultra) and the cost is exactly the same. Question is which will give better mpg for all drivers etc. I think in the end if a tranny is specd properly you will be quite happy with the ultra. Oh and when bobtailing if you actually learned to drive the truck and feathered the pedal when it shifts it is very smooth. You have to be smarter than the tranny on that one. It is designed to pull and pull it does, when bobtail there is no load and it is looking for the resistence when shifting, since you are empty you have to back off the pedal a bit when it starts to shift and it shifts very smoothly. The only downfall on bobtailing is it goes through every gear and occasionally it will skip one but you have to over rev the engine to get it to do that, Since we haul freight and try to minimize our bobtailing, it is a very logical hand-off.
     
  9. PharmPhail

    PharmPhail Road Train Member

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    Nov 7, 2008
    NC
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    Nice! What are you doing differently from most everyone else? Have you found a niche? Repeat contracts? No one else seems to be growing.
     
  10. Elvenhome21

    Elvenhome21 Heavy Load Member

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    Nov 17, 2008
    Sheboygan, WI
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    I was feathering the pedal when bobtailing, If i could have played with the settings a little, like being able to start in 3 or 4 for bob tailing, or bump up the hp and rpm setting (350hp at 1700 sucks ###). but yes a 13 would be great along with that lower reverse.
     
  11. englewoodcowboy

    englewoodcowboy Light Load Member

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    Chilhowie, VA
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    We are just watching our money on all facets.. Now is the time to grow while things can be aquired at very low costs. You just have to discipline yourself to look at where you can make that dollar and not focus on how bad things are, or compare things to how it used to be. You can dwell in the past all you want but unless you take controll and sieze the few opportunities as they present themselves, then you will go nowhere. It is not about being optimistic, it is purely just the ability to see that dollar and fnd the way to make ityours at a pofit even if it is a very small one, in my books money in is better than nothing at all and when things do pick up so will the margins increase.
     
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