Theoretical question?

Drivers aren't a dime a dozen anymore.

Most rookies can't drive a stick anymore. Or know how to work without a elog. Or even understand the HOS.
Drivers to run local are getting harder and harder to find anymore. No one wants to work without a machine. They don't want to work longer then the machine lets them. They certainly don't want to run weekends. And heaven forbid they should actually have to do more work then the usual opening and closing of their trailer doors. And backing isn't usually required. Least, not to a tight dock.

 

Very cool thread

As the other gentleman said it's not the fault of the truck, although an 07 is way too new for me and caterpillar is not my thing nor is Kenworth.

Any truck can be a money pit. It just depends on the history of it and where it came from etc etc

I think we all have the assumption when talking about old iron that it wasn't used with Crash Test Dummies or in a demolition derby.

You have to start with something good. Even though I'm not a Kenworth guy I've driven them and they're nice trucks.

But that particular truck they probably bought for nothing and that's exactly what it was worth. 1.1 million miles on a truck that was not taken care of might as well be a billion miles. A bad truck like that is like a bad woman. You'll have problems you never dreamt of and it will seem as though there is no end.

I have a friend of mine that has a dump truck company. He took over the truck that his dad used to drive which is an early 90s Mack, with a mechanical engine.

He is just approaching 1 million miles on that truck and just rebuilt the engine. If anybody was looking for a dump truck and he decided to sell that it would be sold instantaneous because the truck is beautiful and perfect and does everything that it should do, but he has no desire to get into the electronic nonsense.

He probably will not be concerned with mileage he probably will just run that truck for the rest of his life. When I tell you that truck looks like brand new you'd be shocked. And he has quite a few like that.

I also know another guy that has an 80s Rd Mack tractor. He actually has a small Fleet of trucks but that particular truck is like brand new. The only thing is that it's a short wheel base truck with Camelback suspension and nobody wants to drive it because it beats the hell out of them.

I think he should upgrade and just install air ride Rears and he would have a beautiful wonderful truck that anybody would want to drive. I'm certain that if he wanted to sell that truck it would sell instantaneously especially if someone wanted to pull a low bed or something like that.

There is a lot more pride in running an older truck rather than the newer junk. And both of the gentleman that I mentioned have regular trucking companies and those trucks run every single solitary day day in and day out.

Keep it coming with tails of old iron. I love to hear about it and I love to see it.

To me, old trucks are like beautiful women that don't have all the tattoos and piercings and foul mouths.

Just a beautiful sight to see and fun to take for a good ride . Life as it was meant to be.

 

Keeping an old truck is one thing.

Keeping a money pit that cost's more to maintain then making revenue. Doesn't make good business sense. Correct?

We all like old vehicles.

If it were any of us as a 1 truck business. We'd all be long bankrupt.

 

Exactly, I was forced by my State to park my 2000 379 EXHD in 2014 and I bought a 2013 388 to keep them happy; I have missed that 379 ever since.

My maintenance costs are up not down, in addition to the emissions crap the whole air system is put together with push connections, as they age they leak ever so slightly but until they get bad enough to hear you just have a thousand tiny air leaks. My 379 would sit all weekend and have 60 psi on Monday morning, this new crap wagon is at zero in a few hours. I had more power and at least a half mpg better fuel economy on the 379 and it weighed a full ton less when empty.

1.1 million miles on the original trans and two clutches, the engine made1 million and I only inframed it because I lost a cam follower and couldn't bring myself to have the head off and not drop a sleeve kit in; it was tight, smooth and did nothing but make money.

I kept it thinking I might move to a State not run by Nazis but a shoulder surgery put me down for 2 and a half months and I decided to list it for sale.

I just got a call from a guy who is wiring the money tomorrow so it is sinking in that I won't have it anymore; this is probably something I will regret for a long while as I drive my plastic snap together replacement.

 

QUOTE="snowwy, post: 7285573, member: 30838"]Keeping a money pit that cost's more to maintain then making revenue. Doesn't make good business sense. Correct[/QUOTE]

I think you misunderstood me? I was trying to say that whoever purchased that truck made a mistake. That's something that never should have been bought and they probably bought it because they got it for nothing or next to nothing.

I myself would run from a truck like that. I would consider that nothing more than junk or parts.

Like I said you have to start with something good. To take a twice rolled over piece of junk and put money into it makes no sense.

The only thing that makes less sense is buying it to begin with. But here is what I don't understand:

You said the radiator was replaced but it always leaks. You said the air conditioner was replaced but it's getting replaced again.

The truck itself maybe junk but if that's happening that's a bad mechanic. When you replace a radiator it doesn't leak. When you replace an air compressor that's either poor installation or poor manufacturer if it has to be replaced again. Those are one time jobs and the truck is good for so many years.

A lot of the other stuff that you mentioned really is just maintenance stuff at 1.1 million miles. Starter and injectors really should have been done when the engine was rebuilt.

You said the water pumps go out every 6 months. Is that same mechanic rebuilding them? If he is he needs to go get another occupation. I don't understand. Are these Chinese knock-off parts? When a repair is done right it's done and you move on to the next thing.

Then again some of these newer engines really just are junk and are problematic. I really don't know much about caterpillar except that they're very expensive and I know some have electronic problems. I purposely avoid caterpillar at all costs.

Like I said, myself, I would have run from that truck. But a lot of what you are actually saying sounds like a bad choice to buy the truck, a bad mechanic, and very bad maintenance.

 

@RET423

That's the problem. You were forced to give up something good to get something bad that's going to cost you more and make you less.

That's just a sad State of Affairs.

 

I suspect that there is room in the market for a company like that, for now. But as the exempt trucks get older, it will be more and more expensive to operate them, and eventually the company will have to start hiring compliant trucks to move their freight.

It could be a decent business model for a few years, maybe even a decade.

 

Sign me up with him, that kind of guy is where the real job is at.
PM me his business.

 

All very true and accurate points

 

He has no o/o’s. All company trucks. Family run deal. Father who they had to force to stop driving a month ago.(89yrs old, & ran two or three loads a day) The son Drives, & runs the Shop. The Daughter is the Back office/ar/hr girl. And the nephew is top mechanic, who just started driving as well. One dispatcher, who runs the trucking end of the office.

He has 5 trucks that require elds, somewhere around 30-35 that do not.

He keeps on top of all his equipment, you rarely if ever see his trucks on the side of the road broke down.