Instant O/O and Load boards

Thanks for the well wishes.

Ok, despite my better judgement of divulging everything on the net and opening myself to flack later, especially considering what I think I'm going to have to do, I'm going to go ahead anyway as a matter of posterity. Want to keep the thread accurate.

I took it up to the shop. The guy came in after half a minute and asked are you sure you want to pay to have this looked over? So that didn't sound good. He was referring to the cab shake and was pointing to the exhaust going back and forth (later to be partially explained by the complete lack of any securement brackets which is on the minor list).

Things wrong include

Brake shoes and drums
Pulls to right when braking
A/C doesn't blow cold, compressor engages
Hood release cable missing, must use emergency release
Passenger side hood latch missing/not securing
Cab dome light
Exhaust securements missing
Engine brake low not working


And then there is the cab shake. Undiagnosed, can only speculate. Compresion good, injectors not providing malfunction code, can't rule out. Mechanic said that despite the idle problem the unit drives well and the problem seems to disappear in motion. Advised taking it back over to cummins for second opinion. Dyno passed fine according to dealer.

They said best guess would be something under the valve cover, worn cam head etc. Said I'd know for sure inside a year what the problem is!

Ok, no brainer right? If your truck develops this problem it's wait and see and save some repair money. If you can avoid it don't buy a truck you already know is going to have a problem.

Well it's getting to where it's not that easy. So I ask in all honesty, am I going to find a truck with 600k+ miles that doesn't need anything? Mechanic says, no probably not. Well yeah, but they're not for sale, you don't get rid of a good truck. So this is kind of the predicament I'm in. I've spent almost a month and taken 4 trucks up there. They all have thousands in repairs coming up. I'm accepting at this point that this is probably simply the down side to buying a used truck for under 60k!

So I ask what is the worst case scenario for the fix, and they said about $3500. Ok so I know what I'm looking at, and 1) it's a heck of a lot cheaper than the other lists I got and 2) I am STEALING this truck. I don't have another 3 months to cherry pick a truck anymore. I still have bills and my buying power decreases every month. The dealer will address the smaller items on the list.

So, that said, I think at this point I'm still going to move on this truck. If I found one that checked out better, who knows what would happen to it down the line anyway. There's really just no way to be sure. At least I know what to keep an eye on, and this was the first/only one that doesn't use oil or have leaks.

More in a bit... have to pick up the kids!

 

No I didn't ask where it came from, didn't really think it mattered that much but I will ask.

I'm kind of a captive audience with the dealer at this point, my entire business plan is being enabled by them. They have hopper and end dump trailers, they're throwing the wetline on whatever I buy. Plus the guy has been a wealth of information which has really helped me along and found me a good niche that should pay pretty well. He's also busted butt and hustled to get me the financing and has come through for me. The finance company restrictions pretty much only leaves this truck on the lot.

Nervous, yeah, I'm nervous about the truck too. But, I know I'm losing a couple grand every week that I'm out looking for a truck. In a couple weeks I gain what that repair bill will cost, and it may not be a problem for a while. I also have an insurance payment coming up on the 10th already!

No I don't care what brand the truck is, at least I didn't. A pete was never a possibility in my price range, but now that it is, I gotta say that would be tough to let go now anyway.

I do appreciate your warning, and I suspect I will get a lot more. At some point you have to weigh the opportunity cost of waiting against the potential expense of acting. I think the risk/ratio is acceptable, especially when the waiting is costing so much. Time really IS money. What hasn't been said is that it could very well only be an injector. It wasn't the EGR valve though. The rig has been well cared for.

I don't have any good sidelong pics to look at the wheelbase. I can tell you it's longer than the other trucks I looked at and the fifth wheel is all the way to the back. I don't know what 285" is supposed to look like though.

The dealer is economytransportgroup. You know the rest.

 

Nope, you weren't critical at all, very understanding actually.

They do have some trucks in groups from fleets. This one was a loner though.

The reasons I would go for a hopper are the safety reasons you said. These guys still use wetlines though I'm guessing for the vibrators? Also you have to air spray remaining debris, but I'm not sure how that works yet.

As a company driver, the hopper would be a simple choice, but as an O/O I'm thinking it may be wiser to have the increased versatility. The broker also said that loading/unloading time is quicker so the potential to make more is there both ways.

Also, since I live near the East coast, the end dump runs more in this area, whereas the hoppers he runs more midwest and tends to be better for people located out there. He keeps both trailer types moving either way.

The safety is a big point though. I'll say most of the end dumpers that have been doing it long enough have a story about when their truck went over. If not they definitely seen it. If it's just a matter of time, I'd as soon forget it.