Instant O/O and Load boards

Good to hear Pharm ive read about adventures you went to college didnt you?

 

Oh what pays better trucking or what you did before?

 

Well im considering my options for the future if i work hard and go to college and study diesel mechanic i can have 3 or 4 trucks and fix them but its alot of work and i also want to drive but eh ill see when im older.

 

Those are the breaks when you drive an older truck. The repairs that you're doing now, are probably repairs the previous owner didn't want to make or couldn't afford to make. Hopefully you've still got enough cash or leverage to make it through this hump.

I can tell you from my own experience driving an old beater for the last year, the biggest expense has been tires. The first few months with that truck, seemed like I was calling out a tire service to the side of the road every few weeks.

The end of the tire trouble came when I got rid of the Gator Caps (pass-through valve stem caps) and replaced them with plain old metal caps. I was constantly waking up with flat tires... or having tires run low on air while going down the road. And once you run them low, even once, they blow. The bottom line... the caps would get a little bit of dirt in them and leak. So every time I put a gauge on them, I'd be chancing the tire going flat because the stem was leaking.

I did have two tires blow on me last week, but those were because I ran over something in the road. However... $650... cha-ching!

Some of the other things in the last year:

King pins and alignment $1000 (plus an additional day of downtime because they didn't install the wheel seal right... it leaked)

Steering I-shaft $200

Rear axle torque arm x 2: $300

Heater blower motor $90

Washer bottle and pump $?? (I forget)

Air bag $100

All new belts $??

Exhaust repair $200

Coil air hose...

Tow (because of poor quality fuel) $475

New steer tires $1200

Power steering hose $40

Clutch brake $??

Brake control valve $250

Keep in mind this truck is paid for. It's also a company truck... the repairs did not come out of my pocket. However, it's a very small company with only a handful of trucks. I try to keep an eye on the expenses to insure that I have a job.

When something goes wrong, I consider it, "making the truck payment". I can see where driving an older, paid-for truck could be an advantage. As long as the repairs and downtime amount to less than a payment on a new one, you win! But if major repairs stack up one after the other, you lose!

Here's hoping you win.

 

I have always though it was better to have a used truck and pay to fix it if you are starting out. Back in 97 I had a 93 freight condo, it lasted for 4 years. I paid about $38,000 total (includes interest) for it and spent about another 15,000s on repairs over the life (includes partial in-frame due to a poor valve repair done previously). Other than the in-frame, Never had any issues that required huge down time. One of the things that always saved me was preventing some of the breakdowns in the first place by replacing things that the mechanic said may have a few miles left or fixing things right away such as a minor visible leak. I think it all goes down to takin care of the equipment and having a reliable mechanic. I had a great mobile mechanic back then, guy was also giving me tips on how to keep the truck going even showed me how to install a power inverter and a lot of other things. He never charged for adivce or for comming out to the truck when it was at the yard. He died shortly after I came off the road in 2000, his older son took over the business but his drug problem ended it all. I gotta start over looking for another mechanic in my area!

Pharm you need to find a good mechanic that is more than a mechanic!