Peterbuilt 387 with C-15 Cat

That's Peterbilt. I'd stay away from 387's. They're not much more than a century class freightshaker with a peterbilt badge. I've turned better than a half million miles combined in 3 of them ('01, '03, '08, all isx powered, as company trucks and they're nothing more than cheap fleet trucks from paccar. They eat up steer tires like crazy no matter what you do and have all sorts of rattles and sqeaks in the cab -even when they're brand new. You'd have to retrofit a dpf on an older truck like that in Calif eventually.

 

I'd be lucky to get 85,000 they looked like crap at 65,000. That motor is good as long as it's a single turbo c-15. Don't waste money on a twin turbo c-15 they are fuel guzzling weak problem prone engines. I bought an '03 t600 with a single turbo c-15 recently. Was told on here the engine serial number needs to start with NSX for it to be a good c-15 and not MBN. I didn't know that and mine starts with an MBN. Guess I'll see what it's like when I start running it this July.

 

Check into a Kenworth T600 or T2000. There one member here JJranch that leases a 387 from central. Ask him what the 387 is like.

KH

 

your welcome and good luck.

 

When buying a used truck... what should the mileage be and how much should you pay for it?

 

Hard question to answer. Lots of variables. Is it owner op spec'd or just a plain company spec? What make model eng or trans?? I got a 1 owner well maintained truck that had a genset on it since new. It had some miles on it and what I paid for it could have gotten a truck with 200K less miles but I felt it was worth the money. It's just the kind of truck I wanted. I didnt want something that half a dozen company drivers or even worse trainees had been abusing. You can get a lot of truck for $25K these days. I've seen some 300K mile company trucks with a $30k price tag. Just shop around and take your time to find the right truck.