[Advice Needed] 1,000,000 mile Truck with cracked block... to rebuild or drop-in?

Not being a dick, but it’s the elephant in the room.

I’m guessing you’re the business owner, hiring a driver and leasing on to (whom ever).

Are you sure this is a pursuable business model, or time to cut and run?

Not seeing income figures, I can’t assume, but compared to my own entry into the business, your ROI is looking fairly extended.

 

If we're able to sustain 2-3 yrs without a catastrophic failure, then I believe we can succeed...

Two to three years?

really you need to think shorter term for profitability and rebuild your ledger to leverage the revenue coming in. Also take a more proactive maintenance and less reactive one.

as for the truck, go to a reputable salvage company, get an engine.

I have bought a few from Vander Haag, but there are many engines just floating around under $15k at different salvage yards.

As for a new engine, don’t bother, the rest of the truck is tired. It is a waste of money, you will end up having a rolling money pit. Putting in something else, well that’s up to you but it would be a bit better of a good business decision to find a truck with an engine you want to change to.

 

Personally, if you have the funds. I'd buy another truck. Get it on the road and get that income coming back in.
Then get id get the right enigine the right way at the right time for the right price. Right now your down and in need.
Your post are excellent. But sitting is costing you money. Then rebuilding is costing time and money.
All this talk is a great idea. But if there's no wheels turning eventually you'll have no savings left. I did see you have another truck already. But you just lost 50% of your income and the bills are still coming in. Good luck to you. Shoot you maybe able to use it as a trade in. Honestly I don't know. But good luck.

 

Some places to consider:

Vander Higgs several locations
Sams Riverside Truck parts De Moines, Ia
Jacksons used trucks and parts Port Deposit, Md

 

You got a hole in the block, you can't rebuild that engine

 

A used engine may be cheaper and have known milage. However, the trade off is you often wont know where it came from or why it was pulled. Sure it could LOOK sound but nearly anything could be wrong with it. Did it come from an old truck some grandpa drove once a week on sundays and spent most of its life in a covered garage? Or did some swift driver roll his truck and it ran upsidedown flooding everything with oil? Was it well maintained? Was it in a flood? how about using the wrong type of coolant or constantly running bad fuel and def through it? Who knows? The place you buy it is also likely to make up a #### and bull story about how great it is all while knowing its junk too. Even the honest ones may just shurg at you.

A rebuilt is and are typically stripped down cleaned, bored, resleaved with any broken or heavily worn parts replaced either with new or used and are typically a much safer bet then a used engine. Some even come with a limited warranty. However these are only reatored up to where they failed I.E a bad piston will be swapped but the altinator with 500k on it will be left alone as long as it works.

Remans are typically rebuilt engines ++. Every wear part is replaced, they are returned to OEM specifications or as close as is physically posible and tested to factory specs. As a result they end up literally as good as new in most cases. They are more pricey but come with a simular warranty to a new engine in many cases.

 

Remember your engine is toast, so you don't have a core (Hole in your block). Always remember a "good core" is something that can be rebuilt. In my opinion, a used engine with low miles is the way to go. Most times these engines come out of a wrecked truck. The reason I am suggesting it is your truck has over a million miles. As I mentioned before rears and trans going are something to consider. I replaced my rears at 1.2 million about 3 years ago. I bought new not reman, and my front rear was $2900 and my rear one was $2150. Obviously either way you decide your are going to be keeping the truck.