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

Discussion in 'Heavy Duty Diesel Truck Mechanics Forum' started by HamLocker, Apr 3, 2021.

  1. BoxCarKidd

    BoxCarKidd Road Train Member

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    If I did not have a good core I was charged strongly. When I was trying to sell cores I found it hard to get fair money for them. Sold some complete B models for $800 each. This internet deal has changed a lot of things. Maybe you will have better luck.
     
    SmallPackage Thanks this.
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  3. TexasKGB

    TexasKGB Light Load Member

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    Get the ECM logs.

    I think you're asking the right questions here.


    2-3 years of other people driving your (used) equipment with no catastrophic failures is a low-probability hope. They're simply not going to care for the equipment like you feel they should, on top of the fact that maintenance is going to eat your margins.

    You're trying to build what equates to luck - in hiring and equipment reliability - into your business plan, and that's not a factor in any business that operates profitably.


     
  4. roundhouse

    roundhouse Road Train Member

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    I’d find a mechanic to find you another good used truck to replace it.
    You could get the engine replaced with a used one, but it’s gonna be down for three or four weeks . And losing a lot of money.

    and if you want to replace it with another truck, finding a truck that isn’t going to have a lot of problems with the emission system is not going to be easy.
    I’d suggest getting a pre emission year model if you’re not going into California .

    but you may still owe a bunch on the broken truck.

    It’s gut check time .

    Do you want to cut your losses?
    Or keep pouring money into the business ?
    The only way to tell is ; what’s your rate of return?

    how much cash do you have tied up in the business and how much profit is it making ?
    Divide the yearly profit into the amount you have tied up in it.
    were you making a 20% return after ALL expenses were paid ?
    A 10% return?

    and is the headache worth the return?

    back when I was trucking , driving my one truck, the engine blew , and I had it rebuilt. It took several weeks and cost about $10k in 1992.
    And I lost about $10k in revenue or more in the down time .
    Because you still have to keep paying the insurance and permits etc while the mechanic is taking his sweet time rebuilding the engine .

    I should have just bought another truck and only been down a few days.

    also I’m surprised Houston doesn’t have a truck salvage yard ?

    where do the local independent mechanics get the used engines ?
    I lived near Atlanta and everyone got used truck parks at Kerns.
    They replaced one of my differentials with a used one , in one day.


    I made so much money with one truck leased on with Triple Crown, pulling their trailers that were pre loaded and moved long distance on the railroad, that I bought several More trucks and hired drivers . Hiring drivers was a real chore,

    it turned out to be a disaster.
    I made more money driving one truck than I did with five trucks and four drives besides myself .

    my wife is an accountant and she did the math.
    My mistake was assuming that the hired drivers would work as hard as I did.
    Turned out that they worked 66% as hard as I did, based on revenue per truck.

    and the Maint costs went through the roof.
    After I paid the driver and the fuel and the insurance and payment and maintenance, there was zero left for me , except all the headaches.
     
    Evil_E, baha and Dino soar Thank this.
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