Advice, please?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by brsims, Jul 2, 2019.

  1. Humblepie

    Humblepie Pontificator

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    The first gen egr pushed way more soot back in to the motor. That caused problems with carbon packing which leads to premature cylinder wear. It also pushed more soot in the engine oil which led to premature bearing failure, oil filter plugging and rocker shaft wear. they had oil pressure issues which led to premature cam failure. They have and still have head issues the are only good for about 500,000 miles. The air actuated vgt isn’t nearly as efficient as the electronic controled Vgt. They are not a bad engine, but they are maintenance heavy engines. They were rushed into production and it shows. ‘15 on to current are a much better design.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2019
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  3. Elroythekid

    Elroythekid Road Train Member

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    Not knowing the history tho... I bought a classic as my first truck, it had almost 1mil on it. Figured on an in frame sooner than later.... Happened to stop at the freightliner dealer up close to the guys house who traded it in a few months after and the guys there told me it had cracked a liner 2 years earlier and had all new liners and pistons. I did a bearing roll in to give me back my oil pressure and drove it for 4 years before selling it. You never know.
     
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  4. brsims

    brsims Road Train Member

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    This is similar to what I'm hoping for. An Non-DPF engine with a recent (if undocumented) in-frame? For half the cost of a more modern, lower mileage truck? Heck, less than a brand new Subaru? If this is true, God is smiling on me!

    Gimme a couple of years to stack some savings and prove myself as a business man, and watch me SOAR!

    A paid off, reliable truck sets me up well ahead of the lease-purchase and first time new truck buyers. Brings my cost per mile for operation right down right quick. No weekly $1,450 truck note for a wire out former company truck for me, no sir!

    Also let's me be far pickier about what I'll haul, and what rate I'll run for. I despise cheap freight (always more of a PITA than its worth), and the term "backhaul" doesn't exist in my lexicon.

    I expect to bust some serious tail over the next five to ten years. Won't actually be any different than what I do now, just more stress and more reward.

    Don't get me wrong. I LIKE my company. I have a comfortable lifestyle, and I make better than average money for a company driver. I work as hard as I want (hard enough to make my dispatcher concerned at times) and take time off when I want for as long as I want. But I'm tired of the maintenance program not meeting my standards, and I'm tired of the "Truck most always be loaded, even of we lose money in the load" mentality. I want the freedom to maintain MY truck to MY standards without having to beg permission from some desk jockey, and the option to bounce to a better paying lane without losing a day for some jacked up load that costs more to haul than it pays.

    I work the Rust Belt area down to TN, with a bit of WI, NE, and very rarely some NY State thrown in. I'm very rarely more than 200 miles from decent freight at the most extreme of more normal range. I don't see the point of taking a crud load I (or in this case the company) ends up PAYING to move, when it is cheaper to run empty and enjoy the bump in fuel mileage to grab the next actually profitable load.

    Maybe I'm thinking this all wrong. Only time will tell.
     
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  5. HopeOverMope

    HopeOverMope Road Train Member

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    You seem to be an interesting & optimistic individual, I wish you some good luck. You seem to have the right ambition, humility and etc. just remember, it took you a while to make this money, so I wouldn’t be in a rush to spend it. You’ve earned yourself a position of early leverage by being able to buy cash, and not be cornered into a sale... because you still work and generate income. Be willing to sit 6 months, a year if need be. There’s not much reason to be buying without rebuild paperwork, maintenance records, knowing the pervious owner, his habits and etc.

    Craigslist can be your friend here, and/or truck paper. I haven’t seen the truck you mention, but if you were patient working your regional craigslist, I’m pretty positive you could get that same truck for $15k. Search in Craigslist the motor you want, like Detroit S60, n14, Isx, 6nz and etc. these searches tend to pull up a range of different setups with these motors. You get to know the owner, get the real reason for selling. And if they were profitable they’ll have years worth of maintenance records and can explain you that truck like the back of their hand.

    From a dealer?... they don’t care. They don’t know. Can you get a great truck/deal at a dealer, maybe so.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2019
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  6. brsims

    brsims Road Train Member

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    Stuck with dealers for a personal reason. I've just never had any darned luck in buying a used car from a private seller. I'm figuring the same will go with a truck. Dealer buys, on the other hand, have generally been very reliable.
     
  7. 1johnb

    1johnb Medium Load Member

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    This is the best advice I have seen. Run it see what you have. You might be surprised. I wouldn't touch the bearings unless I had warning signs. I have had them with more than a million miles on the originals, & they were reusable. Depends a lot on previous maintenance. One thing I would recommend is not to run an extended oil change. It seems like this will kill a cummins quicker than the others.
     
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  8. HopeOverMope

    HopeOverMope Road Train Member

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    Ten4. I’ll leave you with this tidbit that I’ve heard for years. “Nobody sells a truck that’s still making money”. The exceptions? Tge owner did so good that he’s actually retiring, the owners done so good that’s he just wants a new/newer truck, The owner is getting out for health reasons or maybe a small company is downsizing. There’s usually a reason those trucks end up at the dealer. I’d trust an owner op before a sleezy or non sleezy college kid (young or old) truck salesman. Almost any salesman and dealership personnel give me the same “I don’t give a dang I just punch the clock” vibe.

    The thing different with trucking than cars is that, you’ve been in trucking and should be able to use your BS dector with other o/o’s. This especially comes after years of being one yourself.

    Good luck man
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2019
  9. brsims

    brsims Road Train Member

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    I was thinking a three month/30,000 mile interval. Could also do 20,000 or even a 15,000...but that might be ever doing it. Most engines in my experience seem to really like a 30,000 interval.
     
  10. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    I'll offer you a encouragment to find a BIG dyno with water cooling and slap that thing on there. And load it down like it's pulling 10% upgrade and make it try to fail the cooling and so on. It will work that tractor.

    I rode a dyno once in sleeper, mechanic put it on there and loaded us down. I woke up believing that were all out on hands and feet at 40 and dropping. He had me strap in pax seat as he drove the dyno to try and make my tractor fail in the cooling at max pull.

    30 minutes of it. Rough ride to be sure. I wont recommend it. He did good with large shifts in proper RPM. And she growled into the load imposed on the drives as if she was all out. But the dyno won that round eventually. Got her all hot and bothered with dash values beyond what I am accustomed to. Particularly the axle temps back there in the gauges back then. Thats probably why he quit it. They were at 270. Usually 220 or so running normal.
     
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  11. Humblepie

    Humblepie Pontificator

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    I change mine at 10 to 12. But I do severe service. I would be at 15 maybe 20 under normal road service
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2019
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