ESTES Express (5 Year Review)

Just gotta keep looking. You will eventually come across one you like and land the deal.

 

That's about where my house is sitting, and...it's nice and all, but no way I would've paid 300k for it.

 

I think I could get a USDA loan with zero down if I really wanted to, but I just don’t feel the need to rush into it right now. Saving up for a little longer to get a nicer home feels like the right move.

 

I think USDA has income limits though.

Closing costs is what gets you on top the down payment. I got seller to pay mine. Total closing was around 13k. They paid 5k of my closing.

 

My advice is not to rush it. Get a rental, take your time, feel out the market.

 

I just watched a youtube tutorial of how to put together, or "build a set", of double trailers. That looks like it would take about 45 minutes for someone inexperienced with building sets to put them together and pre trip everything.

Then, if you had to drop a set of trailers, add on another 30 minutes or so. Way more labor intensive than what I thought it would be although I guess you get faster at it with the more experience that you get.

Question for you guys who have a lot of experience with doubles: How long does it take you as a veteran to build a set and to drop a set of trailers including pre tripping them? Does it usually take you about an hour and a half to drop a set and hook up to new set, including the pre trips or can you do it faster with experience?

Also, how much of a pain in the ### is it to maneuver that converter dolly in the winter time in yards full of snow and/or ice? I was watching the video of the guy building the set and while maneuvering the converter dolly looks alright (but labor intensive) during the daylight in non winter months, I would think it could get to be a pain in the ### during the winter time with freezing temps/ice/snow?

 

That’s about right.

It takes me 10-15 minutes to drop and 15-20 to hook. When I turn and burn on my bid run, it takes about 40-45 minutes gate in to gate out, including fueling, on a very busy and crowded yard. I know some guys who can do it in 30, but they obviously aren’t doing a pre/post trip.

It’s by far my least favorite thing about pulling doubles. Stuff will be frozen, the dolly is impossible to move by hand in deep snow, and it’s just a miserable time overall.

At one point this winter I helped a coworker dig the last dolly out from a 2ft+ snow drift. Had to clear snow out of the way with our boots, then put cheater chains on the tractor just to get to the dolly, and hooked the safety chains to drag it out since the brakes were frozen.

One thing to note is that I live someplace where it snows a decent amount, and I live here on purpose. And even then, I can count on one hand the number of times this winter where I had issues hooking my set in the snow/ice. Unless you live in the mountains or Great Lakes area where you get a crazy amount of snow, it probably won’t be that big of a deal.

 

I get back every morning at 6am. From time hit gate to breaking a set I'm in my car at 612am. I guess it takes about 30 min to drop hook for me dropping a set and getting 2 new ones but it's a smaller hub and trailers aren't hard to find.

Bigger hub prolly 45 minutes having to hunt for them.

If you learn back the dolly on your lead box then you cut a lot of steps out. When I get to Lebanon I drop off my back pup and just go back the dolly to my new rear pup and drop the dolly. Then I go drop my front empty and go get my new. Saves a step. Especially in snow. But it takes a bit to learn to back it on your lead.

Id say 30-45 min if you hustle. Its basically like double dropping a 53ft trailer.