Found my dream truck but have a few questions

I won't always be hauling their stuff. That is just going to be the majority. I have an escrow set up to help me get my 2nd truck. My dad will be put in it and he will get the van trailer then I'm going to get a flatbed to pull myself. So yes the dream truck is the right truck for my future plans given that there isn't a catastrophic failure. I wouldn't want to buy a truck for light freight and in 2 years have to buy another truck when I move to flats.

 

Now that I am home and can type on my laptop instead of a phone, I can explain a few things.

The day that I hit the road, I will have $10,000 in my maintenance account for "what if #### happens" money. Not sure how much it costs to rebuild the rears but from what I've read on here I think its safe to assume around $2,000. That will probably be the first thing I do while I wait on my authority to become active. If anyone cares to share how much it cost them to rebuild their rear ends to help me with an estimate then I would appreciate it. If not, then I'll have to call some people while I'm off next week. So that leaves the engine with 700k and the trans (with about the same miles) as the biggest problem. When I drove it, the engine felt very strong but then again I am used to a castrated paccar that has been turned down to 400hp and is governed to 70. I didn't even go half way down on the pedal and it would outrun my KW like it was nothing. I watched the oil pressure, manifold pressure, boost, etc and everything went up and down like it was supposed to. Not sure if I mentioned that it had a new turbo about 200k ago. As far as the shifting goes, it was my first 18sp I've ever driven. It went in to gear nice and easy and didn't grind unless I was slow on my shifts in the high side because I was trying to let the RPMS drop all the way down like a 10 speed. Apparently, since the gears are cut in half, you don't have to let the RPMS drop as far. After 10 miles or so, I was shifting it fine and it felt tight. Didn't feel like it was worn out. I did find a small oil leak on the front of the oil pan and I pointed it out and he wrote it up and said it will be taken off the lot immediately and fixed this week.

Is this truck too much truck for what I will be using it for? Absolutely. However, my thinking is, if I am hauling light loads that means it will be easier on the engine/trans/rears than if I'm hauling 40k loads all the time like a lot of people do. This buys me time. Not saying that it wouldn't pull a 40k load with no problem but since it is a truck that I haven't owned or personally know the owner then you never know. Within 6 months to a year, I will have an in-frame done and by next year, trans will be rebuilt. I'm only going to give myself the same amount of money that I make as a company driver for at least the first year. Everything else will go straight into the maintenance account after all other bills are paid. So if I net $2500 for the week and I've already paid my maintenance account and all other bills, I will take $1500 of that $2500 and put into the maintenance account as "extra" so I can grow that account rather quickly and I keep $1,000 for myself as my "pay" for the week. So there is a contingency plan in case something major goes down. Once I get my 2nd truck, I am going to put my dad in it and I am getting a flat bed. That is when this truck is really going to come in handy. So, I'm thinking long term. If it can haul a flatbed with 40k decently efficient, it should be even better with 15k on a van.

Someone said something about financing even though I have the cash. I don't want to have the payment. I know that if I have the money in the bank then the payment should be covered but I don't want the hassle. I would rather buy the truck out right and have my name on the title. Plus, I would end up paying interest on that and I'm not going to pay more than I have to for it. Plus, with no payment to worry about, that frees up money to put into my escrow every week to go towards my 2nd truck and get me that truck quicker. Then, I have 2 trucks paying for that 1 truck. I know it isn't that simple but my wife is a nurse and makes a decent salary and her money will go towards growing my business as well. I plan to have at least 5 trucks in the next 10 years. Once I have 5 trucks, I am coming out of the truck and strictly running the business side.

Everything in this business is a gamble. We have had brand new trucks at work that have never been in the shop in the past 2 years. We have also had brand new trucks that were in the shop for a total of 5 months for the 1st year. My dad had one of those. 2013 Volvo and he kept it a year and it was in the shop 5 months. He gave it up and got a KW like I have and he says he will never go back to a new truck. But I digress. I am 25 years old and this scares me. Not that I am incompetent or that I don't know what I'm doing but simply because it is something I have never done before and there are so many unknowns and so many different paths you can take. Some may lead you to great success and some may sink you. I can't imaging some of these 21 yr olds fresh out of school jumping into a L/P deal with a company. I would be absolutely terrified.

The bottom line is I believe I have to go with my gut. My gut is telling me that after everything I saw with this truck from crawling under it and looking everything over, this is my truck. Yes I know some of you are probably going to call me an idiot for paying that much for it but it is the truck that is spec'd exactly the way I would spec it from the factory (except the color but who cares about color). I will either be successful or fail. After personally inspecting and driving the truck, I am willing to take the risk with it. Yall have made some very good arguments to get it and not to get it and I respect everyones opinion and I appreciate yall taking the time to help out.

 

I'll be sure to post some if they don't sell it before I get my week off next week.