Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

You're right there SB. This ground is white. In La we used to call it crawfish dirt. I grew up in the NE La Delta so I'm familiar with gumbo and this sure aint it. The gumbo around here where they got it is that grey stuff and it's usually subsoil. This white ground looks like sand but it's just white powder. Good rice ground but it won't make much else.

 

Big John, have the flat bed rates gotten any better? I've been seeing a number of different trucks pulling hoppers that normally pull construction, or other non hopper loads.

 

They are getting cheap again and freight is slowing. I was offered a load out of FT. Lupton, CO to Muskogee, OK my part would have been .85cpm and I dead headed back to Kansas, I am not going to haul someones load for free. It was for a company in Muskogee and I know the owner is pretty wealthy and what makes me mad is he runs his own trucks and knows what it cost and what it takes to make a profit on a truck, I guess that is why he got rich is by truckers hauling his cheap freight. I went out their for good money and had another load set up coming back to Lowe's in Hutchinson but they didn't have enough product and it wouldn't be ready for another two days.

I don't know what the future is going to bring and I am starting to have some issues with my Accert Cat. I am having injector issues and going to Cat next week, I here injectors for these Accerts are $800 each. I have had two friends in the last 60 days have had to replace both turbo's on their Accert. One had blown both turbos and the oil was so hot it burnt up some wiring underneath the truck, the bill was $10,000 when all was fixed. The other guy blew one and had it replaced at Peterbilt then drove another 290 miles and blew both turbos. They had replaced the one but didn't fix the problem. He ended up replacing both turbos and fixing what caused the problem at a cost of $9,000. That is pretty expensive and these Accerts are.

I am thinking about selling my truck the rates aren't their or freight. I am going today and look at a 99' Kenworth T600 w/ N14 460E, 10spd, that is similar to yours weathauler. He has owned the truck since 04' and it has a 1.2 million on the engine and never been overhauled. He has all the maintenance records and say it only uses a gallon of oil every 10,000 miles. I will see if it is a piece of junk or worth buying, he asking $11,000 and I am thinking $10,000, if I have to get it overhauled I think I will still be alright. Has a reman tranny that is two years old and a new turbo and injectors at 800,000. I have always heard they were pretty strong engines and got good fuel mileage.

 

I talked to a local guy hauling milo into town with a round trip of 46 miles for .08 cents. I don't think he can even get 900 on because of his heavy w900 with the big sleeper and couch in it. I just shook my head and walked off, I use to ask why and argue with them about it but it just went in one ear and out the other. What are these guys thinking I just wonder how many of these guys know what it cost to run a business or a truck. The one's that haul for nothing or just to make their payments will not make it and end up broke and out of business driving someone else's truck and that is where they belong.

 

It would be worth the 10,000 or 11,000 I would think. I have a million 27 thousand on my odometer. I put a used engine in a year or so ago that had ECM mileage of 429,000 miles. I think the N14's are supposed to be a good engine but really don't know.

Most truckers who have those heavy trucks usually just load the trailer to the gills, legal be ######, local hauling anyway. That's been my experience around here anyway. 8 cents is pretty cheap but few years back a grain company was offering 9 on a 60 mile round trip, they actually found dummies to haul it for that.

 

46 mile round trip for 8 cents, that was decent money back 15 years ago when fuel was $1.40, and everything else was cheaper. No way he can haul it for that now for very long.

 

Check with 7mouths,Big John,i'm pretty sure he's got a N14. From what iv'e heard,they are a pretty good motor,and the red-top N14's are strong,our milk hauler has one in his Western Star,and he said it makes good power with decent fuel mileage,and other than the computer,their not too bad expensive to work on. A gallon of oil/10,000 miles is good. I just call that ''loose'' and loose is lubricating.

 

From the way it looks, I'll be running this trailer back to Kansas and then making a gut judgement on the near future.

Either way, I ran my first 3 trips under the new broker, and between deadhead, waiting and fuel I'd basically break even against what it costs to pay the bills. The worst part of this will be at tax time trying to sort all this out and it shouldn't be too hard to prove I didn't make anything.

It came down to a load of treated limestone, a load of poultry meal, and a load of chicken by. Running a hopper seems to be worse than running expedited, I never know where I'm headed past the trip I'm on - hard to plan efficient routes running all over the place random.

 

Well good luck on what ever you dedcide to do and you will make the right decision. You can make money in this buisness and you will you just have to think postitive.


"I have not failed just found 10,000 ways that didn't work.... Thomas Edison.

 

Went on a long haul run for me, 90 miles one way. Got to elevator to load and they had one load out spout for the whole elevator. The spout was fairly low and I couldn't get under it so had to back under it. Truck after me was low and could get under it but he still had to do some backing to get under it. The spout needed to go another six feet away from elevator and it would have worked fine. Did I mention the layout was such backing up was rather limited. I was wondering why they were having trouble getting trucks to haul out of there.