Is it better to become a diesel mechanic or trucker these days?

Going to depend a lot on your area, truck density and number of good ships already there. Not to mention your knowledge and how much you want to invest. If you only want to fix older stuff fine. If you want to fix everything that would be a large investment just in diagnostics tools

 

That's because most mechanics are skinny.

 

Good luck buying a shop and being successful. Be quite honest, the average person doesn't know anything about being a decent mechanic until they've done the job at least a decade.

 

i left working as mechanic for 18 years simply because it didn't pay enuff, most of thecwork on trucks is ####! clutches, oil changes etc ,allways on back , slim chance of getting just engine jobs, bought sn old truck non ecm, pull hazmat tandem chemical tanks and multiplied my in pocket take home by 3, this is my money after fuel n expenses and i dont work hard 3-4 days out maxx , allways a 3 day weekend plus! one of those will be workin on truck, the biggest thing that will sink ya as o/o is the truck,it needs to run and u need to do ur own repairs, totally stay out of a shop! just my personal experience here

 

Thanks for the input. What kind of truck did you buy? Did you lease onto a company?

 

i bought a 88 379 with a b model, yes im leased on with a chemical company, 99 percent of tanker yankers do not own their own tank,its worked real well for me especially most tank places have a fsc that fluctuate weekly so rising fuel costs arnt as worry some, as for the truck man i cant complain only bin in a shop once in 6-7 years , that was to rdbuild the injection pump other than that i work on it, donall my oil changes, gress every other week, just did set rear springs n wear pads on its air trac! what a pita the u bolts r so long had basically set rear end on ground get in ! another story!

 

Heavy Equipment > Trucks.

JMO.

 

One of the more important things you will need ifn you decide to open a shop or work out of a service truck, is you must have a good working relationship with parts suppliers. And i mean good supply of truck parts at anytime. A person you can depend on to answer a call out, or a 24/7 dealership where parts can be secured, and good credit line as well. Service where you dont have to stand at the end of the line at the parts counter, listening to 5 or more driver stories while you wait your turn. You want to do oil changes only? You gonna have a lot of waste oil and filters that must go somewhere, and most places charge now to take it off your hands instead of the other way around, affecting the bottom line negatively.
I have been fortunate enough to have worked in a major dealership, and on a service truck, for a long time and see the horrors that can occur, or be uncovered in a simple oil change. Theses are times when backup support is the most important asset for a positive outcome.

 

i know in my area amodel crane n heavy eq mechanics made on average 10$plus an hour more than a truck mechanic, not sure if it was because the crane places are union vs the non union truck places ,idk but thinkin if sumone was lookin to make the most i think heavy eq would be the way to go at least around here not sure if that stays true elsewhere?

 

For me its the variety. One day I could be into a dozer, next day its a compressor. I don't think I could handle the monotany of engine, transmission, diff for years on end.