Loggers: Cost to convert truck?

Miss getting up at 0200 hrs and sneaking up on the logs.

 

He’s in CA so he’s going to need a late model used truck. There’s one and 2 year old KW’s on truckpaper right now all set up and ready to go. Not sure I’d want to covert a highway truck with light rears and suspension to head up in the mountains for a load of sticks, but that’s just me.

 

I was just looking for that to post too! Good song!

 

Gotta be able to haul some weight to make $$$ logging. Canada style:

 

You're right. Most of the highway truck conversions I've seen wound up costing too much in downtime when all those light weight components started to fail.
Picture changing a transmission or a clutch or a rear end out in the woods somewhere and doing it yourself. You do it yourself 'cause the wrecker bill to haul it to town would break you.
Of all the kinds of trucking I think hauling logs is the one that you'd really want some experience in before you bought your own.
Another thing to think about...Why are those trucks in the truck paper for sale? Did somebody discover that they weren't making any money and decide to bail before they got in too deep? Hours too long, working conditions too hard? If a fairly new logging truck is for sale there's probably a darn good...or a darn bad...reason for it.

 

Quick change? Cause sometimes it's too wet and the bottom of the haul roads is gone or its too hot even for hoot owl hrs.

 

Like I said, talk to the gypos. Listen to them too. It won't take long before you'll learn some things.
In the meantime you're in a good place. A lot of guys stay with SP until retirement.

 

A quick change isn't a bad idea if you have some good contacts for flatbed or lowboy work. The only problem is that when you start looking for off-season work everybody else is looking too. Rates go down.
One of the slickest quick changes I've seen was a short logger/long logger set up. When the market was good for short loggers he could be ready to go pretty quick.