Mileage or APU

yeah if their not willing to let you get info on a truck they are trying to sell then thats a good reason to not get the truck

 

I would buy a truck WITH an APU over a truck without an apu any day of the week.

An hour idling is like 50 miles driven. So all that idle time that the lower mileage truck has, multiply it by 50 and add that to your odometer. That's how I would look at it also.

I'd also look at the condition of the overall truck.

Since it's a 2007, it's going to have an EGR in it. I think most folks on the road would have a lot less issues with the big engine if they idled a lot less than they do. I firmly believe that the idle time is contributing a major amount to the EGR and DPF failing the way they do. Those systems just aren't designed for idling. They are designed for the engine at operating performance. Cruising down the road.

As to the HP difference, eh, it's an engine setting in the computer.

What I WOULD insist on.....

DDEC printout on BOTH trucks. This will tell you the history of the engines. Total idle times, total run times, lifetime fuel average etc.
Dyno run on whichever truck you are going to consider based on the DDEC report.
I WOULD hope they would deal with you on Kingpins on whichever truck you get. You don't know the life condition of that point. They could go another 250,000 miles, they could go 25,000 miles. But it's also a $1000 repair bill to a point that will chew up $1000 steers in no time flat. Cheap insurance to just get them to put the kingpin bushings in.

Go up to each engine and wipe your hand under the exhaust man. Does it come out black? sign of a leaking exh man gasket. About $1000.

Matter of fact, read this page. It'll save me from typing a lot of it over again.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...2292-battle-mileage-2007-century-14l-egr.html

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ers/210237-gotta-drive-52-55-get-mileage.html

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-wheelers/198348-s60-14l-ddec-v-egr-mods.html

 

nice tips MN
will keep that in mind if I decide to take the plunge later

 

another point to consider....

Look at your power divider input.

When I got mine home a year ago, my mechanic did a MN DOT inspection on it and noticed the input was loose. Nothing major, just enough.

This was the result.
http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...1-blew-first-major-component-truck-today.html

 

you can find issues with brand new trucks right off the line too, heard a few different stories of brand new trucks breaking down right away, one truck the transmission went out with less than 1k miles on it.
Someone told me you will always have something wrong no matter how new the truck is, I would rather have the older truck and pay 1/4 the cost and just stash some money into a maintenance account for those bad days.

 

I paid $30K for the tractor.

I have put close to $26K into it this first year.

I also know what I have better now than if I had just spent $50K for a hood or large car.

 

$26k is still a nice penny, was some of this just making it better or a lot of large repair bills?

 

APU Repair, 6 bad wires, new motor mounts, Espar service kit, fuel filter, idler pulley, belts, $1000.

Air bags, all 4, $800. Lesson learned while doing a floor load of taters.

Power divider, $4000. That also was a muffler, oil change, annual for truck and trailer, new pigtails, replaced all the gear box lubes etc. Bunch of things.

New wiring harness, $700.

New CAC, $900

Exhaust MAn gasket $1100

Kingpins, $1000, steers, $1000. LOF, Alignment and bunch of stuff, $600.

Delta-P, $380

ECM program - Ask Rebel127.

set of 4 trailer tires, $1100
Set of 4 drives, $900

ran overhead, $400

bunk heater $800

About $13,000 in stuff I had others do for me.

About $9800 in parts I have bought for myself to fix

Tools and services/washes are another $2500.


Actual repairs just to get this truck back to snuff...

I'd say it's really closer to about $14,000. The rest is normal preventive maintenance stuff.

All real things you will have to consider in the first year of truck ownership.

Add in paying SE tax, IFTA, 2290, IRP, Authority and Insurance. ( I am an independent with my own authority now.)

 

All the stuff really called out up above, I had someone else do mostly. The wiring harness I put in myself. It took me about 9 hours work to do. And that's not a major think. My arms were scratched to high heaven.

Air bags, CAC I did myself too. I had a helper to lift things in and out though too.