New company giving me old truck

No implications whatsoever...
I have seen the chain drive Macks. In the New York Egg Market in the middle 50's and on the New Orleans docks in 54. Egg Market then was so jammed, we parked and off loaded to them (about 20 cases at a time),
They trundled them off somewhere, repeated till all gone, came back with receipts and signed bill sent on last load and we left. Things reminded me of the old Railway Express Depot carts,. but with an engine.

Back over to Tooley's in Jersey City, next morning out to Riverhead on Long Island to load potatoes for Atlanta. Drop the spuds and down to Cross Country at Haines City to load fruit to MN. Drop back to Osage,
IA for more eggs for NY. Rinse and repeat...
Hauled bale cotton into NO docks for export. Saw lots of them still working there and all in fine shape, paint better and sharper than a NY dump truck.

 

I always picked the older Trucks, that way, any minor damage would be overlooked.

 

2007's were the last year before emissions systems started being introduced. If it's a C-15 CAT truck with a manual, and it's been taken care of this entire time, you'll have a truck you might not want to ever give up.

2007 Peterbilt 379's and Kenworth W900's fetch an incredibly high premium these despite being 12 year old trucks. They are often severely overpriced when for sale because they are the last true pre-emissions trucks and guys think that magically makes a 12 year old truck with 1.5 million miles and a rebuild with 500k miles on it worth $80,000.

 

In 23 years of driving ,the only time I've ever been CO poisoned was by the emissions equipment in a 3-year-old Volvo. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

I’ve read that the chance of dying from carbon monoxide fumes from a diesel, is very rare.Unlike gasoline fumes. A low level exposure is more likely, and over time will cause chronic headache, and cough. I still often sleep with a window slightly cracked, as old timers used to claim it’s enough to save your life. I have no idea if that’s true or not. Lol, Note:information is not deemed to be accurate.

 

OP, you have to live in this truck. You said you have experience but didn't say how much. With experience, I would think you'de have quite a range of companies to choose from.

The maintenance issue isn't the only thing you should be concerned about. The cleanliness issue is. Again, you have to LIVE in this truck.

I would bet that the truck, no matter how much you clean it, has quite a bit of grime built up in it from the past 12 years that no amount of scrubbing will get off. Especially if this was ever a smokers truck.

Honestly, if you have experience, I don't think you should settle for an older, dirtier truck. A lot of companies have newer ones that have less mileage AS FAR AS CLEANLINESS GOES!

Local guys don't have to worry about it as much. They go home. To a bed. And a shelter. But you stay in that truck basically 24/7.

Some of these posters, I have a feeling, have been in these older trucks since they were on the newer side. Meaning most of the grime that has been built up in the truck, has come from them, but not other people. Which makes it, in a way, a tad more tolerable.

OP, if you have experience, and can find a better company with newer equipment that has had less amount of people living in it over the course of its lifetime, I would go there.

Also, this is 2019, I wouldn't go anywhere without an APU. In fact, I didn't and that was as a fresh CDL graduate in January with 0 experience. And I still found a place to take me on that had an APU.

That idling only does so much and if it's an older truck, it's likely to rock that truck 100 times worse than what a reefer ever will. It's annoying.

I respect everyone's opinion on here, but OP you have experience and this is 2019 - Getting the most comfortable truck you can might be even more important than an extra $5,000-$10,000 per year, because again, YOU ARE LIVING IN THE TRUCK!!!!

Plenty of good companies offering newer/better/cleaner equipment for experienced drivers. You don't owe anybody from the internet anything, disregard the "back in my day" talk. It should be prideful to have better working/living conditions, rather than worse working/living conditions.

 

1.6 million on "my" 379. I work on it all the time and will not be pryed out of it easily.

 

I get a kick out of posts like this. these types of attitudes is one of the main reasons the industry is somewhat looked down these days. I just naturally deserve better.

A 12 year old truck is automatically dirty, and can't be cleaned??? What kind of thinking is that, I have seen many 6 month old trucks, I wouldn't climb into at all, because the, I deserve a new truck type driver does not take care of it, cooks in it, eats in it, and just generally trashes it, knowing or thinking he will be getting a new one in a couple of years.

Newer somehow equals better, maybe, maybe not, there are many older trucks that are not fleet speced, that I would consider better any day of the week, for many reasons ESPECIALLY if you have to live in it.

Somehow, it is now worth 5 to 10,000 less to drive a newer truck, because you live in it. I don't know about you, but when I lived in a truck, the only reason was the money, period, that 5 or 10 grand is the part a guy gets to keep, or at least the closest thing to it he will get.

 

The industry is looked down upon these days because people want a clean living Soave to live in?

Grime builds up with age. 12 year old truck, chances are, many people have been in and out of it. No amount of scrubbing is going to get something that old truck as clean as a newer truck.

You rambled on about how you've seen newer trucks dirtier than older trucks. Is that the rule? Or the exception? I know your answer. You're right. Older trucks are usually more cleaner than newer trucks. Because truckers are the epitome of cleanliness. That's right, Starmac.

Why does it bother you so much that somebody might want newer equipment, Starmac?

Yes, truck drivers should demand better working and living conditions. One of the reasons they can be so crappy is because many old timers take some weird kind of "pride" in how much they can suffer or do without.

OP, if you want to live in an old truck and old equipment go for it. Again, you don't owe anonymous people on the internet anything. If I were you, with experience and going OTR to live in a truck, I would go somewhere with newer equipment.

PS - You day you lived in a truck for money. I'm a noobie, but it seems off this forum there's no way to make as much money OTR as you can doing LTL home every night. If it was all about the money, why would you even stay OTR?

 

Must not have a company that lays down the law on their trucks about the way they are kept. Every time in the yard they could check cleanliness. Owner stated he got all the bells & whistles on trucks for driver comfort the least we could do is take care of how it was kept. Everything in fleet 80 trucks from 1995 to new were immaculate inside & out. Company pays good respect equipment.