Mornin yall. Names Jake Brake. Been trucking 10 years. Started in local dirt work pulling transfers for 2 years. Drove OTR for a year, wasnt for me. Now Im running NortWest 5 Regional for bout 7 years and love it! Been a company driver this whole time. Bought an old girl bout 2 years ago, just got her road legal last month. I support our Constitutional rights and our Soldiers keeping us safe. The old girl I got is a 1981 Freightliner Conventional 120. Shes got a 8V92T silver detroit with a 13 Eaton fuller transmission (from what I have been told from the old timers, she will get bout 3.5 to 4 miles per gallon pulling maxis) which is what ill be doin in the next couple of years. I'll sacrifice a little fuel to ride in style! Gotta get her streched for a 102" steerable drop axle. Which would allow her to gross 104,000lbs. The motor has 40,000 miles on a complete inframe rebuild. Clean sleeper, well taken care of from the first owner. She was build in Portland, Oregan in The 90's. The dash needs some TLC. Machanically she is sound. And after a new coat of paint she wants to play.
I’m partial to FLC. You could try giving it a good buff job, and polish up the aluminum/ stainless it has, and add aluminum wheels, and it might turn out good enough you don’t even have to paint it right away. When I bought my ‘89, I couldn’t even tell what color it was in reality, it was a weird off brown. After a good buff, a really nice metallic burgundy showed up again! Yeah it’s not a brand new paint job, but waaaay better than before!
I have thought bout polishing the old paint color up like in the glory days. But I havent seen many of these old trucks on the highway except in AG uses on farms in such. Ima do a flat non-reflective mattte black coat and give her a madmax grim reaper custom look. Add a couple of solar flame lanterns on the side of the grille and under the mirrors. Maybe add 2 blades at the top of the stacks give it the sith appeal. Red under body glow kit.
Instead of paying for paint and pretties why not just hang onto your money for awhile? There might be expenses you didn't plan on. It's pretty much carved in stone that a new-to-you truck will have a few things wrong with it.
Oh absolutely! Trucks break unexpectedly. Hell, cylinders 5 and 6 grenaided in another truck (company truck) with a lower rebuild on a x15 cummins just 70k on that rebuild. You could see the crankshaft and daylight from either side of the block like looking thru a window. Luckily we had a spare truck, but on the owner op side im well aware id be down for sometime while scrambling to get replacements ordered, shipped, installed, still paying bills, etc. I'll have a nice nest egg sitting in the bank for those unavoidable down times. Im not big on a lot of bells and whistles. Just want to add a couple of items. My main focus is replacing the cracked and broken dash panels and possibly a stretch with a steerable tag. As she sits there is no room for a tag between the tanks and drives, 97,500lbs is all i can gross. A lot of the northwest is giving priority to trucks that can load 66,000lbs vs 61,000lbs. I saw a truck on youtube called wicked intent. All blackout, tons of bells and whistles. But that is too much for my liking.
Welcome to the board Jake. And for God's sake there aren't any hills in my town, so turn that dang Jake brake off when you go by my house at 2am! LoL
A can of rubbing compound some rags and elbow grease and a 12 pack would really bring that paint back to life.
