older truck getting it done

They use brokers so they dont have the headaches. If your trailer meets the load requirements and you have insurance they don't care what is pulling it. They just want the freight delivered on time with insurance. Now getting good paying freight to build that rep is the problem. You find that good paying freight and break down and cause a delivery problem first load or two you might not get a second chance. Whereas you run for months without a problem they are not going hold a routine breakdown against you unless it becomes common.

Disclaiimer - this is from my own personal experience. I am not an attorney or freight broker so you should just consider this general advice and seek the counsel of a competent professional.

 

I run a 25 year old truck with no more trouble than any other newer truck. I do all my own maint. I see other eighty model trucks each trip and usually very sharp trucks that a lot of newbies probably don't even recognize as being old. I agree with the earlier post that 700-800k is sort of a gamble, for every engine that goes a million miles there's ten that don't, at about 600k you start hoping for the million mark but shouldn't be surprised if it goes at anytime. You cannot afford labor rates at any of the big boys shops, need to either learn to do all your own work or find a good honest and reliable independant mechanic for about half the hourly rate. As far as brokers go I have had a few produce brokers whom I haven't hauled for to question the age of my truck, but never refused to load it though. I presume this will be your first truck, if you take the pride that a lot of us do, you won't have many free weekends even if no major problems, like grease jobs, washing & polishing, checking tire pressure, tighting clamps, adjusting brakes, changing oil, changing fuel filters etc. Good luck if you decide to go this route, just remember it's not for everyone.

 

If everything works out I will be buying a 96 with 1.3 million on the clock. I am buying the truck cheap so I can overhaul the motor right away and so I can turn it up from a 435 to a 550, as well I am going to stuff a reman 18 double over in it, rebuild the rear ends, king pins, and throw a new set of tires on it before I ever try to make a dime with it. This way I know exactly what I have under me.

If you can find a well maintained truck with a fairly fresh overhaul I say go for it. Id much rather have a 95-2001 with a 3406E than one of the newer trucks with the POS bridge motor or the twin turbo junk. And I will never drive a truck that needs exhaust fuel.

You are going to get out of a truck what you put into it. If you do a good pre purchase inspection you will know what you have on your hands, if you arent sure, find someone who has been doing this a long time and drag them along for the ride. I havent met too many old hands who know what they are doing who wont jump at the chance to go truck shoppin.

 

I run a little fleet all my trucks are now about 9-10 yrs old had new trucks in the past but in my line of work it cost no more in repairs to run older stuff as a matter of fact they have proved more reliable then the new ones I had
So my $ .02 keep it stock and fix what ever breaks when it breaks no matter how small and you can run a truck almost forever and it will be more trustworthy then a new one
Throw away fleet trucks however are just good to throw away

 

My Peterbilt 379 is 2000 year Cat. 3406 E with 904000 original miles ,no blowby
changing oil every 15000 miles .I mainteine it my self.except major work like king pins,aligment etc.

 

I have a 94 pete 379 with a 3406E. I bought it from someone I new that had put about $18M overhauling it, including replacing the radiator. All genuine CAT parts. When thru everything except the crank. Anyways, when I got hold of it , it had 70M on the motor with just over a million on the odometer. Had the truck for 3 years now and gone thru a turbo and the inner injector hardness. I keep up with the oil changes and lube it about 3 times within services. And run the overhead every year.

 

Did I mention that I average 6.8 mpg and have gotten up 7.5 mpg ?

 

Im a owner operator and own a 97 freightliner fld120 72inch sleeper with side skirts with 53ft dry van thru brokers only. Im in month 4 and getting all the loads I want averaging over $2/mile sometimes $3/mile (short runs) running shorthaul 250mile radius. My freightliner is very nice been overhauled engine/tranny about 200k ago. im hauling part time 2-3 days week. Have my own authority. My initial startup costs were heavy thousands$$$ but im slowly building it back. Never had an issue about my truck age or my trailer.....2000 wabash 53ft. I have ran 21 loads so far and have been paid 100% fulfilled. Some of the brokers are pretty cheap an don't want to pay much but most are fair. I run 4 states only with aportioned tag.

 

puncher ,this is ecsactly what i'm talking about. it dont matter how many miles are on the truck, it's all in how you take care of it and be buisness minded......i call it tinkering....the more one learns about their truck and the more you take time to take care of it,,,,the better off you are! why pay a big boy shop big dollars when you can do it yourself???? it comes down to lazyness and not careing if you dont want to put time in to your buisness....that truck is your bread an butter.....if one sits in the sleeper on their 34 and plays vidio games...the time will take it's toll....you can only beat a dead horse so far.....and if you dont want to take pride and take care of it..why did you go thru all the trouble of buying it in the first place???? we all need to remember ,it's man made ! wear and tare and no maint will wear it out faster and cost more!!!!.....if it moves ,turns,or rotates..it more than likely has a grease fitting.........a case of grease should last a mth or so....and lets say that case of grease cost $15.00 it's alot cheaper than $125.00 u joint pr spring bushings.or s-cam shatfs.........and how much time dos it take...what mabey 20'minits to grease the truck...with a 10 minit smoke break???????? ......the other thing...thats a big diesel motor it vibrates..things come loose .what dos it hurt to grab some wrenches and check and mak sure things are tight....this is where the tinkering comes in...........and it all falls down to pride in your profession......this is just my opinion .....these big boy toys aint cheap....and maint is the key