Older trucks

Like I said in post #17 my first truck was a 1988. Now I'm all the way up to a 2003 pete. One other advantage of old. They say if you buy new you don't have to pay so much in taxes. If I think I'm going to owe to much in taxes I just go home and stop working for a while. You can't do that with big truck payments. I can not think of a single reason I would want anything newer than this 2003 379 6NZ. unless your hung up on the smell of new. The payment book will out last the smell.

 

Mine is a 96. Paid for and in top shape. Leased on and no problems with parts. If you know something about the truck you are looking at that goes a long way. There are a lot of older trucks in a lot better shape than their newer counterparts.

 

If I won a brand new truck, I would sell it and buy a real nice OLD truck.

 

I used to have a "new" truck. 2009 KW w900L, black, shiny, sexy, rode great. That is when it was on the road and not costing me everything while it was in the shop. Oh yeah, IFTA always came back at like 5.0 mpg. Yipee.

Now I have a 2000 FL Classic, detroit S60, NO EGR, NO EMISSIONS JUNK. 6.5 mpg all day, every day. Does not ride near as nice and isn't pretty, but I can actually pay myself a regular salary now, and at the same time speed up my trailer payments so it will be off the books quicker. I bought it with 1,864,000 km on it, have put 126,000 km on it since april 2013, it was rebuilt at 1,455,000 I have the paperwork. The oil samples look great. Initially I had thought about keeping it for a year or two, then buying a NEW truck ... now I am thinking I will continue slowly rebuilding the entire truck a little bit at a time ... eventually I will have the same components a new glider has. The frame and suspension is all in great shape - next to no rust. I don't think I will ever sell this truck, if I do buy a new truck, I will keep this one as backup, or local work only or something ...

 

Me and my dad never had a truck newer than 2004. The only newest/oldest we have is my dad's 04 t600 with C-15, NO TWIN TURBO, BETTER JAKES. AVG 5.21 mpg. Just because we use pto often at 1500 rpms. We haul frac sand. The truck does worth it than def trucks. Make runs in pa (mostly). Dad plans to give me his t600 and I'll rebuild the engine, place high performance (more mpg) muffler, and drive Midwest and pull van/reefer and haul agriculture products.

 

Sounds like me.

BAD:
-Rust.
-Electrical.
-Poor A/C.
-ABS
-Nickle and dime stuff...plastic breaks, screws fall out, rattles develop, seat foam breaks down,

GOOD:
-no emmsions at all...no EGR, nothing...has the crank case drain/vent hose.
-good fuel mileage
-parts are better (our 2008 is already on it's 2nd set of fuel tanks and oil pan whereas mine are original)
-more reliable

I drive a 1998 KW T800, 370/400 M11 Cummins, 13 OD, 4.33 rear, 62" Studio. Well over a million miles on chassis. Rebuilt at 800,000 miles IIRC. I get 6 USMPG on southern Canada winter fuel. It gets 7 or better in the summer.

Bought it used in '07. Put over $13,000 into it in the first year (two head gaskets, one cyl head assy, one turbo, main bearings, rod bearings, rad, charge air cooler, 5th wheel). Once we got away from the KW dealer and found a real Cummins mechanic all the head gasket problems disappeared (he found a sunken liner). This is basically what the previous owner saddled us with IMO.

Also did rings, pistons, liners and changed to the AG400 from the AG200 a couple years ago. Replaced one ABS modulator valve (KW dealer tried to sell us the complete wiring harness,,,do not fall for that). Also speedo head, alternator, fuel cap and neck, driver side windshield, bunk heater, fan clutch, clutch brake, 4 injectors (2 of them under warranty, dealer tried to sell new Celect+ computer....do not fall for that).

As far as I know it still has original trans and rears and we haven't done a clutch yet.

Biggest problem has been and will continue to be rust and electrical and all the little things that break. I mean the tiny stupid little things that you can fix yourself but still take time. Every week there are small things to fix that would not need to be done on a newer truck. No problems with parts availability though. Also, the achilles heel of the M11 is oil leaks around the accessory drive cover and the oil pan, but then on the bright side it won't rust as fast.

We also have a 2005 C15 T2000 and a 2008 ISX T660 and I will choose a 2003 or older truck to replace either of these two. Just keep $20,000 cash in reserve for the first year because the guy is selling it for a reason.