purchased a headache rack today

I hope it will be a great truck. I bought it in south Dakota from a farmer. I got it for a real good price. has 120k miles on a in frame 60 series Detroit tight transmission runs real good 11.1mpg bobtail drives nice down the road. otherwise a fairly typical farm truck i replaced all the belts on it, replaced 4 of the drive tires it had new steers on it when i bought it. I also put all new breaks and drums on the back, the breaks were still in dot spec but the drums had some gouges in them. did a service on it all new filters and fluids. re-charged the ac blows cold now. installed mud flap brackets and flaps trying to make sure i take care of anything that i think might cause me any problems within the first few months before i even put it out on the road.

 

ill get some pics up sometime in the next few days. I'm heading back out to where i work in Montana this evening which is where i currently have the truck. I should get the headache rack and a few other things mounted on it in the next few days and then ill snap a few pictures.

 

i remembered i have a couple pictures from when i picked it up in sd, it looks a bit nicer now than it did when i picked it up but here is a picture for now

 

i repainted the bumper with black fusion paint for plastic looks much better not sure how it will hold up, i can get a replacement metal chrome bumper for around 6-700 or a ali arc for around 2500. some black spray paint will do the job for now though, i have done a couple things to make it look a little nicer like purchased some chrome rock guards to go under the headlights and chrome covers that go over the sleeper vents. looks is fairly low on the priority list. I'd like to put some nice chrome side stacks on it a new grill an ali ark front bumper. however chrome don't bring you home. at some point in the near future i will likely get a ali ark for it to prevent/minimize damage from a animal strike but ill let the truck make me some money before i do that. I also happened across some brackets for stacks in the junk yard and picked them up for 20 bucks off a wrecked truck the stacks were damaged so i only got the brackets as they were undamaged. so it may end up getting dressed up a little more but not high on the priority list.

my truck has the Detroit with 3.73's and a 9 speed. Iv talked to some people that say you can have a 9speed converted to a 13 for around $2500 again though ill let the truck make me some money first. i hope to get 7+mpg average, based off what i get bobtail i think its very well possible.

 

i plan on pulling open flat. we will see after i get things rolling what type of freight i end up hauling the most of and possibly adjust from there. although i would see myself going drop deck before covered wagon.

as far as a truck having to have flair i don't necessarily feel that way. I mean i like a nice looking truck just as much as the next guy however the dollar is more important to me. i do feel a truck should be presentable let alone most company's will want your truck to be presentable. To lease a older truck to mercer you have to send in pictures of it as part of your pre employment stuff. I should get some taken here in the next couple days, I just made it out to mt getting ready to catch a couple hours sleep were see how busy things are tomorrow maybe ill be able to get a couple things done and get some pictures taken.

I also have done a light buff on the paint sense the posted pictures were taken and started getting some shine out of the paint, i will probably buff it out again starting with a rubbing compound and going back up to the polishing compound and see what kinda shine i can get out of the existing paint. last time i just did a quick buff with a polishing compound/wax it certainly made a difference but its still pretty dull.

I have seen some of these old flat top fld's that were pretty dang good looking. over time ill get this one dressed up a bit but I'm not going to be hard pressed about it or make it a priority by any means, if i get 2-3 years of service out of this truck ill be happy. I plan on making a truck payment to myself into a separate account and start building a replacement fund as soon as i have the truck earning. hopefully have enough in that fund by the time its time to replace this truck to buy a much nicer truck cash money like i did this one. then probably keep this one around as a spare truck.