The umpteen millionth what do ya think thread...

The price on that truck is way too steep. But you are also looking at buying a "hood" in Texas. Hoods bring premium money in the Lone Star State. That same truck up north would be about $35k, unless it had a recent rebuild with paperwork.

I suggest shopping outside of Texas if you want a long hood truck. The place I get my trucks thru here in Indianapolis has a few worth looking at right now. They are good trucks and good people. I've bought my last 4 trucks thru them. They also offer in-house financing and extended warranty's as well. Check them out and see what ya think.... Their prices are very negotiable as well. My current truck was listed at $45k and I got it for $38k.

Www.lyonstruckandtrailer.com

 

WAY too high, especially with the costly to repair Clatterpillar.

 

is the costly to repair cat engine as expensive as the isx with all it's common problems. and lousy turbo????

 

I was wondering the same thing... everyone says a CAT is expensive to repair, yet the rebuild cost is the same as a Detroit or Cummins. The ISX is actually the most coslty that I've found, and as you stated, replacing the turbo and EGR crap every 200K miles at about $4k a time gets even worse. My CAT has 872K miles on it now, and it's all of cost me a waterpump, lower radiator hose, and a valve cover gasket.... but hey, that's expensinve to some I guess.

 

As long as it doesn't have all that carb crap on it... That was the biggest problem I ever saw out of a cat engine. Had to clean that crappy dpf every time you farted in the wrong direction.

 

Mxs serial number on the cat- 2005 most likely.
Sorry didn't see that op replied on first page to your Q.
I think it's too much asking price. I got exactly same truck but with 18 speed box for $37k and that's in Canada where they are more expensive .

 

I would not pay more than $30-35,000 for the truck. A rebuild on a CAT can run $18,000+-, depending on what needs to be done on the engine. I own one that cost just over $18,000 to rebuild and that was several years ago. With good maintenance you can get over a million miles on some engines. However, most will need to be inframed at around 750,000 miles or so. If you can get the price down and get a good dyno and oil analysis, it could give you good service for a while. But, you need to keep in mind that based upon national averages you are living on borrowed time when it comes to having to do an over haul. About the minimum you will need to spend to overhaul an engine is $10,000, especially a CAT. Parts have traditionally been more expensive than Cummins or Detroit. But, I have gotten better service from CAT. A few years I had to purchase a turbo for a CAt engine and it cost just over $1,500. By the time I paid for the labor to install it and an oil change, I spent over $2,700. Had the turbo been for a Detroit or Cummins, the cost would have been much less. At the time I bought the turbo I think that I could have purchased one for a Detroit for less than $1,000. The upside to a CAT is that you don't usually have to work on them as much as some of the other engines. At least that has been my experience.

A good way to check what a truck is worth is to look through some of the trucking magazines or papers such as The Truck Paper (www.thetruckpaper.com) is their online address. If you travel around the country, they have regional additions of their publication. Prices can vary from one region to another. Take your time and find something that meets your needs while giving you good value for your money.

 

Yeah I had been shuffling through all the sites and browsed a couple of months worth of mags and seems it was about the same price window with a few exceptions. I figure it was overpriced just wasn't sure by how much and if it would be worth the expense of repair given this is a start up operation. Overhead won't be so bad as the carrier I run on now pays insurance plates permits etc. Leaves me with Fuel, non-trucking, med-insurance, maintenance, and a note. I endured a company fleece for a while and while I broke even with a company driver running the same miles, the boost to the credit was a big help. At this stage I think I will just keep socking away my pennies for a good 25% down on something new that fits the bill. What's another year or two right? Either way the money is going somewhere whether its maintenance or payment cushion.

 

I just bought a truck with 690,000 for similar money and am sorry for it. It's my third one and my experience is whenever you buy a used truck, plan on spending 3-5,000 on it right off the bat. But I don't know if you can say how many miles are bad. My first truck I purchased with 300k and I still overhauled it within a year. In my opinion, which is worth exactly what I charge for it, you're better off with a new aerodynamic T-660. The MPG will pay for the extra payment, and from what I've been hearing about 12-13 trucks, they've resolved a lot of the maintenance issues. I don't think I'll buy another used truck or another hood. A big payment is easy to plug in to your budget as a start up. Variable big maintenance expenses aren't, and I tend to be leery of aftermarket warranties.