Thinking about becoming an o/o

If your able to make that work for you thats great! I have a 2000 Peterbuilt 379. While it is in great condition, its always something.... There are weekends where I may push something off until the next weekend because I need a break. The smart owner operator will grease their truck and trailer every 2 weeks...

 

If I were you, I'd wait to get all my equipment during a bust cycle when everything is cheap so you can take your time shopping doing oil samples etc etc. Get yourself primed and ready for the next boom so you can jump in from the start and make the most out of it.

 

Look in for a place that has the most freight in that area to move to. I am in MO but do dry van. Started off with no experience and did fine. Spent a tone on fixing truck first year but now not bad at all. I normally go out for 5-10 days and stay home for 3-7 days. Always leave with a good load starting out regardless of how much time it takes.

 

A lot of cheap homes around that area. Have a niece that lives in Rock Port Mo just south of Omaha and Lincoln. Pretty area and I believe decent work for flats. Not a lot for Vans. I am north of Kansas City about an hour.

 

Have you considered buying an older non emissions truck and working it over with your brother?

There are multiple reasons why I suggest this if it would work for you. Of course you would need a garage to work on it though.

But if you had an older truck and you went over it, I mean went over it from front to back, when you start you know that you have something good. Not only do you have something good you have something that you had your hands on every part of that truck and you know it inside out.

I hope your brother is around for a long time but he's not going to be around forever. When you have a truck like that that you've worked over like that you become one with it. At that point you've done pretty much every repair there is and you know pretty much everything there is to know about your truck. And the money that you have laid out to do that is the best investment that you'll ever make.

I know because I did exactly that.

To me, trucks fall into one of a few categories. You can buy something brand new with a warranty that you figure you can run it a few years before you want to trade it or before you really should have any serious issues that actually really cost you money.

Then you have trucks that are almost new but you almost kind of wonder why are they back on the lot if there's nothing wrong with them.

Then you have trucks that are a few years old and when you start getting into that... Sometimes people can put $50,000 or $60,000 even more into a truck. It's staggering I know but I met a guy the other day that had a truck he told me he put $90,000 into that truck.

Then you run into the older emission trucks which you have to just completely stay away from because that right there is something that will cost you a ton of money.

Then you have the non-emission trucks but the problem with them is that you have to go over everything on the truck before you start because you work for a week and then be off for a week working on it and then work for two weeks and maybe something else will happen you'll be off for another week and then you work for another week and you'll be off for another three weeks because there's something else that you have to do to it.

There is no better feeling than having a truck that is like new. That has new air bags shocks bushings engine mounts cab mounts Driveline seals universals all the bearings have been going over air cans s cams slack adjusters Air Lines fuel lines engine completely gone over bearings seals all new accessories all new internal Parts whatever you need, new exhaust new wiper motor new... everything that you can put into that truck.

I could not possibly list all of the things that I put in my truck or the amount of money that I put into it.

But I positively could not be happier that I did that and that was the greatest thing I I could have ever done.

 

Appreciate the mention. Just out here trying to make it. Here is a thread I started when I was getting things rolling that may shed some light on things. If there is anything I can assist with or if you have questions, feel free to PM and reach out. I will be happy to help where I can.

From the Office to Trucking