What to drive?

Western Star LoMax

 

Lowmax is great, just too heavy for what I do. Looking at a KW T2000 for my next. Big sleeper, great ride, Aerodynamic, short wheel base, and alot lighter than a lowmax, w9, 379, etc.....

I usually carry between 48-50k lbs, so I have to be lighter.

 

Tell me what I am going to haul, and where I am going to haul it to. Let me know how long I am staying out. Then, using that information, I'll pick out the tractor for doing the work in the most effective way.

I'm in this as a business, strictly to make money. My ego doesn't come into play. I don;t need a specific brand or model tractor to do the work, what I need is the correct truck for the work. I know how to spec out a truck properly, and the very first thing you have to do is know what you are going to do with it. Then you can start on the truck.

 

Burky,
You gotta admit that driving a long nose conventional with a big motor is more fun than driving an adequately powered aero truck. Theres more to life than dollars my friend. Live a little. It's only money, and you can't take it with you when you die.
Paddy

 

If I spec the truck right, I can take the money and do something with it instead. I can blow the money on toys for me now. My truck is a tool, and I choose my tools for the value they return to me. I could spend the money on Snap-on, but using stuff from Craftsman does the job just as well and leaves money in my pocket.

Besides, my work is weight sensitive, and big motors and big trucks are usually heavy. My truck weighs about 18,000 pounds bobtail, and in the future I would like to find something a couple of hundred pounds lighter.

 

Two ways of accomplishing the same goal. My truck makes me a fair amount of money, so I put that money towards buying an even flashier one. Course running a local dump and dragging freight down the highway are two different things. My profit is higher so I can burn money on a cool rig and still have a nice payday. Considering my truck spends most of it's time in city traffic, sitting on a ferry, running about 60 on highways, growling around yards/construction sites, and a very small fraction of it's time running down the interstate at speed I need not worry about aerodynamics as much. Even if I did I'd still have to have a nice truck. Just in my nature. As far as value returned, resale value is higher on a long nose conventional with a big motor. Many happy and safe miles to you Burky.
Paddy

 

There's lighter stuff out there, a lot of that resides in knowing how to spec out a truck properly. You look at something with a small sleeper, and stick a ISM cummins in it, and you can drop the weight down nicely. That's about 800 pounds lighter than the ISX motor. Keep the fuel down to 200 gallons, keep the wheelbase reasonable, stick with a simple 10 speed vice a 13 speed. And if I could, I'd go to a locking axle on the rear, and put a lift axle in the front of the tandems. Give me the longer wheelbase when empty and a nice ride, and save the weight of the center section.

 

I never consider the resale value of a truck in my purchase plans. If I do things correctly, and run my business right, at the end of using a truck I could easily afford to walk away from it or park it out back. it amkes it's money being run, and any money it returns when I sell it is pure gravy.

And I am in somewhat of a niche market. I hear guys moaning all the time about 1.30 a mile freight, but that's exactly what I made the other day on a 150 mile trip. Of course, that was just to the driver. The truck made over 5.30 a loaded mile for that load. That was a little bit higher than normal, but compared to the rest of the year, not outlandishly so. if I figure the listed loaded HHG miles this year, matched against the gross for the load, and figure in a average of 17% FSC, my truck has been hauling just over 4.00 a mile freight all year long.