What would an experienced o/o buy?

Or you could go to Vegas and blow it in the craps tables and prostitutes

 

OK, im in I'll meet you there!

 

Ok so I'm hoping GMAN and some of you other "seasoned" O/O's will chime in on my situation. I'm looking at a 07 Pete 386 with a 450hp isx, ultrashift, 11R22.5's,3.55 gears and 573K miles for $42900. It has a 63" sleeper, full fairings, mid level interior with pwr windows and mirrors, no fridge and only a few chips in the paint on the frontend which is typical. So what do ya all think? Is it a good deal, should it get 7mpg, is the ultrashift a good choice? I called and talked to Pittsburgh Diesel and he said the isx in 07 was a great engine that should go a million miles before a overhaul, whats you guys opinion on that? Thanks for the help.

 

Wouldn't be my 1st choice. Not that it's probably a great truck, but I'd find one for a whole lot less money and trade up down the road. Keep your overhead as low as possible to start. You'll be darn glad you did. Trust me.

 

Would this be a good starter truck? Of course considering it checks out mechanically.

$13,900


Conservative to the Bone.

 

I like the fact that it's got a Detroit in it. They're pretty good motors and usually get respectable mpg's. Seems to me there was a discussion on the forums earlier, someone else was looking at a Sterling and there was quite a lot of info there. You may want to do a search in that regard here.
Not a lot of info regarding this truck as far as mileage, rear end ratio, tread depth, virgins or recaps. I do like the idea of all aluminum wheels, that was important to me on both of my trucks.
Do that search that I mentioned, and stay tuned here, I'm sure others will chime in regarding this truck. Just not a ton of info there.

 

Done heavy duty towing for a few years and 90% of the trucks I towed were freightliners the other 10% were volvos and internationals very rare too tow a pete or kw. And stay away from the autos they stick in gear and won't start plus you can't pull start them if you have a bad starter or dead batteries

 

That is more than I would pay for that truck and I don't care for the autoshifts. Resale will be lower on an autoshift than a straight shift. Repairs to the transmission are most costly on an autoshift than a straight shift. I prefer CAT engines, but have owned Detroits. They make a good engine. The 386 is supposed to be better on fuel mileage than some other models. If it were me I would look for something that is less costly starting out. I would stay under $20,000. I saw a 2007 Freightliner the other day with less than 500,000 miles for $11,000. It had the sleeper taken off to make a day cab. I looked at a 2001 379 Peterbilt with a fresh over haul for $21,000 the other day. There are good trucks for much less than you are looking at that will make a lot of money without putting you under so much financial strain starting out. Once you start making money you can always trade up to something newer. Personally, I think the older trucks are more dependable than some of the newer trucks with the new EPA engines.

When you start any business you need to keep costs down as much as possible. In this business, that means buying less truck than you may be able to afford. It is important to prepare for the worst. Having a low truck payment is a start.

 

I think that the reason you may have towed more of the non Paccar trucks is that there are more of them and most will likely be fleet trucks. From what I have seen, fleets tend to skimp on preventative maintenance which can lead to more mechanical failures. Company drivers are also not as conscientious as the one who owns the equipment. Paccar products tend to appeal more to the owner operators. Most owner operators take better care of their equipment and that can lead to fewer equipment failures.

 

GMAN could you please elaborate more on where you look when you see these deals on trucks? I look on truckpaper online and must be doing something wrong. I would love to find a $25K truck with less then 550K miles that could get me a year trouble free so I could build up my maintance fund. I did find a 06 9400 International with a cummins 450hp with 525K miles for $28500, maybe I could get him down to $23K? It has a nice upscale interior but no frills outside but hey I need to prioritize things and looks can't be high on the list. Open to all suggestions/opinions and please any sites to look for trucks would be appreciated.