Where do you buy your trucks from starting out?

I sure would, even though, I think the new WS is more FL, maybe a FL with lock washwers? Don't forget Autocar. My 1st truck was a 1982 WS 4964 conventional, that was more a White product than anything. I made money with that truck. Originally had a White "Reyco" spring ride, I converted to a Pete air ride. It was a good truck.

 

Do you have a place to buy parts other than a dealer? I have an ‘89, and it is a bullywooger to get parts for. Everything is obsolete

 

Such as? I could see maybe body or interior stuff, but everything mechanical is available, I'd have to think. I got most of my stuff at aftermarket parts places.

 

I bought a used truck from a dealer. Where are you located at?

Like others said truck paper. I figured out what wanted and looked at truck paper for a month. Then when a decent price came up I moved on it.


I got a warranty thru volvo on it. For 2 years 250k miles, the warranty was 11k. Covers, trans, engine, EATS. No alternator or water pump. Everything else on engine is a covered.

 

First thing to get cut once money gets tight is maintenance. It's an expense and a lot figure they can keep afloat if they cut back on keeping their equipment in good shape.

Have seen quite a few owner ops keep their last truck for much longer than their normal trade in cycles. Just run them out until they're fully depreciated or a major component fails and they either flog it or just park it in the back 40 and let it rot.

 

another reason I want to update my truck to a sunny day cruiser and get something new im starting to hear that more and more
“we don’t stock a lot of parts for trucks made in the nineteen hundreds any more”

thanks dude, just kick me in the balls when I walk in the door next time

 

Care to elaborate on that experience?

 

That IS kind of harsh when you think about it. Makes me feel old

 

Yea, i can come clean about something stupid that I did... I bought a truck sight unseen because the price was just #### good.
I saw an ad on marketplace. 1999 mack, 460hp e7, 13 speed, 3.73 rears, looked great in the photos, it was the 80inch super sleeper, looked like a palace inside. The paint was pretty good, only problem was it was in California and I am in Florida. I paid the guy his asking price $5000, this was when trucks weren't insanely priced. 2019.

I put a down-payment, and asked a family member to pick it up.
My cousin met him halfway from him house in Idaho, the guy was talking to me about how he runs it everyday up Grapevine/Tejon pass. I had no doubt it was legal too drive... WRONG! This man was a complete outlaw trucker, he squeezed every last penny of equity out of the truck before he sold it to me, he came clean and told me timed his trips so he only rolled through the area with the inspection stations in the dark of late night. there was no step on the passenger side, it was just a bare passenger side fuel tank, it had audible air leaks but the compressor kept up, it had a leaking radiator but he added coolant at the end of the day every day, it had a shower head level leak from the rear main seal that had me filled with anxiety, i never knew how much oil it was losing, i packed extra oil jugs like a responsible truck owner, but on my first fill up it was evident to me i had to make some costly repairs that were beyond my capabilities, the front bumper was falling apart, and he only took driver side pictures to hide the passenger side paint had peeled down to the steel in a 4x4 patch on the side of the truck and lack of steps hahahaha and last of all, the lights would randomly shut off at night while rolling down the road. There was so much play in the steering it felt like I was driving a boat, it was a nightmare. It would spit the stick out of 7th gear, the jakes were nothing more than cool noise makers, they were shot to hell. I am forgetting things but this is a good summary.

I had put a month of sweat equity into it before I felt safe enough to drive down the road, i dumped another 5k in parts, bought a new bumper, welded brackets, made my own steps, bought a new radiator, replaced all the leaking air bags, figured out there was a recall on the wiring harness from the early 2000s to remedy the random electric loss to dash and headlights.

Redeeming quality was that thing could scream and grab gears fully loaded on some serious grades, the engine was tuned up, the air condition blew cold and the heater was like a convection oven. This is a testament to the neglect and abuse that a mack truck can endure, I was down tremendously low on oil and my mid trip fuel up, that was well before empty because only one fuel gauge worked, was the only thing that saved me, but that engine showed no signs of giving up the ghost. I'm sure it would have kept chugging along if it was bone dry.

I parked it and sold it for 12,000 dollars because I was afraid of any further expenses I could incur, I couldn't afford to be nickel and dimed, i had just gotten my authority and had 5000 dollars in my savings. I put all of that money and my winnings from gambling my life while running that truck through the rocky mountains into a down-payment for a 2016 prostar with an ISX after a harrowing 30 minute journey taking the mack down a mountain pass that had me white nuckling the wheel wishing i could have some reliable jakes and peace of mind.

10/10 would buy another project clapped out Mack Vision with 2 million miles on the odometer.

 

All I needed to hear lol
I was looking at a 2001 Mack Vision with under 500,000 original miles. Was going to pay a professional third party to inspect it for me. Nervous since I hear good and bad about the electronic E7 engines, but then again every truck is the best piece of crap ever made depending on where you ask.