Late model truck totalled

[DMiller]

Really do NOT appreciate Mathematic Modeling or Actuarial Depictions, most are grossly overstated or Under designated so as to benefit a narrow margin classification that cannot be justified otherwise. Air Bags, Safety Bumpers of Cars, some of the game playing with 'Improved' safety devices that can only be challenged in a actual more than not Tragic event as a Disprover yet the Powers that Be still consider their game the ONLY game.

 

[CM1995]

I did an inspection last week on a machine where I had the front in the air held on the hydraulics. I do not shut down engines when there is weight in the air that might fall through some kind of failure. What I didn't know was that the manufacturer made that decision for me. The computer shut down the engine while I was doing some measuring. I'm sure the auto shutdown could be disabled if one could find where in the black hole of a diagnostics menu that function was located. The point though is that I wasn't aware that it was there and there was no indication of it being active on the monitor.

Our Cat 325FL can be programed through the monitor to shut down after so many minutes of idling however there is a buzzer warning letting the operator know it's about to shut down. We usually have it set at 15 minutes unless we are laying pipe or similar for obvious reasons.

 

[John C.]

I know that is standard operation now, but in my case the engine shut down at around five minutes of idling. There was no indication of that shutdown parameter being active and I could not be in the cab to hear or see any communication operation to inform me of that. An alert on the monitor when the machine throttle was set to idle to alert someone, who was not normally the operator, might be something to think about by the manufacturers. My brother in law had a truck years ago that had that shut down feature and a light on the dash came on when the key was turned off that told the driver the engine would run for five minutes before it would shut down. That was more than thirty years ago. It was an aggravation at the time. It could have been something worse for some newby not fully trained or experienced about all that can happen.

 

[Truck Shop]

What I didn't know was that the manufacturer made that decision for me. The computer shut down the engine while I was doing some

Most any of the class 7 and 8 trucks come with idle shutdown and start/stop mode. To act as a APU for
summer/winter conditions. A option that came out about 4 years ago, the start stop was to cut constant
idle time running ac/heater but also to cut soot in DPF.

 

[Truck Shop]

The plugging of DPF I can directly relate it to lower exhaust temps. I have 65 on the road running to Fargo,
Denver, Houston and Atlanta. The 100K loads are mainly NW, Fargo, Denver. The 80k down south.
But we have a high percentage of trucks that just run Id, Wa & Ore. And some that just run the creek {gorge}
to Portland. Where emission systems issues show up is the flatland running. 8 trucks that mainly haul Id-Wa
have to pull Cayuse/Cabbage and Ladd Canyon and several other grunts along the way. Those 8 have had
roughly 50% less issues with emission equipment than the rest in the fleet. Those trucks climb those grades
everyday round trip.

 

[Truck Shop]

Here you go folks-sold for extremely low prices {lol} Some may argue these were rebuilt-no these are all
New OLD Stock Gliders. Big Bucks were handed out.
Blue-1987 359--White-1980 359---Gray 1975 352.

 

[Truck Shop]

 

[suladas]

Add in the cost/hassle of getting DPF's cut off too. Know multiple companies who after the 3rd time said they aren't paying to put them on again, deleted all their trucks and said the hell with it. Concrete ready mix place has got hit a few times every single truck in the yard cut out, down for at least a few days by the time they are fixed never mind the massive cost each time, was told around $100k.

They reek havoc on the engines. The DPF fell off my pick up and somehow the closed crankcase starting venting outside again and my mileage went up

Don't give me any BS that it's better for the environment. Urea is awful for it. All the extra parts on the truck cause emissions to produce and maintain, the trucks burn more diesel and engines don't last as long. They spin it as better for the environment as they can say per gallon of diesel the exhaust is cleaner, or when idling the exhaust is cleaner but it's all BS.

I just feel sorry for you guys down south that can't legally run deleted trucks. Here you can even get a truck inspected at the dealer and they couldn't careless if it's deleted.

There is a reason the gliders get so much money, it's worth it to avoid emissions.

 

[Hallback]

I have Peterbilt log & service trucks & Kenworth heavy haul trucks. I have only had my own over the last 16 years but have owned trucks from the 70's to 2022's.

What brand of trucks do you have ? I did think like you do but there is always a truck or 2 that is a problem and with all the junk they have on them now its happens more often. How long have you been in trucking?

 

[farmerlund]

If you're running a truck over 10 years old daily, You are not maximizing your profitability.

Can you explain this a little? Are you talking down time? Can't get operators? Are you factoring in deprecation to maximize tax benefits? I know you run a nice operation. Just looking for your point of view.

 

[Hallback]

Thank you.
From my pencil you are not getting the max return on your dollar. Drivers do not take care of older gear as well, you generally do not get the best without offering the best. Depreciation is another big one as When you depreciate out a $300000 truck over 5 years versus a $50000 truck over 5 years, at the end of the 5 years you're gonna have a heck of a lot more of an asset with the new truck versus the old truck.
Reliability. I know there are a lot of guys in here that are still stuck in the steam donkey days and oxen for plows but let's be honest late model gear is far more reliable overall than 20 year old gear. Again back to drivers, if you have stuff continually broke down you're not gonna keep a good driver.

Can you explain this a little? Are you talking down time? Can't get operators? Are you factoring in deprecation to maximize tax benefits? I know you run a nice operation. Just looking for your point of view.

 

[Truck Shop]

if you have stuff continually broke down you're not gonna keep a good driver.

Correct, especially in your business. In 80% of the rest of the trucking business the good driver theory is
washed down with has been and want to be with little work ethic. Even with newer equipment the ratio
of worthless runs high. Broken equipment makes it worse. You can run older trucks--But when doing a
complete truck rebuild it's really a restoration. No stones left unturned-and that requires a top level no
holds bared mechanic working in a company owned shop that treats the owners equipment as his own.
And no scrimping on cost to rebuild. Plus the truck has to be nothing else but a Pete 359, 379 or KW
W900B W900B long hood period. Because the rest of the trucks made don't hold there value and are
worth squat on the market. And a good driver will have tendency to respect it and you------------------
-----------and maybe that snarly sarcastic mechanic in the shop who built it.

 

[dieseldog5.9]

As the owner of a small business, $300k for a truck is unimaginable. Not that it doesn't make sense somewhere in the bookkeepers office, however my debt tolerance is calibrated at a much lower level. I am going to guess your fuel bill keeping trucks and Iron going is substantial at that level, well beyond my comfort level. I am guessing my banker would give me a funny look asking for 300K. So I am in the particular arena, where new trucks are unatainable finacially, however trucks in my price range are in the years of odd engines and unreliable emissions systems.

On the east coast rust adds it own factor to the used truck market, so we are looking for vocational trucks with reliable engines without a blown out double frame.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

It's a no brainer that new trucks under warranty where you just squirt some grease in them & maybe put a tire or 2 on them once in a while is way more efficient than an old truck that you're spending every Saturday and sometimes a night or 2 during the week working on. My log truck payments are 4000 bucks a piece and and they get washed fueled greased and go. When they hit 5 years old I will trade them in. All of this crap about new trucks breaking down all the time is an old wivestale. If that is the case those guys were probably still washing their clothes on a buckboard.
I don't know about you guys but there's no way you can have an old truck that you're making a $1000 month payment on and have it come out cheaper to operate per month than a brand new one where the payment is $4000.

Just in from the hot sun wrenching on my service truck, lawn mower, and tractor and taking a break.............i gotta chime in on this. The benefit of working on your own truck is that you can see what needs to be done, the condition of crap on the truck, and you take the extra effort to do the extra stuff that others might not do.........never seize the fasteners instead of putting them on dry, see a potential chafe point and put some chafe guard on BEFORE it happens, fluid film that developing rust spot, throw some grease here, etc.
I am a self employed heavy equipment mechanic, like Mike; and have a few customers who do site development. One good customer has a bunch of CAT equipment and Mack GRU dump trucks. This past winter........could be fall..........one of the drivers complained about long crank when the engine was hot. MP8 engine.............2018 truck...........about 130,000 miles at the time............needed injector cups. So this was in Febuary. Told the owner we could do it over a weekend at his shop (when I say 'we' I include him and myself......he's a hard worker and gets right into it and helps........I respect the hell of him and his work ethic) or he could send it to Mack. He looked at me and asked if I had ever done those before...........I said "No...........alot things I haven't done before. There is always a first time but I'm fairly confident we can get it done without a problem..........that's why I said over a weekend.......just in case we run into a problem." He said........"Yeah, what if you need other parts?? Then what??" I answered "Well, we'll just have to wait and get the parts then." He said "Don't you have bigger fish to fry?? (as in working on his loaders or excavators)"
The short of this is..........he decided to send it to Mack. I called, made an appointment, Mack was booking over a month out, verified they had a cup and injector kit in stock.......(they had 3 in stock). The appointment was late in Febuary during school vacation week when my family and I go skiing. So Monday morning first of school vacation, the truck goes to Mack for a 1 day injector cup replacement. The following week I come home from skiing and get this text..........'How was skiing?? Are you still up there??' ............not good..........I replied ' Skiing good..........I'm home'............phone rings 2 seconds later.
The truck is still in the shop, they took the injectors and cups out BEFORE verifying they had the REPLACEMENT PARTS. Now I get involved with the BS going on with the dealer. Dealer can't source the injectors (crazy right??!!) Call parts..........one parts guy is saying he can get injectors overnighted for tomorrow...........I order 6 injectors. The following morning, no injectors. Another parts guy says the first parts guy is full of **** (direct quote) and there are no injectors to be had. I call back later and talk to first parts guy I talked to and he says the injectors are coming and the 2nd parts guy is full of ****!! Again, direct quotes without me saying one parts guy is saying the other parts guy is full of ****.............UNREAL!! The short end of it...........I sourced injectors from another shop in the southern part of the state, had them shipped to me overnight, then hand delivered them to the dealer. That was on a Friday morning...........the truck has NOW BEEN DOWN 2 WEEKS. Didn't get put back together until the following Monday..........picked up on Tuesday.
I've ended up getting involved with resolving dealer problems quite a few times with regards to customers.........and the company my wife works for.........all because the dealer is playing games and screwing things up.
So the last thing I really want to do is work on my own truck or work on my wifes Expedition.............but.........it needs to get done. I'd rather do it than see it come back with questionable work or have someone else screw the pooch fixing my truck. I'd rather know what short cuts I'm taking and deal with them later than find out later SUPRISE!! They screwed this up!! Or didn't do this when it was staring them in the face.
I write off my time and the parts I put into my equipment. Nope, doesn't make me money but it gives me piece of mind. Seen too many WTF fixes.

 

[Hallback]

Giving away your time for free is the worst business decision anyone could make.

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

Giving away your time for free is the worst business decision anyone could make.

How do you see I'm giving my time away for free?? I track time and expenses on parts..........that gets written off at the end of the year off the taxes. Working on my wife's Expedition...........which is registered and insured as a company vehicle..........also gets written off. So you'd rather have me take my service truck to the dealer for an 8 hour job that turns into 2+ weeks because they can't figure out where to get parts or verify they have the parts in stock before they take it apart???
Just curious where this is coming from..........

 

[Mike L]

I’m at the point where it would be cheaper and more beneficial if I bought a new truck. Example-Monday evening I was underneath my truck giving it a squirt of grease and I found a broken rear spring. Hendrickson z spring. Broke between the u bolts and had spread apart better than an inch. Too late to get one and get it installed. Tip toed the truck to a job the next morning. When the kw dealer opened I ordered one and had the parts runner from my biggest customer pick it up for me. I got the truck to their shop and swapped it out, losing another 4-5 billable hours or so. Worked most of the day today and tomorrow will be my day off but I’ve got motor mounts to change and a boom cylinder to reseal on my truck. Between my truck payment and the money and time I spend keeping it roadworthy it would be cheaper to just make the payment on a new truck. Now if it wasn’t so damned expensive to register a truck in Maine…

 

[Monkeywithawrench]

I just got done registering my trucks last month.......2012 Freight shaker, 2018 Pete, and my trusty rusty 2001 F250, 2018 Expedition..........about $3k for state and town taxes and fees. Not sure what its like in Maine.........now.

Some times it is not worth it to be wrenching on your truck. Had a 2008 F350 w/ 6.4L diesel. I think it was 2 years ago the Fed Ex guy stopped at the house to drop off some packages. He made the comment "You spend more time working on that truck than you do driving it." I was kind of surprised. I asked him "How so??" He said every time I go by or drop off packages your working on it. Now I get the majority of my packages from UPS and the minority come via Fedex. The truck had 280,000 miles on it so it was getting long in the tooth. That was a very good indication I was working on it way too much.

Maybe you need to set up a project week?? Put together a list of things you need to get done, set em up and knock em down?? I'll do that sometimes........usually in the winter though.

With the economy the way it is, all of these parts shortages, finding a used service truck is going to be hard. I have a buddy down in MA and they ordered 3 new Pete w/ Maintainer bodies about a year ago. He said they were still a year out from getting them. He asked me if I wanted to sell my Pete..........and he was serious...........I said no...............he was offering me $130k for it!!!

 

[DMiller]

Have had a 2014 Western Star dump truck down at work awaiting a PCM since February, Frt Lnr dealer STILL Making lame excuses after calling the boss THREE Times giving a Delivery Date only to be called back and informed NOT Coming. The 2015 I drive limped FOUR Weeks for Lift axle Brake Shoes while DOT played in the neighborhood, STILL Needs Drums but are so far on BO as to be UNOBTANIUM.

BTW, FIVE More days to Returned to Retired.

 

[Mike L]

Maine has a ridiculous excise tax based on the window sticker price of the vehicle. Not what you paid. I’m not sure of the rate but it’s highway robbery.