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fire_plt

Looking at purchasing a used truck for cash to set up as an O/O.

Planning to do dry van and also flat bed.

Looking for advice and suggestions as to what to narrow my search down to when looking.

I'm pretty good a maintenance having been a helicopter mechanic at one point in my life, so don't have any issues doing as much maintenance myself as physically possible.

I'm wondering if I'm better looking for something in the $30-40k range and budget to spend 15-20k on getting it reliable and ready for work? I can pay more, but I'm just not sure if the extra money is worth it, instead spend some cash on re-setting a lot of items myself to give it a good baseline to go from.

I was narrowing it down to manual transmission, cummins X15 or ISX15, freightliner (or anything else that is fuel efficient). HP 400-500 range. I'm assuming 450HP should give some decent versatility without affecting the fuel efficiency too much if driving smart?

Planning to do OTR. Trying to find something that hasn't been idling and instead is running an APU. I'm happy to add an APU etc.

Any advice narrowing down would be great or any leads on buying from an O/O with a good maintenance history etc would be appreciated.

I want to buy something reliable and fuel efficient and start off on the right foot from day one. Happy to spend some time and money to get it to a good baseline prior to operating for revenue.

Thanks in advance!

Volvo8873

(03-03-2024 )fire_plt Wrote: I'm pretty good a maintenance having been a helicopter mechanic at one point in my life, so don't have any issues doing as much maintenance myself as physically possible.

Well step one is complete especially in this day and age. Next step? If I knew what this forum has showed me now years ago before I first started I feel like I would have been far far far better off way sooner.

If I did it all over again I would…

Buy an auction truck for cheap with the intent of rebuilding the entire thing to my specs right away as what’s told on this forum..

You have the right engine by the way obviously, manual 10 speed is all you need and switching out to a 3.90 or 4.11 ratio for the rear ends is a must to keep your motor lasting till a million+

Rawze

To make good moneys with low-rent freight (dryvan-reefer).. you need to be a hyper-miler if you actually want something to show for your efforts in 5 or 10 years.

Its not about how many miles you can squeeze out of it a year. Modern trucking is more about managing your long term and short term operating expenses more-so than driving it and getting a decent rate. It is a BUSINESS... and need to be run like a business ... and NOT A GLORIFIED HOBBY!.

85% of all people who buy a truck these days with the intent of owning it.. fail or never make any real moneys long term. In 5 years.. and in 10 years.. they are right in the same hole they were when they started out.

I PM'd you my number if you want to have a detailed conversation about what your getting yourself into.