First time buyer O/0

[hhow55]

(11-17-2019 )Paccardude Wrote:  

(11-17-2019 )Magard Wrote:  My suggestions are to go buy a pro star with Cummins. 3.55 gears 10 spd. Don’t get the ones with fuel tanks under the doors. They are to heavy up front. Find one that the tanks are under the sleeper area. That should be a pretty common set up. The reason for pro star is because the max force engine has ruined that trucks resale value. Even if it has a Cummins. These trucks are cheap. And efficient. 40k buys a pretty descent one. Beat the shi#t out of the seller because when you go to upgrade it won’t be worth much. Which is ok if bought right. Someone will buy it for cash when your done and it needs to be affordable for that situation. This forum is full of knowledge on those trucks. You will be in good hands here. Also try and buy a truck that hasn’t been run in the salt much. They usually cost a little more but it’s worth it.

Hi Magard,

I'm looking at truck paper right now. Do you know any reputable sites or even auctions that might be worth checking out?


thanks

Truckpaper is about the best, it's my go to when i'm looking. I suggest you want a rearend ratio of 3.7 preferably or 3.55. Enter this in the keyword search box. Then just narroe it down from what comes up

[Paccardude]

Why did International put the fuel tanks upfront, to begin with?

[Magard]

(11-17-2019 )Paccardude Wrote:  Why did International put the fuel tanks upfront, to begin with?

If your a fleet owner and you have a bunch of dummies driving for you and you have a lighter max force engine it will weigh right close to 12000k up front. Just less crap for drivers to figure out. Then you put that same stupid sales man and decide that a Cummins is a better option because max force sucks. But sales man don’t realize now the front end is overloaded with full tanks of fuel because the red engine is heavier.
So I’m not sure what your skill set is but you can’t really buy a truck because you have faith in the dealer. Trucks are trucks you got to be able to see what your buying at any place.

[Magard]

I was looking back through the posts and I don’t see anything about being a driver before. Are you becoming a owner operator right out of the gate?

[Mattman]

I was also wondering if he was a driver or about to become one.

I would highly recommend being a driver for awhile before beginning the whole own your own truck game.

[Rawze]

(11-17-2019 )Mattman Wrote:  I was also wondering if he was a driver or about to become one.

I would highly recommend being a driver for awhile before beginning the whole own your own truck game.

Before trucking...
-- I have always considered myself a good driver. LOL.. Most would believe that about themselves though, I think, even if they weren't. Given that, i had already gotten those years of driving fast everywhere out of my system, and I drive by "what your supposed to do, speed-wise, etc." vs.. what seems like everyone else's "what you can get away with without a ticket" mentality.

-- I also only ever mostly owned a stick vehicle, as they are far more efficient on fuel + engine lasts 1.5x longer in one, and they are far less maintenance over time to own, etc. when driven for economy instead of like a mad-man.

-- Years of driving and owning stick,.. my vehicles stay in nuetral as much as humanly possible while maintaining fair momentum too. I drive in neutral, always have -- hence the engine and drive train lasting 1.5 - 2x longer in a stick.

-- It thought to myself, I am a very skilled driver ... I also used to, when younger, haul boats up and down a white-water river, back roads., offroads, for several years with pick-up truck and had to do a lot of backing in and out of the woods long distances w boat trailers, offroads, etc. ... how hard would a semi-trailer be compared to this ... I though it would not be much different.

Then I go to truck school...

--- DAMN IT WAS HARD TO BACK THAT THING UP compared to a little pick-up truck with trailer on it! -- I had no idea how skilled someone has to be to be good at it. -- It humbled my ignorant arsse real fast!


--- I figured I had many years of driving stick.. this truck thing would be a breeze for me... DAMN WAS I WRONG!!!-- I WAS ACTUALLY THE STUDENT THEY SAID WOULD NEVER FIGURE OUT HOW TO SHIFT A TRUCK!!!--- This is because EVERY BAD HABBIT you could possibly have driving a stick-shift -- WAS MY PROBLEM and It took a lot of work to get rid of those bad habits. It WAS my biggest problem for a long while. -- People who have never shifted a stick-driven vehicle have the advantage here .. no bad habits up front.LOL

-- WOOW!!!! it was hard that first year not to short-change every right turn I would make. I would pull forward as fas as i could,.. still it was not enough. .. got me so many times, it was not even funny! - I had to learn the hard way,.. you take every goddman inch of that turn and don't turn that wheel until your almost going to hit other vehicles to make it!. Had to learn that you have to gat as far to the left as possible in your lane, or even split the lane to your left half the time .. before you get to that turn, or your screwed! .. I was damn glad I drove for someone else during that first year... I screwed a few things up, but got away with it thankfully. If it had been my own equipment,.. I would have paid dearly for it. -- Still I was better than a lot of my peers in that company.

-- I learned a lot of backing tricks and the mechanics of how a truck backs up by playing video game - "18 wheels of steel" and driving the entire game backwards for hours at a time... It is actually a decent truck simulation .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_Wheels_of_Steel -- i even learned how to back doubles up quite well in that game using the 6-point turn system method, though I never had to in real life thankfully lol.


-- After a year, I learned real fast that it takes a lot of skill,... and ANYONE-- I MEAN ANYONE who is good at driving and backing up a truck with 53-foot trailers should be respected for this .. they have skill!.

-- I also learned that, your truck is so heavy .. even bobtail .. if a tire comes off the pavement,... your in trouble real fast, if not instantly! -- Almost like every single road is nothgint but a cliff not to fall off of, that will screw your day up real fast if you fall off it. -- Tried to turn around once on a 2 lane road bobtail ... steer tires went into the grass a bit ... truck dropped instantly and axles hit the pavement so hard that it damn near knocked the teeth out of my head, hurt like hell! .. ... no warning, dry sunny day,.. never expected it to be so brutal. - I have never forgotten this. Truck weighs as much as 4 or 5 whole automobiles on those steer tires alone, just on its front end! - One tire drops off that pavement, especially on a rainy day at highway speed? Even on the edge of interstate, you might very well never wake up from the accident/situation that you have just gotten yourself into!. NEVER EVER leave the pavement on a roadway unless your ready to call a tow-truck or simply have a death wish. LOL

I sliced a steer tire wide open on my first truck, couple months into being on my own ... company truck. - I touched the edge of a raised scale with side-wall as I was getting onto it, ever so slightly,.. load was late, gas station who owned the scale charged the company I was with for re-calibrating the scale and all sorts of other "loss of use" BS fees, etc. .. and a whole can of worms opened up to go along with this mistake. - I did not even do any damage to their scale, but they were hell bent on collecting big $$$ from it!. -- Everyone is out to sue truckers and their companies they drive for .. everyone it seems, and fully take advantage of even the least little thing a person does by mistake, like it is their right to squeese you for all you are worth in every way they can come up with, real or otherwise!.


========
--- So when I come on here and say to others -- My recommendation .. A person drive for a company for at least a YEAR before buying their own equipment, to get those green-horn, costly mistakes out of them -- It comes with a background of experience first hand... I had to learn all this stuff the hard way just like everyone else did.

[Magard]

I started off as a own operator. I came from a family of truckers so a lot of the green horn driving things didn’t get me so much I was mentored by some of the best mountain drivers my whole childhood. The financial learning curve is the brutal part. The hours it takes to be a O.O. Between driving and mechanicing and book work. I can’t imagine trying to start from square zero and have both working against you at the same time. A lot of guys think that because there the boss that there gonna work less and make more. That’s a fairy tail. That mentality is one of the fastest ways to go broke. Just throwing some advice out there for hypothetical scenarios.

[Waterloo]

(11-17-2019 )Magard Wrote:  I started off as a own operator. I came from a family of truckers so a lot of the green horn driving things didn’t get me so much I was mentored by some of the best mountain drivers my whole childhood. The financial learning curve is the brutal part. The hours it takes to be a O.O. Between driving and mechanicing and book work. I can’t imagine trying to start from square zero and have both working against you at the same time. A lot of guys think that because there the boss that there gonna work less and make more. That’s a fairy tail. That mentality is one of the fastest ways to go broke. Just throwing some advice out there for hypothetical scenarios.

This new computer driven EPA trucking is not it is all cracked up to be. This used to be fun.

[Paccardude]

It can still be fun! Just gotta educate yourself. I took your advice, I'm currently looking at a 2014 Freightliner w / 482,000k. It has a Cummins engine and was a fleet truck at Mckee foods (little Debbie) it definitely needs a tune, all the original paint/ sensors are on. I'm hearing a slight rev of the throttle going up and down on the off ramp.. I'm just curious if this is normal. I'm going to go ahead and call Mckee foods and see if I can't speak with someone with somone who knows how often they are serviced and any potential records .