rebuild vs swap decisions

[Rawze]

your story is not unique, not one damn bit....

It is a journey...

A journey towards wise decision making and truck ownership.

It is clear that you have made some bad decisions, and that has lead to a lot of the problems you have seen, and now face... but it is not without its education.

In this day of modern trucking, you would have had no less problems out of anything else you would have purchased, and even if you already had an 871 it sounds like.

The question is now, not how to go backwards in time ... not to get something older and start this screwed up journey all over again ... but....


to move forward and stop making bad decisions .. and if for one damn minute you disagree then stop for a moment and ask yourself if Rawze would have had those same problems and would have been broke and ending up in those shoes ... YOU HAD BETTER DAMN WELL KNOW I WOULD NOT HAVE .... why?


Because I choose not to let it!.

and if one man can do it,,.. so can another!... i am no one special at all.

I do so by being very very diligent + professional in how i treat my equipment, how I drive, and how often I give my equipment inspections and take things apart BEFORE they fail. -- I am always researching and educating myself on my truck and its operations + ensuring that every damn screw and bolt and weld and system on my truck is in top shape every single time it comes home for a few days. It is a constant effort that does not stop.

And there are a lot of people who scoff at me for driving only 55-60 and not beating the hell out of my equipment and all the other things I do like scream to not have big HP setting, scoff at me for baing slow up the hills and driving with only 15 lbs boost, ... but by-god, every single of those people,.. when they are on the side of the roads,. or in that repair shop getting yet another new shocks, and another set of new suspension components, and clutches, and engine re-builds,,.. I am driving by them and smiling silently, making 2x the profit every time, because I choose not to let these road-ways out here beat the hell out of what I got to make that money.

-- That is how we make money we keep out here,.. there really is no other way long term any more for making profits unless we keep after these things diligently, and consistently + invest and save money in between for that rainy day.

More than 80% of what breaks on these modern engines and trucks can be predicted ... and planned for ... and since that is so,.. can be prevented or caught before it costs you 10x more money than it should. It is a matter of education and diligence. <- without this, it is nothing but a constant battle that a person will eventually loose.

(though you may not agree with it), that being said ...

-- You now stand further in your trucking career and business and now know a lot of those mistakes and how to prevent most of this by now.

There is no glory in taking any shortcuts, or waiting until something breaks or wears out, nor is there any profit in it. -< I am that one guy in the truck stop parking lot with half the side of his truck and engine apart while taking my 70-hr weekend break ... All while the other 300+ morons sitting there watching me and making fun of me watch like idiots... Only for later in the week, my truck is still running and theirs is nothing but problems on the side of the road somewhere.

I am happy to be that idiot .. it makes me some damn decent money!.

Personally, I would get that thing somehow to Mr. Hags, even if you had to bobtail it with a rag over the coolant tank so that coolant does not get into the cylinders. -- Have that piece of equipment that have already heavily invested in, on its way to be fixed properly instead of chasing pipe dreams of a better life (that will land you in a repeating cycle) .. because if you can't make what you already have invested in work,.. nothing else is going to be any better, you might as well be better off as a company driver for someone else,... at least you will have a paycheck.

Actually personally, if my truck were in such dire straights and I had to take it to someone else,.. you had better damn believe my arsse would be under the hood and truck right there with them doing whatever I knew how to help and get it going again + all the rest of the things plaguing the equipment while I was at it... There is no reward for half a truck with only half its health except to end up on the end of a tow hook once again.

and lastly... HOW OFTEN ARE YOU FILLING ONE OF THESE REPORTS OUT / WHEN IS THE LAST TIME YOUR TRUCK WOULD PASS THIS INSPECTION/MAINT REPORT (adapted to your truck and engine model) ???
http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...0#pid26680

Owning a truck is not for everyone .. ref: http://rawze.com/forums/showthread.php?t...5#pid19465 : but for those who decide to,.. it always is hard until we get to that point of mastering it.

-- That is my take on it ... no one has to agree.