Retirement not working

[JimmyDw8xb]

Well.........I made the decision. I`m retired from a small (20 truck) trucking company. My wife passed two years ago. I`m going crazy...so I`m going back out on the road.. laugh if you want, but I`ve had the itch for several months. I kept my eyes open. I found a truck I liked......After listening to friends, getting more than a few opinions, chewing on it for a bit..... I found a 2007 KW T600. Flat top sleeper 62 inch. No windscreen mounted on roof. Truck leaves a few things to be desired cosmetically, but I felt good about it, found out as much as I could of it`s history. But, cosmetics doesn`t make money. I knew I was taking a chance buying a used truck this old, but I`m an optimist, and I have had some success in life betting on my gut.

So, this is the truck. T600 flat top 62 inch sleeper, 700221 miles, 17238 hours, 238 inch wheel base, 275/95 22.5, tires measured out at 14/32 on the drives..Yokahama tires not recaps. Has nice Goodyears on front measured at 13/32. All alcoa wheels,
Cummins CM 870, 475/1850 rated, Eaton Fuller straight Ten speed. Spicer rears with 3:55gears.

So last Friday I finally got into a small local diesel shop to have it checked over. I wanted it looked over top to bottom, front to back. He spent right at an hour and forty five minutes to go over it.
Here are the things he found wrong that needed correction. Drag link, passenger side tie rod end. Carrier bearing, All the brakes are good except the left front shoe has a crack. So a set of shoes for the front. oil in rears he said rear was clean, the front was a little dark. Transmission was clean. Brakes all in correct adjustment. slack adjusters all looked good. The oil line that feeds turbo has a leak. shocks all good. All in all, I`m more than happy with his checkup. His main comment was the truck was well maintained. All three remarked that it was a dry motor.
I have an appointment in two weeks. I am having them do the carrier bearing, ( no place for a skinny old man to be crawling around under) and a new oil line to turbo. The turbo looks fairly new. Has a Cummins reman tag on it. I don`t think I want to be replacing the oil line either.
We didn`t pop the top cover cause the engine is coated with dust. I know Rawze doesn`t like engine washing, but I`m going to do it as carefully as I can. After washing I`ll have him do an overhead and then get the chance to look over the cams and rollers.
I can however, do the drag link and tie rod end as well. I can do the brakes on front.
I don`t thing the last owner (A farmer) ever washed it. Frame has a layer of rust and when I power washed the rear frame, the paint just peeled off. This weeks task is media blasting the frame and painting it.

I`m not in a hurry. My sis who lives with me is recovering from surgery and it will be several weeks till I`1m ready to hit the road.
I`m going to pull a dry van pretty much only in the eastern two thirds of the country. And as little as possible in the Northeast. I`ve unloaded too many times all over the City and have no desire to ever cross the GW again. But one should never say never!

So........I`m in the truck for Fifteen grand plus getting it on the road funds that are not totalled yet. I can`t see it getting over twenty thousand all in to hit the road.

The only thing else is the egr valve being unplugged...For the time being I am going to leave it that way. I`ll get advice here on that matter I am sure.

so what did I miss? I`m going to try to post pics, if not, Ill figure out why not.