what to look for when buying a newer truck w/ ISX?

[Rawze]

dyno not a bad idea, but i would not personally have one done unless it was convenient, or the power or something else was in question. ... Most of the things that a dyno will tell you can also be done by simply test driving it and riding the brakes hard a few times and putting truck and drive-line under maximum load.

truck specs themselves, inspecting the overhead cams, the ecm regen history, the long term engine use graph on how it was driven, ensuring the rate that the coolant pressure builds up is not excessive, mechanical inspection, .. etc.etc. is waay more important.

warranty is a waste of time past 30 days. on a used truck. If someone does all their proper inspections etc. once it hits their driveway, they will know of any major issues in only a few days. As a matter of fact, I would not trust anyone that would do a warranty repair any ways, so I would do the job myself. - even a full-out inframe,, I would not trust someone else, and if some salesman said to me the engine was recently inframed.. I would walk away very fast these days.


-- then once it is home,. it is about 2 weeks of going through it and doing all the neglected items, the service schedule from top to bottom, shocks, wheel end back-lash measurements, king pin backlash measurements, drive-line play + measurements, carrier bearing and u-joint inspections, clutch inspection, wiring inspections, adding boost and pyro, full EGR tune-up + all sensors replaced, clean out the CAC, RAD, Pressure test the engine, leak down on the injector system, replace guts in fuel pump, injector and fuel system tests, overhead valve adjustments, turbo inspection, egr system cleaning, DEf system inspection, def filter replacement, def doser cleaning and inspection, decomp tube inspection, crank shaft damper, new belts, cab bushing and other bushing inspections and replacements, install bypass filter right away to keep soot out of oil, replace the oil and filter for power steering, entire front-end inspection, rear and front axle alignment measurements, testing ABS systems to ensure safety valves are still operable, DPF,SCR,DOC face inspections and pictures, cleaning/inspecting the Doser injevtor or replacing it, pressurizing coolant system looking/fixing leaks, pressurizing fuel tanks / looking for leaks. fixing air leaks, checking slacks and pads, 5-th wheel backlash inspection, and everything else etc.etc.etc.. and all the other things that will prevent it from ending up on the side of the roads unnecessarily or cause you to get a nice fine from D.O.T.

anything less to be expected and your doing nothing but living in a pipe dream world.

(don't be another one of these)...
I personally find it amazing that so many people buy used trucks and then put on all the blinders and think they can just drive it off the stealers#$its lot and connect it to a trailer, then go down the roads.... Then on top of that ... come onto my forum here a few months later complaining how everything is falling apart, their truck has broken down 3 times, They can't keep the CEL light out, they spent $10,000 on the dpf and other issues ... and then when I scream at them to get their head out their own arsse,. they get mad at me instead of themselves.

Neglect of equipment is the number one killer in trucking these days. Everyone blames everything but themselves over it when it catches up to them though. Modern trucks and engines need a lot of constant pampering and attention. Not doing this only costs you a whole lot more both in grief and in your wallet, and that is what the truck maker and the engine maker wants from everyone... for them to be dumb as a rock and give all their money that they earn to them every few months or so when the CEL light comes on or they are at the end of a tow-hook. That is how the system is designed to work. Keep you hopeful, but keep you broke and behind in payments so that you become a good little slave of the industry... stringing you along perpetually... taking the bulk of your hard earned money in the process.

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A fine example... There is a person who got their truck at richie-brothers auction a while back. he purposefully got a truck that would not start .. he figured he would just inframe it, there were no holes in the block, it would turn over when batteries were charged, etc. etc... he paid 8k for the truck, no one else wanted it.

He spent about a month going thru it, replacing everything top to bottom that was worn or bad. He, and that truck are in fact in my video for replacing the front cab mount bushings on prostar. He went thru it exactly like I said above...

It has been a few years now, and he never did that inframe,. the engine was fine, just was in dire neglect is all. -- He is still driving it and it is the most reliable truck he has ever owned to this day. - All the trucks in the past that he had previous, where he paid 30+k, maybe 40k+ for them from used truck stealersh$its were all nothing but headaches, as he never had any money to fix it up front once all the moneys were exchanged to get it into his hands. He also had no idea about how to own a truck properly and keep after it. He learned the hard way. - This time around though, he took a different approach. He estimated he would buy auction truck and drop 20k into it up front. It has been the best thing he has done so far actually. He has spent roughly 6 or 7k or so fixing it up and it took him about 5 weeks to get it up to spec (everything mentioned above essentially). and it has made him 10x+ that in return already.. he loves it... and it has been a few years now, and it has never once had a CEL light on, never once has quit or derated, or anything... it just makes money and keeps going. -- He does shut it down and looks after it well too though, he is not just holding that steering wheel.

Now he will be quick to tell someone that he is proud to own a truck that he has about 17k in that is far more reliable than anything he has ever previously owned and had cost him far more money. -- Better yet, the title is in his name too. No truck payments, nothing.