Can attest to the claims. I currently have one from 98 in a fl-106 tandem axle flatbed. Just over 900k miles and never been touched. Bought it with under 200k and it has been employee driven locally ever since. You know employees, if it aint theirs who cares! I would definately buy another one if you could still get them. I run about 40,000 lbs (truck, lift and material) and on a really bad week that truck will make 9mpg but the average is 15 mpg with 3.90 ratio and a 13 speed. Don't be afraid to go back to a cummins buddy. I chage my oil every 7 days/3000 miles in all my trucks and forbid my drivers from turning the key to the off position until they get back to the yard. My oldest cummins is an 8.3 with 1.4 million on it (if it had an hour meter it would most likely read 80,000+ hours) and it still has the same oil pressure as when i got it with 112k (62 psi running 1450 rpm down the road). Only thing i replaced were injectors once (because they were weak) and external parts like water pump, fan, etc. Both the series 50 and 8.3 are excellent engines. Stay away from caterpillar!!! Glad to see there are still people who aernt obsessed with new paint. Those older trucks can make a guy/gal money. All the new stuff is just a nightmarish pile of junk. Nothin but problems with anything newer than 04' (personal experience), and im not just talking about the engine. You have to be careful. Some truck manufactures use hyatt bearings in their axles while others use quality such as timken or bauer, even though both trucks are using an eaton ds404 axle (say international vs freightliner for argument sake). It's these little.things that have been a learning experience. for me and with all these little things going out at 300k can, and probably will cost you 3x the $ of rebuilding an engine, especially if u don't do the repairs yourself. P.s. using Lucas oil stabalizer is an engine saver and stick with fleetguard filters as they have the toughest media inside. Sorry to drag on, guess I got lost in time talking to myself?
