Insight on tractor mileage

Tennesseahawk · Mar 9, 2013

For those of you who own, or have owned T/Ts, what mileage tractor do you consider the best bang for the buck? IOW, what range mileage do you look at, considering price, life left on the components, cost and time to repair, warranty, etc? Where is that peak?

zorry · Mar 9, 2013

What are you using the tractor for ?
Weights,length of runs ?
Do you have shop,good mechanic,or are you relying on dealers and outside vendors ?

zorry · Mar 9, 2013

What transmission and annual mileage?How long would you hope to keep it ?

Tennesseahawk · Mar 9, 2013

I'm talking generalities here.

PM sent.

Tennesseahawk · Mar 10, 2013

Getting a tractor is so much different than buying a straight truck, in that you have a lot more to chose from. You can have hundreds, or thousands, of each particular model, in tractors. You're lucky if there are 2 Volvo straights on truckpaper.

Zorry gave me some good and bad about finding a tractor.

What does everyone look for when they're shopping for a tractor on the net?

osumike33 · Mar 10, 2013

Tennesseahawk said:
Getting a tractor is so much different than buying a straight truck, in that you have a lot more to chose from. You can have hundreds, or thousands, of each particular model, in tractors. You're lucky if there are 2 Volvo straights on truckpaper.

Zorry gave me some good and bad about finding a tractor.

What does everyone look for when they're shopping for a tractor on the net?

They have the same situation with the DPF and all that, so avoiding certain years is probably good, '08's, maybe 09's, and from what I've read, some 07's too....depends on whether it's got the DPF system or not. I don't know - some guys swear by Detroit engines, some hate them, and same with Cummins and Cats. Volvo is supposed to be the best ride, but expensive to repair....but you're right, at least there are plenty of options. Straight trucks - not.

EasyDoesIt · Mar 10, 2013

Last truck I drove was a new 2010 Freightliner Cascadia with a DD13 and 10 speed. Rode nice, quiet, plenty of storage. I only ran in and out of Chicago to Wisconsin and sometimes Iowa. I think I averaged 6.7 mpg. Not a big Freightliner fan because of their service departments and the wonderful warranty that covers everything but in reality pays for little or nothing.

usafk9 · Mar 10, 2013

EasyDoesIt said:
Last truck I drove was a new 2010 Freightliner Cascadia with a DD13 and 10 speed. Rode nice, quiet, plenty of storage. I only ran in and out of Chicago to Wisconsin and sometimes Iowa. I think I averaged 6.7 mpg. Not a big Freightliner fan because of their service departments and the wonderful warranty that covers everything but in reality pays for little or nothing.

This post reminds me of something. When I was sitting in the lounge at the Freightliner dealer in Pacific, Washington, waiting for our nightmare to be over, a driver for Gordon Trucking (they own the FL dealership) was in to get a leaking rear transmission seal replaced. This driver's company truck had 49,000 miles on the clock, and he had been waiting a day and a half to get the warranty claim approved. They hadn't started to turn a wrench on it yet. Kind of gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling about new truck warranties.

Hawk, I would look strongly at trucks that have not yet been pre-sale serviced, so at least you can get fluid analyses done. Lots of mega fleets dumping their used units back on the market, where their service intervals have been stretched waaaayyyyy too long to save money, with the specific intent of dumping them on the used market at a specific age/mileage.

purgoose10 · Mar 10, 2013

Most companys like to turn a truck at or about 500K when things start happening like water pumps, Alternators etc. Ryder puts them up for sale at 500K. With a good PM history an engine and drive train can last a million miles if you take care of them. A fleet truck that uses less experienced drivers such as Schnieder etc that's a different story.

Tennesseahawk · Mar 11, 2013

Thanks for the responses. You've solidified my thoughts on getting a Volvo, either 2010 or 11, with 300-400k on it. Now, if I can get it, that's great. LOL But what I've come away from researching this is that Volvo has the most upside vs downside, IMO. 2010 or newer is the zone where the newer technology has been tweaked and mastered (at least they think they know what they're doing). 300-400k means the huge price drop from new has taken place, yet there should still be some warrantee left; yet hasn't reached the point on most trucks, where every damm component starts needing to be replaced.

If I can't swing something like that, I'll go for an 06-07, with around 500k. But I'll focus on plan A for now.

Dynamite 1 · Mar 12, 2013

if you are not planning to do california, i would go with a clean older model for a cheap price and recondition it when it is needed. in the end it will be about the same price as a newer truck but you will know exactly what you have and who has done the rebuilding. pick it up for 15/20k add another 20/30k when needed and you will have a good solid truck that you can run for awhile. not to mention the time you can run it for cheap until you need to recondition it. 03/04, 800k, 12.7 detroit with a straight 10 spd or a 13 spd. rears somewhere in the high 2's or low 3's.

Tennesseahawk · Mar 12, 2013

Dynamite 1 said:
if you are not planning to do california, i would go with a clean older model for a cheap price and recondition it when it is needed. in the end it will be about the same price as a newer truck but you will know exactly what you have and who has done the rebuilding. pick it up for 15/20k add another 20/30k when needed and you will have a good solid truck that you can run for awhile. not to mention the time you can run it for cheap until you need to recondition it. 03/04, 800k, 12.7 detroit with a straight 10 spd or a 13 spd. rears somewhere in the high 2's or low 3's.

So get something pre-emissions instead? Don't know if I like that idea... starting off with a higher potential for down time.

BigCat · Mar 12, 2013

Pre-emissions is actually more reliable than the new clean engine systems.

zorry · Mar 12, 2013

To go back to real reliability you need to go back to pre-EGR.
That would put you back into 03 & 04.
Not everyone can or wants to go back that far.
If you have to go newer you may as well go DEF. 2010 and newer. The system has been used in other countries which gave MB and Volvo a leg up over Cummins,Paccar,and Navistar.
I have a friend with newer Cummins. Runs hard,heavy,fast. Haven't seen him in a year but he'd only had one minor issue.
I'm at 139,000 with zero engine issues. We did a 4.5 hour recall which was a pinning or bushing issue on an engine gear.
I feel bad when I see a clean burn engine idling. I believe idling causes more problems than people realize in these newer engines.

BigCat · Mar 12, 2013

Btw tennesseeahawk the volvo I'm in has 778,465 miles and aside from regular maintainance the only repair according to my truck owner has been the water pump 2 weeks ago.

Loaded right now at 79,870 pounds it is getting 6.7 in az and nm. It has a ton of power too!