i just saw this thread and i couldnt help but read all the posts and so many of you are talking crap on these trucks but dont know what they are. even the people that say they have built or sold these trucks dont know much about them. i for one own one and drive one in the expedited business. mine is a 2006 gmc savana with a 16 ft box and dually wheels. simple 6.0 chevy v8 motor and regular transmission. the reason i bought a 2006 is because only the 2006 and 2007 gmc box trucks read 10000gvwr on the door sticker. anything older or newer reads 12500. thats of course with a 16 ft box. now to start with weight. i delivered my load at a factory one time that had a scale and after i delivered i asked the security guard if i can pull on just to see how much i weigh empty. purely out of curiosity. now i have a fully built sleeper inside the box out of 2x4s and insulated and my tanks were full and my shelves were full of food, plus me. and i came out to 73*** and some change. so legally i can carry about 2600 pounds. and no i am not bull****ting about how much i weigh just to prove a point because sometime later i went to a pilot scale after i installed a generator and ac for the summer and it was still under 7400. and i kept my rear steel bumper and ramp. i have the receipt somewhere. now since my truck is legally rated at 10000 i dont need log books or scales. again thats why i went with 2006. most of the loads ive done never go above 2500 and ive put over 100,000 miles over the last 9 months. thats not subtracting downtime and home time. i have taken loads from los angels, ca to el paso, tx twice on i-10 and both times they showed me the light to pull in. when i pulled in she asked if i was a rental and i could have lied and said yes and she probably would have waved me on but i said no and so she came out, checked my sticker, and btw i was at about 9885 pounds if i remember correctly. and all she told me was to park my truck and come in to get a trip permit to cross arizona. which i did. now my pay is anywhere from a 1.00 pm to 1.30 pm depending on weight and distance. so even if i always get 1.00 pm after my fuel costs thats still a .65 pm profit for me. now i dont know about everyone else but i have driven up to 3500 miles non stop without so much as thinking about sleep. i have cleared 6400 miles in one week one time. multiply 6400 by .65 pm and tell me thats not good safe money. i have talked to other penske drivers and they say they average about 11 mpg. my truck for some odd reason gets 12.7 on average. i think its because i use the most expensive and highest grade products for it. thats why my truck has 271k miles and all ive had to change (besides maintenance ie: oil, filters, wiper blades, tires, small stuff) was a water pump and a coil pack. now the difference between the 2006 and 2007 savanas is simple, the 2006 has a wire driven throttle and the 2007 is electronic and the second thing is the 2006 rear axle sits closer to the front than the 2007. thats why 2007 is better than 2006. i just got a 2006 because i got a good deal on it. another good thing about these trucks is the dual wheels and weight which handle awesome in the snow. oh and of course the awesome sleeper that i am so comfortable in. now on the subject of illegal driving. like i said i usually dont get loads over 2500 pounds but i am willing to go over that if i am in a place like laredo and there or tons of drivers that have been there for a week. so of course i would risk getting fined for being overweight than wait in a dead zone for a week and not make anything because i can make 3000 net profit in that week but IF i get pulled over its going to be a fine no greater than 1000. which would you choose? the heaviest i ever loaded on my truck was 4400 pounds and it was a local run of about 350 miles. now when i got the load the broker listed it as 2400 pounds. i get there and he loads 2 pallets on and my truck is already sitting low so i tell him that there is no way its only 2400 pounds. and he tells me its like 3400. so im like ok keep loading. now he gets the 6t pallet in and my truck is sitting very low so i go to the scale and it shows something like 11,700. yes the pallets were different sizes. i had to tell him how to load it to even out the weight. so i go back and tell him either he drops the load back down to 2400 for the price they were paying me or pay me 2,000. which came out to be a little over 5 dollars a mile. so he calls his boss and i guess they had no choice so they paid me. now who out there would not go for 5 dollars a mile? i am sure if cargo van drivers could actually overload and be safe on the road with a heavy load than they would also take that risk than be stuck in a place like laredo. but the most a cargo van can take is 3 pallets and rarely do pallets weigh more than 1000 pounds. and btw when i went to the scale i checked to make sure my truck can handle safely and it handled like a dream. granted i did feel the weight but it wasnt anything crazy. im not a newbie that doesnt know how a vehicle is supposed to handle. i hope i covered everything and im sure maybe some peoples numbers might different because people build sleepers and all that differently but those are my numbers. oh and the way i calculate mpg is every time i fuel up i reset the odometer and when i fuel up again i divide the miles driven by the gallons i fueled up. and over 1000 miles i usually spend 350 dollars which is where i get my .35 cents per mile fuel cost. so next time you see a penske yellow truck judge to quickly because many of us out there drive legally. and yes i consider myself legal even if i do drive out of dead zones a few hundred pounds over weight because the law doesnt pay my bills. now i may not reply to this thread again simply because i dont get on here ever. i was just bored and saw this in google when i googled expedited trucking.
