Just a mini rant! Looking for a new truck.

[21willys]

I've been trying to buy a new to me truck for the last three months. Every time I find one that fits my needs/wants the seller either won't answer the phone or won't work with me to set up a time to inspect/drive the trucks. I was going to buy a international near St. Louis but the guy would never let me know when I could come buy it. I was willing to give his asking price too.

The next one was on eBay and was in New Jersey. The seller never returned any calls on it either but resisted it in a classified add!

Now the third truck that I've found (also in Jersey) has a number listed that goes to voicemail that's full. I don't get people..

So... If anyone knows of a truck (not a semi) like this that's for sale LMK!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-Peterb...a2dc60be:g:GGUAAOSwxN5WZJ~r&item=281905225918
I looked at the one in the link before he raised his price and it's a turd, rotted away rails on the bed, bad cracks in bed, huge anti freeze leak, and it's been wrecked hard at one time.


Rant over..

 

[IronRat]

Eric sometimes I wonder why people offer cars/trucks for sale they way they treat potential buyers. I don't know who is worse the buyer that things his stuff is a priceless treasure or the one that thinks he's doing you a favor by returning your call.

 

[Willowbilly3]

You just have to believe the right one is still waiting and none of those was it.

 

[Old Iron]

Most any of the trucks that come out of the north east are turds from all the rust issues.
Car hauler rigs are what my son and I do welding repair and fab work on.
The best part of the country to buy rigs is the same places you want hot rods to come from.
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2005-Peterbilt-335--116451987
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2004-Cottrell-Car-Carrier--116338890
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2009-Peterbilt-335--116374875

 

[21willys]

Most any of the trucks that come out of the north east are turds from all the rust issues.
Car hauler rigs are what my son and I do welding repair and fab work on.
The best part of the country to buy rigs is the same places you want hot rods to come from.
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2005-Peterbilt-335--116451987
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2004-Cottrell-Car-Carrier--116338890
http://www.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2009-Peterbilt-335--116374875

Thanks for the links, this one http://m.commercialtrucktrader.com/listing/2004-Cottrell-Car-Carrier--116338890 had my attention till I saw the auto trans. I'd have to do some research on that and make sure it's not junk. It's a little more then I want to spend also but with one of these trucks I can make a ton more money.

 

[bruno]

Man, them bad boys sure aren't cheap

 

[rustybeercan]

I think that's one of the reasons there's a 25 post rule here on RRR for selling things. Guys list stuff and never check back, always wondered what the point was!

Beercan

 

[Old Iron]

The only autos I'm even close to familiar with is the Volvo that a friend of mine drove.
If he shifted from forward to reverse too many times, it would quit working on a thrown code and he would have to pull the fuse and put it back in to reset the code for it to work.

 

[21willys]

Man, them bad boys sure aren't cheap

Your telling me! I've found a few that are over $200k! But anything that makes ya money will cost ya money first!

 

[21willys]

The only autos I'm even close to familiar with is the Volvo that a friend of mine drove.
If he shifted from forward to reverse too many times, it would quit working on a thrown code and he would have to pull the fuse and put it back in to reset the code for it to work.

I talked to a few mechanics about the trans in this truck. They said that they aren't bad till you have to buy parts for them. The parts are suppose to be high dollar for them.

 

[21willys]

I'm heading to New York to look at this truck.

http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=5648899

Hopefully it's not junk.

 

[Bamamav]

Ad says PA? Must have been moved to NY? [S

You know what trouble I had finding a decent truck a few weeks ago, so good luck! Hope it works out for you if that's what you want. Can you still pull the travel trailers with that truck? Or are you going to haul them?

I wonder how much power that small Cat will make. I've never liked under powered trucks trying to do the job of a larger truck, they get terrible fuel mileage and are slow. I would be looking at class 8 trucks with 400hp or more, but I'm not telling you what to do 21. I figure you have a good idea what you need. Just giving you a little of my 31+ years of trucking experience.

 

[21willys]

I'm making a delivery just a few hours away from it in New York. That's why I posted New York and not PA.

I'm not a fan of Cat engines at all, especially the little ones. I consider this truck a entry level truck and I will upgrade soon after it starts to make me money. I have a oppertunity at a dedicated car hauling route but I need something quickly to secure it. As for pulling the trailers behind it, I'm sure that I could as long as I keep under the legal length. My first thought was a all aluminum two car car trailer when I need it.

Any and all advice from veteran drivers is appreciated. Thanks

 

[21willys]

Well I test drove the truck this evening. Well kind of, it's not plated or insured so we stayed on the owners rural road. It seamed fine for a truck of it's age. I learned that the truck has been sitting for almost a year and it smells awful inside. There's the awesome mouse smell that would have to be addressed.

Mechanically the only issues that I could find was a small power steering fluid leak and the seals on the AC lines have a little bit of compressor oil seapage on them at the pump.
The owner claims that the engine was replaced with a reman at 125k ago and is suppose to have the paperwork to prove it. At the same time it got a new clutch and pressure plate.

Tomorrow I am going to try to get permission from the company that I am leased to to use their transport plates to take the truck down the interstate for a 50 mile or so run. That way I can actually get everything up to tempature and see how it does.

 

[Willowbilly3]

So with the new deal is it going to change up what you do? Will you still haul old cabs and stuff? 330 hp seems like enough. 4.10 gear with no overdrive might be a little slow though. But then you really don't need a truck that can go 90.

 

[Bamamav]

Less than 600,000 and done had to have an engine? [S That doesn't sound good to me. I mean, new engine is good, but it shouldn't have needed it before 900,000 or more. I have gotten over 1 million on my last two trucks. I'm not real knowledgeable on the small Cats, but it goes back to what I said before about trying to use too small a motor for the job. Good thing is that it is 06, pre DPF smog. Bad that its been sitting that long--seals and gaskets dry out when you don't use them--look for wheel seal leaks for sure.

Again, I'm not trying to tell ya what to do, just offering advise on my experience. There has to be some reason it hasn't sold yet, besides a slow market. Something just seems a little fishy to me, but I am not there, so I could be wrong....

 

[21willys]

So with the new deal is it going to change up what you do? Will you still haul old cabs and stuff? 330 hp seems like enough. 4.10 gear with no overdrive might be a little slow though. But then you really don't need a truck that can go 90.

It will change up a little bit. I haven't hauled very much old tin for awhile as it is so it won't be a huge deal. I will still have my one ton pick ups and trailers if I need them.

With the ten speed trans it shouldn't be to bad to run 65 in it. But this is part of the reason why I want to run it down the interstate.

 

[21willys]

Less than 600,000 and done had to have an engine? [S That doesn't sound good to me. I mean, new engine is good, but it shouldn't have needed it before 900,000 or more. I have gotten over 1 million on my last two trucks. I'm not real knowledgeable on the small Cats, but it goes back to what I said before about trying to use too small a motor for the job. Good thing is that it is 06, pre DPF smog. Bad that its been sitting that long--seals and gaskets dry out when you don't use them--look for wheel seal leaks for sure.

Again, I'm not trying to tell ya what to do, just offering advise on my experience. There has to be some reason it hasn't sold yet, besides a slow market. Something just seems a little fishy to me, but I am not there, so I could be wrong....

I had all of the exact same thoughts. I've had several little diesels with over 500k on them so I was a bit surprised that it had a new engine. I called a friend of mine who works on cat heavy equipment to see if he had any knowledge of these engines. He put me in contact with a guy who builds them for a living. He said that they generally are decent engines and should be capable of being turned up by a CAT dealership if I needed it to be.

The sitting concerned me as well. He claims he has had a person about every other month come and test drive it so that helps. He said that he stopped running cause a lot of the auto export company's (his business on the east coast) started getting their own trucks and not using independent haulers anymore. That and the people over seas aren't buying like they was just a few years ago. I've experienced both of these first hand and it's why I started hauling campers to fill in the dead time. So I can believe him on why he stopped working it.

Before I even start talking money with the guy I am having my brother n law come out with me to inspect it. He has about 30 years experience as a big truck mechanic so he should be able to find stuff that I may of missed.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Bamamav]

One more thing I thought about today Eric- Has the guy been paying the Federal highway use tax? If it has been sitting, I'd bet he hasn't paid it since he parked it, probably hasn't even filed an suspension on it. It can be suspended if it wasn't driven 5,000 miles during the tax year, but if it hasn't been kept up with, there may be a couple or more years of it due. And believe me, the IRS will know. Not sure on how much it is on a class 7, but on class 8 it's $550 a year. You can go to the IRS website and look up form 2290, it has a chart that tells you how much tax is according to the class weight.

Sounds like a good deal on the Bro in law helping you out. Extra eyes always see things you might miss, extra ears hear things that pass you by. Hope it works out for you.

 

[21willys]

I hadn't thought of that! Thanks for posting! I'm not familiar with but have heard of it. I'll have to do some research on it and see if there's a way to verify if it's been paid.

I've a few others concerned about the small engine that's in it. So I started looking at all of the others that I have found. All of them have 300-350 horse engines in them. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind it would be but it seams every manufacturer does it.