Hey Truckers!!

Well, it's been a year and a month since I got out of the truck to start our "other" business. It has been slow going but it is growing. It is not to the point of paying all the bills yet.

So my uncle called up the other night and said the place he drives for is looking for a few more O/O to run just in our province. No border BS and work is Monday to Friday. Pay is great (8-10K take home a month).

Is this a smart move to get back into the trucking industry? I can't get into many details about the freight but they say it is very recession proof.

Thanks for the opinions!!

Bill

do you stil have your old truck? i wouldnt invest alot of money in the trucking business right now. i had to buy another truck last spring and i opted for very cheap and i am glad as that truck is parked right now. but it all depends on the circumstances. can they garantee you work for long enough to pay off your investment.
kyle

You say that is after ins prem, licensing, permits, fuel, maintenance? If so money dont sound too bad. But just an example, we just picked up my brother's Freightliner about an hr ago. In frame with a Cat recon head on his 3406E was $13,240. He had to borrow it, so without some capital built up or some good luck untill you can get it built up,????????????????? He was lucky enough that the man he pulls for paid it and will deduct it periodically from his percentage. If that is luck.

Not a trucker but a similar situation,
After the mine deal I didnt want to work in mines anymore. I went on to doing commercial and residental electrical work, however a couple of months ago it got slow. I went back to a mine now, i can tell you i'm happy. This job is a little different as i'm not underground everyday, its monday-friday, and a decent amount of OT if one wants. We were not starving before but there was no extra money to finish the house and whatnot.
my view is make the dough for now......

If you get a few days off at a time you can keep your business going untill it gets real busy....

Thanks folks!

We sold our Frieghtliner a couple of years ago and drove a company truck for a year (that didn't make much $$!).

We will sell the cleaning trailer and that will allow us enough cash to buy a truck outright. So, the first thing we would plan would be to pay off credit line and that would give us a cushion for engine rebuilds etc.

My uncle had his engine blow a week after he started with this company. He had time to pay too and had it taken care of in a couple of months.

Bill

bcr466 wrote:You say that is after ins prem, licensing, permits, fuel, maintenance? If so money dont sound too bad. But just an example, we just picked up my brother's Freightliner about an hr ago. In frame with a Cat recon head on his 3406E was $13,240. He had to borrow it, so without some capital built up or some good luck untill you can get it built up,????????????????? He was lucky enough that the man he pulls for paid it and will deduct it periodically from his percentage. If that is luck.

Yep, all the O/O pays is fuel and maintenance.

Bill

You know Bill, my dad has been a truck driver for 40 some years and from what I have seen there is no way in hell I would ever do it. Sorry, trying not to offend anybody so don't take it that way. I just seen my dad chase dream jobs his whole life and end up with nothing. There would be some good job like you mention so he get a truck and do that for awhile to find out he didn't make enough money or it would slow down. Then he would go upside down on months when the truck wasn't working. Then you always have the bad luck gene when your motor goes out somewhere on the road and you loose more work and spend 20K. So now you can't sell your truck because you owe more than it is worth and you can't afford to make all you payments. Eventually he would get rid of his truck and go back piloting or doing hotshots. Two years later he would be looking for a truck because he made more money doing that.
He loves driving and loved the job but I have never met a rich truck driver or a truck driver with much of anything. The only people that make money off of trucking is the people that own the trucking company not the O/O's. The company finds all the work, takes a % of the ticket and the only cost they have is insurance and a small office. I watched every person my dad work for get filthy rich while everyone was broke as shit.

That being said, if you already had a truck and found some work that sounds good then give it a try. If it doesn't work then find work elsewhere but there is no way in hell I would go out and buy a truck. Go be a farmer at least they get subsidy.

jasonf wrote:You know Bill, my dad has been a truck driver for 40 some years and from what I have seen there is no way in hell I would ever do it. Sorry, trying not to offend anybody so don't take it that way. I just seen my dad chase dream jobs his whole life and end up with nothing. There would be some good job like you mention so he get a truck and do that for awhile to find out he didn't make enough money or it would slow down. Then he would go upside down on months when the truck wasn't working. Then you always have the bad luck gene when your motor goes out somewhere on the road and you loose more work and spend 20K. So now you can't sell your truck because you owe more than it is worth and you can't afford to make all you payments. Eventually he would get rid of his truck and go back piloting or doing hotshots. Two years later he would be looking for a truck because he made more money doing that.
He loves driving and loved the job but I have never met a rich truck driver or a truck driver with much of anything. The only people that make money off of trucking is the people that own the trucking company not the O/O's. The company finds all the work, takes a % of the ticket and the only cost they have is insurance and a small office. I watched every person my dad work for get filthy rich while everyone was broke as shit.

That being said, if you already had a truck and found some work that sounds good then give it a try. If it doesn't work then find work elsewhere but there is no way in hell I would go out and buy a truck. Go be a farmer at least they get subsidy.

You make some good points Jason. I am not one who loves the job, but it will pay better than right now. We don't have 700K-1M for a farm, but the subsidies would be good!!

I have my eye on a 2001 Mack, he's asking 13,000. Truck has had a bunch of stuff replaced (tires, brakes, rad, air-air, bearing roll, etc). It only has 750,000 miles. I am worried about the second part of this Double Dip everyone is talking about.

Bill

Bill, I have been in the truck business for 7 years now, as an O/O and have had people drive for me also. It is a sideline winter job for me, but I get some guys that call me off and on during the summer and I have a couple of reliable retired guys that take good care of the truck and operate it responsibly. What is the per mile rate on this job? And how many miles/km per week? Make sure you like where you are going and pray the Good Lord smiles on you, because as you know there are no gravy trains in the truck business. If it will pay the bills and give you some enjoyment along the way, I say go for it, and if it is good enough, hire a driver and go back to the other business and double dip.

If you can get a good truck cheap, one that's been maintained and clean. I'd say go for it. I'd never try it with buying something new, the overhead will kill you, just be very frugal and do as much maintence your self as you can and save save save.... Maybe end up with a couple of cheap trucks you can rotate and always have one ready and one running????

schmitty wrote:Bill, I have been in the truck business for 7 years now, as an O/O and have had people drive for me also. It is a sideline winter job for me, but I get some guys that call me off and on during the summer and I have a couple of reliable retired guys that take good care of the truck and operate it responsibly. What is the per mile rate on this job? And how many miles/km per week? Make sure you like where you are going and pray the Good Lord smiles on you, because as you know there are no gravy trains in the truck business. If it will pay the bills and give you some enjoyment along the way, I say go for it, and if it is good enough, hire a driver and go back to the other business and double dip.

It's funny after driving for about 6 years, when I got out I swore I would never go back. Never say never.

Now that we have been doing the gym cleaning every day (364 days a year - Christmas day off ) it is getting real old fast. Our tile/carpet cleaning business isn't making enough on its own so I have to do what I have to do.

I wonder if the whole cleaning thing is to show me that driving truck wasn't so bad.

The job pays 70 percent of each load. The short runs pay 1.70/mile and longer ones pay 1.45/mile. My uncle makes between 4K-8K per week paid to the truck.

Still thinking!!

Bill

dfree383 wrote:If you can get a good truck cheap, one that's been maintained and clean. I'd say go for it. I'd never try it with buying something new, the overhead will kill you, just be very frugal and do as much maintence your self as you can and save save save.... Maybe end up with a couple of cheap trucks you can rotate and always have one ready and one running????

There seems to be quite a few decent trucks for sale around here. Prices are pretty low and the dealers are offering financing too. I don't think we will need a loan and new is WAY out of the question!!

A buddy bought a new WesternStar a few years ago and was paying $2,600/month!!! Man you gotta run hard to pay that. He now has it payed off so he's doing better now.

Bill

Cheap as on used, 15k and under

dfree383 wrote:Cheap as on used, 15k and under

Yep, many between 10K and 20K.

There seems to be a bunch of newer ones with the Benz engine, they are cheap!! I did some searching on the MBE 4000 and its not too good from what folks say.

I love the Cat engines, the Detroits seem decent too but don't lug quite as low, never drove a Cummins.

Bill

I am a huge fan of the 3406/C15 Cats, the Cummins always seem like they are more hassle than they are worth. The old 60 Series Detroits DDEC II and III are great engines, but they are getting old and starting to need more maintenance than they should. All of the new emmisions engines are crap.

schmitty wrote:I am a huge fan of the 3406/C15 Cats, the Cummins always seem like they are more hassle than they are worth. The old 60 Series Detroits DDEC II and III are great engines, but they are getting old and starting to need more maintenance than they should. All of the new emmisions engines are crap.

That sounds right. The emission engines are lotsa hastle. We have a law in Ontario now where trucks need the computer speed gov set to 105kph (65mph). The old mechanicals don't have the ability to do that so that might be a good option too!!

Our Freightliner had the little C12 @ 430hp and that thing was great. I was getting 7-8 mph US loaded and pulled almost as good as the bigger engines.

Bill

The C12 got a bad rep in my neighborhood for a while, but they are a great little engine. I good freind of mine bought one new in 99 and is still running it to this day. He really likes it, great mileage and good power.

schmitty wrote:The C12 got a bad rep in my neighborhood for a while, but they are a great little engine. I good freind of mine bought one new in 99 and is still running it to this day. He really likes it, great mileage and good power.

We had to put a head gasket in it but most Cats need them at some point!! The little Kitty never left us stranded.

Have you had much to do with Macks? I have been looking at a Vision with the 460HP E-7.

Bill

On the Macks, we (Ryder) had problems with the rocker arm jam nuts coming loose,,turbos self destruction, water pumps, ECM problems,almost all had to replace camshaft, the pumps, (as mack calls them) look like 6 injectors on right side of engine were notorious for leaking although not that bad to repair unless it broke one of the bolts off in the block, need to carry a spare fuel return line, (special size), oil cooler problems, puts oil into coolant, other than that just normal truck stuff. Unless, it is a later model then the emissions system is very problematic. Costly to work on partswise, and having to deal with arrogant Mack-Volvo dealers to get parts is a pita. The trucks drove good, rode good and were as quiet and even quieter than most other brands.

IMO the N14 Cummins is hard to beat for an OO, due to parts avalibility and cost. A big plus is the dealer network and almost anyone can work on them. M11/L10 not so much so although they are fair on fuel.

60 series Detroit, lots of inj. replacements, bellhousing oil leaks, front cover leaks, water pump leaks and are troublsome to replace, (re costly) inj wire harness, quite a few cam replacements, had lots of oil pan probs with the compsite pans but that went away, constant prob with emissions, EGR, delta P valves and like the Mack had lots of them put oil in water, (cooler) or fuel in water, (inj. pots)

Cats not too bad but thats b/c Ryder didnt buy all that many. The C13 (Ithink it was) was junk with two turbos, intake valve acuaters, jake brakes, exhaust leaks, cracked heads, fuel in coolant probs. oil usage Cat would o/h but still used lots of oil. Had some C12s throw rods out left side of block and a few cam replacements other than that they did pretty well, but as I said they didnt have many.

bcr466 wrote:On the Macks, we (Ryder) had problems with the rocker arm jam nuts coming loose,,turbos self destruction, water pumps, ECM problems,almost all had to replace camshaft, the pumps, (as mack calls them) look like 6 injectors on right side of engine were notorious for leaking although not that bad to repair unless it broke one of the bolts off in the block, need to carry a spare fuel return line, (special size), oil cooler problems, puts oil into coolant, other than that just normal truck stuff. Unless, it is a later model then the emissions system is very problematic. Costly to work on partswise, and having to deal with arrogant Mack-Volvo dealers to get parts is a pita. The trucks drove good, rode good and were as quiet and even quieter than most other brands.

IMO the N14 Cummins is hard to beat for an OO, due to parts avalibility and cost. A big plus is the dealer network and almost anyone can work on them. M11/L10 not so much so although they are fair on fuel.

60 series Detroit, lots of inj. replacements, bellhousing oil leaks, front cover leaks, water pump leaks and are troublsome to replace, (re costly) inj wire harness, quite a few cam replacements, had lots of oil pan probs with the compsite pans but that went away, constant prob with emissions, EGR, delta P valves and like the Mack had lots of them put oil in water, (cooler) or fuel in water, (inj. pots)

Cats not too bad but thats b/c Ryder didnt buy all that many. The C13 (Ithink it was) was junk with two turbos, intake valve acuaters, jake brakes, exhaust leaks, cracked heads, fuel in coolant probs. oil usage Cat would o/h but still used lots of oil. Had some C12s throw rods out left side of block and a few cam replacements other than that they did pretty well, but as I said they didnt have many.

Good info!! Thanks.

Bill

bcr466 wrote:On the Macks, we (Ryder) had problems with the rocker arm jam nuts coming loose,,turbos self destruction, water pumps, ECM problems,almost all had to replace camshaft, the pumps, (as mack calls them) look like 6 injectors on right side of engine were notorious for leaking although not that bad to repair unless it broke one of the bolts off in the block, need to carry a spare fuel return line, (special size), oil cooler problems, puts oil into coolant, other than that just normal truck stuff. Unless, it is a later model then the emissions system is very problematic. Costly to work on partswise, and having to deal with arrogant Mack-Volvo dealers to get parts is a pita. The trucks drove good, rode good and were as quiet and even quieter than most other brands.

Do you know about how many miles when these issues happened? The Mack I have been looking at has about 800,000 miles on it. I am wondering if most of these issues would have been taken care of by now???

Thanks!!
Bill

Most had ocurred from 80000 to 400000 on engine other than electrical. Emissions junk from day one till they were out serviced and even after that. Ryder has a warranty period on their used trucks with an extended warranty avalible. So, there were some that we repaired long after they were sold.

bcr466 wrote:Most had ocurred from 80000 to 400000 on engine other than electrical. Emissions junk from day one till they were out serviced and even after that. Ryder has a warranty period on their used trucks with an extended warranty avalible. So, there were some that we repaired long after they were sold.

That's good, thanks!! I will not even consider an emissions engine, where I worked before had lots of problems with the E engines.

Bill