older trucks

[ohio rob]

how old of a truck can you buy without having some problems getting loads because of trucks age?

[boneebone]

It depends if you are leasing to a carrier, they require a truck to be no more than six years old or newer, check with the carrier, some have different or no restrictions. If you are getting your own authority, there is no limit.

[moe]

I have two petes, one is an 84 and the other is an 87 and I ran under my own auth. for over 12 years. I was never once asked about the age of my trucks. I however was turned away from a load because my trailer was over 10 years old. The trailer is in excellent condition but they didn't care about that. They looked at the spec. plate and turned me away. That only happened once though and the broker paid me for truck ordered not used. I am at the present time leased to a company and they don't care about the year. They did a detailed inspection for safety an appearance and my 87 passed.

[ohio rob]

thats good to hear seen lots of older trucks out there in very good shape mechanically ,and looked good. was it G.M plant that turned you away?

[moe]

It was Bowater, they make paper and I guess rather than trust thier people to inspect for holes in the roof or floor they have a year cut -off. I would like to add after seeing your other thread, this is not the best time to go on your own but don't be discouraged. I have owned my own trucks for over thirty years and made better than if I worked for someone else, if you can do your own repair work that would make a huge difference on how old of a truck to buy. Also the type of service the truck will be seeing would dictate how old is to old. When I wanted to buy my first truck there were those who said don't do it and I can't even remember who they were and there was one who said do it and I remember him well.

[Jumbo]

Depends on the maintainence. I have seen some well maintained older trucks and some poorly maintained newer trucks.

[GMAN]

I have never had anyone turn one of my trucks away because of age. I keep my equipment looking pretty good so it is not an issue. Most shippers are more interested in the trailer than your tractor. I did have an issue a while back due to one trailer being older than the shipper would like. It didn't make any sense, but that is their rule. They should be more concerned about the condition rather than the year.

As someone mentioned, there are some carriers who do have age restrictions. The better paying carriers don't care.

[Jackrabbit379]

I see some real nice 359 Petes, pulling cow trailers/hopper bottoms.

[GMAN]

I think that I probably see more of the older Pete's than any other brand. Drivers seem to like the classic look.

[moe]

As I said before I have two 359's. One reason is the parts are interchangeable, even some 379 parts work on 359's and when you go to the dealer for any parts they know what you want with out much ado. Also 359's hold thier value so you don't mind putting money back into them. They are also easy to work on. I get about 6 mpg on my 87 with a 90 cummins stc engine---- not great but the trade off is worth it to me. When I say trade off I mean economicly, parts, labor, etc. I have over two million miles on it and it's still going strong.

[GMAN]

I have known owners over the years who will buy nothing but a Peterbilt. A few only like the KW. There are some parts advantages of the two brands. I have spoken to several mechanics who prefer working on the Pete's due to the easy accessibility of the engine compartment.