International 9900
 

Any coments on this truck?

Have a good frend looking at one. It's a 2003 9900, ISX Cummins 475HP, 18spd, Jake, 18frt, 46rear, 300,000mi $61,000.

I drove a 9900ix eagle lowboy a couple times it had a 475 cat 8LL really really nice truck. One of my fav. trucks.. It was doubled framed heavy haul tractor. When he order this truck money was not a problem as you can tell he paints all his trucks and equipment. All round i really like this truck and if i where going to buy a truck a 9900 would be right up there.
http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1...63615pmyp0.jpg

Re: International 9900
 

Reminds me a lot of the old 4300 Transtar.

people either love em or hate em it seems when it comes to internationals, i`ve only driven two when I was younger doing local work, they were both clpped out pieces of crap but they never died.

i`m actually interested in hearing more opinions because theres a wrecked 06 i`d like to pick up.

When I first started driving I was given a International. I had 2 more after that one. I currently own a 9400 Eagle. It has been a good truck. I would buy another one if I decided to trade and found a good deal. They are tough trucks. The great thing about International is that you can get more for your money, when buying used, than some of the other brands. I wasn't looking for an International when I found this one. At the time, I figured that I would probably buy another Peterbilt. I found it at a local dealer and got a very good deal on it. They were selling it for a guy who bought it new and wanted to retire. After driving it for several years, I am glad I bought it rather than a Pete. It has more room in the sleeper and does much better on fuel mileage. I have replaced both rears. So far that is the only major expense. I have over 800,000 miles on it and it is still running strong. I feel that I could get at least 1MM miles before an over haul. I may just see if I can do that. I have gotten my money out of this truck many times over. If I scrapped it tomorrow, I would not have lost anything. The only thing I am having a problem with right now is that I am losing water and can't seem to find out where it is coming from. I may have a head gasket leaking. I have redone the radiator recently. The tank was busted.

GMAN, what type of engine does the International have?

I agree with G, (2 pts for rhyming :D ), you can get some really good deals on Internationals.

Here's what I'm finding a lot of though,and this concerns me. Internationals with Detroit engines, with 6 or 700,000 miles on them. I read where most Detroits need inframed at 700,000. So I guess these guys (companies) are dumping them at around those miles to avoid the cost of an inframe?

Obviously a thorough check of the truck should reveal a engine close to needing major work but if those thorough checks are on your dime you want to limit the amount of trucks you check out.

RostyC, I have a CAT in this one. Starting out all of my trucks had Detroits. Most of the Internationals I have looked at seem to have Cummins. I suppose they are good engines, but I prefer CAT. At least I do until something needs to be replaced. :P I have never owned a Cummins, although I have driven them. I have only owned Detroit and CAT.

I spoke to a local Detroit distributor several years ago. He told me that the average rebuild was at around 750,000 miles for the series 60. I have met some owner operators who have gone beyond the 1 million mile mark, but most probably won't go that long before needing a rebuild. That doesn't mean that a truck with 700,000 miles is ready for an in-frame. I would have a dyno and oil analysis. That will tell you more about what is going on with the engine than anything else you could do. And if you find a truck you are interested, you can take the serial number from the engine and take it to any Detroit dealer and they can tell you any work that may have been done at a certified dealer or repair facility. A lot of engines could have been rebuilt at an earlier time. They could also have had bearings replaced. It isn't that expensive to replace bearings. I have known of some owner operators who replace bearings at certain intervals so they don't have to worry about engine failures.

Excellent, thank you Gman. That way you look at many trucks before spending the money for dyno, oil analysis and the like.

You are welcome, RostyC. If someone wants to sell a truck, they should have any receipts for what was done. If a non-certified engine shop did the work, it might not be on the manufacturer's system, but it could still have been a good job. Still, I would want to see the receipts. If I liked everything else about the truck, then I would probably do the dyno and oil analysis before buying the truck. I would not do the dyno or oil analysis until I was ready to buy. It will probably cost somewhere between $200-400. There is no reason to spend that much money on a truck you are not certain you will buy. I am usually more cautious about fleet trucks than those coming from an owner operator. Some fleets don't perform maintenance as they should. On the other hand, if an owner operator was in trouble he might not have done proper maintenance, either. You can usually tell whether a truck has been taken care of just by it's appearance. But, I would not rely totally on appearances.

Yes, this is going to be a long process, since I'm in no hurry I can be as picky as I want or need to be. Basically, I'm looking at a ceiling of 25,000.00 for a truck. I think it's doable, just need patience is all.

I'm thinking that I should stick with a Detroit or a Cummins to start, that way even after all the test have been done and something still goes wrong either of those two engines would be cheaper to fix than a Cat. Especially if it's in the first year of operation, it would be a smaller business expense. What do you think?