Our adventure begins...
 

Well, we finally did it...we bought OUR truck!! :D We go and pick her up tomorrow at the Kenworth dealer here in Tulsa. Our salesman was GREAT and worked a few wonders for us. His name is Frank and he is top notch.

Our new girl is a 2000 freightliner Classic XL. She is a one owner truck and was NEVER a company truck. She has 200,000 on her engine and tranmission rebuild. She has an N14 Cummins 550 HP in her. She is a 13 speed. She has new everything and the paperwork and phone numbers to the places where the work was done and i checked it all aout. The previous owner is really cool too and he took really good care of her.

We have to keep her for at least 2 years then we can get a newer truck or keep her. Depends on how attached DH becomes to her. He HATES changing trucks!! The Arrow truck is about empty and is going back to Arrow tomorrow morning.

Anyway our adventure begings tomorrow afternoon we head off to OKC to pick up a trailer for Diamond Transporation and then head up to Racine WI to lease her on. Orientation is for 2.5 days and we should be under a load by Friday.

Diamond is an all O/O company and they do alot of machinery hauling. They have been around many years and are really nice people. I will post more about them after orientation.

I will post pics of the "new" girl when we get her home.

Thanks for all the really good advise yo all have given (especially GMAN ) You guy and gals are a great group!!

I will post more in a few days.

tootie

Good for you! :D Who are you leasing on to?

congrats and BOL on the new truck Tootie.

would like to know how u do at Diamond, been looking them over!! :)

I will keep you informed...We should be there Wed. morning a 8am :D

We are picking up a trailer for them so we are getting PAID to go up there. We didnt think we would get anything for going up so this was a nice surprise!!

tootie

That is great news, Tootie. I am glad things worked out the way you wanted.

We didnt get to pick up the truck yesterday....some paperwork glitch. I hope we get it straight today. We cant get to WI for tomorrow so we will be at Diamond on Monday.

It is supposed to be 66 here today!! So maybe we can get some work done around the house.

tootie

Just a couple of questions if you don't mind.

What color is it?

And why the heck is it a she? :lol:

We always assumed desperate or delusional sailors started this tradition. After all, they're out to sea for months with nary a woman in sight. However, it turns out "ship as she" may have had more to do with linguistics than a longing for female companionship.

While we don't normally use kid's sites as sources (due mostly to pride), we found a shipshape explanation at BoatFriendlyKids.com. Many romance languages assign a gender to many words. In these languages, the word "ship" is always feminine.

A CNN article offers a few other theories, including that the ancient Greeks may have come up with the custom. Dr. Ronald Hope, a former director of the U.K.'s Maritime Society, seems to think so. But others think the tradition began when goddesses were carved on the bows.

Regardless of how the tradition came to be, the practice is apparently over now. The shipping industry newspaper, Lloyd's List, now officially refers to ships as "it." So much for the romance of the open sea.

Here's some more

LONDON, England -- Ships are to lose their sex, to the consternation of sailors and historians alike.

The world shipping industry's newspaper, Lloyd's List, has decided that from now on ships will lose their femininity and will be referred to as "it," not "she."

"We see it as a reflection of the modern business of shipping," Julian Bray, the paper's editor, told the Financial Times on Wednesday.

"Ultimately they are commodities...not things that have characters."

It is not known how the habit of treating ships as feminine began though it is a custom used mainly in English dominated countries.

Some believe it originates from the time ships would be dedicated to a goddess whose figure was carved on the bow.

Although women were considered to bring bad luck at sea, mariners always use the pronoun "she" when referring to their ships.

Whether its proper name is masculine, or whether it is a man o'war, a battleship, or a nuclear submarine, a ship is always referred to as "she."

One explanation is that a ship was nearer and dearer to the sailor than anyone except his mother. Vessels are also know to have "sister" ships.

The U.S. Naval Historical Center Web site says it is customary to classify things as feminine "especially those things which are dear to us."

Author Dr. Ronald Hope says the tradition of referring to sailing vessels as "she" dates back to the days of Ancient Greece.

Hope, 80, a former director of the UK-based Maritime Society, told CNN: "Ships have been 'she' since Greek times.

"Even as recently as the 19th century most of the sea shanties referred to then as 'she' and I recall in my youth ships owners always telling stories about why a ship was like a woman. "It's a shame that it is being changed. Ships are mostly very individual and 'it' seems a bit impersonal."

Peter Goodwin, curator of HMS Victory at Portsmouth, on England's south coast, said: "It's a terrible idea.

"No ship is exactly the same and all of them have their own characteristics. You ask any sailor and they will tell you that you care for a ship, you tend to their needs and sometimes they play you up. But they are never an 'it'."

Pieter van der Merwe, general editor at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, told the FT: "Culture is a question of continuing tradition and one should preserve those inexplicable quirks.

"It's not just a sentimental thing; you lose a level of understanding unless you understand the language of the time you're talking of."

That's all from the source, of course.
Duly acknowledged as such.

now... you kin give yer truck a sex change iffen ya want.....jest be sure to post the all details in the Truck Maintenance Forum where evryone can see...

All the trucks we have driven have been "she" one reason is their unpredictable personalities!! ( this truck is having PMS right now and is currently in the shop) Something with the trasmission....it was rebuilt but it does not want to go into the two gears farthest to the right in the hogh and low side. I am just glad it was caught BEFORE it left the dealer lot!!

She is a dark purple or plum color with silver fenders. She will have to do for 2 years.... :)

I really like the space in the classic over the KW!! But I like the look of the W900 better!!

Hopefully we will be on the road Friday...headed to the FROZEN tundra!! :?

tootie

Well the verdict on the transmission is...shift forks. It needs shift forks so she should be ready tonight or in the morning. we are going to leave tomorrow afternoon.

It is such a GREAT feeling to know you are in your OWN truck. DH has wanted this for so long and now the dream has came true. He is chomping at the bit to leave....he cant sit still for to long he goes stir crazy!!

Will update tomorrow.

tootie

Ya know tootie, sometimes those "SHE" trucks are a little reluctant to get into those high gears. Have you tried a box of wine?

No wine :) , but two new forks in the tranny and she is like new.
We brought her home just a few min ago. DH says she is much better now.

We leave in the morning for Hutchinson KS to pick up a trailer for Diamond and then off to Racine. We should be in Racine sunday afternoon. 8)

tootie

anyword on those pics? I want to see the new truck inside and out!

No pics yet...I am going to take them today. I guess load them on photobucket and then post here??

We picked up the trailer in Hutchinson last evening and we are on our way to racine now.

We spent our first night in the truck last night. We shut the truck down and got under lots of blankets. DH and I and two minpins....we stayed warm!! When we woke up at 5AM I could see my breath in the truck!! I think it was about 10 degrees outside this morning!! DH started the truck and it didnt take long to warm up.

We have been so used to the 07 truck that we didnt think to treat the fuel. Do you need to treat the fuel in the 2000 trucks?? We put some in to be safe but that stuff is EXPENSIVE.

We cant get the sat radio to work....keeps searching for signal. We have the mouse out on a little piece of metal on the mirror. I am thinking maybe we need the mushroom antenna. The little mouse worked fine on the KW but it was a mid roof, this truck is a condo.

Well that is all for now...drive safe everyone!! :D

tootie

Get the mushroom for the Sat. radio. The little ones have a hard time trying to get signal in a condo.

Here are some pics.....I hope...

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...ewtruck001.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c4...ewtruck003.jpg


tootie

How do you like the Freightliner pulling your flatbed?

It pulls just fine so far. This truck was a one-owner truck and he ordered it specially to pull. You dont even know the trailer is back there. We will be mostly pulling stepdecks and double drops with it.

tootie

quote]...pulling stepdecks and double drops with it[/quote]
Your own trailers or have you leased on with someone?

Ooooh, good lookin' truck! I do kind of like the FL Classics. BOL!

Leased to Diamond I think rank.

Yep, we are going to lease to Diamond for a while. We are going to get a trailer ASAP. We want a stepdeck but need to save up money again. Our goal is to be on our own this time next year. :D

tootie

trying placing your "mouse" satelite radio attenna right above your door on that flat surface. It seems to work well there

Tootie, a couple of questions if you don't mind? how long did you lease for Arrow, and were you able to save money for your truck by leasing? Thanks

We leased for about 2.5 years (not the same truck)

Yes we saved some money BUT we got lucky and got a few weeks of AWESOME miles 3000+ and he ran his ars off. We paid everything up ahead for 1 month and the finance company worked with our down payment. PM me and I'll give you the info on our salesman if ya want.

Our first 3 payments are an extra 500.00 a month to finish off the down payment. We have decided if we can make extra 500.00 per month payments then we will just keep paying extra and get the truck paid off sooner. 8)

tootie

I am back at the room for a few hours. My husband is still over at Diamond.

So far Diamond is OK!! They are VERY nice people over there. The trucks went to the shop first thing this morning for inspection and ramps and blinky lights.

We did paperwork and watched videos. We will be pulling an RGN trailer. It is new to me but not to Bo he has hauled on these before but they just need to make sure you know what you are doing. They offer Direct deposit or comdata pay. They offer trip pack at a cost of 25.00 month. They pay 65% pulling their trailer. Free baseplate IF you haul over 25,000 per quarter which should not be a problem.

They have been slow too in Jan, but we already understand that is just part of trucking.

They put you in the microtel hotel which is right arond the corner from the offices. Nice hotel (hottub is great)

I will know more tomorrow, but i do know we can search for our own freight if we want, like if your in a slow area you can look for your own load to get ya out.

will post more tomorrow.

tootie

Up early this morning....it is STLL snowing here. They say the skys are clear just west of us and it appears to have stopped in Chicago.

DH (Dear Husband )met with the President and owners of Diamond yesterday. They have a true open door policy. Almost everyone we have met has been there 10+ years. Drivers are HAPPY. Some drivers have more than 2 trucks on. One guy just put on his 4th truck....A Pete that he paid 80,000 CASH for.

Our DM seems to be a really nice guy and has a sense of humor.

We are supposed to load out to Baltimore today with an oversize load. It goes to the ports. Then we are supposed to pick up for TX for Monday....we will see how the weather cooperates.

Well gotta run for now....more later

tootie

Our 1st trip is 773 miles and 1250 to the truck. That includes the fuel surge. Not bad.

This was a less than 5 mile DH to load and we are preplanned to load out of the baltimore ports friday.

tootie

$1.61 a mile is pretty good! Is that a percentage lease with them? What does that come out to, 70% or better?

Oh sure, and I suppose your tarp fits the load exactly and requires no straps and doesn't flop around like mine....NOT FAIR....I wanna a do over.

It is 65%. We are pulling thier trailer and using their base plate FREE and the fuel surge is .28 per mile right now. We are pulling an RGN trailer.

tootie

NO TARP !! :P :P :P loaded in less than 5 min. We got there the man came out drove the tractor on and we put on 4 chains and GONE!!

tootie :D

I looked at Diamond's Web site, they look like a good outfit. Do they run all over or just the midwest?

They run mainly East of I-35.

Two things to consider, if you make payments above what is on the coupon book, write a seperate check with the notation apply to principle, and make sure your balance reduces accordingly. This will also lower your interest charges. Second where are the pictures of the HAPPY OWNERS standing next to of this fine lookin machine. Don't forget the inside shots too.

Fuel SURCHARGE.

If you can get to Maryland,alot of the interstates are closed in PA right now,I am sitting in the middle of I-80 waiting for penndot to attempt to clear the road,they say it could be Friday afternoon before it is open.

I am in the middle of a 11+ mile backup on westbound I-80 east of I-81