Slowwwly but Surely
 

It’s been kinda stale around here lately, well with Rev and Steve getting along so well :) and it looks like the s**t jokes are done on Mackmans thread, so I thought I might post where I’m at with my quest.

After hanging around here for a couple years and trying to absorb all the useful information, I bought a truck in August. I looked at a lot of trucks for a long time both on truck paper to compare prices and also a lot of truck lots around the MD, PA area. I bought this truck from a private seller who also used it to start up his business. After talking to my mechanic, who I met just prior to going to look at the truck (he was a CAT mechanic for 23 years, now has his own business), and some other knowledgeable people (I won’t mention any names unless it’s ok with them), I decided to buy it.

It’s a 1984 Pete 359 w/ a 63” sleeper
400 Cat 3406 B
18 speed
3:90 rears
1.4 million miles, inframed at 500, 1 mil, 1.3 mil
Paid 21,000.00
It came with the original Owners Chassis Bill of Material, all maintenance records since new, and recent oil analysis. A short gap is missing where the 2nd owner had it. It’s been well taken of by all that had it. I’m always leery of used equipment but the MD inspection went pretty well. Biggest item was the brake drums, all four failed by the width of a hair probably. 16620 is the max, mine were 2@16624, 16648, and 16680. Thought I might need a power steering gear box but it’s just a seal. The rest was minor.

I had my mechanic do a full PM, along with the brake drums, brakes, and some other things. All fluids looked great according to him and he can’t believe how well the truck has been maintained. Other truck owners have come to his shop as well and offer positive comments about the shape of the truck. One of them took it out for a ride and said it felt great. That makes me feel good about the purchase. I don’t have any pics yet, I told the mech I was in no hurry, so it’s still in his shop. I also want to finish buffing it before I take any pics. :wink:

I chose this truck for a few different reasons, in no particular order, first, if this venture doesn’t work out or if does and I upgrade to a newer truck I’ll keep it and fix it up for show, second, if I do need to sell it I should be able to get my purchase price back if I take care of it, third, this was the cleanest truck I looked at, far better than some of the newer Internationals, 2000 year range +/-.

Enough of that, so far I’ve met two pretty good contacts for work, one just recently. He has about 20 trucks that run for him, they (the truck owners)have their own authority. He takes 11%, he has his accounts to get out, then he will get you back. He is willing to help me out getting started, sort of a mentor I guess. He has an extra flatbed that I can use (I’ll rent it, I wouldn’t accept a free ride from any one), I’ll have to buy the securement equipment and tarps for it though. I usually get a pretty good read on people and he seemed genuine. I’m not naïve when it comes to business though; we each get what we need from the other. He also has step deck freight. I like the idea of renting his trailer for a bit because it should allow the truck to earn the money to pay for the trailer, instead of me fronting it all. Also, I can work it when I want, I don’t have to commit to it full time right out the gate. That will allow me to still hold the construction business for a while. I can also stay with the region, 600 mi radius, insurance will be cheaper. I have much more talking to do with this contact but for now it seems good.

The other contact is for local work, this post is getting long so I’ll wait on that.

I’d still like to network a little more and find another one or two good contacts. I’m not going to move the truck till I know I can make money with it.

My long term plans would include finding my own customers and possibly a brokers license so I can offer more service. That’s distant though, the broker part that is.

For those that might say “you bought a truck without any work?” I’ll say this, I’ve never had much success trying it the other way around, be it what ever tool or equipment it might be. In my experience people don’t take you serious unless you can say you’re ready to go. They don’t want to hear your thinking about it. You have to be reasonable of coarse. I wouldn’t have bought a 100,000 dollar truck. This truck allows me to be pickier about where I put it to work. My plans are to wait till spring, hopefully things will start to pick up, maybe some of the guys with high overhead will drop off too.

All expenses are logged and the truck business will have to pay me back with interest.

I’ll open it up for comments, suggestions, criticisms, spellink eroors, and of course punctuation errors;’!?.

Let us know the fuel mileage on that beast.

You might find you'll want to get rid of it sooner then later. The problem with those old trucks is they can be hard to get rid of, especially at todays prices.

Sounds like it should go up the hills fantastic.

Congratulations on the truck, RostyC. Those B model CAT's are real work horses. A friend of mine had a 367 Pete (cabover) that was a real work horse. It did love fuel. The B models are mechanical and not known for their fuel economy. He had it rebuilt and sold it not long after. He still misses it. There are a lot of people who still love the 359 Pete. Good luck. Let us know about your progress.

I'll let you know allan5oh. The previous owner claimed 6 mpg pulling a reefer , my mechanic said that sounded about right for the engine. I was concerned about the rear gear but that can be changed if I want later.

Thanks GMAN, I'll keep you informed on my progress, it's fun putting this together actually. Patience is key so far.

Re: Slowwwly but Surely
 

Doghouse Part 2?

If it made it thru Md inspection it is in really good shape. We have some crazy intense inspections.

Congrats and good luck.

Did this guy happen to have 2 trucks and lived in PA. Off of rt.1 ??? Right at the PA/MD line.

thats not a horrible rear gear if you have tall rubber on it and an 18 speed.


I think ya overpaid no matter how clean it is though.

No.

Well good luck with it. :wink:

Well, I talked to a few people about the price and they thought it was close, it was originally a little higher. I was thinking 20 after I looked at it. He came down some so I came up some.
After I saw it I let it sit there for a while before I made any contact and I watched other 359's and it seemed in line with the others.

I might have over paid some, without seeing the truck what do you think you might have offered?