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?

if it was immaculately clean and he had a receipt for the recent in frame maybe i`d pay 20k, but I do have a soft spot for 359`s.


i`ve give you 15k sight unseen, although you did say it was really clean already :lol:

Thanks Brian.
No receipt for the last inframe, that occurred while the second owner had it. Rods and mains were done last year by the previous owner, I do have a receipt for that. The previous owner did a good bit of work to it actually.

Rods and mains
new air bags
new air compressor
driveshafts (I'd have to look up the specifics)

He changed the oil every 10,000 as did the first owner. I'd have to get the papers out but theres a few more things he did as well.

Thank you mackman :D

Congrats, what are you going to haul? Are you going to run your authority?

:P :P

Congratulations Rosty...let the fun begin.

love the 359's. how about a pic?

Thank you LOAD IT

Yes, I'll run my own authority. check your pm

Thanks geamon :D

Pics are coming as soon as I get it back from the shop. I'd like to finish buffing it but it's getting cold here now. Maybe I'll get one side finished and give you a profile shot. :D

I told the my mechanic to take his time.........and he is. :D

If you stay local a 24 year old truck will make it
because you can always go home if something breaks
but remember that are parts on the truck that no one can see are
worn out or already broken
1.2 is a lot of miles
and the phrase "in frame" ...............well you get the idea
it may be in "great shape"
but its an old truck
and you have many hand grenades with their pin pulled on an old truck
you have to crawl under and look around constantlly
( on one of my trucks I just stopped looking so I would not have to fix anything)
and you will be constantly replacing stuff
doghouse note well too
you find out that all this $$$ put into the truck does not increase the value
you have to run it x more miles to "get your money back"
which seems like a never ending cycle
(no matter what you paid or put into it,what does the insurance co intend to pay you if is totaled?)


it goes with the old truck territory
I've been through it since 1978


They will know you by your first name at the Peterbilt dealer
good luck
and stop at the Church
and put some Holy Water in the Radiator

Thanks Sonny, yeah I realize it's a old truck. It's a start thats all, if things work out and I can upgrade in a year or so, I'd still like to keep it and maybe get it restored fully. never know one day it might look like this or it could look like this :lol:

Calculate the money in fuel you would save w/ a 7 mpg truck vs a 6 mpg truck. How many miles would it take you to pay the additional costs of buying the 7 mph truck? After you paid the difference it would continue to make you more money than the first. However, if you are seriously into doing a retro thing, this wouldn't apply of course.

as an ex owner of a 3406b
5 mpg is more like it
It will pull down a house though

Congts...when I was buying I did a lot of pricing in March, and you paid very close to auction prices I saw....just curious tho, wouldnt you say you are close to a rebuild time?....if not whats your oild pressure reading, do you use any oil, and whats an oil analysis tell you if your not going to rebuild it soon?

Thanks pepe.
It was overhauled at 500k,1 million, and 1.3 million. Rods and mains were done last year. Oil analysis was normal. I'll let ya know on the oil pressure, I haven't driven it enough to know it without looking.

Wooa nice buy dude with the overhauls...yeah I was wondering with that much power how it was holding together without an overhaul lol, yea missed your earlier post tho that you did state that...yeah only 200k ago...sweet.

This post should be a sticky for buying an old truck. If you keep looking, repairs will be a never ending cycle and not only get to know Mr. Peterbilt by his first name but also all of the local Junkyards. Trucks take bucks and older trucks take even more bucks. I love those old Petes.