Originally Posted by Jumbo

I haven't heard anything bad from the couple drivers I have talked to. I have a question though. USF trucks, as well as some other LTL companies have some pretty ratty looking trucks and trailers. Are they on a longer trade term then most companies, or are they really well maintained and the bodies don't last as long as the drivetrains. Is that how they are able to pay so well, by saving money on equipment and just spending it on maintainence.

The road units are usually pretty good because they want those trucks hitting the breakbulks/terminals on-time. If a road driver is late, he can hold up alot of people who need that freight in his wagon. And since everyone's on the clock in LTL...well just do the math. It's the city guys that get the museum pieces. Reason being is that if a city tractor goes down, you can send out a another driver from the terminal in a spare unit to repower the load and keep peddling.

I run a 1999 day-cab Volvo with 949,000 miles on it. The door doesn't shut properly, lights on the dash flicker on and off for no reason, and the traction control is shot to hell. In the past two months, the radiator's gone out. Then the starter died. And last week one of the brake cans took a dive.

But like Aaron Tippen sang "there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio." I really like my truck cause it's a single-screw and I can whip that trailer into some god-awful tight places. And blindsiding is a dream without that sleeper in the back blocking my view. Yep, single-stack with a window in the back is the only way to go.

[Ian Williams]

When you only spend 6-8 hrs a day in it equipment quality goes down the list of what you look for in a company.

At my barn our oldest equipment is a is a 15+ yr old FLD120 that is used for nothing but linehaul day & night. Most of the mechanicals have been replaced at one point or another, it has something like 1.4m mi on it.

Our worst city tractor is a 1998 Sterling day cab with a 6 sp syncro transmission and noooooo power. It will do 50 on the freeway with an empty pup and a strong tailwind. Real fun when pulling 40k lbs of newsprint back to the barn 0...50 sometime this decade.

I've actually had more breakdowns in our newer Sterlings that our old rusty n' trusty Ford L9000s and FLDs.

[Smooth]

Yeah I can't stand Sterlings , I wait for an old junky Volvo to come open before I take a sterling , they are the worst ever .