USED APU: Worth The Investment??

Get a generator and a portable A/C or heater for the winter. Will cover you most of the times you need it. Much cheaper, and very little in terms of labor mounting it on your truck. Only way I'd get an APU is if I bought a new truck and it came like that from the dealer.

 

I would shy away from a used APU unless it came with a truck. Mine has over 10 thousand hours on it which is the warranty length. I dont even go two weeks without something going wrong.

As for best brand , there are differences. People might like the TK the best because it is quiet , but I prefer the carrier because it uses the coolant from the truck and keeps it warm. Truck starts right up like nothing in winter and puts out immediate heat.

 

TK does the same

 

I tried a used Comfort Master and it was such a waste of money. Worked good for approx. 6 months, then one problem after another and Manufacture wouldn't sell us parts because we wasn't the orginal purchaser.
I've seen other guys very happy with cheap gas generator on back.
Now I have a ornan genator with overhead RV airconditioner. Works great

 

bought my truck with a TK TriPac on it. Pretty much became a major selling point for me. I wouldn't look at a truck without one anymore.

Every hour that truck has never idled (8000 hours on my tripac) is equal to 50 miles driven that isn't idled on the truck engine. That's a lot of wear and tear all things considering.

If the main engine uses a gallon an hour to idle. That 8000 gallons of fuel would have cost you how much? Well over $24,000.

My tripac monitors the batteries and keeps them charged. Uses the engine coolant to keep it cooled and has the arctic option for keeping the main engine above 120 degree. and a bunk heater to keep me warm and an A/C unit as well.

The actual engine is really a Kubota 2 cyl diesel engine so go figure what that's really worth.

My company truck had a Tri-Pac on it and that was relatively issue free. Nothing major on it. Just minor things. I bought a spare Arctic switch to keep in the truck as it seems to be a common issue on the fleet I drove for.

 

If your going with a used unit, check how many hours on the unit, I wouldnt buy one with tons of hours on it, Ask for a sample of oil, and have it tested (before you get sample, start the unit and let it run for a little whie first), I personally, would buy new, Even if you decide to buy a different truck later on, ytou can have the unit transfered to the new truck

 

Use a APU once in a dead ### summer heat and then reconsider if its worth it. I run nothing but SE through all this heat down here and I wake up freezing my ### off even during the day. Our company is putting TK units on all our new trucks and I think it's something every company should do. Ultimate driver comfort. I can run all my electronics off the inverter and never worry about a dead battery.

 

If you can diagnose and repair it on your own and you get one cheap there's no reason not to buy a good used one. You should probably be skilled enough to convert it's operation away from proprietary computer control devices since replacing these could run into some $$. Just convert everything to manual operation.
If you are the type who runs to a mechanic every problem you'll prably have a lot of down time hanging out at garages.

My $500 Briggs and Stratton is still going strong after 4 years. Only replaced the $40 magneto thingy once. Had some gasahol water problems but that's the federal government's fault for forcing corn liquor into our gas pumps. Just drain all the gas into the parking lot and buy fresh gas.