What is the Ideal Peterbilt for a wanna-be O/O

You don't drink the kool-aid? Lol

 

If you can stand a pete and live inside of it months at a time, go for it.

13 speed at 500 horse would be good. Torque 1500 or higher if you can get it. That way you can run anything inside the USA without being the dead man on the right shoulder uphill or burning brakes with a bad jake downgrade.

You buy a truck you are committing yourself to a few years cracking the bank nut. The best truck is one that is paid off outright. I hate to say it, but you will be looking at tires, fuel, permits, maintaince etc. All of that to the truck first after the bank payment, then pallets, trailer etc. Before any of that income goes to you and your family if any.

I love the petes. But myself Im not too picky except for international for a variety of reasons. KW was a great success with me also. And Freightliner too. East coast is Mack. Some of the roads would just tear you up. But I am led to understand PA in particular are putting no truck signs everywhere we used to go. So piss on them.

A Pete or a KW will do you well. The KW offers you a quieter and more spacious cab with that nose and air shield above your double studio sleeper. A pete is easy to get into for fixing. But you might want to put charcoal paint matte on top of that shaker hood to stop the sun from burning you out.

In bad winter weather, the KW does a little better than Pete because it's a little smoother and not too much for the snow and ice to accumulate. The Pete offers a simpler evaluation of how you are doing by how much ice and snow is hanging off you.

I suspect you like the Pete. Go get it. But remember it's a living, a business. Not a hobby. Hate to burst you a little bit. I suppose when you have paid it off and moving on to other trucks you can mark that pete not for hire and take it to the show boat circuit.

 

You'll need to inquire with the department of admissions for that.

 

I would go w/mid 80s 359.....w/a b mechanical 4&1/4.....& a 6x4 behind it......course ya might need someone to teach ya how to drive it&we ain't cheap....lol
Seriously though.....youre new.....in this day&age low rates...elogs....mucho bs.....bout the only thing you CAN control are YOUR operating costs&large cars ain't cheap or efficient....and.most u see aren't run by newbie's.......really need to be realistic on what u can afford&make a living with......good luck

 

If you buy it, you gotta feed it. Fuel credit or accounts everywhere you go. Then pallets, they were 8 dollar per back east and twice that west. (Cotton wood trees don't do pallets) I might have revealed my age with those prices, they are probably 20 east and 50 west lol...

OSD, you need to draw up a way to dispose of it if you don't intend to bring it home and store it in your own cooler paying 1000 a month in electricity while eating or selling it.

You will want a base, parking? Garage to work it? Several shops around the area you run? Something breaks... you are going to find someone to hopefully fix it for money. Did you put a percentage of that money away?

Emissions is something the Nation is going to fall on it's sword someday, TIII into a era of T4. I don't know what's beyond T4. (Tier 4) You can build a can about yea long, this wide fill it with paper filters stuff it on the exahust of the desiel, wait until it blackens and fills completely, dispose of filters in a landfill and you just threw away 95% of all Particulates in a desiel without the smell. But how many filters are you gonna need to cross the USA one time?

I prefer air breathing engine. None of that computer telling me Im a little short on fluid or perhaps a little hot on spotted wolf going towards a even hotter yuma. But the reality is that the #### computer is in us all.

If you own the truck outright or no one else can tell you what to do with it, you have the ability to buy a laptop, mechanic software for it and literally do what you want with that engine. You will have hundreds of things to play with.

Qualcomm. You want someone in the home base to be on the other end of it. I think it's a few thousand to install and then more each month to feed it. Get your own GPS laptop already. And extract physical addresses from your shippers and recievers. No more voice calls from air head women saying drive to the first baptist church and then turn left...

I did that once. there was THREE firsts baptists and TWO possible lefts. Jesus... I backed up two miles to a firehall and asked which one. Ugh.

 

I have owned 2 Peterbilts in my life. Both bought new.
Only trucks I've owned. 379' s.
Go with 2007 or older. Preferably 2003 or older to avoid egr.
Check the engine to make sure it doesn't have egr. Some 2003 have egr. Some don't.
Cat C-15 6nz serial number is what you want if you go Cat.
Or a Cummins non-egr.
The Cat Accert that came later might be ok . But fuel economy is the drawback. Seemed dependable though.
Under no circumstances buy a Cat with a dpf. Commit suicide first and spare yourself the suffering .
My two Peterbilts were good.
I still have my 2003 with a C-15. 550 horse . 1850 torque. 18 speed. 1.1 million miles. Been parked for 4 years. I was taking care of my elderly parents.
I would run it to California tomorrow.
Don't let age of the truck scare you if it is in good shape.
I was looking at a truck paper the other day. Prices are looking good.
If you own a big hood ( real truck ) you can't run fast because you will burn fuel.
And maneuvering is tougher.
Or you can drive a plastic truck like those wannabes.
Be a real trucker !!!!!
Plus, big hoods have room under the hood. Easier maintenance, etc.
Peterbilts been very good to me.

 

yes it's already mandatory.. Deadline is 2017 but the law is already there, they will start ticketing you (collecting that revenue) in december of 2017.