Your best buy on a used tractor?

That's like asking someone: "what is going to be your best guess about my next ailment that will put me in the hospital" while looking at nothing more than a picture of someone. There is no way to tell someone what THEIR truck is ABOUT to encounter unless they drive and operate it daily. Even mechanics who get the most information about the truck from it's owner can't see into the future.

 

If the engine was recently washed,beware of repairs needed. Such as oil leaks from front cover or head/valve cover gaskets.
My best buy, my current truck. 99 freightliner fld120, n14 ,15spd. Paid $6,000
A few years ago. It Had 2 years on inframe. It now has 1.8 million total miles.
700,000 on in frame. Replaced heads last year, will do another overhaul soon.
Has some blowby. Runs great. Has normal oil use.
Good luck.

 

My best purchase was my 2nd truck. It was 1986 international with big cam III.
10 speed. I paid 5g. Did routine maintenance. Ran it for 5 years. Liked the vision a driver has sitting above traffic.

 

I was thinking along the lines of an oddsmaker in Vegas. No u can't see the future but their is an average statistic regarding used trucks that can provide probability of whats is likely to come next.I am no expert but my guess on a million mile motor is engine/trans rebuild soon.

 

When starting out.. a truck with 800k - 1 million on the clock can be as good or worse that a truck with 300k -500k for 3 - 4 times the price. Flip a coin.

Look for a good maintenance history. What has already been done and what has not, so you know what to expect might be coming next. Look over every inch.

And even good trucks will break down eventually.

I personally recommend to have cash set aside for a worst case scenario. $30,000 can be spent in the blink of an eye. Thats how much I went through in 2015 in under 2 months covering repairs and personal expenses. Nearly broke me. I learned a valuable lesson. What ever you think is a good nest egg.. double or tripple it and you might still not have enough.

Cash is and always will be king. Expecting to rely on credit can eventually lead to over whelming debt and bury you.

Learn to do as much maintenance and small repairs as you can. The less you have to pay someone else.. the more you can keep in your pocket.

Hurst

 

Was it a 9670? That was one of my dads best money making trucks with a bc4 converted back to air to air like the big cam 3. Someone messed with the fuel and timing so it pulled like a train, only lasted about 300k between inframe's but dirt cheap to rebuild if you do it yourself. Was originally a cpl 838 315hp but pulled better than a 444

 

I just purchased a 06 Century with a 14L Detroit. $8500. It has 1.11 million miles, no inframe. Head was replaced 2 years ago, alternator and starter 6 months ago. This week I'm doing brakes, drums, air compressor, and tires. Burns about a gallon every 10-12k miles. I have oil samples from last 3 years and I just had one done. It is shockingly clean, very slight tin and lead starting to show. I know an inframe will be needed sooner than later but I'm thinking I got a great deal.... (fingers crossed)

 

Sounds like the gods were on your side that day

 

A LS driver posted it on a FB group, it just happened to be in the town my brother lives in, he checked it out briefly for me, the guy emailed me the oil samples, and I got him 8500 bucks as quick as I could....

 

while your at I'd do shocks and bags all in one shot if they haven't been replaced recently. If my dad couldn't find an older Mack he was gonna look for a hood with a 60 series. He paid 22k for the 1993 CH in my avatar. 790k with a rebuilt trans. Put new rubber, shocks & bags, and a Blixxton plug and play programmer. The 2 previous owners took very good care of her and low miles for being 23 years old

 

Actually, 3 of the bags had been somewhat recently replaced by the look of them, and the 4th one had a small leak so I got it done. I was considering doing the shocks, but trying to keep some cash in reserve for a catastrophe.