Ezrider

if your willing to hunt for a deal there defiantly out there. my current pickup i bought at 7-8 years old with almost 100k on it had been owned by a crane, rigging company sense new always dealer maintained. never been chipped. not the most highly optioned truck but had the necessity pw/dl cruse air power mirrors cloth seats carpet ect. was a 1 ton long bed extended cab witch is what i was looking for. wasn't the prettiest truck when i bought it tail gate was missing had a dent in the side. interior was dirty had a slight missfire. paid under 7k for it. brought it home cleaned it up fixed the dent painted the bedside and a new tailgate myself. put a couple new injectors in it cleaned it up and its pretty nice now its been a good truck. only problems iv had with it was egr valve sticking and the other was my own fault. filled it with #2 in the winter time without checking the weather report was -30 the next morning and i gelled it up witch in turn took out a couple more fuel injectors. all the work done on it was done myself so to date still have way less than 10k in it. so 50k less than a equivalent new truck. and i have no concerns driving it across the country tomorrow if i need to. 

i have the original window sticker for it id have to pull it out to remember exactly what the original window sticker price was, but probably somewhere in the 40-50k range new equivalent now would be even higher. but its safe to say it deprecated more than 30k in 7 years granted the truck was worth more than i paid for it especially after i fixed a couple things that would scare most buyers away. but even 20k in deprecation is a lot. 

Truck i had before than was a 01 gmc 2500hd i bought it at about 7 years old with about 70k miles on it. paid i think around 13k for it sold it for 10k 7 years later so i only paid 3k in depreciation for 7 years of trouble free of use. (only repairs were breaks coupe sets of tires tires, regular fluid changes, i think one rear wheel seal and both front wheel bearings)

Truck before than i was a 97 f350 i only owned it about 2.5 years but i was using the truck very heavily at the time and put over 190k miles on it. purchased it at just over 100k sold it with over 300k don't remember the exact details on purchase and selling prices anymore but when i sold it 7.3's were a pretty hot ticket truck. i remember getting a pretty good price for it even though it had 300k on the clock.  i don't think i lost more than a couple grand on that one either.

the wife's car we almost gave in and bought new, someone ran into her and totaled her old car so we needed to find something fairly quickly and were not really finding what we were looking for used. then finally came across a 3 year old nissan altima with all the options with only 8k miles on it owned by a elderly woman, she didn't drive much anymore so it sat in the garage most of the time and her husband would drive in his car whenever they went somewhere witch is why they decided to sell the car.  she was only asking about 3k less than new price. i made cash a take it or leave it offer of 6k off new price and said you can deal with tire kickers for the next 3 months or have it sold today. she called me the next morning and took my offer. witch also goes to show just cause someone is listing something at almost new price does not mean that's what it sells for.

so my last 7 year old truck i bought deprecated 3k dollars over my 7 year of ownership. that Nissan altima deprecated 6k over 3 years.  

i don't put much annual millage on any of my cars/trucks anymore. wife works, but only about 6 blocks from the house, so she walks unless she is going to do errands after work or during lunch. she only drives about 2500 miles per year. my pickup will get 7-15k depending on how many long trips it takes. i drive other cars as well plus when im gone in the big truck its not being driven. so at that low of annual millage who really cares about fuel economy. iv tried having half tons as my main vehicle, and i am never happy. towing ratings on vehicles are inflated above what they should be parts wear out faster i don't plan to ever buy a half ton for myself again. 

with her car we almost went new this time with her low annual millage we are planning on at least a 15 year ownership. so we wanted to get exactly what she wanted. we wanted something that would last at least another 15 years, under 50k miles, with all the right options ect. and we needed to find it within a few weeks of shopping. this is a case where. new almost makes sense. 

if you are someone that want's to always have a new car every 3 years and your millage usage falls within lease requirements leasing is really not a bad way to go. but that's a lot of cash for the use of a new vehicle. but if your going to get a new car every 3-4 years anyway its going to cost you just as much in depreciation. 

10 years old is nothing now days, iv taken 1200 mile trips in vehicles 3 times older, check it over good do some preventative maintenance and hit the road. my pickup is 10 years old now, i made a 1300 mile trip in it this winter.  most modern cars you can pretty well count on 250k+ miles with just routine maintenance and upkeep assuming there not abused. 

i sold one of my spare pickups this last winter had 350k on the clock 1993 6.5L turbo 5 speed still ran and drove great. 

i do try to keep my primary pickup that's going to see most of my towing dutys less than 15 years old and under 250k miles. but no reason to have to go bran new either.

you can buy something 5-10 years old for 50-25% of its original purchase price. that buys a lot of fuel. just sayin. 

$60,000 new pickup buy it used in 8 years for 25,000 savings = $35,000 

$35,000 = about 13,500 gallons of diesel fuel

lets say the truck get 15mpg i get free fuel for 201k miles, ok ok so i got to do a couple repairs on it i woulden't on a new truck 150k miles of free fuel

typically at my house, the newest most expensive vehicle is the wife's car, somthing new reliable won't brake down while im away working, its a new nissan altima i think has around 13k miles right now. second most expensive vehicle will be my primary vehicle witch is always a 1 ton or 3/4 ton pickup right now its 2006 a srw f350 diesel 115k on the clock. then ill typically have a secondary witch will just be a beater car. then i have a service pickup and a couple play cars.

but typically the newest most expensive ones will be her car followed by my pickup. i need to have a pickup that is good enough to hook up a big trailer and drive wherever whenever in any weather. and that is the vehicle ill use as my primary transportation, when im home i'm always running somewhere picking up parts or hauling tree branches hauling supply's for a project, a half ton would work for 90% of my use but the other 10% requires atleast a 3/4 ton. 99% of the time ill have a beater economy car ill use for some of the running around. long trips without a trailer we take the wifes car seems like were pulling a trailer on 90% of our long trips though.

service truck isn't really suited for normal pickup duty's carry's a lot of tools around and its heavy 10k lbs is its every day weight. its a gas engine too so it has its tongue hanging out even with a smallish 4-5k lb trailer behind it. but whenever you have work to do on something somewhere other than at the shop it the best thing sense sliced bread.

i guess a long story to say yeah my daily driver is a 1 ton pickup so sue me....lol yeah i could daily drive a half ton or even a ranger for much of my use but that would mean having yet another vehicle. my 1 ton does everything and i already have a small fleet of vehicles, i have to think about it to tell you how many i have at the moment but at least 5-6 running driving registered vehicles + a few more. 

old trucks do require more attention, and a good operator with some mechanical aptitude. it does not fit in ups's business model does not mean its not profitable, let alone there drivers would piss and moan. although if i'm not mistaken ups retains there trucks longer than the average large fleet. 

On 6/19/2017 at 11:34 AM, Dirtymilkman said:

Honestly, if you want a paccar you better buy one soon. Most guys I talk to with the new cabs hate them. Dash rattles, tons of electrical gremlins, cheap materialsand so on. My buddy has pieces of cardboard crammed in spaces all over the cab to help alleviate the squeaks and rattles. He also said, even with the vin number he can't get the right parts. There may be 2 or 3 or more choices and they don't know which one it is unless you have the part there. 

I really think if I didn't go Mack it'll be Western Star. 

I drove a 2013 pete for a min in 2012 truck had less than 5k miles on it and it already had some squeak and rattles, i agree paccar build quality has really gone down.

I do really like how the new ch's look but i think if i were to get another truck i think a 15L engine would be a requirement, im happy with the power running down the highway with my e7-460 but engine break leaves a lot to be desired and off idle tq like for getting it moving crawling out of soft ground at 100k+ i am always greater than 80k when loaded. i really don't plan on getting another truck for at least 5 years and who knows what will be offered at that time, i might even decide its time to hang it up and do something different by then. i would probably be looking at gliders if they are still offered by then. with the e-logs iv thought of getting a 99 - truck before December but everything out there im seeing looks pretty used up just put 14k into a new cam/lifters/rockers ect in this truck so i guess ill just deal with e-logs.

Now if it was possible to get a n-14/3406e,6nz shoved in a new CH I'd be drooling. 

the gear lash can affect the actual position of the cam relative to the crank if not rotated in the direction the engine normally spins. 

I hate to say it but as much as I really like my Mack, if i buy another truck, it will probably be a Paccar. I plan to keep my Mack for a long time yet though. 

no it probably would not have developed within a couple months, but once its in the system it can take a while to get rid of. with the line from the filters to the pump replaced im not sure where or how you would be getting anything past the filters, so i guess im stumped. you could put some biocide in the tanks and run it a while if it was algae it should clean it up. after a few tank fulls treated with the biocide. 

i don't see any problem with that. 

black and sitting my first thought is algae second thought is the fuel line internally de-laminating but it would probably be larger flecks where algae would be more of a black slime. 

sounds like you still got somthing plugged up in the idle jet or maybe float bowl level set to low?

that would make sense, i suppose i had not checked that, will take a peek at that when i get my truck back from having the camshaft replaced. i had run a additional ground wire that solved my charging issue, but i would like to know where the original problem was

i have seen broken mounts and cracked axles none as severe as pictured they did not actually come apart. most that i have seen cracked were after worn kingpins/bushings or stabilizer shocks possibly combined with poor alignment caused them to go into a violent shake going down the road, or drivers backing up with the lift axle down

not good

a little bit of a update, tech has looked at it no real diagnosis yet, i checked on the status of oil sample i sent in when i first started having jake/oil psi issues there working on the sample now they said no results yet, but particle count is low so they don't expect to see a bunch of bearing material but they should have the oil sample completed in the next couple hours and will call me with the results.  

That truck is ugly as sin.

im thinking its not electrical, im thinking that was coincidence, it came back that one time, and it seemed to run ok i stopped for the night and then was ok till the first time i shut the truck off the next day then its been running like dog sh*t ever since, plus with the lack of oil flow from the front jake is making me lean mechanical. both jakes will sometimes still work when the oil is still cold. i think the front cam bearing went out personally. but i dropped it off at Mack this afternoon has a appointment for tomorrow i guess we will find out what they have to say 

wow, way to be a jerk and spoil your day, at least you got a clean inspection out of the deal. i thought for sure i was going to get nailed the other day, coming down a short downhill immediately followed by a uphill grade, i let er roll a little bit right at the bottom of the hill as i met him i realized the pickup i thought was a construction pickup was a cop. looked at my speed-o was at 75 in a 62, saw his break lights come on was surprised he didn't turn around. 

i also hear ya on the truck just a little too new, mine is a 99 build date 2000 m-y not exempt, had i known about the elog mandate when i bought the truck i would have gotten a 99 instead. at the time i was just focused on getting pre-egr. i would buy a different truck now but i have a lot put into this one already. i guess we will try the e-logs for a little bit and if it doesn't work out get out or buy a older truck. part of the year i do short haul work that wont be affected either way but the other part of the year i have no way around e-logs without a different truck. 

this might not help you but i have a 2000 cx i assume the same plastic pressure/catch tank setup. basically 2 half circle tanks top pressure bottom catch tank i have a harbor freight test kit and it had a adapter that works on it.  i think it was one of the ones with the two catch arms then you screw the center down to seal it. 

5-40 should be just fine, 5 is the cold rating 40 the hot, been running 5-40 in this truck for 3 years i changed the oil today used 15/40 because i didn't want to spend the money on synthetic oil cause i didn't really think the oil was the problem. i did get a very slight bump in oil psi. with the oil change, full jakes worked a couple of times here and there running empty with cooler oil temps as soon as i got loaded though didn't have both jake breaks for the next 330 miles to where i am at now. 

also my stumble/hesitation seems to be getting worse. and my gauge isn't showing that i am getting normal boost, egt's normal felt like a loss of power but then again it was really windy today as well the wind can have a way of sucking 100 hp out of ya...lol

sent in a oil sample from my oil change. probably wont get the results back for a few days. 

does it sound to you guys like maybe the cam is going bad? just trying to think of what would cause good oil flow to the jakes on one head and not the other as well seems mabye if the same oil passage that feeds the head feeds the cam that would make sense but i really have no idea on this one, im thinking for the first time sense i bought this truck i might have to take it to the mother bulldog to figure this one out. 

well it gets stranger, so i got loaded drove about 160 ish miles from there to where i shut down for the night everything was fine, shut down sleep get up drive another 30 miles to the us border shut the truck off for a few mins and the port take off no jake low oil psi again, ran a total of 400 miles today problem never went away cleaned the connectors didn't help. jumped power to the pass threw you could hear the solenoid click, started the engine idled it up to 1300 rpms jumped power to it nothing, jump to the rear head jakes would work. 

end of the day i pulled the valve covers all my rocker plugs are in place, jumped the solenoids rear jake would shoot oil 3 ft high front oil would just barely trickle out, swapped the solenoids and the problem did not move with them.  

going to try getting the oil changed first thing in the morning and see if that helps, i am due, was planning on changing it this weekend, i am past where i would normally change my oil but should be well within acceptable range, this oil change has just shy of 19k miles and has 460 engine hours. this is on full synthetic 5-40w, i am not really thinking that this is going to help but probably worth a try

i have no idea what could cause oil psi/jakes to have a issue then go away then come back?

ok im going to say a lot of things here some may be related some may not be. 

starting about 2 months ago my truck started barely charging, about 12.8 volts. figured the alt sh*t the bed, drove about an hour up the road got a alternator threw it on still wasn't charging, found i was getting charging volts at the alt but not the gauges or the battery, jumper cable from the alt to the frame no change, from the body of the alt to the battery it started charging after a few hours of cleaning every ground wire i could find without finding the problem, ended up running a heavy gauge wire from where the alternator grounded to the truck frame to the negative lead on the starter, no issues with that for at least a month, following that my starter went bad, changed that still no charging problems

my truck has developed a little bit of a occasional low rpm low throttle position hesitation, it will occasionally stumble a little bit at less than 1/4 throttle at low rpms like when going threw the low gears slowly pulling away from a stop, occasionally i will see a small quick puff of white fuel smoke when it does this, it seems like there might be a slight loss of power when it seems to be running normal but i cant say for sure if there is its probably not much but it seems like maybe a little less power, i was thinking might be time for a new injector unit pump or two, the truck will occasionally throw a injector code on #3 maybe 2-3 times a week it will pop up for 5 mins and then go away. its done this for a long time, without any ill running issues what so ever. also not necessarily any where remotely at the same times that i can tell that the truck is running any different. it will also seem to idle a little rougher than normal from time to time. fuel millage hasn't seemed much different, i am averaging 5.6mpg and i run 96k lbs loaded every load. 

another thing iv noticed is sometimes my boost and oil psi gauges will fluctuate a couple psi with no change in sound/operating condition. like say holding steady rpm and throttle position pulling hill. i have kinda noticed this for a while never put much thought into it

now for the strangest thing its done, today i was dead heading about 150 miles to pick up a shorter load, i lost my first stage of my Jake break oil psi running at least 5-7 psi lower than normal. for givin rpm/oil temp. figured i popped a plug out of the end of the rocker shaft again, being i was already committed to the load and i didn't really have time to stop and pull a valve cover and still make it threw the port of entry into Canada before they closed i just decided i would pick up the load and then check it out later. it is a short mile load any way and would put me in a location with more services available if i needed to try to get anything to fix it. it was also did its new low rpm stumble a few times on the way up empty

get there to load have to wait for another truck ahead of me to load, so i shut the truck off and am poking around pull the pass threw plug off wiggle some wires plug it back in, get loaded take off and everything is normal again oil psi normal jakes working normal, never stumbled once i didn't see anything that looked abnormal or out of place. i can't see how the pass threw connector would change the oil pressure. but it has me wondering if all my problems might come back to a bad ground or a chaffed wire or something, i cleaned every ground i could find when i had the charging problem. but never did get it charging without adding a additional ground cable.

what are your thoughts?