Looking to start up a one unit company; gotta have a reliable truck. IH seems to have lots of electrical issues, GM seems to be okay but has some tranny issues. Nobody seems to hate the fords, but nobody seems to love them either.
If you were starting over and could only run one truck, what would you choose and why? I know local dealer support is an issue, lets say you had a good dealer close by for whatever truck you want.
Thanks,
Paul
Older International with the DT466 straight 6. Looks like 93 and older are mechanically injected. Avoid the V8 engines, they are an inferior design compared to the I6.
That will get you a truck that is inexpensive to repair and maintain. A paint job and seat refurbish will make it look like a new truck.
Avoid the electronically fuel injected trucks, simple repairs can run into the hundreds of dollars and one bad sensor can leave you dead in the water.
Any medium truck with inline 6 cylnder and 6 speed.gvw at 25995. would be nice but u didnt say what kind of work you are doing.
If you are doing roadside assit work than wheellift with boom and twin winches.I like the Chevrons.
Repo/Impound work than self loader.Dynamic here
Transport/Auction work Flatbed with maybe a two car trailer.Champion beds.
my boss has 3 flatbeds,was internationals,then he started getting away from them and got a ford 650 proloader,and a freightliner,with 1 inter. still,then yesterday he traded the international in as soon as it came back from the shop.it broke down over the weekend.so he fixed it and traded it in for another ford.all new at that,they all have 21 ft beds,and 6cyl. so can haul dam near anything.i myself like the freightliner it has great visibility with the windows,just all around good truck,havent had any major issues with the truck other than fuel filter,etc.the fords have small side windows,sucks but they have remote winchs,and there automatics,the freight is a stick.internationals always have electrical problems,all and all i guess it depends on how big of a truck are you lookin for.
I am going to start by hauling for copart to get some experience and have steady work. I want to begin branching into private customers ater Iget my feet on the ground with the copart gig. Looking at non cdl rollacks like the Ford F650; Chevy 5500-6500; IH 4300 or Freightliner FL60. Really starting to lean towards the ford with a cat or a cummins in front of a 5 or 6 speed stick.
Thanks for everyones input so far...
Paul
man i could list all kinds of problems the fords have,but they are like 54,000,instead of 60000,but get 1 with 21 ft bed,it makes a diff.
I would get the Automatic with the warranties they hand out with them and you would get tired of shifting, believe me!
No way would I drop $50K on a truck to run Copart. All the vehicles that Copart deals with have been declared totaled by the insurance companies. You're going to be doing a lot of dragging on and off, and going into a lot of places that are no better than junkyards. That kind of work would make a new truck into an old truck real quick.
If you are going to do work for copart you might want to look at the Danco Rat pack 3 cars on a under cdl truck thats the only way to make $$$$$ with them.also you wont have any time to look for other work because you will be under their thumb so you can make the note and insurance and fuel...when I talked to them they werent paying alot so I told them No.
Something like this is what I consider a good, starter MD truck. Cheap, solid and needing some relatively minor repairs that the previous owner could not afford. The truck runs and drives, and the motor has about 50K on a reman.
I bought this 2 days ago, for........ $2,500. Apparently the guy sold once the winch broke and he couldn't load junk cars anymore. It has a laundry list of needed repairs that I'll do myself, I'm figuring about $700 - $800 in parts.
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