Should I buy this truck?

[5030]

One thing for certain, if I was to buy a used truck like that, I'd never ask opinions on any site, including this one.

 

[Hay Dude]

One thing for certain, if I was to buy a used truck like that, I'd never ask opinions on any site, including this one.

But your not, so go take your little hobby farm kubota, the highly dubious stories you’ve repeated over & over again for the last 10 years, and troll somewhere else. I’m sure Mrs. Oldsmobile is tired of hearing them, too.

 

[Rustyiron]

That truck, in the lumber yard business might have made 1 load a day on average! Single axles and 450' & 550's made the majority of less than the whole house framing package delivies. With the self loading moffet type forklift with all 3 wheels driving all but eliminates difficult off road conditions for this large truck. I've been witnessing these types of operations and deliveries for years contracting with larger and national builders myself.
Depreciation, and to a much lesser extent age determines when a unit is rolled out of the fleet and replaced.
Asking this type of truck to haul hay for 6-8 weeks a year by an owner/operator is a gravy retirement!
Probably the biggest concern would be any maintenance to the emissions like a DPF filter if so equipped.

 

[Hay Dude]

That truck, in the lumber yard business might have made 1 load a day on average! Single axles and 450' & 550's made the majority of less than the whole house framing package delivies. With the self loading moffet type forklift with all 3 wheels driving all but eliminates difficult off road conditions for this large truck. I've been witnessing these types of operations and deliveries for years contracting with larger and national builders myself.
Depreciation, and to a much lesser extent age determines when a unit is rolled out of the fleet and replaced.
Asking this type of truck to haul hay for 6-8 weeks a year by an owner/operator is a gravy retirement!
Probably the biggest concern would be any maintenance to the emissions like a DPF filter if so equipped.

It has 300,000 miles and 16,000 hours on it. That’s an average of 18.75 miles per hour. So lots of idling time while loding/unloading.

It was a drywall delivery truck. It had a moffet and a pup trailer.

 

[Paystar]

Front wheels are aluminum. Back wheels steel. Could replace outer rims. Would really like to put super singles on back axles if I can accumulate additional sheckles. That would give even more traction. I know there’s downside to SS, too.

Yes, the door was damaged and they put one on from another truck. I was going to paint it dark green, like the 7500

Super singles won't not give you more traction than duals. I've tried them even on pony/pup trailers and went back to duals.
The Sterling (previously a Ford) was a good truck. We ran one for several years. Biggest complaint was the cheap plastic switches in cab. Not sure how parts availability is on them now though. The people I know that are still running them are collecting every old used one they can find.
The Cat C13 ACERT was an awesome motor and even more reliable than the twin turbo C15's. I ran one for several years set at 525 h.p.. It was a 485 with the field uprate.

 

[Hay Dude]

Super singles won't not give you more traction than duals. I've tried them even on pony/pup trailers and went back to duals.

The military runs them and they can de deflated/inflated. I would trust their judgement on them. I would put my money on deflated singles making it through
mud better than fully inflated duals, but I probably would just stick with the recap waste hauler tread duals anyway.
You have to remember, this truck is going to be used more off-road than on road. Singles are used on mixer trucks and tree transplanter trucks with great success off-road.

The Sterling (previously a Ford) was a good truck. We ran one for several years. Biggest complaint was the cheap plastic switches in cab.

This trucks’ dash is in-tact and undamaged.
If that’s the biggest complaint, I think I can live with that lol

Not sure how parts availability is on them now though. The people I know that are still running them are collecting every old used one they can find.

They sold quite a few of them. Parts are available through Freightliner dealers.

The Cat C13 ACERT was an awesome motor and even more reliable than the twin turbo C15's. I ran one for several years set at 525 h.p.. It was a 485 with the field uprate.

That’s pretty much what I have heard.

 

[Paystar]

The military runs them and they can de deflated/inflated. I would trust their judgement on them. I would put my money on deflated singles making it through
mud better than fully inflated duals, but I probably would just stick with the recap waste hauler tread duals anyway.
You have to remember, this truck is going to be used more off-road than on road. Singles are used on mixer trucks and tree transplanter trucks with great success off-road.

This trucks’ dash is in-tact and undamaged.
If that’s the biggest complaint, I think I can live with that lol


They sold quite a few of them. Parts are available through Freightliner dealers.

That’s pretty much what I have heard.

Well yes, if you have that type of super single and beadlocks like the military and central tire inflation. But as for the regular super singles, on the highway in winter they suck.
Yes, Freightliner is who bought Ford's Louisville line and called it Sterling. But I have been hearing reports of them not carrying many Sterling specific parts any more. Not really a deal breaker because most components that you will ever need parts for anyway are driveline and generic maintenance stuff anyway. But body or cab parts may take some hunting.

I never drove our Sterling much because I ran the Western Stars, but any time I did jump in the Sterling I was really impressed with the ride quality. The cab air ride was super soft. And even though it has Tuff-Trac rear suspension it rode as good or better as my air ride truck.

 

[5030]

ACERT engines are notorious for compromising spacer plates, failing turbo's and breaking exhaust manifold studs. In fact, Caterpillar offered a special tool-jig with high rockwell drills especially for drilling out and replacing broken exhaust studs. The number 2 service related issue in the Western Star dealership / shop I retired from was repairing ACERT engines, mainly spacer plates and exhaust studs and I drilled out many exhaust studs in my tenure there.

Keep in mind that when Caterpillar divoriced itself from the on road engine market, they have, since then, also divoriced themselves from the replacement parts business as well so today, replacement-upgrade parts are NLA from Caterpillar and replacement-upgrade parts come from mostly offshore manufacturers.

Candidly, I was never impressed with the torque rise of an ACERT engine in the first place and I got to motor them regularly when not in the shop getting dirty. I much preferred the 3406 Alphabet engines over it.

Horsepower means little in a diesel engine. People like to dwell on horsepower but in reality it's the torque rise that provides the work done when loaded. Horsepower means little.

In this country today and yesterday, people always seem to equate horsepower with performance when it's torque rise that makes productive work easier.

My 3406 B model that is presently sleeping in the barn is set at 475 horses but the advertised torque rating is 1750 pounds feet and it has no emission junk on it, never did actually.

475 horses was the maximum allowable by Caterpillar to keep in force the extended warranty that all the fleet trucks ran. Sure, you could shim the pump for more, way more actually, but above 475, Cat would deny any extended warranty claims.

Keep in mind that the more torque delivered, the higher the driveline issues became as well as drive tire wear.

The tractor I own has a 15 speed Eaton Roadranger in it and when the trailer is loaded (or should I say overloaded, which is the norm for a hopper bottom grain trailer, if you get on the loud pedal on the low side of the tranny, you can literally feel tire squirm and squirming tires equal accelerated wear and why I refrain from hard acceleration when taking off loaded. Tires today, especially today, aren't a cheap date and becaus the unit I own is more for a hobby deal, I'm always aware of inherent operating costs. Someday, I'll post up a picture of it. Not photogenic at all actually. Classic, long nose Western Star double bunk and a 42 foot Timpte hopper bottom tandem frameless grain trailer. Old school drum brakes and pennies in the front brake hoses to insure the front axle brakes are inoperable. Not a fan of steer axle brakes on any semi truck.

 

[tradosaurus]

I can buy this for way under my 30K budget. Even with shipping (1,000 miles from me)

Just curious on the price you settled to buy the truck?
I bought a Mustang on AutoTrader without seeing the car in person back in 2014. I did due diligence in finding the seller on Facebook and corroborating his information and location. I talked with him on the phone. I paid him before going to get the car.
I hitched a ride with my brother who was heading that way (~900 miles).
Still my stomach was in knots the whole trip wondering if I made a mistake. Never again.
If not traveling to see it in person someone suggested hiring a mechanic to put eyes on it and look it through. This would give me the warm fuzzy.

 

[5030]

Interestingly, the outfit I worked and drove for tried the super singles on their Reitnauer aluminum curtainside trailers for a time because they weigh less than conventional duals. The issue was, if any of the drivers experienced a flat on the road, away from the garage, they were screwed as the availability of (at that time at least) super singles was limited and with duals in the drives and trailer, you could have a flat on one of the duals and keep on truck'in, whereas a flat on a Super Single put you on the side of the road immediately. Not every tire shop at that time had super singles in stock The military uses them because they have replacement rubber available, the private sector didn't at that time at least. Might have changed over the years I've been away from it but I do know my hunting buddy who runs a fleet of 56 Freightshaker Cascadia's leased to Fed-Ex, runs duals on all his tractors and wants nothing to do with Super Singles. Fed-Ex also runs duals on their trailers as well. Of course Fed-Ex never grosses out their trailers anyway. No package delivery outfit does that I know of. Gross or over gross is the realm of aggregate haulers and steel haaulers and over dimensional specialized carriers. When I drove for them, prior to retirement, I cannot remeber a time when I ran under gross, most times heavy because we were compensated by the hundredweight of cargo hauled, consequently, I always put a charge on the barge and so did all the other drivers.