Road tractor question

Im looking to upgrade trucks and had a couple of questions. Im not looking to go into the trucking business just need something to pull my lowboy, and a dump trailer. If I remember correctly some one on here (maybe notjustair or clodbuster)had a couple of ex military trucks Freightliner's I think. I have been searching on the web but all I can find are older AM Generals. Do any of you guys know where to find the later model surplus trucks, and if you have one how are you getting along with it? Secondly do any of you guys know of a REPUTABLE place that deals in used trucks in the KY OH IN area?

Military trucks are being sold each week on Iron Planet. Have seen several try what you are thinking and NOT be satisfied. Lots of cheap civilian trucks out there to do what you want.

Also, check out www.govliquidation.com. There are a
few Freightliner military trucks on there.

G.Fields: I would stay away from the old military trucks. They maybe low miles and fairly well maintained but they all are usually oddball combinations od equipment. The one that they all are is a true 24 volt system. Then the rest of the vehicle can have components that are not common in the civilian market.

Just pick out a common brand of truck that has support in your area and then just watch for bargains. The older tractors sell cheap usually anyway. There are a lot sold for long haul work but no one wants to risk an old truck miles form home. So you can get a good usable truck for not that much money. $5-10K can buy you a lot of truck.

I have had good luck finding ones with bad clutches or transmissions. The value is usually way under what the cost of the repairs are. You can hire anew clutch installed for under $2000. A 10 speed transmission can be bought used for under $1000. Just makes sure your not looking at some rare type. A common old 10 speed Eaton is easy and cheap to come by.

The one major brand I try to stay away from is Mack. They are a pretty good truck but a lot of the parts are Mack only. Even if it is an Eaton transmission it could easily be not a common ratio or something. This makes repairing them be more costly at times.

International and Freightliner are the most common and the easiest to find parts for.

Peterbilt and Kenworth will just about always be higher in price for the same condition. I also just do like the ergonomics of them as well as International or Freightliner. I am not a long nose liking driver. They also do not turn as short as International or Freightliner do.

R&L Carriers in Wilmington Ohio always has dozens of used semi trucks and trailers for sale at their lot on I-71.

Keep in mind here that when looking to do a job with a semi tractor you need to find one that will work for what your going to do with it . And old Mil. truck would not be my first choice . And a old ROAD tractor set up to pull a freight box is not really suited for lowboy and dump work . wheel base , rear axle rating and gear ratio is vary important the comes choice of transmissions and a ten speed would not be my first choice as you may find that First gear will not be enough for the tough spots . Last is the engine as to make and H/P needed . If speed is not a huge factor then ya can not beat and old Hairlip duck (Mack) with a five speed and low hole behind a 300-315 Next good choice is a L sires Ford with a cummins and transmission of a 8LL , 9 speed or a 13 speed rears a good choice would be 44000 lb. For off road work a hedricks suspension . I have speced.out many trucks back in my days of trucking in the coal fields and oil patches. When i bought my own truck i speced the truck and trailer the way i wanted it and the only i regretted was the bunk , but at the time i had no intent of running the roads and being out for a week or more . BUT due to the mill closings in 79 and the coal hauling dropping off one had to do what ever to keep the mony coming in and it was out on the road . Had i knowen at the time instead of a 210 wheel base it would have been a 240-250 wheel base and instead of a 36 inch fall in and fall out sleeper it would have been a double walk in . The rest of the spec/'s were perfect for pulling a dump trailer or a lowboy .

Well said, JD, but I might disagree about the transmission. Never cared for the 10-speed Eaton. Reverse is geared too high, and has too many gears on the low side and not enough on the high side so to speak. Also, that 5th to 6th shift is "uncomfortable." I would prefer a 9-speed or a 13-speed over a 10 any day. I also drove a Rockwell 8 speed for a couple of years. Much less forgiving than an Eaton.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Cousin had an 85 Mack econodyne 9 speed (grandma/4 lo/4 hi) with a 28 foot wet hoist dump trailer. It would hold 750 bushel. Only 62 mph top end but it would pull an oak tree out of bedrock

Go to your local truck stop and find a "Truck Trader" magazine. If your just running local look for a heavy haul spec'ed truck. I absolutely love my Peterbilt 387 with Cat engine and 13 sp Eaton. Big hp and very comfortable. BUT repairs seem to be about double the cost compared to the Freightliner Columbia I prevously had. Used truck sales are as bad or worse than used car dealers. Pick a truck and take it To the dealer. Have the computer read and have it dynoed. It'll cost some $ but that way you'll know what you've got.
It'll be tempting to buy an oilfield truck as I expect they'll flood the market here shortly. I'd avoid those,unless really cheap, as they're typically beat to pieces being run off road.

Years ago I bought a mack 250 4 valve with a 5 speed. Used it to pull equipment trailer around. It did everything good until you got off of the pavement. 1st and reverse gears too high for off road. I put a mack 2070 in it, has a double low first and reverse. That was the fix.

Problem with a lot of surplus trucks is you can not get them insured because they are not really made for the roads they are made to be military. Yes you can modify them to be road legal but it cost a lot

Yep, I am one of the oddballs!

For the money, you will not beat one of these trucks for a short haul heavy duty truck with an Allison automatic. The most recent rebuilds will even have air conditioning, air ride seat, and antilock brakes.

The AM General 915A1 trucks are what I have and they were made with common off the shelf truck parts. Some things take a little to match up, but you learn quickly how to figure it out.

Any one of my friends that has driven my trucks was very impressed with the power and ease of use. The guy that does my DOT inspections was floored on how good of shape my trucks are.

Try to find one that has been through a "depot reman" where it was all rebuilt from one end to the other.

The Freightliners are, I think, 915A2 trucks and bring much more money when you find one, but they have a front flipping hood which would be nice.

If you search on steelsoldiers dot com you will learn a lot. There are folks there using them for heavy hauls at their company, and the AM Generals quickly become the favorite truck of the bunch for that job.

This will be good reading:

That has never been a problem with any of these trucks, at least in most states.

One problem that folks find who just want a truck to collect or play with is that in some states you have to plate it and insure it like a commercial truck. Some folks need $5,000 per year in their state just to put it on the road! Others can get one into a "collector" classification for less money, but are not allowed to use them for work, ever.

The 915 series trucks were actually made to be over the road trucks, to haul from ports to inland bases, and from one place to another.

The 6x6 trucks were made to haul the loads off road. They are also legal on the road, but are slower and heavier.

Here in Missouri it is hard to get them legal a friend of mine has one and has not been able to insure or make it road legal. Plus many surplus trucks do not come with a title as such

I see that you are likely needing hydraulics to run a dump trailer. That is one thing that is a little harder to install on these trucks because of how the PTO location is clocked on the Allisons in the 915A1 trucks. I have read that it has been done, but I don't have that on mine yet, or do I need it now. If you search that subject on steelsoldiers, I'm sure it's covered on there. Some folks may even be running a stand alone hyd. setup with a separate power source running it. Adding hyd. to any truck is expensive from what I read, and it may pay you to find a truck with that already installed.
PTO reading:

Yes, if you don't apply for a title when you buy the truck from gov liq. or another source right away, a title can be harder to get.

If the original purchaser saved some time and money by not getting a title, the second guy will have more trouble.

It is a $75 per truck revenue stream for the seller, but some buyers just buy the trucks to part out and don't need a title as much.

Find out where your closest heavy truck dealers are and what brands they carry/service/parts availability. If you gotta drive 50-75 miles for parts, that hurts. In all my experience working on trucks (37 plus years), IH/Mack/KW/Pete are all only as good as the dealer you work with!!