Volvo

It is noted that motor did not tell you, that his truck is very USED with over 500 thousand miles on it in hard commercial use. The motor block may be good for many miles more BUT there are HUNDREDS of other things that can and will likely give trouble.

Why do you think a commercial operator would want to sell a truck-- if it was going to be so trouble free?? They want to make money and not have a lot of problems on the road.

T0 buy one of these very USED truck you will pay about what they are worth-- no bargain in my book. I retired to enjoy myself!!

Volvo ,as many people now know , have a LOT of electrical problems--especially as they get a lot of miles on them. A lot of these problems can be hard and expensive to solve.

[rverdlm]

I have a Kenworth T2000 and my cost for the past 3 years have been the lowest of any since we started full time 11 years ago. The only exceptions being the years when each of my pickups were totally under warranty. I have less invested in this truck than any of my pickups and if I were to sell it today it's worth more than I paid for it. Try that with a pickup. You can also buy these trucks with an additional warranty that is many times longer than the new warranty on a pickup. Many of these trucks are turned in because they are leased. When the lease is up they turn them over just like many of us do with our cars. I'm not a person who thinks everyone should do what I do. These trucks don't work for everyone, but they are a good (IMHO) financial decision if the truck will work for you. Sure expensive things can go wrong, but when I talk to my friends with pickups that have been through 3 transmissions (one under warranty) in 100K miles I'm glad to have my HDT.

[Motor31]

Lee,

Yup I bought it used. It has about 500,000 on it and it has been pretty darn reliable as well.

As far as the rest of your diatribe is concerned, it's pretty much bogus. The only electrical fault I have had is the solenoid wire to the starter broke at the connection. The crimp on connector broke which can happen to any motorvehicle with a starter since it's a pretty universal connection. That's the only electrical failure I've had in almost 3 years of ownership.

These trucks are built to have a rather heavy duty lifestyle and run reliably for over a million miles before the first overhaul. I don't know of any other vehicles that are built as stout or for as much reliability as these are. I run about as many miles in a year on it as a regular trucker would do in 3 weeks. If these trucks were as fragile as Lee is claiming the country would come to a stand still due to the lack of delivery of just about everything. Everything that gets to a store, gas station or any other retail outlet gets there by truck.

The company that bought it new did trade it in on a new model. They traded it in not because it was falling apart, or because it was a maintenance hog but because after 3 years it had the best trade in value at that time for purchase of a new truck and after 3 years they had the best ammortization situation for their finances.

Now I certainly don't spend a lot of time working on it or getting it serviced. Once a year does it for maintenance including oil changes. About every 5,000 miles I check the brakes. I spend more time maintaining my 1 year old 5th wheel than my truck. It's had more than a couple failures in that time period, more than the truck has had since I bought it in 04.

In the mean time I have been able to tow my 5er with plenty of power, slow it down and stop it on any kind of road grade and certainly don't have to be concerned with towing overloaded like a light duty 1 ton would be with my trailer. I also get the same or better fuel mileage towing that I did with our previous Ford. I have not had to "chip" the engine or transmission, install heavier springs and I even didn't have to install a hitch as the hitch that came with it fit the trailer. I did change it later just because the RV style was a little easier to operate.

I went from an F350 to the Volvo and the ride is smoother, quieter, more relaxing and I can do a long day of 500 miles and feel good insterad of exhausted at the end of the day like I was with my Ford.

Before you start to buy into the "story" that Lee has supplied you might want to talk to some folks who had HDT's. There is a "national rally" in Wichita the last week in September in 07. There are also some smaller gatherings in various parts of the country informally. In Tucson there has been 2 of us at DMAFB and a third will likely get here in either January or February. You are welcome to ask questions and get information from any of us. All you have to do is ask. You also don't have to be an owner to attend the rally in Wichita either. We don't require that you have anything but a desire to learn, have a good time and be sociable. We don't care what you drive in, or that you even drive there at all. Just come on down.

[Gben]

Lee, you seem to be very misinformed. Dont care really what you or anyone else thinks but will post a couple of FACTS from our use with a USED truck with 500k miles on the clock. FACT: Have about the same invested as a new one ton dually that would be overloaded and not legal to pull my trailer. FACT: While my truck had close to a half million miles on it when i bought it, it came with a 3 year, 300k powertrain warranty, try that with a F350. FACT: Weigh a little over 43,000 loaded and pulled the rockies from the west to Eisenhauer tunnel this fall and topped the tunnel in 9th gear at 53mph, again try that with an F350, FACT: Even more important out of the tunnel, flipped on the jake brake and coasted down into Denver without ever touching the brakes. FACT: rides MUCH better than the old F350. FACT: Can stop anywhere, anytime without worrying if we are going to hit the idiot who pulled out in front of us or the guy stopped for the wreck just over the top of the hill in the rain in the smokies this summer. FACT: in over 30,000 miles have had the clutch adjusted, traded the new caps for new virgins and had the oil and filters changed twice.
Could go on but bottom line this truck and this style works for me
FACT: This kind of truck is not for everyone and if what you are doing works for you, then it works for me and we are both happy. I just hope folks seek the FACTS before making a decision that they will have to try to live with. Is it as handy as driving a pickup solo, no, not quite. Is it possible to get around and sight see, get groceries and in general do daily driving, absolutely it is. It is the same width as a dually but a little longer, we usually park a little farther out in the malls and use two spaces because of the length(farther out we do not worry about door banging our paint). Will it cost more when things do break, ABSOLUTELY IT WILL, to us it is worth it because of the above mentioned facts BUT everyone should make up their own mind what they are comfortable with and what will work for them. I could go on and on but wont, If anyone is interested in answers to specific questions to try and make a decisiion I will gladly visit with them about our experiences. I will just mention that we have 4 over the road trucks that each have well over 1 million miles on them and they are operating daily making a profit for us, therefore we did not worry at all about buying a truck with 500k miles on it. just my 2 cents worth on how it is working for us. Gene

[Gben]

Lee, you seem to be very misinformed. Dont care really what you or anyone else thinks but will post a couple of FACTS from our use with a USED truck with 500k miles on the clock. FACT: Have about the same invested as a new one ton dually that would be overloaded and not legal to pull my trailer. FACT: While my truck had close to a half million miles on it when i bought it, it came with a 3 year, 300k powertrain warranty, try that with a F350. FACT: Weigh a little over 43,000 loaded and pulled the rockies from the west to Eisenhauer tunnel this fall and topped the tunnel in 9th gear at 53mph, again try that with an F350, FACT: Even more important out of the tunnel, flipped on the jake brake and coasted down into Denver without ever touching the brakes. FACT: rides MUCH better than the old F350. FACT: Can stop anywhere, anytime without worrying if we are going to hit the idiot who pulled out in front of us or the guy stopped for the wreck just over the top of the hill in the rain in the smokies this summer. FACT: in over 30,000 miles have had the clutch adjusted, traded the new caps for new virgins and had the oil and filters changed twice.
Could go on but bottom line this truck and this style works for me
FACT: This kind of truck is not for everyone and if what you are doing works for you, then it works for me and we are both happy. I just hope folks seek the FACTS before making a decision that they will have to try to live with. Is it as handy as driving a pickup solo, no, not quite. Is it possible to get around and sight see, get groceries and in general do daily driving, absolutely it is. It is the same width as a dually but a little longer, we usually park a little farther out in the malls and use two spaces because of the length(farther out we do not worry about door banging our paint). Will it cost more when things do break, ABSOLUTELY IT WILL, to us it is worth it because of the above mentioned facts BUT everyone should make up their own mind what they are comfortable with and what will work for them. I could go on and on but wont, If anyone is interested in answers to specific questions to try and make a decisiion I will gladly visit with them about our experiences. I will just mention that we have 4 over the road trucks that each have well over 1 million miles on them and they are operating daily making a profit for us, therefore we did not worry at all about buying a truck with 500k miles on it. just my 2 cents worth on how it is working for us. Gene

[PSD_Tweaker]

Hmmm.....seems like that Lee fellow didn't have much more to say..
Crap it's been almost 7 months...and no reply.
I guess that says it all right there!

OK...thread revival..
These older trucks are definately the way to go if you need a dedicated hauler.

I know because I've had mine for almost 4 years & I too have spent next to nothing on repairs.
All I do is PM, and general maintainance.



Rick

[maltruck8]

Rick, I believe that that Lee guy here is like that Cole guy on the other forum we spend time on. He just likes to get stuff started, and doesn't like people that don't think like him. Jim

[bstark]

Another opinion: New vs Used. If new versus used is the only criteria for reliability you consider, then you have to add all of the stuff that goes with it such as more frequent transmission problems with the typical pick-up automatic towing a heavier trailer, expected mileage from L/T series (Light Truck) tires that will need replacing MUCH more often, brakes that are replaced (often rotors as well) much more often. The list goes on and on.

While some would argue that warranties would cover the tranny stuff, you have to be very carful upon taking your truck in for service, that they don't learn (from the attached pillar guages showing turbo boost, temps and exhaust temp) that it's "chipped to the max" and towing over 16,000lbs or they (dealer) may simply say, NOPE!

I've spent a fair bit of "comparison-of-cost" time mulling over new pick-up vs used HDT and it always comes out the same.

To achieve parallel reliability, comfort and capability:

initial purchase is much greater for the new P/U
Ongoing required routine maintenance expenses (filters, fluids, brakes etc.,) are closer to a par due to the higher frequency for P/U offsetting higher cost (eg. qts-P/U vs gals- HDT for oil) for the HDT.

I had many problems comparing the costs associated with stuff like tires and brakes as the typical offerings for the P/U lifespan are measured in Kilometers or miles of usage while the heavier duty trucks will be measured in years of operation. I suspect the brakes (among other things) on my MDT and most of the HDT's represented on these boards will outlast their driver's ownership of their trucks.

Were I to step back to 2001 and commence 'Snowbirding' over again, knowing what I now know about ALL of the available towing methods: I would have chosen a well maintained class 8 tractor and saved a whole bunch of money (even after reconfig) and enjoyed the increased measures of reliability, comfort, confidence, performance, and SAFETY for all of those additional years!

Lee's post; dare I say it, smacks a little of the jealousy of someone trying to belittle others while knowing he is obfuscating the facts to suit his aim.

We MDT & HDT'ers, try very hard not to come off as preaching. We all must remember that selecting a T/V is as personal a choice as picking the trailer we desire, it very often has very little to do with the items discussed above but rather with the perceptions of other family members, friends or a host of other criteria.

Respect for each other is paramount!