So I was considering buying a cheapy highway truck and doing some hauling until spring, and in the winter times.

What im looking at is fuel economy, reliability, and price. Looks and favorite brands are the least of my concerns, unfortunatly. I figure I can drive a cheap brand truck for a few months in the winter now, and next winter, and justify the purchase of a cheap one.

Gonna post some links from autotrader. Click on one, and if it brings you to the home page, click a province then reclick on the link and it should work.

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan SURREY Heavy Trucks - 1998 VOLVO 780 - Vehicle Details
Cheap, 500 horse 18 speed ugly as hell!

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan ABBOTSFORD Heavy Trucks - 1998 PETERBILT 377 - Vehicle Details
One of the nice looking ones, reasonable prices, not sure about the motor or the body design for economy.

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan WINNIPEG Heavy Trucks - 1997 FREIGHTLINER500 Detroit - Vehicle Details
Cheap nice hp, 18 speed, ugly as hell but sounds like its in good shape

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan LANGLEY Heavy Trucks - 2000 KENWORTH T2000 - Vehicle Details
Cheap, ugglyyyy, nice engine/tranny, supposed to be one of the best trucks on fuel out there

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan MAPLE RIDGE Heavy Trucks - 2000 MACK ch613 - Vehicle Details
Reasonable priced, not much else info about it

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan KELOWNA Heavy Trucks - 1998 INTERNATIONAL EAGLE - Vehicle Details
Cheap, decent motor, 18 speed high kms and it doesnt say if its had the engine done.

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan EDMONTON Heavy Trucks - 1999 WESTERN STAR 5964 T/A TRUCK TRACTOR - Vehicle Details
Nice truck, lower km (most likely rolled a million though) cat engine 10 speed though

AutoTrader - Cars Saskatchewan MISSION Heavy Trucks - 1999 MACK 460hp - Vehicle Details
Looks to be a decent truck, decent hp (dont know about the mileage) heavy spec'd

So, lets hear some thoughts! Dont matter if your a trucker or not, and keep in mind, I know some of those trucks are less desireable, and not all of them a great looking pete's!

 

Probably any of these would do the trick, when looking at these years and this price range you can`t get too picky.
If the one you get doesn`t work out you should be able to at least get your money back or make some by reselling it.
I thought of getting back into trucking as well but winter isn`t the greatest time to be rolling down the highways with blizzards, fog, freezing rain and what not.........

 

bare in mind none of the links work if your just looking for a truck plain and simple Id say either the IH or Western Lugger. I wouldnt be scared off by a 10 speed either with a torquey enough motor there perfectly fine.

 

Links should work, if ya click on saskatchewan, then reclick the link on this page....

At my age Morris, I gotta do something in the winter to keep me from dying of boredom lol. I never thought about the resale of the trucks again though, and thats a pretty good point.

That Star is a nice truck, 475 cat, not the cheapest of the cheap quality wise, and is priced well, but I would be concerned about the fuel mileage of it. They have a pretty sqare shape to them that havent changed much since the 70's!

That IH has a n14 cummins (good engine, not sure how well they are on fuel, lots of power though) the truck itself is nice, nice sized sleeper on it and whatnot.

 

I`m not sure if that square shape of the Star would matter much when you pulling a brick like van.
I don`t which ones would do the best fuel wise so I can`t help there.

 

K, guess the 2 Id suggest would either be the
Volvo, new brakes is a plus and only 10G
IH 9200i which would have alot better resale then the volvo. Easy as hell to drive turns on dimes and atleast mine gets good milleage with the Cat motor

 

I was kinda leaning towards the IH or the Kenworth t2000. I really hate the look of the t2000 but they are supposed to get excellent mileage.

The volvo would be a decent purchase too, but damn, its a volvo lol

Good point too about pulling the brick trailers morris. I wonder if a streamilned truck would push the wind worse into the brick of a trailer, making economy worse?

 

I wonder if those Farons (speeling) help much I assume so.

 

Truck fairings should help some but they don`t seem to be all that common any more so I don`t think it`s alot though trucks have them around the fuel tanks and such.
I guess every little bit helps when you talking 100,000`s of miles yearly.

 

I bet the right fairings would help. Some guys just flat out hate them though. They can be problems, falling off and whatnot.

Like I said before though, i gotta think of cheap, and economy this time.

If i had my choice i would get a sweet pete, but im not planning on getting into doing that stuff all year around, to justify getting something like that!

 

prep,
stay away from the t2000 kenworth if it breaks the parts to fix it are spendy the last time i worked a t2000 i put shocks on the pos it cost the guy a thousand dollars to replace!
personally the volvo would be a better deal at least their honest about what repairs have been done and i would want to know stuff like that!
for $10,000 thats cheap! thats just my opinion i could be wrong!

 

hey can't be any worse than a freightliner century class!
volvos are not that bad they get good mileage! and its low miles as well!
thats almost a new truck! in my books!

 

I'm with Jack.

Stay away from the T2000. We call them "2000 rattles". Just an all around poorly designed truck. Real bad for electrical on them too. But so are most other KW's.

If I were to recommend any in your list, I'd go for the purple Volvo, or the 377 Pete.

 

Sounds like your better off in the Pete, especially if you think of resale down the road.

 

the pete is my choice and it would only cost ya $750 for me to polish it all purdy for ya