truck towing pictures...

[Lbz Joachim]

Pulling my old 6.0 around lol
[/URL[URL=http://s1046.photobucket.com/user/snax6/media/7BDA4CAF-ADE1-4FE7-B673-6204A679514B_zpscqy8gni7.jpg.html]

 

[malibu795]

hauled ol girl to meet her new owner.

 

[malibu795]

3 trucks to move a double girder 49' 35t crane

 

[malibu795]

Press pieces

 

[malibu795]

Loaded for home

 

[btfarm]

Looks an awful lot like my old 656

 

[malibu795]

 

[rmallen30]

Just picked this up today

 

[clrussell]

Pic of my lly towing to the pull last Friday..

 

[malibu795]

Off to Salem VA

Delivered this in Pittsburgh yesterday

 

[SmokeShow]

Adam, what size area do you mostly run in? Which states I mean.

 

[malibu795]

Adam, what size area do you mostly run in? Which states I mean.

East of the Mississippi river 90% of the time.. Though I have gone all the way up to Maine to Florida, Duluth MN all the way to central Tx, OK NE.. Freight gets scarce west of the big muddy, been to Wyoming once in a hotshot

 

[SmokeShow]

Why haven't you gone to semi or at least med duty truck? Is the rate your co charges for you to run the items less than it would be if you were in a semi or med duty truck & therefore they get more jobs by being cheaper while you pull the guts outta your, somewhat undersized, truck? Just curious. Not knocking what you're doing at all, just curious.

 

[malibu795]

Right now with current setup my cost to go down the road is little more than what a class 8 truck spends in just fuel.. Most class 8 run $1.10-1.50 a mile just to break even going down the road vs my $0.50-0.75. That's including spending 4-5 nights in a hotel room on my truck. And the company is pay my roughly 3/4 truck rate.
I'm planing on bump weight from 26,000 to 32,000lbs which would allow me to go from 12,000 to 17,000lbs on the deck of the trailer.. I plan on getting a 25+5 aluminum crossman trailer with 12k axles, plate 36k and I can put ~23,000lbs on deck.. Rough estimates is my operating cost is going to increase some $0.10-0.15 cents per mile..
Said trailer is net cheaper its has an aluminum price with EOH brakes and air ride its ~$35,000.00 and weighs ~6300lbs. And steel trailer spec's same is ~20k and ~9,000lbs tare weight.. Which would let me ~3-4,000lbs over current setup. With substantial increase in over head.

Next block is operating capital. Current setup I need ~$2000.00 to roll weekly. Big is easy 3x that plus up keep cost. Example tires are easy 500.00 each x18 vs 150-200 each x10. When I lost my engine that cost me ~4500.00 lose a class 8 engine and your looking at a 30-50,000 bill

 

[malibu795]

Basically one could boil it down to this..
Hotshot do some 150k to the truck make ~50k taxable income
Big truck 250k to the truck make ~50k taxable income
And before some emails me. Bout hotshoting... They are going to need minimum $20,000.00 just to get off the ground.. Plus's 2 weeks minimum operating capital more if you don't have someone that will buffer the ~30-45 day billing days

At 26,000 gross, trailer weighs ~19,000lbs max avg trailer weight is bout 15,000. When I bump to 36,000 trailer will be 28-29,000 and avg 23k

 

[SmokeShow]

What's the limit you can legally haul with a LD (1 ton or less) the way you're hauling. I don't mean for ag guys, I know they get away with a lot.


So how about a med duty Kodiak? They're not much more expensive to buy, own & operate than a pickup but surely it's better suited for that heavy of loads? Is the veh weight of those what kills them as an option for you?

 

[malibu795]

36,000lb gross is the common weight for a 1 ton dual and GN. One could play the numbers game and push 40,000 with tandem 24k axles. For argument propose mine say front axle gross is 5k and rear is 10k for combined axle capacity of 15,000 on my LMM dually. Add a tandem 12k axle trailer (24,000lb) and I could legally plate 39,000lbs with out over loading any of the axles. 40k with LML with 6,000lb front axle.
Most people be worried about stopping.. Since you aren't over load any axle you have plenty of brakes. The problem you run into is cooling of engine oil, coolant and diff oil, transmission not so much due to its in lockup going down the road. I'm 99% sure having sustained 250F and above oil temp is what caused the piston in my 99 to split. Piston got too hot for too long thus weakened and failed at a measly 275-300hp even though the ECT never went over 210.

As for the Kodiaks class 4/5 trucks..I kinda in a away had one the 99 was a class 4 truck. Though substantially lighter than a Kodiak with same cab to axle setup. Rear axles are 12-15k range with 6-8k front axle.. And its 8-9' tall..

With my current setup tare weight on my rear axle is 2500lb with a comfortable 10,000 axle gross, netting a 7500lb cargo capacity. Pending which axle is on the back of the 4500 talking 10-13,000lb cargo on the rear axle. Talking to major trailer companies most freak out about a 5,000lb pin weight.
Having factory 14-15" 4 wheel disc brakes would be very nice.. I figured a 64 or 84 cab to axle setup 4500 2wd is going to push 10k though pending axle rates I might be able to push 45k gross.. At that weight I'd be better of gete a single axle class 6 truck with and a trailer with a 20k axle air ride and air brakes.
Plans Right now with 22,000lb cargo capacity it literally 1/2 the min cargo capacity for.95% of class 8 truck outfits.
I get a bigger truck means I have to bump weight which means I pay more taxes ie fuel and road use tax.
A friend of mine runs 4500 CC 4x4 dodges with 40' steel GN with 24k axles, plates 39k and can only put 17-18k on the deck

 

[clrussell]

Yea you lost me in the numbers on that one..

 

[lts1ow]

So not to be all n00b status but if you are doing 36k GCWR, how is that allowed if GM says GCWR is lower? DOT doesn't care as long as you don't overload axles?

Edit: Nevermind, the GM numbers are for a non commercial licensee right?

 

[durallymax]

Adam, without quoting your post I wanted to point out a few things on truck operating costs since I deal with both our pickups and semis.

I can say I would rather sit in a semi 1000x before a pickup and Gooseneck but that's just me.

Premium truck tires are $500. I run Michelins on our semis and pay around that for the good steers and drives for the road. Off road drives are more money but you'd never be buying those. I have a fleet account through Michelin which offers very nice discounts and the same price nationwide. Without it those prices would be much higher. The premium tires will run over 300k on drives if you just sit on the highway all day. Some guys even get 400k. Don't forget to subtract the casing value when you get new tires. Last Michelin casings I sent in got me $70 each. So now that $500 tire is really only a $430. Cost per mile is $0.0014

You said pickup tires are $150-200. I'm guessing your running 235/85/16 at least on trailer? I don't know what you get out of tires but being on the road let's say you get 100k which seems fair with most LT tires unless your running some Michelin XPS or something else with a steel casing and long wearing. Your cost per mile is $0.0015-0.0020. Unless you use a steel casing retread able tire, you get no credit and actually have to pay to dispose of your tire.

The number of tires is really irrelevant. It's tied to the weight you are hauling.

Now the engine. Overhaul a Cummins and you'll be around 20k, kitty cat will be more, but a good ol 60 series Detroit will be less than 15k to overhaul.

Your 4500 duramax price is what? Junkyard motor? That is nowhere near a fair comparison to the 20k you quote for a big rig overhaul. The big rig overhaul gets all new cylinder packs, new head, new injectors, new rockers, new lower bearings, new turbo(s) etc etc. Brand new or reman parts. Price all of that for a duramax with the labor to do it all (can't be your own) and then tell me how much cheaper it is to run a duramax. Lifespan of a big rig engine is double what a duramax is built for. Either can have freak things happen.

Then there's fuel economy. Most big rigs with sensible drivers can easily get over 7mpg. There's a local company hauling mail that's in the 9s shooting for 10s maybe they already hit it I dk. I don't know what you get but we do not get 10mpg with our duramax trucks on trailers. And remember they are hauling less.

Then there's downtime. Break a duramax, ha good luck. Break a big rig no problem 24hr shops everywhere. I get parts all night for ours.

Brakes are another expense. I know our trucks have no issue eating a set in a year/less than 50 if they pull a trailer a lot. I don't imagine yours last much longer than 100k? We go through a lot of trailer brakes too. The big rig brakes cost more but last 4 times longer. Not to mention they are much safer.


Then there's the fact you can have a real sleeper instead of hotel rooms. That can save a pile of money.


I don't know your situation and it sounds like your mind is made up. There's a big market for hot shotters but there's also a reason you don't see that many of them, it's not the most economical way to move freight. LTL loads can be, but freight in general no.

It sounds like your goal is to be able to haul heavier. You didn't figure this into your cost comparison with a big rig. They can obviously haul much heavier loads which has its advantages.

To me, unless hauling LTL, big trucks are the way to go. I love the duramax but would rather drive and turn wrenches on a big rig any day. Much easier to keep on the road.