What is the best setup for hauling 5th wheel campers ?

[Newsa]

Even hot shotting, you need a basic commercial driver's license????

And you need adequate record keeping (miles, weights, hours, etc). If for pleasure, I think you Don't have to stop at weight scales.

Once you start charging customers, everything changes.... including insurance and bonding?

 

[Newsa]

Even hot shotting, you need a basic commercial driver's license????

And you need adequate record keeping (miles, weights, hours, etc). If for pleasure, I think you Don't have to stop at weight scales.

Once you start charging customers, everything changes.... including insurance and bonding?

 

[Blackhawk7204]

I take it you don't receive a retirement check so I doubt that working for Horizon would pay the bills. Hot shotting is a business that will bankrupt you in a short time if you do not have any trucking business experience. It is hard work, a real job with overhead costs that kill 95% of those just starting out. If you want to start doing something new, and feel like driving is it, sign up with a carrier and drive big trucks. They have sleepers, the carrier buys the fuel, which is the biggest expense. They also pay for the maintenance, insurance, IFTA, drug testing, record keeping, brokers and the cost list goes on and on. Your only expense is a medical card and food. Trucking companies nation wide are hiring for OTR, regional, and local. The pay will be low until you have some miles behind you but with experience the possibilities expand. For example, Wal-Mart drivers have medical plans included in their benefits. On the other hand, if you have another source of income and just want a paying hobby, then Horizon is just as good a place to sign up as anywhere.

That is true, they are looking for drivers just about everywhere for big rigs. I just would prefer to own my own truck and be my own boss, and the smaller trucks are a lot less expensive to buy and maintain.

 

[GAmes]

I just would prefer to own my own truck and be my own boss, and the smaller trucks are a lot less expensive to buy and maintain.

If you are trucking for a living, meaning it is your entire income, you will not be your own boss. You will be a slave to the business. You won't be just a driver. You will be a book keeper, a secretary, a treasurer, a salesman and without any trucking business background, a student.

Have you researched the requirements to be an owner operator with your own authority? DOT numbers, IFTA regulations, insurance, brokers, FMCSA regulations, etc? Do you know what a lane is?

What would really be a shame would be to spend $75k or more on a pickup and gooseneck flatbed, drive about 100k miles in a year and decide you don't like driving in rain, sleet, snow, howling wind dust storms, and city traffic while surrounded by morons.

 

[GAmes]

Even hot shotting, you need a basic commercial driver's license????

There are three classes of CDL, none of which is called a "basic" To drive a truck and trailer with a gross combination weight rating (GCWR) over 26,001 pounds requires a class A CDL. Notice that it isn't actual weight over 26,001, it is combined rating. That means if the pickup has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 12,000 pulling any trailer with a GVWR over 14,000 requires a class A license.

And you need adequate record keeping (miles, weights, hours, etc). If for pleasure, I think you Don't have to stop at weight scales.

I stop at scales even though I never exceed a GCWR of 26,000 (I don't have a CDL) in the states that require me to. CA prohibits pickups from crossing their scales, some states have a minimum weight requirement. Hours of service (HOS) are dictated by the FMCSA and are entered in the infamous log book, which I am required to do. All trucks newer than year model 2000 are now required to have an electronic logging device (ELD) that is tied into the ECM and GPS which takes the place of a paper log book.

Once you start charging customers, everything changes.... including insurance and bonding?

Interstate commercial trucking is regulated by the federal gov't, intrastate is controlled by the states. Insurance is expensive as is conforming to ALL the other requirements.

 

[SnoKing]

I keep my CDL endorsement for years after I quit driving the tanker, just encase I wanted to return to driving. Then I got a notice that I would have to have a DOT physical exam every two years(if I remember correctly), so I dropped it along with the motorcycle endorsement. I wished I would have kept the motorcycle one. SnoKing

 

[Newsa]

Hours of service (HOS) are dictated by the FMCSA and are entered in the infamous log book, which I am required to do. All trucks newer than year model 2000 are now required to have an electronic logging device (ELD) that is tied into the ECM and GPS which takes the place of a paper log book.

So you didn't have to modify your truck with an electronic log system, because you are not federally regulated (only state regulated)?

Do the newer 4500's, 5500's, etc come with an option for having the electronic logging system already installed?

I know the dealers who sell these ... Some of them have a commercial sales staff. And the dealership that i bought mine from also have their commercial sales reps handle the 2500's & 3500's as well.

 

[GAmes]

So you didn't have to modify your truck with an electronic log system, because you are not federally regulated (only state regulated)?

Do the newer 4500's, 5500's, etc come with an option for having the electronic logging system already installed?

I know the dealers who sell these ... Some of them have a commercial sales staff. And the dealership that i bought mine from also have their commercial sales reps handle the 2500's & 3500's as well.

No, I'm not required to have one because my truck is a '97. I work interstate and into Canada. I don't have an ECM to plug into. The ELDs plug into the OBD port on the newer trucks.

 

[Newsa]

No, I'm not required to have one because my truck is a '97. I work interstate and into Canada. I don't have an ECM to plug into. The ELDs plug into the OBD port on the newer trucks.

Ah. I should have noticed in your signature you have one of those legendary 12 valves.

Amazing Cummins engine. But stock, they Don't compare with the 4th gens

 

[GAmes]

But stock, they Don't compare with the 4th gens

True. A complete set of injectors cost me less than $300 and they last for 400k miles. How much do yours cost and how many sets does it take to go 400k? I estimate that over the last 12 years I could have bought 7 trucks like mine at the original price with the profits I've made. If a 4th gen had been available in '97 at it's current price I might have been able to buy 2 from the profits.

 

[gsbrockman]

How much do yours cost and how many sets does it take to go 400k?

I am at 339,806 miles with zero injector issues.......and on the OEM set. Injector failures on 2013 & newer 6.7Ls are not nearly as frequent as their 2003--2007 5.9L and 2007.5--2012 6.7L brothers were.

 

[Cummins12V98]

Makes Z*E*R*O difference anyway.....I am out of 3.42 GCWR territory.

Will u answer if I say "PURDY PLEEZE".

 

[Newsa]

True. A complete set of injectors cost me less than $300 and they last for 400k miles. How much do yours cost and how many sets does it take to go 400k? I estimate that over the last 12 years I could have bought 7 trucks like mine at the original price with the profits I've made. If a 4th gen had been available in '97 at it's current price I might have been able to buy 2 from the profits.

I would have had no clue. Glad Brockman had the answer. I do like the dual filtration feature (2 filters = chassis filter + engine compartment filter) and the fact that the 4th gen injectors are designed for ULSD. I imagine you use additive in your 12 valve?

Hopefully, you're not spooning sulfur into your fuel tank???? :-laf

Just kidding with that last sentence.... And no disrespect intended.

Correction / Edit: not all 4th gens have 2 filters. That feature was added in 2013???

 

[gsbrockman]

Will u answer if I say "PURDY PLEEZE".

As of this weekend, my AS69RC has survived up to 339,806 miles with yet another sump filter replacement and a 10.5 quart Mobil 3309 partial fluid change. :-laf

 

[Cummins12V98]

As of this weekend, my AS69RC has survived up to 339,806 miles with yet another sump filter replacement and a 10.5 quart Mobil 3309 partial fluid change. :-laf

Yer having fun aren't you!

 

[Tuesdak]

True. A complete set of injectors cost me less than $300 and they last for 400k miles. How much do yours cost and how many sets does it take to go 400k? I estimate that over the last 12 years I could have bought 7 trucks like mine at the original price with the profits I've made. If a 4th gen had been available in '97 at it's current price I might have been able to buy 2 from the profits.

GAmes is also spot on for advice as to what you are really getting into. Here is an example of an older truck that's paid off with inexpensive parts when needed. I'd have killed at one point for a 12v Cummins over the 6.5TD we blew up. Was on the road 3 weeks later for $2000.00 with a surplus 6.2 military engine at the time. (Prices of surplus engines have gone up.) Nevermind the engine I dropped in my 2003 Dodge Cummins costing $10,000.00 plus $3500.00 in injectors a short time later. Diesel engines used hard may not be the biggest expense as the rest of the pickup falls apart around the engine. It's $50 and $100 you to death with big ticket items of $1000.00 shutting you down for lack of funds.

 

[SnoKing]

As of this weekend, my AS69RC has survived up to 339,806 miles with yet another sump filter replacement and a 10.5 quart Mobil 3309 partial fluid change. :-laf

Great, when are you going to tell us about gear and speed you tow at?

 

[Newsa]

Great, when are you going to tell us about gear and speed you tow at?

Definitely on edge about the gear and speed. How long MUST we wait?

Edit: you see various speeds here on his garmin. https://www.turbodieselregister.com/threads/259085-A-little-GARMIN-55-DashCam-Humor

 

[GAmes]

I imagine you use additive in your 12 valve?

Only when I am buying fuel in the south and going north in the winter to keep it from gelling. Additives being needed for lubricity is a hoax. They are a waste of money and highly overrated. The only two major items in my 1.3 million mile truck drive train that have never been replaced or rebuilt are the D80 and the injection pump.

 

[GAmes]

Injector failures on 2013 & newer 6.7Ls are not nearly as frequent as their 2003--2007 5.9L and 2007.5--2012 6.7L brothers were.

And when you do need them, how much do brand new ones cost? My last set of new Bosch injectors cost less than one for your engine. The point, for the OP, is that maintenance costs for the newer trucks have sky rocketed. Although the 2018 3500 duelly is only roughly twice the price of my '97 the cost of maintaining it is about triple when used in a commercial setting. While I can do just about anything to keep mine on the road, or even just a patch job to get me home, that isn't the case with a vehicle that sports two or three computers. For example there is the TIPM http://www.dodgeproblems.com/trends/tipm/