Fl 80

[Turbo Thom]

Here's my dilemma. I have a chance to buy an FL 80 to set up for towing my fiver. The truck has 300K miles and is an 01 model. Air ride on the rear axle and seats. My 2 questions are: do I have to have an over the road type license? (CDL) and will I have any trouble with the 22. 5 size tires. I will have to build a bed and what ever else I need. The engine is a 300HP Cat. At the price asked, I almost can't pass this up. I figure with the over the road milage on the truck, hopefully The brakes and such will be ok.



Anybody have an opinion on this? I need a little help.



Thanks.



. . Preston. .

 

[bmoeller]

Can't remember, do they have air brakes? I hope so, they are much easier to work and MUCH cheaper to fix if it is needing more than shoes. If it does, you'll need to have the air-brake endorsement on your license.



If you don't already have a class A or B, you may need a minimum of a class B for the weight. May need to take the written test for combination vehicles also. The tests are no problem. For class A, there are 5 tests if I remember right. In Illinois, it is $40 for the lisence. $5 for adding an endorsement later.



The 22. 5's are a very common, if not the most popular size, for big trucks. Easy to find, and cheaper than alot of big off-road tires for pick-ups. Can still get more aggressive tread if needed, than the highway tires.

 

[Turbo Thom]

Thanks for the info. Good information. I'll find out about the brakes.



. . Preston. .

 

[Eric Horne]

Here are a couple of links to some RV discussion boards. Read up on MDT (medium duty truck), class 7, or class 8 subjects. Hope this will help.



http://www.truckconversion.net/



http://escapees.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x

 

[KBalzuweit]

If it has a sleeper on it, then throw a porta potty in it and then you can register it as a RV. I did this with a topkick to avoid the CDL. Look at all the big rigs with the race hauler conversions on them. They are all registered as motorhomes.

 

[bombero]

Get a oil sample out of it and send it in for a test. 300K it might be junk!

 

[Turbo Thom]

You may be right Bombera. It does have a Cat. engine. And a 9 speed Eaton.



. . PT. .

 

[KBalzuweit]

Also, my topkick had a 3116 Cat and had 640k on it when I sold it. Never had any major repairs. If taken care of they just keep on running just like our CTD's.