Time to buy a truck??

[FeltzE]

If you can fit it in the budget get it, but be prepared for the maintenance just like the skidder nothing is cheap!

I ran a 10wheeler with a loader for several years supporting my Woodmizer and selling what we scavanged from the tree services and did well until the tree service grew to own their own bulk hauling capability. Then I sold the truck after a couple quiet years where it cost more than it brought in.

We were not "for hire" as that is different registration fees and insurance costs. We didn't cross state lines so no aportioined plates and no IFTA just a free state fuel tax sticker.

Take your time shopping there are a lot of trucks out there don't settle for something that hasn't been maintained but then again there is the cost benifit balance from newer to repairables...

If you buy a descent looking and well maintained truck,  keep it that way and you will retain resale value over several years while you evaluate upgrading or getting out of trucking.
Eric

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

A 300 to 450 hp Diesel will get anywhere from 7 to 9 Mpg if your not to hard on the go pedal and thats on a 40 ton gross Bogie Tri prime mover with trailer and I drove  Flintstone Mack with a 237hp and a 5spd pulling a tri trailer once or twice and the boss said that was getting 10 to 11mpg   ;) so his hauler at 70 Mile haul and return would be burning 17.5 Gallons off Diesel in Mobile that would only be  less than $60 out of the bill now figure tyres we get 60000mi out of a good set of radials on say 85% hwy work and our roads are dang hard on tyres  ;) 18 times say $350 pre tyre $6300 = $0:10 A Mi for tyres  X 140mi gives you $14 a load    now rego and insurance will be about say $7000 pa divide that between the 31000 miles you will do per year  $0:22 a mile or $30 per load and Mech Maint $10000 pa = $0:32 per mile or $44 dollars a load

$44+$30+$14+$60 = $148 A Load say you buy a cheaper rig either for cash or say$40000 for arguments sake payments would be about $750 per month divided between 20 loads for the month = $37 per load  thats $185 a load being on the heavy side so you are going to be paying yourself an extra $115 per day or an extra $25000 grand a year roughly in revenue

Jesi and I will most likely only be putting $15 grand into a rig and I dont mind doing alittle spanner work myself but ill use diesel and drive line pros for the major components  ;)

[snowstorm]

Gday

A 300 to 450 hp Diesel will get anywhere from 7 to 9 Mpg if your not to hard on the go pedal and thats on a 40 ton gross Bogie Tri prime mover with trailer and I drove  Flintstone Mack with a 237hp and a 5spd pulling a tri trailer once or twice and the boss said that was getting 10 to 11mpg   ;) so his hauler at 70 Mile haul and return would be burning 17.5 Gallons off Diesel in Mobile that would only be  less than $60 out of the bill now figure tyres we get 60000mi out of a good set of radials on say 85% hwy work and our roads are dang hard on tyres  ;) 18 times say $350 pre tyre $6300 = $0:10 A Mi for tyres  X 140mi gives you $14 a load    now rego and insurance will be about say $7000 pa divide that between the 31000 miles you will do per year  $0:22 a mile or $30 per load and Mech Maint $10000 pa = $0:32 per mile or $44 dollars a load

$44+$30+$14+$60 = $148 A Load say you buy a cheaper rig either for cash or say$40000 for arguments sake payments would be about $750 per month divided between 20 loads for the month = $37 per load  thats $185 a load being on the heavy side so you are going to be paying yourself an extra $115 per day or an extra $25000 grand a year roughly in revenue

Jesi and I will most likely only be putting $15 grand into a rig and I dont mind doing alittle spanner work myself but ill use diesel and drive line pros for the major components  ;)

7 to 9 mpg??? sorry wont cant happen. when i had trucks running over the road the winter average was 5 mpg in warm weather maybe 6. hauling wood depending on roads hills turns stops lots of things weight ectplan on 5mpg tops. when you get on this side of the pond i do have a nice western star if your interested

[Meadows Miller]

Well Im only going By the numbers and My grandfather and alot of people I know down here have worked on for years ;) last semi he owned Western Star had a series 60 425hp Detroit in it averaged about 8 to 8.5mpg his 8v92TTA in the Kenworth was alittle heaver than that and realy depended on who was driving it He had another KW with a 300 Cummings in it that got good mileage like the Star he had other trucks before that that had way less power and got real good milage outa but like he said they where a little under powered for pulling semis but still did the job  ;)

Im trying to nut this out  ??? as im use to doing conversions on here and have been doing them since the age of about 5  ??? :P :P My mate who dose log and timber haulage for me used his 120 ton his road train rated Mack Titan with a Signiture 625hp Cummings to do my last load and he said it was heavy on fuel all the time weather he was loaded or not and he was getting roughly 2.5 Kilometers to the Liter the equates to roughly 6.5 Miles to the US Gallon which is what you expect a roadtrain rated truck to get when its only pulling single or doubles it drops again once you get rite up there on weight  ;)

I do know we run different injectors and pump settings down here and Diesel was $6.45 a US gallon at the servo today too ;)

Regards Chris

[bill m]

snowstorm is right, 5 to 6 miles to the gallon and diesel fuel is now $4.00 a gallon and going up all the time. As for every logger needs to buy a log truck it goes both ways. Every trucker needs to be a logger first. If they don't show up to pick up my logs when they say they will I don't get paid. I do have a truck and it is only to load trailers at the landing and to deliver log length firewood. There are no mills within a 2 hour drive from me and it does not pay for me to truck logs.

[Corley5]

  No way would I own my own truck.  I don't have, never have had trouble getting logs hauled.  I make the call and tell Mark I've got logs for him to haul when he can get to me and usually within three days my logs are gone.  Works great.  There's no way I could justify the expense related to a truck and I sure don't want the issues that go along with having one.  I've got enough to do deal with my logging and firewood equipment.
  Mark figures to break even his truck has to make a $100.00 an hour.  Any less and it might as well be parked.  His newest truck, a Pete with a 600hp Detroit gets around 4mpg loaded with 20 cords of hardwood. 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Mark figures to break even his truck has to make a $100.00 an hour.  Any less and it might as well be parked.  His newest truck, a Pete with a 600hp Detroit gets around 4mpg loaded with 20 cords of hardwood.

Good friend of mine says the same thing 90-100 bucks an hour is the break even point. Sometimes he will haul for less if the situation is just right, but not very often. He usually gets 3-5 mpg hauling 20 cord, and like 7 empty haha.

[barbender]

I've hauled wood wood with 3 trucks, all of them were powered by ISX Cummins that were rated from 475 to 550 hp, all running 102,500 lbs gross.   I only hauled in the winter, so I was often running blended fuel. Low 4 to touching 5 mpg on occasion, probably 1/2 mpg less on average with the loader equipped truck. Chris, if you guys are getting that much better of mileage down under there is a scandal of some sort. CX3, if your mills are fairly close where you can dump a load as part of your day, I think you would be close to covering the cost of it right there. Then you could make money with firewood delivery, moving your equipment at your convenience, hauling an occasional load for someone else. I think it would fit your operation nicely. Another  thought, get a truck with a big enough pump and lllloader and you could run a slasher with it too, I know a guy up hre that is srt up that way.

[celliott]

Guys, an Australian gallon is bigger than an American gallon. US gallon = 3.8 liters, an Imperial gallon = 4.55 liters. Probably explains the difference in fuel economy numbers. Aussi trucks don't burn any less fuel than US trucks  ;)

[Ohio_Bill]

I made the decision last year to buy a truck. Mine is on a smaller scale 26000 GVW, no loader and 20 years old. I only hauled 30 mfb of logs this year , which would have cost me  $2250.00 . I also hauled 2 loads of ties and 2 loads of lumber probably would have paid $ 400.00 to have that done.  I spent $1230 on fuel, tags and insurance.  So I would have paid  $2650 to hire the trucking and I spent $1230 to operate the truck . I really did enjoy  having the convenience  of doing things when I wanted to  . This year was very wet and I hope to double my production next year.

[lumberjack48]

Nice truck Ohio, i would extend the frame a little, put a single tire air left tag on with a small loader like a Barko 40.

Back when i was trucking, as long as i wasn't for hirer all i needed was a T license plate on my trucks, insurance wasn't much more then my pickup.

In the early 80's when stumpage went up higher then we got delivered, the only ones that made it had their own truck. The only $$$ left was the trucking end of it.

[Ohio_Bill]

Lumberjack 48 Thanks for your suggestions, but my little truck is about at its limit. It's only 26000 GVW and the truck its self weighs about 13500. So that only leaves 12500for logs. It also is only 170 hp so not a power house.  The truck has been well maintained, so I am hoping with the limited use I give it that it will last me for as long as I need a truck.I am a one man band. I am the cutter, the skidder operator, the loader operator, the truck driver and the logs that are not going to be sold I am the sawmill operator and truck loader. So it makes me feel good that the truck only holds  1100 – 1500 bf  because I get to go home  and do my important job , which is Grandpa to 7 grandchildren .  I know what you are saying about making money off the trucking. Last year several loads of popular the trucker made more than I did.  Thanks so much for your insight.

Bill

[Woodhauler]

snowstorm is right, 5 to 6 miles to the gallon and diesel fuel is now $4.00 a gallon and going up all the time. As for every logger needs to buy a log truck it goes both ways. Every trucker needs to be a logger first. If they don't show up to pick up my logs when they say they will I don't get paid. I do have a truck and it is only to load trailers at the landing and to deliver log length firewood. There are no mills within a 2 hour drive from me and it does not pay for me to truck logs.

My freind, i started driving skidder for my dad every vacation and all summer when i was in 3rd grade! In 8th grade i started dropping trees!!!  We cut 50-70 cords every week! Did this till i was 19!  Bought my first truck at 21! Been doing it ever since! I'm 49!  You have to run nice trucks to keep, the dot off you hind end! Not the 30-40 year old skidders you cutters run! My elite 80 log loader cost me near 50 grand last year! Top that with a 150,000 dollar truck and 6000grand in a body plus 6000 grand for a tag and you got a truck!!! Which is better, a 10,000 dollar skidder and a couple of 600 dollarvsaws? The skidder is buy far the better deal!  I am paying some guys 10-12 grand a week for there wood ! And they are all one man crews! If they pay half for stumpage they still  end up with 5-6 grand in the butt pocket! Will this happen each week, prberly not but the profit is much better on the 10,000 dollar skidder then in trucking! I filled my trucks fuel tank  2 times yesterday for 800 bucks!400 a day eavery day for fuel, 5000 a year for insurance 1750 for license 356 for heavy road use tax 10 for fuel sticker, now we need medical card! Drug test, and on and on!!! So if you buy a truck have fun!!!!   

[barbender]

There's definitely a wide range of opinions on this one  If you buy a $200K set up, I don't think it's going to work out for you CX3. If you shop carefully I bet you could find a nice rig in the $30,000 range that would suit you real well.

[nhlogga]

I use to pay contract truckers to haul logs and to move my skidder. But all I got done doing was waiting for the trucker to haul the skidder and the haul bill on logs run ten cents a bd. ft. I pay around a thousand dollars a year for license plates one hundred and nine dollars a month for insurance and that's the bare minium. My tri axle gets five mile a gallion Iam just a little operator but average six hundred a month for fuel. Today filters alone was sixty seven dollars,there not cheap to own. BBBBBBBBBut I wish I would of done it alot sooner then I did. Not haveing to wait to get moved alone has lowered my blood pressure  ;D  I still pay for some trucking going into Kentucky to a mill but at six hundred a load theres times I haul into Indiana or more local mills and at todays fuel I think  ;D iam making a little more. And on the flip side I worry when Iam on the road alot of people now a days seem like they have a death wish. The state of Ohio isn't a truck friendly state in my opinion, alot of paper work that is tipical of goverment agencys.

Are any states truck friendly? Seems ther are all out to get ya.

[missouri_logger]

imho your prob better off talking to your trucker to drop the rates some cause trust me owning your own truck is not what its all cracked up to be its not as easy as you put it and it cost lots every time you think your great something brecks down its logging and the 15 cents to haul to walnut has been offered to everyone but by the time you figure what you got in it your not makeing bank and you also got to think your time is worth something too remember that we own 3 trucks and there more hassle then they are worth most of the time just my opinion

[lumberjack48]

I'll try an keep this simple, when your a logger you usually go home about the same time every night. When your a trucker you can pretty much set your time when you'll be home. When your a logger / trucker you can't tell time anymore, your work for the day is never done, theres always something that has to be done before the next day.
Don't get me wrong i liked working like this, it was the wife. She told me if you love that truck so much then you sleep with it.

[Autocar]

Just curious if you ever took the step to own your own truck yet ?  ;)