The one thing I hear from owner ops that have trucks with over 1 million miles is that they get an oil change every 15k miles and stay on top of transmission PMs. I tend to be obsessive with my maintenance and it has really rewarded me with my vehicles.
The DEF systems required on these trucks is probably the biggest scam ever pulled on the auto/diesel industry. Not only have they made the vehicles much less fuel efficient, with reduced power, they have made the trucks incredibly unreliable and terribly expensive to keep on the road if the warranty has expired, even with extended warranties. The best part is that the 'reduction' in emissions is a lie at the expense of burning 20-40% more diesel/mile.
It would be great to run a truck without the DEF system in its prime against another truck with a DEF system in its prime and see how the two hold up statistically at the end of lets say a 3 to 6 month period. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if any makes the former
@@NorthAmerican-Trucking-News www.youtube.com/@flintcreektransport. Upstate NY, guy has whole fleet of pre emission trucks. He had a few emission trucks, higher costs, didn't hold up against old iron. They do lotta farm, bulk, heavy loads usually.
@@NorthAmerican-Trucking-News I went from a 14 peterbilt 388 with a deleted and tuned cummins isx15 was able to get 8.8mpg at times at 80,000lbs running 97kph, but averaged mid 7's consistently. That was also running the flats tho, central canada and central US, truck was an 18 speed with 46k rear ends 4.10 gears. Current rig is a 16 peterbilt 367 mx13 paccar bone stock, run the exact same way used to run $1.00/mile CAD in fuel consistently when doing in size freight coast to coast north to south it ended up being only slightly better on fuel then my deleted truck over all. The cummins wipes the floor witht he paccar for power but 1 million miles down and this paccars never been opened up, cummins blew up due to a bad tune. Now that Im doing RGN oversize with the 367 its clearly out classed by the cummins powered 388 I had, so it really depends what job your doing with the truck. Lighter work the none-deleted truck got marginally better fuel economy, heavier work (388 hauled 140,000lbs day in and day out the whole time I had it) the deleted truck seemed to have the edge. just my opinion based on trucks Ive owned for a few years.
My 2012 dd15 deleted and tuned avg 6.5 mpg overall and 7.03 in my best month in summer. My 2019 dd15 with def etc did 7.68 in my worst month and 8.94 this July. Same customers.
In my opinion, a successful O/O has three key ingredients 1. Time Mgt skills. 2. Financial literary skills. 3. A strong work ethic and passion for driving. 0:30
100%. So many ingredients are required to be successful in this game and it's not for everybody. For one, you can't BS it and put the work on someone else. If you ain't delivering, you ain't getting paid.
@@georgekoko69 bring it with you when you hit the showers. man, I cant tell you how much I miss having running water but you just gotta move and think like a camper. All of the little things are harder but at least you don't have to commute every morning.
There are a lot of lady owner operators who do very well, trucking is not a man’s world anymore. In 2024 7.7% of people in trucking are women including owner operators not just drivers. This is expected to grow tremendously over the next 10 years.
You are on point with some of these folk out here having a 1K a month pick up trucks and they don’t even drive them . A car looses 60% of its value in its first 5 yrs .
I do 6.4 per mile and always going strong. Horse power is a key to make money having confidence in keeping car speed to deliver loads is priceless. Of course make sure you have an APU
It disgusts me that in order to be 'profitable' owner operators are encouraged to save nickels and dimes. Yeah, it does add up, but to be truly honest WE SHOULDN"T HAVE TO! When $400/month is a HUGE savings over a year it just goes to show you how little the profit margins actually are! I single truck owner, AT BEST can only hope to remain at the middle of middle-class, or more likely, the bottom of the middle-class. It's just damned sad, but that is what all of these mega-carriers has led the industry to.
@@Nihil2005that's exactly his point... This WAS a career where you could make more money until it was intentionally destroyed by idiotic globalist policies. You should be tired of those awful policies, not the guy pointing them out.
I have a lease purchase 2024 Cascadia DD15 with 2.98 gears hauling lowboy with chassis trucks like F750s and my average is right around 8mpg. If we're slow, I slow the truck down and shoot for 9+ which isn't really that hard to hit. It's also got an electric apu, but truthfully, it needs twice the amount of batteries it has to avoid idling on 90+ days where I'm taking a reset in somewhere like Texas. But still, it's only idling 4 hours at most, and I run day shift so typically it's not an issue. Running 2800 miles most weeks at 8mpg vs other owners here at 6.5, and not idling all not saves me about 105 gallons per week, or roughly $350 a week about $1400 month coming out to $18,000 over a year. Plus I'm not worried about DEF stuff getting destroyed. The biggest issue with emissions trucks is idling, not running it in the optimal rpm range, and lack of regular maintenance like oil changes and fuel filters.
A man I worked for once said you don't make a profit as a single owner operator while driving the truck. The difference in the value of your truck when you were done paying it off and selling it was where your money was made. If you bought the truck for 100K and sold it three years later for 60K after paying it off, the 60K was the actual money you made trucking. There seemed to be some wisdom in that statement.
Owner Op with a Plastic truck that gets 8.6 miles per gallon average per week and an APU, with a 10 year old Honda I paid off 8 years ago, grocery shops and always make my own coffee, I approve this message. That's what's great about a freightshaker, a space for my own fridge.
That's why I have cummins insite. It has paid for itself times over. I had a turbo actuator failure. I was up and running 3 hrs later. Cost my 30 dollars for a taxi. Much cheaper than a wrecker and a shop bill.
Seriously! These emission controlled trucks are such absolute garbage!!! My brand new Peterbilt pops so many error messages on the dash I've just started completely ignoring them, especially since they almost always "fix" themselves on the next key cycle. You would think a $200+k truck would be at least as well built as your average passenger car but that's just not the case.
@eimaiakominzontanos you may want to look into otr diagnostics. I've put one in each of my trucks. The driver can plug it in and tell me what the code is. From there he either clears it or we decide what to do. It's about 600 to buy it, then a yearly subscription. If you prevent 1 tow bill, it just paid for itself. And it's real easy to use. You don't need a degree in computer science.
I do a guy who's got a freightliner cast cadia. He's in the shop constantly. And he told around after treatment. I'll keep my Caterpillar paper log motor.
You know, we also run a Freightliner heavy fleet with the only other brand we utilize being Volvos. We don't experience that intensive shop time that everyone else does
Pick up trucks are all automatic too. The only reason I would want one is if it's manual and has a long bed. Because a short bed does nothing for me, more cabin space for what. If I need to move my furniture, I'll be needing all 8ft of it.
Hi Ronen, I followed your videos for long time. Trucker from South America. Just a simple question about today's video. Why does Canada pays truckers by the mile, ( like the USA) when Canada measure distances by kilometers? I m sorry if I missed anything, is just a simple question. Great videos. 😊
I had a guy spend a month waiting for a DEF pump. We all know the major problem O/O face are problems caused by this DEF system. You can be profitable if you can run without major mechanical issues
Ronen, I hate to say this, but companies paying low rates (like ET, $.155 CAD/mile + fuel surcharge - ridiculous) are a LARGE part of the problem. The simple fact is that the rates MUST go up, and the rates should be paid in US dollars because that's what the vast majority of O/O's expenses are. When a company backhauls from the US to Canada, the rate is charged in USD but the Canadian O/O is often paid in CAD, which is a huge (35%+) difference to the company right now thanks to the exchange rate. You can have the most fuel efficient, reliable, APU equipped unit and if the rates are low like they are now, an O/O simply cannot make a decent living - and I don't care how many days he or she is out on the road....
How do you propose we raise the rates? I'm assuming there's a strategy beyond trying to ask brokers and shippers for higher rates because the typical response to that is to find someone else who will irrefutably accept that lower price.
@@NorthAmerican-Trucking-News It won't be easy, that's for sure - but quality costs money, and that's what companies such as ET need to be pointing out to their customers. Sure, there's always someone who will haul for cheap - but those that haul cheap NEVER last. They're the ones who are always late, who lose the loads because they get into accidents (or have other legal issues), or their equipment is constantly on the side of the road waiting for repairs or a two. The only solution I can see is the O/O's and companies need to get together and leave cheap freight on the docks. It WILL hurt in the short term, but it's short term pain for long term gain......
Then we would be at an impasse. As you said the solution is unionization. However, most of this industry views each other as competition instead of potential partners. Rather than aiming for success for all in the industry, most companies and owner operators are like are more focused on undercutting and pulling work in, so much so that it's a constant game of who can monopolize this industry. Taking that into consideration, even if we, who are attempting to unite this industry through our social media platforms, pull back and reject all loads under $3 a mile, a small force such as us won't generate enough impact. Instead, loads will be passed to yet another company who will run it for lower rates and we would end up going out of business after financing and insuring trucks that are sitting in the yard. We are always open to pushing customers to pay higher, and will wholeheartedly and irrefutably support a strike that improves driver's wages. But that union needs to be established first.
Trucking in America and Canada is luxury to compare with what we have here third world like Nigeria where must haul 45tons of cement with a Chinese howo truck in a bad and Hilly roads and must drive round the clock no time regulations you must drive or get sacked, your truck alone is luxury who are you as a driver to use air-condition on a truck in Nigeria not possible, with monthly salary of less than $100.
Hey Ronen. I’m in Md and finding it very hard to find a shop to service my battery pack APU. Do you know of any shop that works on them anywhere in the US?
Hello ronen I followed your video every single day good motivating and good advices I really want join your company!like company driver or owner operator thank you
Mi to Baltimore through the Pennsylvania Hills 12.7 detroit 2006 columbia 6.5-6.8 mpg pulling flatbed Conestoga,steel loads always 48-49Klbs both ways,speed limited to 70, No emissions, tuned motor stock turbo. Switched trucks to a 2022 579 76" sleeper cummins 600hp x15, automatic, speed limited to 73, same trailer and loads, Truck weighs 1200lbs more, 6.5-6.8mpg. Same fuel mpg but add def cost. The increased speed saved a few hrs round trip and the new truck was like a caddilac compared to the columbia. The 579 also had an apu the columbia did not. We also had another 22 579 doing same loads and style trailer that was going from mi to st. louis that is mostly flat and he was around 7.0-7.5 depending on weather.
I know opinions are like Arse holes and everyone's got one......but if your running for 1.55/mile CAD your going broke.....maybe not quickly but you are. I save money where ever I can, doing my own work on my truck. I've got a nice old diesel truck for loading full of parts when I need them etc, Ronens right about idiots buying new trucks.....just keeping up with the jones's low iq stuff usually. I will continue to disagree with Ronen tho on mileage being better then percentage.
Using a truck that’s fuel efficient means it hardly has any towing capacity because it geared to high. 2.60 gear ratio is a dog and makes the truck gutless
I've had a PU truck since i was 17. But sold my old ford pu 7 yrs ago, had a suburban for 15 yrs. When you gotta move tires to or from trailer to house, load/unload truck, a pu is the most efficient vehicle. Unless you have trailer, i don't. Suburban is a pita as well. I need another old pu, and for around house yard debris removal etc.
Guns are not only an American thing. Switzerland has more responsible gun owners and school, movie, shopping malls shootings are not a crazy thing either.
$1.55 a mile ??? yeah you have to do all this saving and playing around where you going to fuel up to make up for the lack of money you are paying ppl. many companies are paying bewtween .40 - .60 per mile with health benefits, paid vacation, and company matched 401k. truck operating cost lets say its a $1.00 leaves you with only 0.55... how do you make it ?
