Thinking of buying a 2000 Pete 379. Has over a million miles but the engine has just been rebuilt. Not really interested in anything post 2007 with all the emission crud. What's the life expectancy of a rebuilt CAT engine assuming the rebuild was done per specs?
There are quite a few different factors that can influence the answer to your question. But, generally speaking, I would think you should be able to get 4-600,000 pretty easy with a decent maintainence program. Just my $.02
Thanks Bam that's sort of what I was figuring as well. New head, liners, pistons, rods and main bearings.
Having the details / paperwork on the rebuild is helpful, I went to buy a piece of equipment with a 'rebuilt' engine and well, it started hard and smoked, so I asked what was rebuilt, the widow said her son and husband rebuilt it, I think she means repainted the engine, maybe swapped a water pump. a Cat rebuilt Cat engine, I'd suspect would be close to new.
Make sure it was overhauled with Cat parts. I've seen later model (wide journals) Cats go 750k before needing rods and mains with proper maintenance. I would sure want paperwork. A friend had his overhauled a couple years ago and called me the other day with issues. Seems the overhaul that was done didn't include a new oil cooler, or even a test or reseal of existing, no water pump replacemt etc. Is there any history of the truck as far as trans, rear ends, clutch etc? It's all going to boil down to purchase price and how much work you want to do. What are your plans for it? Junkyard
Don't know about the oil or water pump yet. Right now I just know the heads, liners, pistons, rods and main bearings are all new. I won't get in to see the truck for another week, was just trying to get an idea if it was worth the time off to check it out. Planning on keeping it if it pans out. Don't mind having to do regular maintenance and even replace a few things, but would like to at least get a cpl hundred thousand miles on her before I had to worry about any big repair costs. Nice looking truck, can tell it's been well maintained. I'll take it to a shop before I make a final decision, but I'm no mechanic so was figuring if it got over a million miles before an overhaul I should at least get half that after?
Done properly there's no real reason you shouldn't get the same life with an overhaul the original motor got. There may be components replaced along the way but as far as the guts of the motor they should last as long as original assuming Cat parts, proper and clean installation etc. There's always a fluke deal like a dropped valve or something unforeseen. Hopefully there's paperwork to go with the OH. A true Cat overhaul with the right extra parts done in the right shop will have warranty through Cat. I'm not afraid of independent guys doing them and you may still have some parts warranty there. If it's fresh and no paperwork maybe pull an oil sample just for grins, look for blow by, it should been clean as a whistle as well if it's a fresh OH. I know a great independent Cat guy, worked for cat 30 years in the truck shop before he "retired". He's my go to guy if I'm stumped or don't have time to do it myself. He's just south of Tulsa in Leonard. If you want I can PM his info. Junkyard
Read what junkyard says carefully. This is a 2000 year truck with a million miles. If you want a couple hundred thousand miles with no major repairs, I'll save you a little trouble--Don't buy it. Don't buy anything. I own a bunch of older equipment. There is always a reason someone's selling. Anything I buy, I figure if I'm lucky, in the first year it won't cost me over $10,000. But I know it will cost me at least $3-5,000. Just a month or so ago, I brought home a 1998 Western Star, and a lowboy trailer. Off the top of my head so far: Two pac brake solenoids :138/per=$278 Headache rack: used $550 Wet kit: used $500 New hoses for wet kit:$220 New hydraulic Fittings:$150 New Wheel bearings and seals for trailer: $800 New aluminum rim to replace bent one: $150 Gasket set and bolt grommets for valve covers : $200 $2848/ and that's no labor. And I really haven't gone anywhere yet. Anytime-( and I mean anytime from the second you sign the papers) it could drop a engine, trans, rear end. All or any of those are easily a $4-7,000 repair, and you can't move until it's fixed. If your on the road somewhere when it happens, double or triple those numbers. I don't care if the engine, trans or rears were just remaned or replaced or fixed. I'm not paying for that repair when I buy the truck. The western star has a brand new reman trans, but I didn't do it. The shop that did is 200 miles away, and they aren't doing squat for me. Sure it's great that the trans is a reman (and I'm hoping they did a clutch while they were there)- but it doesn't make the truck more valuable. It's great that the engine was just worked on, but they may have not replaced everything, if the turbo disintegrates tomorrow, they aren't fixing it. You are. I don't know what you're use is for the truck, so I won't comment on insurance, title, FMCSA, DOT and all the other alphabet government entities, but none of it is cheap. If you're looking at spending $20,000 on the truck, you should have another $20,000 laying around of spendable cash. Not just cash, but spendable cash, not the grocery money. I don't want to totally sour you on buying a truck, but I've seen a lot of guys buy a used truck, hoping to make a living, and just not be able to make it, because the margins are so small, and a $10,000 repair bill eats up a lot of profits. If this is just a toy hauler and you're a doctor with money to play around with- disregard everything and have fun.
^^^ couldn't have said it better.
I've owned, managed or operated about 30 trucks. 15 at one time. A mixture of new, few years old and 10-12 years old. It will always be a balancing act of what you can afford to buy, maintain and fix. I loved the new trucks for the warranty and how I built them for the work we did but I sure hated those payments. I have a friend who runs nothing but older stuff and has very good luck. He is very particular about maintenance and catching stuff before it's an issue. I've cared for his work truck and antique truck collection for around 15 years and we've yet to have a major malfunction. Be proactive with maintenance and don't adopt the run to failure mindset. You know what you need it for, what you can afford etc. We've all given great advice now you just have to sift through it! Find a good mechanic if you don't have one and get friendly with him is the best advice I can give. Junkyard
I can afford good regular maintenance and even the cpl thousand repair. To me major would be 12 grand or more. Just doing a three year loan if I do, so just need something to chug away till then to trade up to the next one. Only plan on hauling reefer, run meat to the east coast then whatever back to the Midwest. 80k lbs max for DOT. Costing me over two grand a month leasing so can get a loan for half that. The shop says they warranty all parts and labor for two years so will just be sliding on one. Already have to pay insurance and maintenance so that won't add anything I don't already pay out. Granted got a bumper to bumper warranty with the lease so any major breakdowns is covered, and I realize there are no guarantees in life, except the dang taxes I gotta pay Plus I just can't see owning a truck with all this emission crud sucking the life out of the truck. Been in the shop twice for emission issues and the day after I leave the MEI light twinkles back on. Why I'm looking for a good pre emission truck prior to 2007. Already put .05 cents for every mile I drive into a maintenance account so it don't affect the income I see at the end of the week.
Yah, I'll pay him to look it over and give me his two cents (more like $200) worth