|
| Rich,
Actually there's a lot of truth in what I said. It's just that you and some others don't like to hear the truth.
I've never owned a Pete, but have no reason not to. I like them fine.
I think that you would find much of what i said to be fact if you spent some time in our Maritime climate with our salted winter roads. Frames to go to pieces, along with all the other suspension parts you mentioned. Wires turn green with corrosion and fail to conduct... or ground everywhere. Lights and anything else electrical are a battle on ANY 20 year old truck; aluminum cab or not.... Pete or not. The old steel cab Louie's and those damn steel cab IH's were just worse.
I've got nothing against the 3406B either. I think it was the best engine on the road 20 years ago. A lot has happened since then. I wouldn't worry about the electronic engines. They don't have a lot of problems. They all pretty well got that figured out.... and the advantages in torque characteristics, cold starting and fuel efficiency would offset any perceived gain from having an old engine that's easy to work on. I think most problems you would find with the electronic engines are injector related, and taking that one step further... are related to water in the fuel.
I can say this all quite comfortably because I used to think much like you do. The old engine was simple and easy to work on. The old truck was cheap... but I got sick of the old truck that had to be tethered to a cord when it got down to freezing, and burnt more fuel, and had less power and so on....
For what it's worth, that old truck was a 1984 FreightLiner COE, 350 Formula, 15 direct and DS404 Eatons. Quite a truck in September of 83 when it left the line... and it would out turn any Pete, any day.
Today it sits out behind the shed with a twisted frame. The drive train is good and all there. The only parts I've picked off it so far are small.... The air ride seat, some tires... the saddle tank and a few other nic nacs... guess I don't know what a fortune I got sitting there.
There's all kinds of late model trucks around here in the 10 grand range for a 10 year old truck or newer. Lots with good tires and ready for a sticker. That may have more to do with the near collapse of our forest industry of late, but it's how it is. There's just a lot of good cheap trucks around and no work for them... Get yer plane ticket. You might even find a Pete!
Rod | |
|
|
87' 379 Pete, whats it worth?
