Looking to Purchase a used Freightliner

I bought a 2012 Cascadia with the DD15 that had been on the lot for about a year. We have had a handfull of emissions issues that the mechanics say are probably due to the truck sitting so long, but in 30,000 miles I haven't added a drop of oil, other than an oil change (25,000 miles ago). The oil sample I did last week came back clean, with only the base being flagged at a level 1 with no bypass filtration.

We are getting about 5.75 MPG right now, but have a lot of idle time. because the APU also has problems, so wont stay on over 2-3 hrs at a time. This combined with the emissions issues that are forcing us to regen almost daily (after extended idle periods), are bringing the numbers down.

We are headed to Pittsburgh Power in a couple of weeks to get the emissions systems, crank dampener, oil bypass filter, Dorothy, and the engine flush done. I have high hopes that even with the idle time (APU is my next repair goal). our MPG will come up at least one mile.

According to Fuel gauges reports, this combination should be good for around 7(ish) MPG.

Ultimately I think that this is a good combination, just make sure the emissions systems have been serviced recently, so you don’t have those issues .

DeWayne.

Landstar is a great place to end up, and getting out of a Lease Purchase that penalizes you for excess mileage is a no-brainer. Good for you on making that decision. The thing with Landstar right now ( my experience) is they take awhile to process your application. So give them plenty of lead time. With me it took 30 days to have a recruiter follow up and I have, TWIC, Hazmat, and Doubles. I waited until I purchased my truck to finalize the application, and the clock is ticking for that first payment so I ended up signing with another company that could put me to work right away.

A Frieghtliner Cascadia with a DD 15 engine is a great start. If you can find a 13/14 with 350 to 400k miles that would be a really low mileage truck which would be a positive. Realistically a truck that age would be 5 to 6 years old and if it was running 12k miles a month is likely to have 700 to 850k on the odometer. Keep at it though, as I recently purchased a 2015 Cascadia with 410k miles. KR talks about knowing what you will hauling and what lanes you will be running. This affects your selection on the gearing for your differential. I asked someone who had experience specing fleets of trucks that ran exactly the freight and locations that I ended up doing. So I ended up with a Ratio slightly higher than what you hear discussed but I get close to 7 mpg running cross country and through the mountains. 67+ mph.

I learned a valuable lesson about identifying Re treads and selecting good tires for fuel economy. Be sure to ask if the tires are re treads or new, and check the sidewall for production dates. Hold out and get good new tires on your truck. It will optimize your fuel economy out of the gate.

Good luck