I think those that pretty much live in their trucks (haul with them for a living) would like a truck like the Long Hauler. Not everyone likes to ride all day in a stripped down vinyl seated cheapie.
2010 Cougar 322QBS 5er
2007 Dodge 3500 SRW Megacab, 4x4, 5.9L Cummins, 3.73, 48RE auto HYPERTECH MAX ENERGY or DIABLO PREDATOR tuning MBRP 4" Turbo back Scangauge2 for Boost, Coolant temp, Rail press & Trans Temp
Torklift Stable Loads
SoCalDesertRider wrote: Hot shotters are in business to make money. An outlandishly expensive truck doesn't do them any good. The truck is a tool to do a job. It is a depreciating, replaceable piece of equipment, necessary to the job.
If I were a hot-shotter, I would rather have a stripped down base model (SL) regular cab 3500 dually with a flat bed and a sleeper, or no bed at all, a sleeper and just fenders over the wheels.
Lighter weight truck = more payload capacity = less overall weight to move = better fuel mileage.
A lighter weight truck with more payload capacity means a lighter overall combined weight, which means a lower registered combined weight can be used to do the job. The commercial carrier registration fee is based on the declared combined weight limit you choose at the time of registration. Higher limit = higher fee.
Cheaper truck to buy (base model) means less capital investment and lower monthly payment. Lower purchase price also means lower registration cost and insurance cost.
Add it all up, lower investment cost and operating costs mean more money in the pocket at the end of the day, which is good for any business.
I don't foresee many hot shotters using the Long Hauler for business. It just doesn't fit the cost to benefit profile of a commercial truck.
I also don't foresee contractors buying the Long Hauler. It's simply too big to park and maneuver on a job site, for the tiny amount of load hauling space it provides (just a standard 8' pickup bed). A contractor only wants to deal with a truck that big, if it has a nice big 8'x12' flat bed on it, for hauling materials or carrying equipment.
What I do foresee is some RV'ers buying the truck for hauling those extra huge fifth wheels, as well as some who just want a very nice 'Cowboy Cadillac' type of truck.
All good points, but the same really could be said about the purchase of a personal vehicle as well. Most auto purchases are not made based on logic. Emotion and wants play a very large role in the purchase. This truck appeals to that much more than the stripped down model you mention.
2012 RAM 3500 Laramie Longhorn DRW CC 4x4 Max Tow, Cummins HO, 60 gallon RDS aux fuel tank, Reese 18k Elite hitch
2003 Dodge Ram 3500 QC SB 4x4 Cummins HO NV5600 with Smarty JR, Jacobs EB (sold)
2002 Gulf Stream Sea Hawk 29FRB with Honda EV6010
SoCalDesertRider wrote: Hot shotters are in business to make money. An outlandishly expensive truck doesn't do them any good. The truck is a tool to do a job. It is a depreciating, replaceable piece of equipment, necessary to the job.
If I were a hot-shotter, I would rather have a stripped down base model (SL) regular cab 3500 dually with a flat bed and a sleeper, or no bed at all, a sleeper and just fenders over the wheels.
Lighter weight truck = more payload capacity = less overall weight to move = better fuel mileage.
A lighter weight truck with more payload capacity means a lighter overall combined weight, which means a lower registered combined weight can be used to do the job. The commercial carrier registration fee is based on the declared combined weight limit you choose at the time of registration. Higher limit = higher fee.
Cheaper truck to buy (base model) means less capital investment and lower monthly payment. Lower purchase price also means lower registration cost and insurance cost.
Add it all up, lower investment cost and operating costs mean more money in the pocket at the end of the day, which is good for any business.
I don't foresee many hot shotters using the Long Hauler for business. It just doesn't fit the cost to benefit profile of a commercial truck.
I also don't foresee contractors buying the Long Hauler. It's simply too big to park and maneuver on a job site, for the tiny amount of load hauling space it provides (just a standard 8' pickup bed). A contractor only wants to deal with a truck that big, if it has a nice big 8'x12' flat bed on it, for hauling materials or carrying equipment.
What I do foresee is some RV'ers buying the truck for hauling those extra huge fifth wheels, as well as some who just want a very nice 'Cowboy Cadillac' type of truck.
All good points, but the same really could be said about the purchase of a personal vehicle as well. Most auto purchases are not made based on logic. Emotion and wants play a very large role in the purchase. This truck appeals to that much more than the stripped down model you mention.
That is why I say this truck will appeal to RV'ers, and those who just want a really nice, big truck. People who will use the truck for personal purposes, rather than those who use it as a tool to do a job to make a living with.
Business is business. Business decisions are made based on the facts. The truck is just a piece of equipment built to perform a task, not an emotional issue. Buy the best tool for the job, maintain it, fix it when it breaks, replace it when it reaches it's service life limit, completes it's depreciation ammortization on the books, or becomes technologically outdated, whichever one is most beneficial to the business. It's purchase and replacement are not emotional decisions, opposite of the emotion involved in a personal vehicle.
I think SoCal has it right for the most part. It's a really cool concept but how well will it sell? Why not just put a Megacab with a real 8ft bed, 50gal tank, and air ride? I would buy that. Or like what SoCal said, put a useful purpose built flatbed/ hauler bed on a 45/5500 series chassis cab.
When all else fails, grab a bigger hammer. IYAOYAS.
2000 Aljo 2610BH
2010 Ford F150 Supercrew Lariat 5.4, 3.73 Max Tow package
Equal-I-zer 1,000lb bars.
It seems the thing they liked best about that truck was the air suspension.
My old truck has an 05 Cummins CR 325/610 and a very similar air suspension setup. I can vouch for why they like it.
My new truck is the Ford version of this truck.
08 F350 KR LB CC. Its getting air suspension and a twin turbo/ EFI Live 6.7. About 550 HP and over 1000 ftlbs.
It may not be compared to your heavily modified F350, but that Cummins B will run 400,000 miles even with extended periods of full throttle application. That's why they derate the motors in the bigger trucks. At full throttle putting out over 500 hp and 1000 ft/lb of torque, the lifetime of these small light/medium duty diesels would likely be measured in the hundreds of miles, not hundreds of thousands.
With all due respect SoCal, your last statement was spoken like a true business owner that cares nothing about his workers. I drove truck for a guy to help him out, it lasted for about five months before we parted ways. He bought only older tractors with 250-400K on them. Most where old Fed-Ex tractors. He would have his mechanic go through the drive train but never spent a dime on the interior of the trucks.
The seats where worn out to the point that they had NO support in them at all. Some even had the springs coming out, those got covered with duck tape and then a seat cover!
Before I went to work for him he was pissing and moaning about having three drivers walk out on him. I went to work for him with the understanding that I would do local runs only. Remember I was doing him a favor not the other way around.
After about two weeks Tony comes to me and tells me another driver quit and asked me if I know why. I told him, well you only give your drivers ten dollars if they have to stop for the night. You don't let them run the turnpike even after they have showed you the savings in wear and tear and fuel from driving surface roads. You won't buy new mattresses for the sleepers or new seats. If a driver so much as comes back with a scratch on the truck you go nuts. So why do you think you can't keep drivers?
He countered with how he is barely getting by, but he built a new 700K home and remolded the offices buying new leather chairs for everyone and a huge cherry desk with a heated over stuffed chair for his office. All the time his drivers (the ones making the money for him) drive around in POS tractors with piss poor heat in the winter and AC that couldn't cool a 2'X2' box!
Buying a striped down truck then thinking your going to have happy drivers is not going to happen! You have to spend money to make money. I'm not saying you have to supply your workers with a King Ranch or Longhorn but you have to ask yourself would I want to drive this truck for 10 hours a day, day in day out? If the answer is no then don't think your workers are going to want to do it for very long either.
Again I'm not disrespecting you SoCal just I disagree 100% with the bean counter mentality.
Don
Perrysburg Dodgeboy 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 Quad Cab SLT Cummins HO
2005 Keystone Cougar 304 BHS
Chrysler the only one to pay back 100% of their loans from the Government. *The Old Car Company" still owes 1.6 billion. Is that better Chuckles
i agree with socal in part a lighter truck could haul more payload legally and that one is to over the top as far as the interior goes, but the hotshotters i know drive loaded extended cab or crew cab trucks.....i think dodge should offer the mega cab on a standard cab pick up like they did for the sterling line of cab chassis's
Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote: With all due respect SoCal, your last statement was spoken like a true business owner that cares nothing about his workers. I drove truck for a guy to help him out, it lasted for about five months before we parted ways. He bought only older tractors with 250-400K on them. Most where old Fed-Ex tractors. He would have his mechanic go through the drive train but never spent a dime on the interior of the trucks.
The seats where worn out to the point that they had NO support in them at all. Some even had the springs coming out, those got covered with duck tape and then a seat cover!
Before I went to work for him he was pissing and moaning about having three drivers walk out on him. I went to work for him with the understanding that I would do local runs only. Remember I was doing him a favor not the other way around.
After about two weeks Tony comes to me and tells me another driver quit and asked me if I know why. I told him, well you only give your drivers ten dollars if they have to stop for the night. You don't let them run the turnpike even after they have showed you the savings in wear and tear and fuel from driving surface roads. You won't buy new mattresses for the sleepers or new seats. If a driver so much as comes back with a scratch on the truck you go nuts. So why do you think you can't keep drivers?
He countered with how he is barely getting by, but he built a new 700K home and remolded the offices buying new leather chairs for everyone and a huge cherry desk with a heated over stuffed chair for his office. All the time his drivers (the ones making the money for him) drive around in POS tractors with piss poor heat in the winter and AC that couldn't cool a 2'X2' box!
Buying a striped down truck then thinking your going to have happy drivers is not going to happen! You have to spend money to make money. I'm not saying you have to supply your workers with a King Ranch or Longhorn but you have to ask yourself would I want to drive this truck for 10 hours a day, day in day out? If the answer is no then don't think your workers are going to want to do it for very long either.
Again I'm not disrespecting you SoCal just I disagree 100% with the bean counter mentality.
Don
We're talking about brand new, base model trucks here, with seats that work just fine. The base model trucks now days are leaps and bounds better than they were years ago and far more comfortable.
A new Ford XL, Dodge SL, or GM equivalent, is much nicer inside than my old '77 Chevy Silverado or my old '82 GMC Sierra Grande, both of which were the top of the line trim packages in those days, similar to a Lariat, Laramie or LTZ of today. They didn't make anything back then that would compare to a King Ranch, Long Horn or Denali of today. Trucks were not made to be Town Cars or Sedan DeVilles back then.
The only difference between a base model and a decked out one these days is less gadgets and doohickeys to play with and break later on down the road, and a lot less money to buy it. I do fully agree with having cloth seats instead of vinyl though. I hate vinyl.
I have a whole other point of view about buying old, worn out, junk equipment to be cheap and trying to make good business with it. Nothing wrong with buying something used, in good condition, and ensuring it is stays in good condition. Running junk is never good.
By the way, my cab/chassis truck has a nicer, newer seat than either of my other trucks. It came from an XLT F150. It is cloth and very comfortable. All my trucks have nice stereos in them and none are raggety, inside or out.
* This post was
edited 04/19/12 09:16am by SoCalDesertRider *
recycler wrote: i agree with socal in part a lighter truck could haul more payload legally and that one is to over the top as far as the interior goes, but the hotshotters i know drive loaded extended cab or crew cab trucks.....i think dodge should offer the mega cab on a standard cab pick up like they did for the sterling line of cab chassis's
I think you mean the mega cab with a standard 8' length pickup bed? I like that idea very much. For a personal RV'er, that would be a great truck. Maximum cab room and a full size bed, on a chassis that can handle the weight. What they do now with the reduced GVWR mega cab dually, limited to short bed only, is rediculous.
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