[RichM]

Since I have had very little to do this week (thanks FEDEX CC) I decided to look at my maintenance costs over the life of my present FL 70.This truck was put into service as a brand new D Unit in June of 1996. It is now 5.5 years old and has 563,612 miles on it. Total maintenance for the 5.5 years comes to $25,612 or .22 cents per mile.I do maintenance by the book with oil and lube intervals about every 9-10,000 miles.On previous trucks I used to do a fair amount of PM work myself but now have no place to work on the truck so I must use Freightliner Dealers and Speedco types of places for routine work.I always buy quality tires and do not hesitate to get problems resolved. This truck has never failed me on a run so Fedex CC is giving me an 8 year lifecyle vs the normal 7. But I feel that .22 per mile is excessive and I was wondering if what type of costs other FL 70-80 users have experienced.I have a Cummins C engine with a Fuller 6 speed. Everything is still functioning as it should be other then a little black smoke when I start up.I believe that is from valve stem seals leaking..Maybe Weave knows better..Appreci8ate any replies.
AND AS MR WILD BILL SO ELOQUENTLY STATES : NO MORE TPS:

[Bearcat]

Besides the required maintenance, what was actually spent and on what areas? This would probably give a better picture of what to avoid in the future. My little kitty cat 7.2 has 98000. The only problem was a oil presure line went bad and was covered on the warrenty. My opinion on these little engines is I don't think there are made to haul constant 15000 loads. I see the size of the diesel engines in 1 tons getting close to the cat and cummings size and have low towing capacity. Ours may be a little stronger but think 10000 lb loads or less would extend the life of the engine provided maintenance is followed regularly. I don't miss one and try to lube the chassis in between services. Would like to know the answer to my first question if possible. BTW, this is an excellent question for others to learn.
Randy:)

[RichM]

Randy I will get back to you about the actuals,but just realized I screwed up on the math portion.Actual maintenance cost are about 4.5
cents per mile not 22.Divided maintenance into miles and it should have been the other way,Miles into maintenance costs..4.5 cents per mile I think is reasonable and probably accurate for most trucks..
NO MORE TPS

[Weave]

4.5 cents/mi is dirt cheap, even less than what my old FL70 has been costing with most maintenance done myself. Your truck owes you nothing at this point!
-Weave-

[RichM]

Well as we all know we should never toot our own horn.Yesterday at about 0500 we were on a nice run from Woodbridge VA to Elgin AFB Fl and after we switched drivers ,my wife woke me up about 30 miles down the road and said"The red light that says ALT is on",so we had to pull off and transfer the load.We were about 40 miles from Montgomery AL so at daylight ran over there on batteries alone,went to Montgomery Freightliner and had the alternator replaced for $261.00 which I felt was reasonable.Old alternator had 565,000 on it so it gave great service.Montgomery Freightliner was very quiet as deaklerships go,but the guys and shop seemed competent.Maybe we could all rate dealers around the country and keep a copy of the ratings with us.