Why buy a used truck? Why not? If that dumper sitting on your dealer’s lot is in good condition, it’ll do a proper job but you’ll pay considerably less than you would for a new truck. And you’ll avoid that 12% federal excise tax added to the new truck’s price. Buy one directly from someone you know, or a fleet that’s making room for newer equipment, and you might pay even less. Throw in inflation- and regulation-driven prices for new trucks, long lead times for new-truck orders, and the need to sometimes sort out assembly oversights, and we can see why used-truck sales account for 60% or more of total Class 8 sales in a typical year.
Depreciation is one of the top expenses of owning and running any vehicle that’s bought new, and it’s especially steep in the first two years, according to those who watch the market. A truck’s first owner bears the brunt of that in exchange for better reliability and, for a fleet, commonality of components when spec’d together.
“Used trucks can be a blessing or a curse” to a dealer, said Greg Rempe, director of sales at Ohio Peterbilt’s Broadview Heights location, near Cleveland, because trade-in cycles don’t always match demand. “But it’s important to offer a customer a choice” of new or used trucks, he said.
The engine spun at 1,540-or-so rpm at 65 mph, about right for a vocational vehicle. There were no buttons on the steering wheel, so cruise control and other functions were operated with rocker switches on the dashboard. While headed straight ahead, the steering wheel was cocked a bit to the right after years of counteracting slightly sloped expressway pavement. And the Heritage-built box behind the cab was empty so there was some bouncing over rough spots, but the ride was better than I expected.
So was maneuverability. At one point during street running, I made a hard right turn and began spinning the wheel early, as is sometimes necessary with the usually limited wheel cut on a 20-grand steer axle. But I paused the spinning when I saw that we were making the turn easily, from curb to curb on the two streets, and not needing to grab any extra space to make the swing. That makes a driver’s life less stressful, whether or not he appreciates the engineering that went into building 8 extra degrees of wheel cut into the steering geometry.
That was done back in 2013, when Peterbilt introduced the 567. Its principal improvement was the 2.1-meter-wide cab, which is about 8 inches wider than the ages-old but highly regarded narrow cab on the earlier Model 367.
“At first there was some customer resistance to the bigger cab,” Rempe said, “until they’d got into it and saw the extra room. Then it was ‘Ooo, look at this.’” The newer cab is shared with Pete’s Paccar sibling, Kenworth, which employs it on its T880 vocational series and various highway trucks.
Drivetrain performance in a used Peterbilt
Peterbilt and Kenworth share an increasing number of components. Aside from the roomy cab, the main ones are Paccar’s MX heavy duty diesels and Eaton-built automated transmissions, some carrying the Paccar name. There are also the smaller Paccar-branded, Cummins-built PX diesels and, for quite a few years, a common steering wheel. But designers keep the two brands separate and distinctive. For instance, Peterbilt uses separate sleeper boxes while Kenworth integrates them with cabs; and in vocational models, Pete stays with separate headlamp pods while KW mounts them in the fenders; and instrument clusters and other interior styling cues are mostly different.
In common with most brands’ modern vocational trucks, transmissions are almost always Allison automatics. They are rugged and reduce jolts to a driveline, and they’re easy to drive, making it relatively easy for fleets to locate drivers. “These days you can’t find young people who know how to drive a manual,” Rempe said. “They don’t even teach it in truck driving schools anymore. It’s sad.”
Read also: Pre-buy or face the consequences, from Fleet Owner, a sibling publication in Endeavor Business Media
I know about the recruiting and maintenance advantages and, perhaps agreeing with him, always found the 6-speed Allisons boring to drive because of their mushy feeling. But I liked the Allison in Graylius; it shifted smoothly and a little more crisply than usual. And as usual, the autotranny always chose a ratio appropriate for a situation. I especially admired the way the transmission downshifted to raise engine revs and maximize retarding when I used the Jake Brake on downhill exit ramps. This I did with a four-position stalk on the right side of the steering column; from fully up it’s Off, 1, 2, and 3 as it’s pulled downward. I never needed 3, though in hillier and even mountainous regions it would be useful.
Overall, this this truck was “like new,” as used car ads often proclaim. That would be accurate here, pending a decent ispection, of course. The asking price is $198,000, which seems about right for a 2021-model truck with low miles vs. a new truck with similar specs that now costs about $280,000.
Need something like this but want to pay less? You could call Greg Rempe at Ohio Peterbilt and start bargaining.
