Thoughts on Sterling trucks? And barko loader's?

Just look at powerstrokes. They behave like shit with dirty oil. Hard starting, rough idling, low power, bad fuel economy. Fresh oil and they act like a saint.
 
They are high pressure oil fired injectors, but that has nothing to do with high crank case pressure. Think of it as 2 separate systems the low pressure system lubes the engine and feed the high pressure oil pump, the high pressure oil from the pump fires the injectors, I believe it's 500psi just to make it idle. They mainly leak oil from abuse, high engine hours, miles, age, and lack of maintenance. Squisher summed in up nicely, except I wouldn't bother with the synthetic oil, just use the correct weight and grade and keep it at regular maintenance intervals. Good Luck!
 
Adrian and I have been studding the grapple truck market for a while now and have been looking at buying one. We have talked to a few people that build these trucks for a living. One of our friends that has been helping us out tremendously owns 16 rear mount grapples and pulp trailers. All of his trucks are at least 70 yards, trailers are at least 60 yards, and the trucks GVW is at 66K.

The things that he told us to look for in a truck is this: The truck must be at least 66k GVW or else you will not have a payload, these trucks weigh about 35k-40k empty. You also need to have at least a 22' bed to make the truck worth while, also make the bed the biggest it can be (build it over the cab too). He does a lot of storm work and they pay off a percentage of how full your truck is. With a bigger box capacity it allows you to carry roughly 55-60 yards. You are never completely full. In addition, he owns 4 sterling trucks with the Mercedes engines. He said he is always having a problem out of them and the parts are expensive and some what hard to find. His chassis of choice is Western Star, Kenworth, and his most favorite is Volvo. The truck also must have at least a double frame, you will tear the frame to hell with the rear mount loader.

I personally think that the truck that you posted is a pretty decent price. The milage does not seam that bad, the cat engine is good. The box is very small though, don't like that about it. Also, I would check the price on the handles of the grapple. The guy who owns the 16 trucks went through 200 handles during hurricane sandy. I am a big fan of Prentice loaders personally. You can shove a stick in the handle and still run the loader.
 
They are high pressure oil fired injectors, but that has nothing to do with high crank case pressure. Think of it as 2 separate systems the low pressure system lubes the engine and feed the high pressure oil pump, the high pressure oil from the pump fires the injectors, I believe it's 500psi just to make it idle. They mainly leak oil from abuse, high engine hours, miles, age, and lack of maintenance. Squisher summed in up nicely, except I wouldn't bother with the synthetic oil, just use the correct weight and grade and keep it at regular maintenance intervals. Good Luck!

Fellas, don't forget, Joe is a professional diesel mechanic besides doing tree work. Good resource, he is.
 
His chassis of choice is Western Star, Kenworth, and his most favorite is Volvo.

Amen :)

Still can't get over how low your federal GVW's are. my last Grapple truck was 70K# with a 44k# payload.

Volvo is the bestest. Here is my favourite Volvo, running at 198K GVW :)
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That is a monster truck! No way would that fly in ohio! haha 80k is the max here with out permits. That is a beautiful truck!
 
Fellas, don't forget, Joe is a professional diesel mechanic besides doing tree work. Good resource, he is.

Cool. But I'll still preach the synthetic. My 3126 was instantly smoother and much easier cold starting when I switched to synthetic. Same with my 7.3.
 
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