How well does Swift Transportation maintain their trucks?

[Chris142]

I went out used truck shopping today. Man did I look at some trashed trucks!

The ones that were in the better condition and had lower miles were a couple of used Swift trucks. These were at a couple of used truck lots that buy the trucks from an auction and they have no way of tellin me the maintenance schedule that Swift has.

I found one used Swift truck that I'm really interested in. It has 543K on it, 470hp series 60, 13 speed. The only down fall it has is the rear axle ratio, 2.93's. So it would be a little slow on the big hills, maybe get decient mpg though? Run the legal speed limit in all states I bet!

Anywho. I'd like to hear from anybody that has worked for Swift and can tell me if they maintain their fleet well or if I should pass this truck (and other Swift trucks)up.

thx.

 

[tundra30]

I work for Central Freight (owned by Swift) and one of their shops is on our property. From what I can tell, their fleet is fairly well maintained. I can tell you that their trucks are governed @ 62MPH so you know it has been babied. Swift is known for having good equipment...but that is about all.

 

[Chris142]

Right on. I got some pm's that say basically the same thing. I guess I'll look deeper into this.

 

[Steve S]

Chris, you are serious about the owner operator !!!

 

[cousincletus]

I think that if the overall condition of the truck is good, then have a good diesel mech look it over before you buy it. The thing that would worry me about a Swift truck is that the truck probably had several drivers that were inexperienced. An inexperienced driver is usually harder on clutches and the driveline (jamming and scraping gears, breaking universals, etc.)
I have talked to some Swift drivers and they all say that the trucks are well maintained.

 

[Chris142]

quote:

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Originally posted by Steve S:
Chris, you are serious about the owner operator !!!

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Ya, I'm gonna do something sooner or later. I don't really know how to get this off the table and onto the road yet though.

I think my next stop should be to see how much freight is in my area, what it pays and go from there.

But I feel that I can find a decient truck for $30K or less and a used flatbed will run around $10K.

OT: Personally I like Peterbilts but they are expensive! Like $65K for one with 700,000 miles on it. The $30K Freightliner sure looks good with 1/2 as many miles.