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And so it begins...HDT home, ECR 2019, destination full time.


PaHunter

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The wife and I are beginning our search for a HDT. We have been camping for most of our lives, I have owned several bumper pull trailers and we upgraded to a fifth wheel last year. She would like to eventually sell of the house and go full time, with her skills in Campground/Park management, should be able to find work. Our favorite place to camp is Fort Wilderness.

Today we looked at a 2009 Volvo, under 400000 miles, had some hope, sadly no luck. But we will not give up....the search is on.

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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Several of us have gotten trucks from RDO Truck in Fargo.  John Stearns is a good guy to deal with.

 

Av8r3400
Thunderstruck - 2012 Volvo VNL 730 D13 iShift
Slick - 2021 Grand Design Momentum 397TH

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I'd rather die trying to live - Than live trying not to die.   -Leonard Perry

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  • PaHunter changed the title to And so it begins...HDT search and journey to full time

Hi PaHunter,

Check the classified ad's on Racing Junk. The reason that I say that, is because that is where I was able to sell my first truck (HDT). 

Good luck in your search,
Al

2012 Volvo VNL 630 w/ I-Shift; D13 engine; " Veeger "
  Redwood, model 3401R ; 5th Wheel Trailer, " Dead Wood "
    2006 Smart Car " Killer Frog "
 

 

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Hi PaHunter,

    You will get lots of advice here towards the HDT so I'll comment on the going full timing. We are working on 9 years FT and love the lifestyle. I took me 9 months to wittle everything down and dispose of things. This was while my wife was still working everyday. Here are a couple of suggestions:

1) Craigslist is your friend. Be sure to post a picture and ask a reasonable price. AND if someone makes an offer anywhere close to reasonable TAKE IT. Also be aware that you will not get nearly what you think something is worth. It is only worth what someone else thinks it is worth.

2) Depending on what you have to sell joining a consignment auction works. we had antiques and they moved well.

3) DO NOT put anything into storage. I have met several people that put things into storage and came back a year or two later and disposed of everything. They did not remove anything and only managed to pay storage fees.

 

Brad 

Brad and Jacolyn
Tucker the Wonder dog and Brynn the Norfolk Terrier
2009 Smart "Joy"
2004 VNL630 "Vonda the Volvo"
2008 Hitch Hiker 35 CK Champagne Edition
VED12 465 HP, Freedomline, 3.73 ratio, WB 218"
Fulltiming and loving it.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well we will see whomever shows up at ECR. What better way to find out about HDT trucks than to get together with a bunch of HDT owners. The wife is looking for more information, a tour if anyone is willing. I have her pretty much sold on the idea....just need some help to close the deal.

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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20 minutes ago, PaHunter said:

Well we will see whomever shows up at ECR. What better way to find out about HDT trucks than to get together with a bunch of HDT owners. The wife is looking for more information, a tour if anyone is willing. I have her pretty much sold on the idea....just need some help to close the deal.

My 99 Volvo in the picture is for sale and will be at the ECR.

Roger

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34 minutes ago, PaHunter said:

Well we will see whomever shows up at ECR. What better way to find out about HDT trucks than to get together with a bunch of HDT owners. The wife is looking for more information, a tour if anyone is willing. I have her pretty much sold on the idea....just need some help to close the deal.

PaHunter,

Glad to see you signed up for ECR and look forward to meeting you and your wife.  Both of will be in overload with the amount of information you will be exposed to.  Please feel free to ask anyone questions that remain because folks are more than happy to talk openly about part timing or full timing.  In fact one of the seminars is by one of our couples that full time and are willing to share their budget, cost saving tips, and other extremely valuable information.  Also their is a ladies only seminar co-chaired by the same lady where your wife will not feel intimidated to ask and have any questions answered from a female perspective.  Again welcome.

2006 Volvo 780 "Hoss" Volvo D12, 465hp, 1650 ft/lbs tq., ultrashift

Bed Build by "JW Morgan's Custom Welding"

2017 DRV 39DBRS3

2013 Smart Passion Coupe "Itty Bitty"

 

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first!"

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PaHunter    We'll be at the ECR and you are invited to stop in anytime!  Pats Pride My wife didn't like the name on the cab but you can't miss the old red Volvo. We are next to the restrooms. Liquid refreshments are always available. So don't hesitate to stop by. Tours and drives are part of the visit. See you in April!   Pat 


The Old Sailor    

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On ‎2018‎-‎03‎-‎05 at 5:20 PM, Av8r3400 said:

Several of us have gotten trucks from RDO Truck in Fargo.  John Stearns is a good guy to deal with.

 

John is the guy I dealt with in 2012.  They get fleets of returned trucks in from time to time.  Mine was one of 61 grainhaulers returned and it had about 500,000 on it. 

Have him get the pick of the litter for you.  They will clean it, detail it and if it was a smoker truck treat it with something, can't remember what...Ozone??  Anyway the smell of cig smoke has never returned.  Jack has or had a list of main motor issues to check for. Mine passed.  RDO will not do his full list..they may if you pay them.

They can do most everything you want and can print off the history of the truck.  They are able to tell you if the maintenance schedules have been met and also how the truck was run.  Fleet owners are picky how their drivers drive their trucks, I'm told.  Leadfooting it is frowned upon. 

Have them deal with some of the major preventative issues.  Injector harness comes to mind...there are others.  John can get you tires at cost.  You may be able to bargain with him on other Service...not getting it for nothing but better than full blown retail.  Better to start with a clean slate.  Batteries come to mind, maybe cables and other connections.  Reprogramming the ECU.  No idea of what to but others will.

Check water lines and the fitting at the bottom of the radiator.  Things rot and deteriorate.  There is a really short section of hose on the left side of the motor towards the front.  It is a PITA to get out at any time but less of a problem if the engine is a part to have the injector harness replaced.  EGR valves are something else to do when truck is apart....big saving on labor.

Its 230 am, I'm getting some sleep.  If no one else posts the link to RDO, I will later...or earlier.

RDO has a site you can look on.  I'm happy with mine

 

 

 

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21 hours ago, SuiteSuccess said:

PaHunter,

Glad to see you signed up for ECR and look forward to meeting you and your wife.  Both of will be in overload with the amount of information you will be exposed to.  Please feel free to ask anyone questions that remain because folks are more than happy to talk openly about part timing or full timing.  In fact one of the seminars is by one of our couples that full time and are willing to share their budget, cost saving tips, and other extremely valuable information.  Also their is a ladies only seminar co-chaired by the same lady where your wife will not feel intimidated to ask and have any questions answered from a female perspective.  Again welcome.

SuiteSuccess, Thank you. Fulltiming was actually the wifes idea, I just ran with it. She still has some reservations. So ECR was the place to come and learn, and yes it maybe a bit of overload, but that is ok. I have been doing a lot of research, have read most of the forum stuff, resource guide, anything else I can find at least once.  Can't wait, time to get the camper loaded, once the snow stops.

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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17 hours ago, JPL said:

PaHunter    We'll be at the ECR and you are invited to stop in anytime!  Pats Pride My wife didn't like the name on the cab but you can't miss the old red Volvo. We are next to the restrooms. Liquid refreshments are always available. So don't hesitate to stop by. Tours and drives are part of the visit. See you in April!   Pat 


The Old Sailor    

Pat,

Thank you very much, yes we have checked out the members photo's on HHRG, we have also looked at the trucks on the previous ECR rallies photo's. Looking forward to meeting everyone, and having a good time learning.

Chris

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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11 hours ago, rdickinson said:

John is the guy I dealt with in 2012.  They get fleets of returned trucks in from time to time.  Mine was one of 61 grainhaulers returned and it had about 500,000 on it. 

Have him get the pick of the litter for you.  They will clean it, detail it and if it was a smoker truck treat it with something, can't remember what...Ozone??  Anyway the smell of cig smoke has never returned.  Jack has or had a list of main motor issues to check for. Mine passed.  RDO will not do his full list..they may if you pay them.

They can do most everything you want and can print off the history of the truck.  They are able to tell you if the maintenance schedules have been met and also how the truck was run.  Fleet owners are picky how their drivers drive their trucks, I'm told.  Leadfooting it is frowned upon. 

Have them deal with some of the major preventative issues.  Injector harness comes to mind...there are others.  John can get you tires at cost.  You may be able to bargain with him on other Service...not getting it for nothing but better than full blown retail.  Better to start with a clean slate.  Batteries come to mind, maybe cables and other connections.  Reprogramming the ECU.  No idea of what to but others will.

Check water lines and the fitting at the bottom of the radiator.  Things rot and deteriorate.  There is a really short section of hose on the left side of the motor towards the front.  It is a PITA to get out at any time but less of a problem if the engine is a part to have the injector harness replaced.  EGR valves are something else to do when truck is apart....big saving on labor.

Its 230 am, I'm getting some sleep.  If no one else posts the link to RDO, I will later...or earlier.

RDO has a site you can look on.  I'm happy with mine

 

11 hours ago, rdickinson said:

I will check out there website and see. Thank you.

 

 

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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  • PaHunter changed the title to And so it begins...HDT search, ECR, destination full time.
20 hours ago, rdickinson said:

Yes I have checked their website before, and saw they had slim pickins right now. But I will keep checking back, this will not happen overnight.  We are looking for an automatic, like the Volvo, but also like the 387's. So keeping our eyes open for now. Well off to get rid of this white stuff that fell from the sky, ugh.

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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On March 20, 2018 at 5:19 PM, PaHunter said:

John is the guy I dealt with in 2012.  They get fleets of returned trucks in from time to time.  Mine was one of 61 grainhaulers returned and it had about 500,000 on it. 

John Stearns was my salesman also.   Email   jbs   AT   rdotc   DOT   com

I liked John and would definitely buy from him again.

Kevin and June

2013 Volvo VNL 730    D13 Eco-Torque @ 425  Ratio 2.47 

2014 DRV 36TKSB3 

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3 hours ago, PaHunter said:

Yes I have checked their website before, and saw they had slim pickins right now. But I will keep checking back, this will not happen overnight.  We are looking for an automatic, like the Volvo, but also like the 387's. So keeping our eyes open for now. Well off to get rid of this white stuff that fell from the sky, ugh.

I have a 387 and, while there are some great deals on late 387's with ultrashifts be aware of the dismal fate of 09-13 Cummins engines.    I had considered a few later trucks but, the emission issues with the engines available in 387's are the worst, post 14 engines seem to have better systems.

I also personally prefer Cat engines, my truck is a short nose 387, they were available in 120 and 112" cabs until 2009.    The small Cat's C12 and C13 bridge engines are really robust and have good power/ easy maintenance.      The down side is most of the short nose 387's have a ton of miles on them.     There is or was a 2001 387 that was delivered by Kenny Doonan as a single axle RV hauler a guy in upstate NY had last year for sale.     The truck was a C12 with a Freedom Line with low miles under 200K since new.     I offered 28K, he was looking for 34K?      I don't know if he still has it but I think he may.

 

Steve 

2005 Peterbilt 387-112 Baby Cat 9 speed U-shift

1996/2016 remod Teton Royal Atlanta

1996 Kentucky 48 single drop stacker garage project

 catdiesellogo.jpg.e96e571c41096ef39b447f78b9c2027c.jpg Pulls like a train, sounds like a plane....faster than a Cheetah sniffin cocaine.   

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

So we have found a 2012 Volvo 730 we like. Will be talking with the dealership and trying to work out all the details. Will be keeping our fingers and toes crossed. Also be asking a lot of questions off of the HHRG checklist of the dealer. Unit appears to be in good shape, less than 700000 miles. So hopefully this will be a step in the right direction to meeting our ultimate goal.

Chris  :ph34r:.

 

Sandpiper 379 FLOK, Volvo 2012 730.

20180525_081811_resizednumber1.jpg

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PaHunter    Before I made any deals I'd ck at the ECR and other places for a truck that has been converted to a RV hauler. It sure would be a lot cheaper to just get in a truck and hookup to the 5er and hit the road. i wanted to do it myself but the state of Va is really hard to deal with. So I ended up buying a 98 610 with a Motor Home title. Sure did make things easier and way cheaper. We were rolling the next weekend. We have had this truck for 7 years (in May) and only put 32k on it(582k). We were working full time till Sept 2015.This will be our 5th ECR but only the 3rd with the Pride.  So whatever you do make sure it is what you really want/need.    Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor

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On 3/19/2018 at 7:08 PM, PaHunter said:

Well we will see whomever shows up at ECR. What better way to find out about HDT trucks than to get together with a bunch of HDT owners. The wife is looking for more information, a tour if anyone is willing. I have her pretty much sold on the idea....just need some help to close the deal.

We will be at the ECR and you are both welcome to stop and see our setup and take it for drive. The Ultrashift makes it very easy to drive.

Dave

2005 Freightliner Century S/T, Singled, Air ride ET Jr. hitch
2019 46'+ Dune Sport Man Cave custom 5th wheel toy hauler
Owner of the 1978 Custom Van "Star Dreamer" which might be seen at a local car show near you!

 

Check out http://www.hhrvresource.com/

for much more info on HDT's.

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