Thank you Mr. Ford95 for those important notes. I was able to drive the truck and the braking action seems to be okay, but the truck was not loaded. The service and emergency air lines for the trailer on the back of the cab are terminated. There are no glad hands installed. I will look for any 5th wheel line that may have been left open. There appears to be an automatic water condenser/eliminator for the air tanks, as different than a manual pull cord to purge water from the tanks. If there's anything I didn't like about the brakes is the positioning of the brake pedal. It was a bit too close to the steering column. I can't be wearing a big boot and drive this truck at the same time! Once I take delivery, I'm going to have a shop go over the critical systems and be sure everything is working.

Bonzo, I agree that there's a lot of tandems out there for the same price, but I'm going to feel more comfortable starting smaller and doing only small jobs on the side from my other full time job. I see a lot of independent dump drivers out on sites and everyone is using a tandem, you are right.

 

one of the problems you are going to have is the dot loves to pull dumps over and check weights on your axles. just keep that in mind. you would have less problems with a tandem axle. they are no harder to drive than a single axle. you will be much happier in the long run all the way around with tandems. just friendly advise from a old trucker .