cotulla_crew_haulerOPFloorhandCotulla, TX11 posts, joined Oct 2025
#1
crew hauler out of Cotulla. i run hands and their gear from the man camp to the pads along 35, and i needed a flatbed that could also pull a gooseneck when the company needs a skid moved. read kenedy's thread and figured i owe the board the same write up.
lost the first one. bid 39,500 on a 2020 Tradesman flatbed out of a yard in Amarillo in september and did not get it. no email saying by how much, just not yours, which stings more than losing at a live sale where at least you see the guy who beat you. second one came up ten days later. 2021 Ram 3500 Tradesman 6.7 Cummins, 68RFE, 4x4, single rear wheel, 78,400 miles, CM SK flatbed with the gooseneck ball in the deck and the rail pockets, sitting at a lender yard in Oklahoma City. fleet truck out of a pipeline outfit. bid 41,750 this time and got it.
instead of delivery i had them bring it to the karnes city lot and drove it home. cotulla to karnes city is an hour and a half on 97 and 72 and i wanted the first 120 miles to be mine, not a hauler's. pick up at the lot is on every listing and it cost nothing extra. my brother in law dropped me off, i signed, and i drove it back with the AC on 60 through Pleasanton and Jourdanton.
first 120 miles: 68RFE shifts clean, no shudder, exhaust brake works, cummins sounds like a cummins. the flatbed had a surprise. underside of the deck had a cracked cross member weld on the driver side near the rear, plain as day once you crawl under it. not in the photos because nobody photographs the underside of a flatbed. welder in cotulla fixed it for 150. the pace ace listing had the odometer, the cluster, the 4x4 test and 40 some photos otherwise and the truck matched all of it.
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cummins_flatbed_wesDerrickhandBeeville, TX19 posts, joined Sep 2025
#2
68RFE at 78k. drop the pan and look at the filter and the magnet before you put a gooseneck behind it. that trans is fine if the fluid was done at 60 and a hand grenade if it was not, and fleet trucks get engine oil on schedule and nothing else. the aisin was the one to have but the tradesman fleet spec is almost always the 68. 41,750 is about right for a 21 flatbed with 78k, the bed alone is 3 grand of that.
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powerstroke_fleet_techDrillerOdessa, TX33 posts, joined Sep 2025
#3
ford guy, but the fleet rules are the same. cabin filter, DEF quality, and the cracked cross member is normal on a CM bed that hauled skids. the rear welds go first because everybody drops the skid on the last foot of the deck. 150 was cheap. check the other three welds while you are under there.
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kenedy_pusherFloorhandKenedy, TX14 posts, joined Sep 2025
#4
same story as mine, the underside is the one place nobody photographs. my truck came through pace ace motors with a diff cover seep and yours with a weld, both under 200 bucks, both things you find on your back in the driveway. glad you drove it home from the lot. i almost did that and then did not want to burn a day.
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cotulla_crew_haulerOPFloorhandCotulla, TX11 posts, joined Oct 2025
#5
dropped the pan sunday. fluid was dark but not burnt, normal fuzz on the magnet, no chunks. new filter and 7 quarts of ATF+4, 110 bucks. wes was right that nobody had touched it, the pan bolts still had the factory paint marks. checked the other cross member welds, one more had a hairline, the welder is coming back friday. so 300 in welding and 110 in fluid on a 41,750 truck, i will take it. paper was a texas title in the pipeline outfit's name with the bank's lien release stapled to it, same drill kenedy went through, and the tax office in cotulla had my plates in a week.
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tina_dispatchesWormKenedy, TX7 posts, joined Sep 2025
#6
not a buyer, i dispatch for a water outfit in Kenedy, but our drivers keep asking me what it is like to bid blind and lose. can you say more about the first one? did you go low on purpose, or did you think 39,500 was the number?
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cotulla_crew_haulerOPFloorhandCotulla, TX11 posts, joined Oct 2025
#7
tina, honestly, i lowballed the first one. 39,500 was what i wanted to pay, not what the truck was worth, and somebody who did the math beat me. second time i priced three dealers and two of the online auctions with their 10 percent added on and bid what a 21 with 78k actually goes for. that is the lesson. you get one number, make it the real one. update while i am here, 6,100 miles since the lot, both welds held, pulled a 12k skid out to a pad off FM 133 last week and the 68 did not complain. no complaints about the pace ace people either, everything they said on the listing was on the truck. i will update if the trans does anything.
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