Industrial

   1. Type of work First, as an owner-operator, you need to know what type of work you will be doing, e.g., average load weight The type of terrain you will be traveling over The type of trailer you will be pulling Know the specifications of the rest of the drive line Know what transmission and rear differential ratios   2. Size considerations Bigger is better is somewhat of an outdated idea of thinking about the best truck engine. Bigger horsepower is best, which doesn't sound as true now as it used to. Depending on the type of work you will be doing, bigger isn't always the   best choice for a truck engine . I suspect there used to be more androgyny involved in many engine choices. Since owner-operators are in business for profit, rather than bragging about their rights at the truck stop counter, the "smaller" engines (13 liters) are much better now than they used to be. Most of these diesel engines can reliably reach 500 horsepower at 1850 TQ, which is a pretty im...