Your truck is how old?

[upflying]

Originally Posted by Paris freedom Dean

I have a 1997 Chevy Z71 K1500 and i just bought a 2012 Coachman that weighs 4800. My truck had a towing capacity of 7500 so i'm well under that. It has no rust and i've had any little thing thats wrong taken care of as soon as i can get it in. I know it doesn't have the HP of the new trucks or all the gears in the tranny but i just can't bring myself to get rid of my beauty and have a truck payment. The way i look at it is that i can have the engine or transmission rebuilt or upgrade to a newer drivetrain for a lot less than buying a new truck so if you like your truck keep it and do some upgrades if you think it needs it.

Dont forget the payload police will make you think more about payload capacity and not towing capacity.

[Life Without Whine]

We run with a 1996 F250 diesel ... was my FIL truck that he ran around with a fifth wheel behind putting no miles on it at all. We took it in 2016 and had a ton of repairs due to the fact that he did not use it enough. Now when things are breaking down the parts are tough to get (because they should have broken down years ago with this truck only having 165K miles on on it). Know this is a good truck for someone who is mechanically inclined to own but DH is not that guy and when anything goes wrong it wrecks our trips. Pre COVID we had started the search for the next truck but even retirement has now been pushed back a few years so we have some time to get a new truck paid off (I hope!)

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by lazyjj

I have a 1999 F250 SD with 7.3 Powerstroke. 208,000 miles and I plan to keep it. The price of even a late model used one is ridiculous.

My plan, should any power train item act up, is to merely replace it with new from the dealer. Engine, transmission, differential(s) all add up to less than a fraction of the price for new, even same make/model.

As long as my backside is comfy, I'm kept warm/cool, dry, and it's reasonably quiet, I won't be buying another truck.

I bought my truck to tow a travel trailer, not impress anyone else.

[aircommuter]

Originally Posted by upflying

Dont forget the payload police will make you think more about payload capacity and not towing capacity.

Yup they will have unhook their trailers and chase him down.

[Bob2019]

My truck is a 2002 Sierra with towing package. It should last awhile yet as I'm not towing a TT anymore. Actual mileage is 34,000 miles. Never has been driven in MN winter weather salt. (A true garage queen!)

[bearscot]

Yeah, just bought a new 2020 suv. Fun to drive and all the new tech is real nice. The insurance went down a couple hundred due to the safety features.

[updhaul]

The "old" rust free truck without payments and lower insurance costs has more value to the owner than anyone. You can afford to replace parts on a preventative basis before they are worn out or broke. Hoses, clamps, brakes and tires and shocks come to mind to make keeping old truck appeal especially tires that look good but can act tired. Cooling system, belts, water pump before failure can also give you reassurance driving older truck and actually cost of replacement is low when you have no depreciation.
Newer isn't always better if you can renew your old truck I would.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by updhaul

The "old" rust free truck without payments and lower insurance costs has more value to the owner than anyone. You can afford to replace parts on a preventative basis before they are worn out or broke. Hoses, clamps, brakes and tires and shocks come to mind to make keeping old truck appeal especially tires that look good but can act tired. Cooling system, belts, water pump before failure can also give you reassurance driving older truck and actually cost of replacement is low when you have no depreciation.
Newer isn't always better if you can renew your old truck I would.

I love the "no payments" part.


As for repairs and maintenance, it's far better to replace things when they show signs of age rather than having to replace them anyway but with the added expense of a tow bill.

[robbiels7]

Originally Posted by upflying

Dont forget the payload police will make you think more about payload capacity and not towing capacity.

The old trucks dont have a yellow sticker. That means no pay load limits. [emoji6]

[Foothills]

I tow w/ a 2001 Dodge 137K mi. and will for years. As long as you have been putting on miles and know what has been done for maintenance. Important things of course: New tires, new belts, and radiator flushed recently.

[RangeMaggotBob]

What I drive is in my sig. Just turned 25K. Constant maintenance, but it has to last me forever. It has satellite radio, auto trans, heating and AC, and lots of comfy room. We are good to go 'til we can't go no more.

[Lins]

If your current truck is treating you well and doing what you need I recommend keeping it. Our ‘17 isn’t very old but I might keep it for 20 years - or more. It replaced a 15 year old 2002 1500 that just wasn’t enough for us anymore. I could have kept the 2002 for much longer otherwise. Our VW will be 10 in a week and we plan to keep it another 10 years. We don’t put a lot of mileage on our vehicles so they don’t really wear out mechanically. Regular maintenance is key. I’ll be replacing the timing chain assembly on our VW very soon as they are a well-known issue and our class action coverage is over at the 10 year mark.

[Griff02]

I would say keep trucking in it. If it took you 20 yrs to put 150k on it, it'll probably go close to another twenty. If it is maintained well, and doesn't have a catastrophic failure, it'll let you know when the motor is getting worn out. When you have to start buying oil at every gas stop, and you can't seem to pull the hills like you used to. Even then, I would just do a rebuild and keep going. Much cheaper than spending the crazy prices on these newer trucks. I've had a lot of old high mileage trucks, and even though some didn't run that good and were worn out, I've never had one blow up on me (granted I didn't abuse them)
I just picked up an '05 Duramax from my cousin, and I plan making this one last. I'm like you, I mainly just use it to tow, It currently has 220k on it (cousin used it as a daily driver) and it tows/runs great, is comfortable for our family, and it'll take me close to 20yrs to put another 100k on it. So I'm keeping it, old or not.
Any truck can have a failure at any point, brand new or used. So when that happens, there is a huge benefit to knowing your truck. You just won't be the shiny penny in the campground, but you'll have a silver dollar hidden in your pocket because of it.[emoji846]

[Griff02]

Originally Posted by bearscot

Yeah, it's the white knuckle downhill grades that concern me on this older truck !

That statement kind of wipes out my earlier post. I assumed you were very comfortable with your TV. If your white knuckling while pulling with it, it might be time to look into finding a better match for your load. Old or new.

[Lins]

Originally Posted by bearscot

Yeah, it's the white knuckle downhill grades that concern me on this older truck !

I missed this as well. What’s white knuckle about it?

[cc102bob]

I have a 96 Ram 3500 dually with the V10 and it has been a great truck for the way I currently use it. The primary problem is that I don't use it enough, so most of the maintenance I've had to do is because it sits too much.

Would I be willing to use it to pull my rig cross-country? Hmm... That's a tough question. It's hard to know if a break down will be some kind of easy-to-fix thing or something that will require a part that's no longer made. The worst-case scenario is that your tow vehicle is not repairable, but even then it wouldn't be too hard to find an RV moving service that could get your trailer back home. While that might not be exactly cheap, the alternative would be spending big $'s on a new truck in an effort to avoid an expense that may or may not happen. Not to mention that there is no guarantee that the new truck won't break down in the same manner.

If I were going to start pulling my trailer long distance with my current truck I would invest in a very thorough inspection and preventative maintenance effort. As an example, I just had to have a brake line replaced because it sprung a leak. How close are the other lines to going bad? Perhaps it would be best just to spend the $'s to replace them all now in the name of safety.

For me, the real question is whether or not my current truck will perform ALL of the functions I want it to perform in a way I find satisfactory. I'm thinking things like ride comfort, cabin comfort, hill climbing power, hill descending capability, technology enhancements, ease of maintenance, etc. If you can't think of enough reasons why a newer truck would be better than your current ride, why replace it? Just make plans for a possible worst-case scenario so that you don't immediately panic if it happens.

[bob213]

I have a 2005 GMC Duramax crew cab with less than 40,000 miles on it. It does everything I need for the trailer I have but I just can't get the new trucks out of my mind.
Don't think it would be impossible to convince wife but ????

[Hersbird]

You don't have to jump right into a 2020. You could spend a little and get a really nice upgrade for about $20,000. Something like a 2011-2013 Cummins with 150-200k on it. If you don't tow very often or very far your truck will do just fine. I use a 2001 2500 Yukon XL I got for $3800 with 235,000 miles on a 6.0 gas. If I were retired and going more than 1 or 2 thousand miles a year I would upgrade to something newer. Don't fear the 6.7 Rams over the 5.9's. The 6.7 is really better with a lot of improvements, and deep down is like the difference between a 5.2 gas and a 5.9 gas, what's great about the 5.9 is on the 6.7 and what's bad about the 5.9 (especially injectors) is better on the 6.7. Worst case you ditch the particulate filter and are good. The transmission behind the 6.7 is also much better than the one on the 5.9.

[8.1pwr]

I still use my 2002 Chevy Silverado 2500HD that I purchased new in Oct 2001.
It has the 8.1 engine with the Allison transmission and the 1 ton AAM 11.5 rear end. It has 110,000 miles and in 2018 we did a 4 month 10,000 mile trip around the Canadian Maritimes. It's a southwest truck (AZ) so no rust.
It hauls my camper and Jeep around just fine at about 7.5 mpg. I can't build a new truck spec'd out like this one, as close as I can get is almost $50K. Would I like a new truck? YES. But I'm cheap and keep my vehicles a long time. I still have my truck before this one a 1970 C20 that I've owned for 40 years and it's still going strong.
So it's a personal preference. Weigh your options and how much you are willing to pay for a new truck vs maintaining what you have.

[jwehrer]

We have a 2001 Ford F-350 Crew Cab, long box with the 7.3 Powerstroke. It has about 195,000 miles on it. Don't plan on replacing it. I think the 7.3 is the best Diesel engine they ever had and it doesn't require DEF for the emissions. Also, we have a manual 6 speed transmission which I wouldn't trade for anything. Apparently they don't make trucks with manual transmissions anymore and I refuse to own an automatic, so we'll be making this one do until it's 100% shot. We pulled our 36 foot travel trailer on a 4300 mile round trip to FL last year and also about 2000 mile round trip to Spokane, WA. Never batted an eyelash that we were driving a 19 year old truck.