60 replies to this topic

[Durango1]

Lots of money gonna fly out the door and then a camper needs to go on top of that but...... Lots of miles that I will not be worrying about breaking down or replacing stuff. Could something go wrong, yes, but odds are in my favor and I like it that way. I will keep the truck for many years and I will enjoy it because I decided to wait and get what I wanted.

 

The truck is not an investment. What the truck will allow me to do is the investment.

X2. Despite my earlier "SKI" comment we don't spend money just to spend money. Quite the contrary. We still have furniture we bought used at a yard sale... 40 years ago to furnish our first apartment!

 

BUT since Sioux and I travel alone into some pretty remote places my guiding philosophy is NO DRAMA. As in I want things to work and (usually) newer is better than older.

 

My other key concept is the time-honored "belt and suspenders" approach. For example, truck won't start. (Never happened yet.) We carry 1) 25' jumper cables (from adapted Warn cables to run our 10,000# winch that fits in a trailer receiver hitch) to jump from the camper batteries, 2) an industrial battery for jumping AND 3) (at times) a 2000 watt Yamaha generator with the engine charging cables!

 

The result? No drama! (Hopefully!)

Edited by Durango1, 14 May 2016 - 01:53 PM.

[Kolockum]

It all depends on your budget. I did't have a large budget when I got my set up, truck for 7k and FWC camper for 3k. Used the rest of the money to travel. Granted the truck is older with a lot of miles but relatively easy to maintain and I am pretty good with vehicles. Plus when I dent the truck I don't feel as bad.

 

In hindsight I would have got a full size truck as the gas mileage would have been almost the same and I would have gotten more room.

[ntsqd]

I don't buy new. The depreciation when the front tires first touch the street is too much for me. Plus, I haven't seen a new vehicle that interested me enough to consider buying it since 1984. Today's new vehicles are simply too complicated. I see every one of those undesired, unnecessary "features" as a failure mode. Their failure may not stop us in our tracks, but as interconnected as late models are I'm not willing to risk it. I know of vehicles that have failed a CA smog test because some unrelated system was tied into the Check Engine light. If the OEM's will do that, what else have they done?

 

I'm much more comfortable looking a rig over for potential issues and fixing them before they become a problem. I keep vehicles until they A) loose my interest or B ) have outlived their usefulness to us. Like anyone, I make the best purchase that I can find at the time for my initial budget, but understand that I'll be spending money for a while on the "why we now own it's". After all the PO sold it for a reason, the first couple months are always steep in learning why.

Edited by ntsqd, 14 May 2016 - 11:22 PM.

[MTCK]

Great question.  To me it's a pretty personal question of balancing budget, wants, needs and abilities.  

 

I wanted a gas, one ton crew cab with straight axles that I can work on.  A new Ford or Dodge is over 50k (and I prefer GM products) with creature comforts, and I can't swing a new camper and a new truck.  Some of the new FWC features are really neat (dinette seating, bat wing awning etc) so I elected to fix up a truck and I'll buy a camper new.  

 

I'm pretty mechanically inclined, which plays into the decision and we don't have a lot of rust up here so there are some nice older rigs on the road.

 

 

[Happyjax]

Computers I'm good at. Trucks not so much...... New for me

[ckent323]

There are few non vintage vehicles I would refurbish.  However, I have a 1993 Dodge W250 (4WD) ClubCab Longbed Cummins Diesel with LE interior with reclining "Captains Chair" seats. I bought it used, including a Stockland bedcap, with 125,200 miles on it in 2000 for $12,250.

 

Total maintenance costs during my ownership, including tires, alternator, brakes, differential as well as  transmission rebuilds, have been under about $8,000.

 

It is without a doubt the best, most reliable vehicle I have ever owned.  It has about 375,000+ miles on it and is still running strong.   The only issues I have had with it are that the ride is stiff (well it is a stout and robust full size FWD truck after all) and it is too noisy in the cab.

 

I am presently in the process of getting estimates to refurbish the truck: interior (including adding sound damping to firewall, ceiling, doors and floor), new seats (driver seat is shot) as well as minor body work and complete repaint.

 

I recently had the brakes and wheel bearings done and previously rebuilt the 5 speed Getrag tranny.

 

I suspect I can get at least another 10 -15 years out of this truck.  I am thinking that in the end the body will fall apart around the drive train.

 

I have used it as a daily driver as well as going back and forth to Mammoth for skiing several times every year and we use it to carry our 2009 FWC Keystone (which has gone on and off once or twice a year - but now that we are both near retirement will probably go on and stay on much of the time).

 

Regards,

 

Craig

Edited by ckent323, 15 May 2016 - 12:42 AM.

[Vic Harder]

@Craig " n the end the body will fall apart around the drive train"....   I know mine will, the trucks may last a bit longer.  

 

My wife likes reliable.  I do too, and I do not equate that with "new".  A bombproof warranty does me no good when I am 100 miles from nowhere.  I'd rather have an older vehicle that I have researched top to bottom, fixed all the known issues on, and carry spares for the repeatable failures (cam angle sensors come to mind).

 

I change the "lifetime" fluids on my cars/trucks every year.  Cheap insurance.  And if anything is amiss, I spot it right away.  There is nothing like being able to do your own maintenance.  The very first time I do something on my truck in the boonies, I want to have done several time in my garage.

 

  Hence, I am looking at a low mileage 10 year old truck for my "new" rig.  

[ntsqd]

Craig, specific to your truck, I'd talk to Deaver Spring about what can be done to aid the ride quality.

 

And I'd look into a set of Bilstein's for it. Off the shelf 7100 models should have nearly ideal valving ("255/70") for leaf springs. You *might* get even better ride quality with custom valving in the shocks, but I'm not sure the gain is justified for your use.

 

If you do want to explore that PM me as there is a shop down here in Ventura that I think can help you with any or all of it and I can not recommend them more highly, and those on this board in our area think the same. I farm out my big projects to them, and my 70+ y.o. mother has them work on their Roadtrek (like adding a belly-pan skid plate to keep them from tearing more plumbing off on a dirt road).

[JaSAn]

I have four subjective criteria and the last three are sort of related:

1. The vehicle doesn't meet my needs.  This happened with the last two cars I bought.  Bought for milage, needed a truck.
2. I don't trust the vehicle anymore.  If i cannot take it into the back country without trepidation, it sucks the joy out of a trip.
3. It costs too much to fix.  This is a gut feel kind of thing.  At some point the cost and time to fix a vehicle isn't worth it.
4. I get tired of fixing it.  Happened with the last two trucks I owned.  Do I really want to replace that rear main seal that is leaking on the clutch again?

I usually get a 12 - 15 years and ~300,000 miles out of my trucks.  Being from Minnesota, it is usually the body that drives the change (although electronics is becoming more of an issue).  And as I get older I am less inclined to want to keep crawling under my truck.

 

jim

[Wandering Sagebrush]

<snip>  

 

And as I get older I am less inclined to want to keep crawling under my truck.

 

jim

 

How very true!!!   I suspect that age, along with vehicle complexity is driving a number of us to replace rather than repair if something major comes along.  Crawling under a truck isn't fun anymore.