High Milage Trucks

Discussion in 'The Chatterbox' started by JohnDB, Feb 14, 2018.

  1. JohnDB

    JohnDB Well-Known Member

    I drive pickup trucks for a work vehicle.

    I work in construction. (Foreman)

    I never bother with new. I always drive an older (10+ yrs) full size American made truck.

    Now my last three trucks (which actually have made it a total of 25+ yrs) have been a Dodge followed by two Ford f150's.

    I'm thinking that it's time to junk my current 2000 Ford and get another truck.

    I'm planning on spending roughly 6k.

    I seen a lot of Chevys out on the road. But never owned one. My father has...but it had transmission issues. So I've avoided them.

    What older truck would you recommend?

    I can say that Ford's eat bearings and fuel pumps at the wrong time (if there ever was a good one)
    Dodge has issues with u-joints and transmissions and eats brake pads pads faster than anything.
    Neither one has electric windows that work for long. But the manual windows seem to hang in there.

    Also...Dodge's will have issues with the catalytic converter. They plug up and have to be replaced. The "stainless steel" exhaust system is usually a joke.

    So what do you know about Chevys?
     
  2. RyX

    RyX DoH!

    My most often done Chevy repair; Rear wheel bearings and seals. Gotta pop the differential pan, dump the 90 weight oil, and requires a new gasket. The axles are held in place by a Chinese puzzle of a bolt, a pin, & a C shaped clip on the end of the shaft. Need a bearing puller/ slide hammer to extract old parts.
     
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  3. jimjo1031

    jimjo1031 never bloomed myself

    I had a 1989 Dodge Heavy Duty 1/2 ton pick up, 360ci with throttle body fuel injection. I think it was the first year for fuel injection on those trucks. Yeah, I put on a chrome open air cleaner left over from a previous car to give it that 4 barrel sound when floored. I was the last owner and had it for a few years. It came close to having 200,000 miles on it. The thing was a beast with plenty of power and capable of good burn outs. One drawback though, maybe about 10mpg. On a side note, I also had a 1996 Dodge Intrepid with a stainless exhaust system. Got rid of it in 2014 with the original exhaust still on it, also driven through NY winters with salt on the roads.
     
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  4. Preacher

    Preacher Well-Known Member

    I know you like American, but my Toyota truck has close to 300,000 miles on it and with only regular maintenance and consumables (brakes, etc) has give me only a few minor issues (alternator, O2 sensor). It still runs strong and I would not to hesitate to drive it across country.
     
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  5. DaltonGang

    DaltonGang Ol' Itchy Whiskers

    I've a 2006 Dodge 2500 Diesel, 4x4, Autmatic tranny. It has around 180,000 miles on it, and is a daily driver. The only issues I've ever had are the A/C being replaced a couple of years ago, and the ball joints replaced, several years ago. No major problems, and no issues that I see. The paint still looks new, even though its always parked and stored outside. . Also, the tranny is still going very strong, (knock on wood).
    Me, I just want a change, and have been thinking of getting a new Ford F250 Diesel 4x4. But, the wife and youngest daughter beg me not to sell. They love this truck. But, the adult son wants me to sell the truck, to him.
     
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  6. Bookworm

    Bookworm Well-Known Member

    1) Diesel - they tend to be better built in all the brands. No clue why. You'd think that everything other than the engine would be the same.
    2) I can attest to Toyota being well done. My 2003 Pontiac Vibe (originally a rental car) was replaced in the fall of 2016. It had 297,000 miles on the original engine. Replaced catalytic converters, front struts, and several starters (high water, mostly). I only replaced it because I was at a decision point on repairs - the parts weren't expensive, but I didn't have the time to do all the repairs. So I bought _another_ Vibe (2007) with 135,000 miles or so on it, and I expect it to keep running for quite some time with minimal, if any, major. The original car? Passed it along to someone who could do the repairs, and he's already hit the mechanical limit on the odometer. (299,999 - it locks up. Yes, Toyota admitted it was deliberate, and no, they weren't going to fix it, or even tell anyone else how to fix it.)

    If you are looking at a larger size truck, I'll talk to one of my customers that repairs them, and ask which ones they'd recommend.
     
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  7. MR41

    MR41 Well-Known Member

    I grew up on Chevy. I had two ‘97s that both had the same problems within a few thousand miles of each other and it turned me off Chevy for good. They were the worst trucks I’ve ever had. If It has to be American( and really there is no such thing anymore) your better off feeding a Ford bearings and fuel pumps.
     
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  8. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    My last employer was a very large pipeline construction company whose fleet basically consisted of Chevy for 3/4 ton and smaller, Ford for 1 ton and F550’s.

    The Chevy’s in the price range you’re gonna be shopping tended to have tranny issues and PITA electrical problems. The front ends were also light, but we put them through a lot of off road. All of ours were gas, so I cannot speak to the Duramax.

    In a Ford, you do not want a diesel in the price range you are shopping, unless you can find an old 7.3 liter. The 6.0 liter was a flop, and the twin turbo (6.4?? 07-09 era ???) that followed had so many issues that they were a nightmare. (Emissions, turbos, coolers) The 5.4 gas in a Super Duty is a complete dog.

    I have no experience with Dodge.
     
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  9. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    Ive always known Chevys to have some electrical issues. Theyre actually pretty solid mechanically but the electronics arent great.
    Ive got quite a lot of experience with Fords and as long as you stay away from the diesels, theyre very solid trucks.
    Why not just buy a Toyota Tundra? Theyre awesome trucks, probably not quite as capable as Ford and GM but Id argue theyre considerably more reliable.
     
  10. Jim99

    Jim99 Gold Water Shaver

    I would go with another Ford truck Overall, they’re the best of the bunch. I’ve always gotten 200,000 miles out of two I’ve owned without any issues. I just got sick of looking at them and traded them in. Just regular maintenance is all they required. They also have the best hauling capacity in their class. They also have a good resale value too.
     
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  11. PickledNorthern

    PickledNorthern Fabulous, the unicorn

    I do have to say that my personal pickup is a Tundra, and it is easily the best truck I have ever owned. The power out of that 5.7 feels like driving an old muscle car, and it has been 100% trouble free up to its 120k.

    The only downsides I see as a potential work truck are that while the cab is plenty big, the doors are small. Folding my 6’4” into it fifty times a day would suck. The gas tank on mine is only 20 gallons, and if I had to average fueling up twice a day It would just irritate the heck out of me. First world troubles.
     
  12. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    True, those issues compared to what you could face with the other 3 is nothing.
    I know that the Tundra is a bit behind Ford in terms of technology but with the Tundra at least you can say its proven technology and you can be pretty sure the truck isnt going to break down on you all the time.
    The new F-150s are really cool though and the Ecoboost engines are wonders of modern technology. A friend of mine has an Ecoboost Mustang and that car is stupid fast for what it is.
     
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  13. JohnDB

    JohnDB Well-Known Member

    Now when I say "high mileage" I mean that I don't buy one with less than 150,000 miles. My current truck has around 298,000 miles on it. (If the odometer decides to grace us with knowing...it has attitude issues and refuses to come on at times)
    But the fuel gauge is working at the moment.
    (I need one of the two)

    I used to have a '98 Ford with the twin tanks. When one ran dry I just switched tanks...and got gas. Till the line valves clogged up and got stuck. Then one day this woman blew through a stop sign at @ 150% of the speed limit and removed the front end of my truck. She had her clothes (except panties and bra) and her mostly consumed vodka in the passenger seat next to her. She took a ride to the hospital and then jail. But my truck went to the junkyard.

    Her insurance barely paid half the value of the truck. But considering how little I had in the truck I was good financially.
    But that's how I got to own the truck I have now.

    But this one is...ornery and a bit of a primadonna.

    I liked my '98 better...it was just a beast. You had to yell at it and stomp the pedals to get it to either go or stop but...no attitude. (8 cylinder...my current drama queen is a v6)
     
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  14. Arnout

    Arnout Well-Known Member

    If small japanese trucks are an option, I drive an Isuzu dmax, now,after 10 years and 300000 km both on and off road I am about to change the rear shock absorbers, otherwise just oil changes.
    In Australia, South Africa an in Europe almost everyone has a troublefree ride.
     
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  15. JohnDB

    JohnDB Well-Known Member

    The vehicles outside of America are made really differently with stronger parts and many fewer electronic sensors. But also most are much smaller than American vehicles.

    Here our vehicles are ruled by our sensors. One goes bad due to a vacuum hose crack and we can't get it licenced.

    Currently my primadonna truck has just such an issue. I'm getting an error code saying fuel too lean on bank one. Trouble is in finding this one stupid hose out of the dozens it has to that side. Truck is running fine...oh well.
     
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  16. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    Is the one with a non-functional odometer a late '90s Ford? I used to have a '99 F-150 with a digital odometer and sometimes the display would blink out and then come back on when you would go over a bump. With mine, unfortunately it still tracked the milage but the display simply didnt work. For a while, when it went out you could smack the dashboard and it would come back on but eventually that stopped working. I read that you can take apart the dash, resolder the wire connections for the odometer and fix it. Apparently when some of them were made in the factory, the solder joints werent great and that was the cause of the problem. With mine, I never felt like it was a big enough of a deal to tear apart the dashboard.
    For what its worth, I did love the truck and had a heck of a lot of fun with it but it wasnt exactly the highest build quality in the world.
     
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  17. Arnout

    Arnout Well-Known Member

    There was a time when the electronics of american cars lacked robustness, it makes no sense to be fully stuck because the airco failed. But these trucks were pretty cheap,..
     
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  18. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    I'd say GM's electronics still lacks robustness.
     
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  19. JohnDB

    JohnDB Well-Known Member

    EPA standards and laws here require this sort of thing. The car companies make money from the parts and schools that teach repairs. They even go so far as to have a tire air pressure sensor which needs batteries or breaks or has an emotional meltdown and you have to get it fixed. (Like I can't just look at the tires to see if they need air)

    Most of the high mileage trucks I've had don't have so much of this stuff. But it's catching up to me as the years roll by. An idle speed sensor... really? Like thats needed for what? But when it breaks your screwed again. A Mass air flow sensor does what? But if it goes bad your screwed again. Each tailpipe has two oxygen sensors...and they can shut off the gas going to your engine....but dont talk to the rest of the electronics in your engine...why?

    Just to get the thing fixed so some teenager can blow through a stop light while texting their friends or a drunk and naked woman blows a stop sign and destroy it. (I'm still pissed at the drunk naked woman)

    I'm wondering if a horse would be a better way to go.
     
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  20. Badgerstate

    Badgerstate Well-Known Member

    Actually, a mass airflow sensor is pretty critical. I'm not sure how you make fuel injection work without it. I'd agree that some of it, like TPMS is pretty needless but not all of it is. Say what you want about emissions and the EPA but I love the fact that my midsized sedan gets 40 mpg.
     

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