Mission Creep

I guess that's what you call it when what your planning turns into something else. I want a 3/4 ton pickup and a goose neck trailer to haul tractors with to a few shows a year. Looked online and found a couple close to home. I'm thinking $5 to 6000 for a older 3/4 ton decent pickup. Mills in Davenport had a 04 Chevy 2500 for $6500. I inquired about it and when they found out I was really interested in it, they told me they just got it in and hadn't done anything to it yet, if I would buy it as is, they would sell it for $3000. Grill and right front headlight frame is broken, seat is shot, air doesn't work, windshield is cracked in 2 places, tires are wore out. Outside of that she's cherry. We drove up and looked at it this afternoon and I decided it was much more of a project than I had time or energy for so I thanked him and was about to leave when he said, I have just the truck for you. We walked around to the other side of the building and he showed me a 08 Silverado, Duramax diesel/Allison transmission and lots of extra on it, good tires and it's only $10,991. Drives and rides nice. I started out looking for an occasional use truck and end up test driving a whole lot fancier, more expensive truck than I wanted. I have a 97 Dakota and a 97 Ram 4 wheel drive for hauling and winter driving. If I bot the Chevy, I would have to get rid of one or both. Not sure I want a big diesel for a daily driver, but it was a nice truck. Maybe if they will throw in a fifth wheel hitch???? Chris

Don't forget the added expense of oil changes on the diesel.

And heaven forbid, anything goes wrong...

offer him a Hide-A-Bed and 35 bucks

An 08 for only $11,000? I would be leery of it. Something doesn't seem right! Depending on how it was ordered, it should be a 20-26,000 truck??

Bryce again location , location 08 around here will not be a hot seller. Anything 10 years old won,t bring 20 thousand around here more like there 10 thousand.

That's sort of the way I was thinking too Bryce.

Ross

How many miles on it?

(quoted from post at 22:06:50 09/04/17) offer him a Hide-A-Bed and 35 bucks

Click to expand...

"Call One-four-oh, ring two, and ask for Bob."

:lol: :lol:

180,000 miles

Replacing two 20-year-old vehicles with one nine-year-old vehicle seems like a good idea. You don't say if it's four or two-wheel drive, but even the 2WD version should have a locking differential.

180K is a lot of miles; not so much for the Duramax/Allison drivetrain but for the body, chassis and other components. But if the body is sound, everything else should be fixable. It sounds like it was reasonably well-maintained, so maybe most of the chassis stuff has already been replaced.

Chris, i'd dig deeper into that duramax and find out if they could get a car fax on it. It does sound like a good deal, but... it also sounds too cheap. After i bought my 2500HD, i wish i'd spent the extra money for a diesel.

If neither truck matches your needs, keep looking. NADA, KBB (was Kelly Blue Book) and Edmunds offer free online used vehicle guides.

Think about your driving habits and needs. If you commute much distance, the operating cost per mile of most older sedans is less than half the cost per mile of a full size pickup. Fuel, tires and oil changes all cost less, and a sedan can still haul several hundred pounds when needed.

And a Duramax with 180,000 miles is going to have plenty go wrong.

I agree. At 180K and 2WD its priced about what it is worth in my area too. 4WD would add $3000 or more real easy.

I wouldn't even dream of buying anything with over 60 thousand miles let alone 180 thousand,in fact I haven't bought a used vehicle in 35 years.In fact the last one was from my son in law .It was a Gmc 6.2 had 50 thousand on it.I know its none of my concern and not being smart alec.Thats just the way I am.Unless I know the complete history of the vehicle.Never did need other peoples troubles.

Chris One thing to keep in mind the repairs on that Duromax or any other modern diesel pickup, could be more than your paying for the truck.

A good friend has a 2008 F250 with the 6.4 diesel in it with around 125K for miles. Over the coarse of the last 12 months he has spent $12K on the diesel motor largely caused by the emissions systems on it.

That Duromax with 189K for mile could easily do the same thing. I think a set of injectors can be $3-4k with labor.

When I have to go to the newer model diesel truck I will more than likely go to new. Then not let them get out of warranty. The repairs are beyond what I can do and the cost is sky high if you have to pay out of pocket.

And those injectors on a Duramax go out on a fairly regular basis. Ours lasted about 50,000-70,000 miles. The first ones went out at 35K You could completely replace a gas engine with a new one (labor included) every 100K for what it cost just to keep injectors in a Duramax.

not sure what to tell you on the truck, but we are selling our gooseneck if you need the trailer still! we'll probably park it at the Geneseo show with a sign on it, but if your interested let me know.