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Most reliable older truck?

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Moabxjeeper

Active Member
Location
SLC, UT
I'm looking to possibly sell my Jeep and get an older, cheaper but reliable truck.

This will not be a daily. It will mostly be used for hunting/camping/hauling dirt bikes to the track, and possibly one day towing a smaller camp trailer.

I would like to do a straight trade for my Jeep price-wise, so I would have a budget of about $4,000. What would you get for this price?
 
mbryson

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Location
Bountiful, land of rocks
UT410 said:
Would you say the same is true for the trucks a bit newer say 07-11? I've been looking for a Silverado 1500 or F150 (both crew cabs). I like the look of the Silverado and there seem to be more available that aren't beat to hell. But it's been a while since I've paid attention to either so I'm not that knowledgeable.
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They won't be in the $4k range, but there are some decent deals out there. Everybody seems to "NEED" a diesel. Prices for them are just plain stupid, imho. I bought a '99 V10 SuperDuty and like it as much or more than the Powerstroke of the same vintage I had. It's not quite the towing beast going uphill but it's fine and doesn't have an injector pump, turbo, $400 injectors that need replacement, etc. that a diesel has. If you are towing 8k or less, I'd go for a gasser. I'm not sure where I stand on an EcoBoost, but they seem like a money pit as they age like a deezel would be. As far as buying a Chrysler truck, I've probably bought my last Chrysler product. The past two are not worth the $ to me, IMHO.

We used to tow with carbed 350 and 454 trucks. Then went to TBI which we thought was awesome. Now port injected motors make some downright decent power and have doubled the power over their carbed (as OEM delivered) counterparts from two decades before. Tough to find something wrong with a 300+ HP gasser with some gearing, IMHO.
 
Kevin B.

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Stinkwater
UT410 said:
Would you say the same is true for the trucks a bit newer say 07-11? I've been looking for a Silverado 1500 or F150 (both crew cabs). I like the look of the Silverado and there seem to be more available that aren't beat to hell. But it's been a while since I've paid attention to either so I'm not that knowledgeable.
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Ok, so what's an "older" truck, and are you firm on that $4000 limit? I paid $5000 for my '01 Supercrew F150 last summer, and got a pretty good deal I think. If you're looking at '05 and newer, I don't think you've got a realistic budget.

edit - here's the thread from when I was looking, we talked about a bunch of stuff in the $4000 range: http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?104476-Tell-me-about-the-Ram-1500
 
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M

Moabxjeeper

Active Member
Location
SLC, UT
Kevin B. said:
Ok, so what's an "older" truck, and are you firm on that $4000 limit? I paid $5000 for my supercrew F150 last summer, and got a pretty good deal I think. If you're looking at '05 and newer, I don't think you've got a realistic budget.
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There may be a little flexibility in price but anything late 90s and up would be fine by me.
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
IMO a '96-99 GM 1/2 ton with a Vortec 350 sounds like it would fit your bill. I picked up my '98 in great condition for $3600. Mine was getting around 20 MPG with stock gearing and 285's and was very reliable.
 
M

Moabxjeeper

Active Member
Location
SLC, UT
Greg said:
IMO a '96-99 GM 1/2 ton with a Vortec 350 sounds like it would fit your bill. I picked up my '98 in great condition for $3600. Mine was getting around 20 MPG with stock gearing and 285's and was very reliable.
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Something like this sounds fantastic. It's hard finding one with lower miles in that price range but just like anything, with enough looking you're bound to find something that works!
 
B

boogie_4wheel

Active Member
Location
North Salt Lake, Utah
Greg said:
IMO a '96-99 GM 1/2 ton with a Vortec 350 sounds like it would fit your bill. I picked up my '98 in great condition for $3600. Mine was getting around 20 MPG with stock gearing and 285's and was very reliable.
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Moabxjeeper said:
Something like this sounds fantastic. It's hard finding one with lower miles in that price range but just like anything, with enough looking you're bound to find something that works!
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I had a '97 K1500. I absolutely loved that truck! I sold it for $4k with 244k, and the only reason I did was because it wasn't big enough to pull the toyhauler I bought (and I knew it was too much trailer). Other than it eating alternators and fuel pumps (replaced each of them twice in the 8yrs of ownership) it was a great rig.

Mine weighed really close to 6k with the rubber mat, tool box, camper shell, ect, and with 3.73 gears, I would get 18mpg on the highway running 70. With the exception of the weak cv shafts on the front, they are decent off the pavement, ride well, did great in the sand (had BFG AT or General Grabber AT on it).

Watch for which rear axle you get. Some got the 10bolt, some got the 14b semi-floater, if that matters to you.
 
M

Moabxjeeper

Active Member
Location
SLC, UT
Kevin B. said:
Ok, so what's an "older" truck, and are you firm on that $4000 limit? I paid $5000 for my '01 Supercrew F150 last summer, and got a pretty good deal I think. If you're looking at '05 and newer, I don't think you've got a realistic budget.

edit - here's the thread from when I was looking, we talked about a bunch of stuff in the $4000 range: http://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?104476-Tell-me-about-the-Ram-1500
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Kevin, I read through that entire thread. I forgot it was you that came and looked at my old F250 haha. I should have kept that and sold the Jeep. It wasn't flashy by any means but I miss that old truck. Of all people I ended up selling it to a U of U student who wanted to daily drive it...

How has that F150 you bought held up? How many miles on it? Any problems with it? Like jeep-N-montero said I think that would be a great option. Plenty of truck for what I would need it for.
 
Kevin B.

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Stinkwater
Moabxjeeper said:
Kevin, I read through that entire thread. I forgot it was you that came and looked at my old F250 haha. I should have kept that and sold the Jeep. It wasn't flashy by any means but I miss that old truck. Of all people I ended up selling it to a U of U student who wanted to daily drive it...

How has that F150 you bought held up? How many miles on it? Any problems with it? Like jeep-N-montero said I think that would be a great option. Plenty of truck for what I would need it for.
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It hasn't been a year yet, but it's been great so far, no drama. Coming up on 215k and no funny noises yet. I wish it was that manual 7.5 F250 of yours, though. :)
 
Greg

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
Moabxjeeper said:
Something like this sounds fantastic. It's hard finding one with lower miles in that price range but just like anything, with enough looking you're bound to find something that works!
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Yeah, no doubt it's not easy to find one that's clean & taken care of... but with enough patience and searching, they can be found. That's how I found mine, had to drive a couple hours to see it and there were some things I wasn't happy with, but it was clean enough and the price was right. I actually loved driving it when it was stock, smooth ride, plenty of power and great MPG's. I should have left it stock, it was a good truck.

P2120674-M.jpg
 
M

Moabxjeeper

Active Member
Location
SLC, UT
Greg said:
Yeah, no doubt it's not easy to find one that's clean & taken care of... but with enough patience and searching, they can be found. That's how I found mine, had to drive a couple hours to see it and there were some things I wasn't happy with, but it was clean enough and the price was right. I actually loved driving it when it was stock, smooth ride, plenty of power and great MPG's. I should have left it stock, it was a good truck.

P2120674-M.jpg
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Good looking truck! I would love something like that. I'm not worried about building another crawler at this point so I would leave anything I got bone stock (and would actually want to look for one that is).

This is a little older but what do you guys think of this deal? http://www.ksl.com/auto/listing/1972838?ad_cid=9
 
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