How much of a difference will the amount of miles make on the vehicle? Like I don't mean price wise, I mean problems wise. I am looking to buy a truck to add a lift too and some larger mud tires, probably some 33's and it will be my every day driver, but also my play truck, so what truck would you guys suggest? I'll probably end up going with a Chevy 1500, but I am not sure yet. I was asking about the miles because I have 5700 for gas/insurance/a vehicle. Soo approx how many miles would be okay to where the motor wont be going bad and i'll be having A LOT of problems? I would perfer to buy something in about the 3.5k-4k range so then I will have money for tires/lift/pipes/gas/insurance. So yeah, if you could give me some suggestions in that range and about how many miles and at certain miles what generally goes wrong ect. Thanks, Tyler.

 

You'll probably be good as long as it has less than 150k miles. Usually its around that mileage that a lot of small piddly things go wrong.

 

So 150k or under? What if I get one that has like 145k? Then will I more than likely start having some problems so its better to get something in the 125k range or..? And you say piddly things? what type of things would that be? And sorry for asking so many questions, but thank you for your help!

 

Things like fuel pumps, alternators, water pumps, accesories, etc. Things that'll cost you, but are not a major repair.
Theres no real magical number of miles that is a failure point, I just plucked it out of the air as a good general number.
I have seen a lot more small problems from general use with vehicles above 150k than I have below.

 

That is a hard question that really should be a case by case basis. Do some homework on the truck you are lookng at. Especially if buying from a dealer. Look for a truck from an individual that has service records. It seems to me that by 120,000 alot of trouble items have already gone bad and have been replaced. The thing to think about is that low mileage vehicles bring a hefty price so if you get one with some miles on it and a few things do go bad (unless it's a motor or trans) you will have alot of money left over to repair them and then you know those parts are new. I just bought a Suburban to pull the boat for the summer and I purposely looked for a cheaper high mileage truck. I ended up with one that has 180,000 miles. It had a small miss to it so I replaced a few things and it is fixed, but I still have WAY less in it than I would if it would have been an 80,000 or less truck. I also have a truck (2001 2500HD) that I keep around the house for hauling debris, pulling trailers, etc. that has 173,000 miles and I would jump in it and drive across country today. I bought it 1 1/2 years ago for $3000 when the going rate for that model with low miles was about $7000 and I bet I haven't put $300 in it for maintenance items. Good luck!

 

See and actually I would perffer to get one with higher miles because A) It's cheaper B) I might have to work on it and then I know those parts are new and I will get to learn more about vehicles which is what I REALLY want to do, but at my age it's hard to get in classes about them so yeah. C) Like you said I will have money left over to work on it, gas money, insurance money, and adding a lift, bigger tires, ect ect... But then the Negative part for me is that since I don't know much about vehicles I may be screwed for a while and just end up sitting there clueless untill my dad can help (He is always working so almost never an option) or untill a friend can help or I can borrow my dads truck to bring to a mechanic or ask someone. Soo yeah!

 

Here is some of the trucks that I was looking up on craigslist. (I''ll look em up on kbb and see, but I was seeing if their is any red flags that pop up in your guys''s heads when you see these-Only reason I am looking at some ford trucks is because when it comes to older trucks I like the looks better, but I really don''t want to be Found On Road Dead, *or* Fix *or* Repair Daily =) J/k, I just like the looks of them) But thanks.
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ct.....46493.html
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ct.....11660.html
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ct.....08833.html
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ct.....66741.html
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ct.....52947.html
http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/ct.....07090.html

 

For some reason, your links keep bringing me back to this thread.

 

Same here. hmmmmmm. I don't know why to be honest. But what I think i'm going to do is get an older truck with lower miles so that way it is cheaper on insurance and I will have more money left over for if it breaks down/gas/other stuff. Any opinions on that?

 

Alright, well I was looking at an 1996 F150 ext cab, short bed with 129k miles on it. I called him and asked him some questions and he has owned it for 1 year. My dad said that could be bad, because that means he might basically be trying to pass his problems that he had on.. He said he's wanting to sell it because "Idk, because I have a jeep cherokee I guess, idk" he kept saying that he just got the cherokee running and that was why. He said it was a good running driving truck, it was tuned up and it had no leaks and it was real clean. It is a 302 auto transmission, and the transmission and the 4wd works real well (He has only used the 4wd twice when it was snowy outside) He said he currently has "mud swampers" on them and they have about 55% tread left and when on the road they are real loud, but he also has some street tires that have about 20% tread left on them. The gear ratio is 355. He used it just to drive to work and back. It gets 16.8 mpg on the highway. The interior is clean, couple stains in the carpet, couple cracks in the dash. A couple rust/dents on the wheel wells. He recently just got it a tune up, and a new air filter. It also has dual exhaust. SO I WAS KIND OF LEARY ON THIS BECAUSE HE IS ASKING $2600.00 AND IS WILLING TO NEGOTIATE AND ON KBB THE PRIVATE PARTY ON THIS TRUCK IS $4740.00, THE SUGGESTED RETAIL IS $6640.00, AND THE TRADE IN VALUE IS $3050.00. He said he still owes money on the truck which is another reason he is selling it. So what do you guys think about that?


Sorry for the long post, but any help especially on this is GREATLY appriceated! I am probably looking at it tommorow.