HD Truck Maintenance Costs - Wow!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Apr 9, 2008
Messages
16,444
Location
Central NY
This was something I never though about when it comes to HD pickups. I always like to poke at the diesels with their insanely high engine maintenance costs (FICMs, HPOPs, Injectors, UREA), but I never realized just how much it was to do repairs on one of these - for parts.

I have done a few brake jobs on my father's 2001 F350. Rotors, pads and calipers are not cheap for that truck.

It stopped being daily driven about 6 years ago and, for the most part, has sit around for those 6 years. Maybe 200 miles a year if it's lucky. I put the majority of miles on it last year by driving it to get new tires put on and hauling some trash.

The original Ball joints and U Joints have seized up at 59000 miles. Of course, 16 years of NY winters means that the unit bearings are going to have to be torched out, so going to have to replace those. I tried to remove them and the studs and nuts just flaked away.

Retail on the stuff I bought was $750!! 2 Timken Unit Bearings , 2 sets of upper and lower ball joints (greaseable) , "stud kit" for the wheel bearings, spark plugs and a GOOD set of front, greaseable u joints.

I don't even want to know what the labor is going to be on replacing this! Plus it needs spark plugs and I'm not touching them on a 5.4 of any vintage ... and of course the engine is under the dash.

So now my question is - how do the "bro" types that don't have great jobs afford these things? I was wondering how they paid for the initial buy-in and diesel related maintenance from rolling coal, but I never really took into consideration the other stuff.

This truck will need, eventually, all of these original items replaced - water pump, radiator, belt, radiator hoses, driveshaft U Joints. I wouldn't mind working out a deal with the parents where I pay for some of it if I can borrow the truck to tow my Jeep to off road parks out of state - they don't use it a lot!

Tires, brakes, suspension parts ... guess I have always been spoiled by having common light duty vehicles with cheap parts or easily attainable junkyard parts.
 
I have done brakes and axle seals on my 1999 3/4 ton pickup and the parts seemed reasonable in price. Maybe you do not consider a 3/4 ton pickup heavy duty?

You should bring the truck to the Rust Cop Shop and get it treated for rust. Parts will come off a lot easier. Should not be that far from you.
 
This truck is sitting on the lot right across the street from where I work. I want it so bad:
2016 Chevy 3500HD LTZ

This could be my "forever" truck. I'm about to turn 40. I think this truck would last me 30 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
This truck is sitting on the lot right across the street from where I work. I want it so bad:
2016 Chevy 3500HD LTZ

This could be my "forever" truck. I'm about to turn 40. I think this truck would last me 30 years.


This was what my father did with this truck. Bought it and is going to keep it forever. But it's just rusty thanks NY! This is just a base model work truck - single cab, long bed, XL model with no extras other than low gears and heavy service suspension.

Originally Posted By: Donald
I have done brakes and axle seals on my 1999 3/4 ton pickup and the parts seemed reasonable in price. Maybe you do not consider a 3/4 ton pickup heavy duty?

You should bring the truck to the Rust Cop Shop and get it treated for rust. Parts will come off a lot easier. Should not be that far from you.


I'm used to Jeeps and cars where I have done this exact job for $400. Twice as much. I consider a 3/4 ton truck a HD pickup.

I have been spraying it with oil the last 6 years and it hasn't rusted out any worse, luckily. Dolgeville is only a 20 minute drive from my parents' But there's not much left of the truck's body at this point.
 
HD pickups used as daily drivers are status symbols..all in all i would say its cheaper than driving a high performance sports car as a daily driver..to each his own.

HD pickups used as work trucks however have a job..that is to haul or pull weight that you cannot do on a light duty truck. These trucks usually make their owners money, or allow them to pull large travel trailers..so the ability to do this kind of work for money or pleasure comes at a cost down the road.

I have a 2001 F250 super duty that has a mechanics bed with the 5.4 myself and it has cost me a few bucks to do repairs over the years..but she has worked her [censored] off for me and not let me down on just about anything that i needed to haul, pull or tow.

I have a neighbor that has a 10 yr old 2500 duramax with an allison transmission with about 300000 miles. I needed 2000 board feet of green lumber picked up at a mill that is about 40 miles away. I hauled a 1000 foot bundle on a trailer in my F250 and it was sketch but i made it...alot of hills that had my 5.4 begging for mercy. The neighbor let one of his employees go get it for me and the instructions got lost in translation...so the driver loaded both 1000 foot bundles on the trailer. The weight had to have been over 13000lbs..when the driver pulled in i was like wow.. he said that it pulled it like a rag doll in the wind lol. They tow dozers and backhoes and all kinds of stuff with this worn out pickup every day.

So in summary the money you spend in repairs on a HD truck is fractional to what the truck does for a living..everything wears and tears with time and use.
 
You need to shop around for parts!!! Usually the older trucks like that even if 3/4-1 ton parts are fairly cheap. FWIW- letting it set like that is killing it, they need driven and driven hard at least a couple times a month!
 
Once a vehicle starts nickle and diming you like that one is, SELL IT. No way would I put thousands upon thousands of dollars in maintenance in that thing.

If you REALLY like that year and model of truck, sell it and buy a rust free southern truck. You'll have a better condition truck, for about the same money...

I keep a beater truck on the side of the house and put maybe 1500 miles a year on it (2006 GMC Sierra 4x4). It only needs gas and a yearly oil change. When it comes time to drop a few thousand into it, time to sell it.
 
I didn't pay $750 for all of the parts, luckily! It only has 58000 miles on it. I would think ball joints and wheel bearings are pretty good for something of this age - it has never really had any other repairs other than an exhaust manifold.

I'd like to find a similar truck, but finding a manual, base model truck that isn't worked to death is hard.

Hopefully, I could start using it as intended eventually to tow the Jeep a few times a year.
 
Originally Posted By: krismoriah72
HD pickups used as daily drivers are status symbols..all in all i would say its cheaper than driving a high performance sports car as a daily driver..to each his own.

HD pickups used as work trucks however have a job..that is to haul or pull weight that you cannot do on a light duty truck. These trucks usually make their owners money, or allow them to pull large travel trailers..so the ability to do this kind of work for money or pleasure comes at a cost down the road.

I have a 2001 F250 super duty that has a mechanics bed with the 5.4 myself and it has cost me a few bucks to do repairs over the years..but she has worked her [censored] off for me and not let me down on just about anything that i needed to haul, pull or tow.


I have a neighbor that has a 10 yr old 2500 duramax with an allison transmission with about 300000 miles. I needed 2000 board feet of green lumber picked up at a mill that is about 40 miles away. I hauled a 1000 foot bundle on a trailer in my F250 and it was sketch but i made it...alot of hills that had my 5.4 begging for mercy. The neighbor let one of his employees go get it for me and the instructions got lost in translation...so the driver loaded both 1000 foot bundles on the trailer. The weight had to have been over 13000lbs..when the driver pulled in i was like wow.. he said that it pulled it like a rag doll in the wind lol. They tow dozers and backhoes and all kinds of stuff with this worn out pickup every day.

So in summary the money you spend in repairs on a HD truck is fractional to what the truck does for a living..everything wears and tears with time and use.



I daily drive my 2500HD, How exactly is driving a 10 year old truck a status symbol?

I used to tow a Big Horn 5th wheel travel trailer & still tow a 40ft Gooseneck converted too a 5th wheel that hauls transmission cores. Last month I had 63 4L80E's, 16 4L60E's, 11 700R4's, 8 TH400's, 4 TH350's, 4 4T65E's, 3 4T80E's & a lonesome 200-4R on the 40 footer, Drove from Tulsa to Ft. Worth, I don't even want to know what I was grossing (definitely overweight by several thousand pounds) 63 4L80E's weigh about 9,500lbs to give an idea of how stupid I can be!

I call around to various wreaking yards in Texas & Neighboring states finding the cheapest trans cores to stock for the coming year, Which cuts an easy $20,000 from my overhead. Sure, My truck earns it's keep 10 fold out of a yearly event, But still daily drive it for all the other needs in life....How much would I save driving a second vehicle that I have to insure, tag, inspect, & maintain???
 
I'm not sure this truck qualifies as a status symbol, either.

XL model, no options other than lower gears and heavy suspension.
 
Originally Posted By: George7941
Hi, clinebarger. Do you have a transmission shop?


Yes sir.....But specialize in high performance GM transmissions. About 200 units a year, But we also do other performance related work.
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
This truck is sitting on the lot right across the street from where I work. I want it so bad:
2016 Chevy 3500HD LTZ

This could be my "forever" truck. I'm about to turn 40. I think this truck would last me 30 years.


Maybe if it was a pre-emission variety, but a 2016? With the expense of keeping that one going is going to eclipse anything that it took to maintain pre-emission engine pickups. No way the newer stuff has anywhere near the reliability and cost effective factor of the pre-emission stuff. The inflated cost of the initial purchase, the almost criminal cost to either maintain the emissions stuff, or even delete it all, makes diesel not a very viable option nowadays unless one has a definite need for diesel as opposed to the ooh wow factor. It is rapidly becoming more of a status symbol. Even commercial operations are dumping diesel pickups for gas nowadays because it is not cost effective to buy diesels anymore.

I own a gasser 2015 2500 and a semi truck for my business. It is one thing to use diesel power in the semi, but i have no need or interest in having diesel in my pickup. The value just isn't there.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
I'm not sure this truck qualifies as a status symbol, either.

XL model, no options other than lower gears and heavy suspension.


Long time ago, I arrived late for work. I'd run out of fuel (Duh!). I mumbled something about car problems.

Glaswegian co-worker (Y'know, conversation-is-a-series-of-verbal-head-buts stylee) ses. (I'll translate a bit)

"I dunno why you drive that Lada, its no exactly a status symbol, is it?"

"Sure it is" ses I

"[censored] off", ses he" My BMW, THAT's a status symbol"

"They're both status symbols", ses I. "The difference is, my Lada is an accurate one."

Shut him up, and he didn't hit me.

Result.
 
Well, in America, it seems that diesel alone has become somewhat of a chase for status symbol. Primarily because it is not as common as in other areas of the world. Many folks will buy a diesel pickup, irregardless of trim level, so they can put huge stickers in back windows and megaphone tailpipes larger than the stacks on my commercial semi truck on and think they are impressing someone because they have a turbo diesel. I have been using various diesels since the late 1960's, primarily for commercial reasons, and just snicker at those guys when I see them because I know it is all about trying to compensate for low self esteem issues. When one has to go thru about 20,000 gallons of diesel a year like I do, the glamour of diesel rapidly fades. I would prefer NG for my commercial semi truck use, but the refueling network is not established well enough across the country to make it feasible for my operation. Maybe some day.
 
Do you have the option of a glider with more simplicity? Or has the EPA outlawed that?

The price that people want for these old diesel trucks is ridiculous. http://syracuse.craigslist.org/cto/5691422484.html It's a CUMMINGS BRO but that thing needs to go to the junkyard. No title, used as a plow truck - we all know those front ends and transmissions are junk.

Seriously. Even all of the mechanical work is going to be $5K.
 
I don't daily drive mine, mostly tow my trailer, Lowes/Home Depot and the dump.
It is standard GM parts bin, 6.0 LS, easy to maintain and seems to me the only thing I have had to replace were the knock sensors.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88

The price that people want for these old diesel trucks is ridiculous. http://syracuse.craigslist.org/cto/5691422484.html It's a CUMMINGS BRO but that thing needs to go to the junkyard. No title, used as a plow truck - we all know those front ends and transmissions are junk.
.


Wow. That's the sucker price, looking to see if anyone bites.
 
Having been observing such trends for a few years, I've known diesel trucks owners that land in many places over the spectrum. A diesel-equipped 3/4 or 1-ton pickup can hold up doing tasks that few other machines do as easily or practically as they do - contractors, farmers, etc. Any status symbol they project is, in most cases, a legitimate one that they deserve. And, hey, it's a free country - if you want to spend the money to buy, drive, and maintain an HD diesel truck that only sees a 6,000 lb. trailer or a half load of residential-type products from Lowes every month or two, whatever. However, I've also seen plenty of examples of young, single guys that buy such a truck and spend untold amounts of money in mods and accessories that only have a legitimate need for such a machine a few times a year, and run around blowing wasted fuel out the back (or top), annoying (and sometimes endangering) other drivers, killing the truck's resale value and usefullness, and exuding behavior I've come to view as something similar to that of a male dog when the female is in heat. And after a year or three when life changes - student loans hit, a wife, a baby (with or without an accompanying wife) come into the equation, they lose their job, etc. - they take a substantial hit on the truck just to get into something that's remotely affordable to own and operate. In that case, I don't deny anyone some fun or hold it against somebody for not spending every dollar as wisely as they can - but my disdain for the whole boost, babes, n' beer way of life coupled with the total wastefullness of doing that to such an expensive, useful piece of machinery has me shaking my head and gritting my teeth any time a chipped, blinged-out Cummins rattles my windows.

This message brought to you by a 25-year-old that has owned the same '85 GMC 1-ton (gasser
laugh.gif
) for going on 9 years and had the thrift to buy a Cruze when I was making a solid 30K a year ($300/mo. and 37 MPG) that I could afford to keep instead of a Mustang or diesel pickup that would have me losing thousands in depreciation when a wife and family came into the picture and I had to sell it and buy something like the Cruze, anyway. I bought a red one, with a manual transmission, optional two-tone interior and upgraded stereo system, and put 40,000 mi. on it adventuring over 7 states before I got married and settled into a married man's obligations and budget. Now wifey has a rig that's cheap for her to drive to work and has built-in car seat receptacles for the kids she babysits, and I get to drive my GMC to work, to boot.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top