90s Pickup Trucks

[hattaresguy]

Just buy on condition. At that price point you don't really get the luxury of picking much on 20 year old trucks. The vast majority are going to be worked to death and shot, so you need to find that 1% that was owned by an old guy who just wanted a truck to drive.

Once you find that the brand and model don't really matter, because it will be better than a beat POS that you might want.

For example I can assure you a 1995 1/2 ton Silverado lovingly cared for and garaged by the original owner will be 10000% better at anything you want to do with it, than say a loaded 2000 F350 owned by a concrete guy.

 

[Spazdog]

One of my clients had a TBI 350 Chevrolet C1500. I say had because it didn't quite make it to half million miles. 490,000 miles when it gave up. It was the highest mileage vehicle of all my clients. Most of the stuff in the interior did not work but everything that steered, stopped, or made the truck go still worked. You know....'til that rod went.
It seems that if you didn't get 200,000 miles out of your Chevy/GMC, you didn't try.


I have a client with a T100 that is still in very good condition with well over 1/4 million miles. Little bit of wear on the side of the seat from entry and exit but otherwise it is still very good. Doubt you'll find one that isn't ready to break in half from rust in Massachusetts, but if you travel down here, they can be pretty good. Lots of 7/8ths scale Tundras go that far but they are typically overpriced.

I don't like the Twin-I-Beam Fords. That's just me personally. Sloppy front ends/constant camber change....etc... I like the modular powered 97+ better. '99-'03 the LED odometers don't work. Probably have a client or two that have 400,000+ mile F-150s but you'd never know. Early 4.2s have gaskets made of pure compressed garbage. Later 4.2s are pretty solid

I like driving the Dodges Rams. Good luck finding one that the dash hasn't disintegrated on. I have several clients over 250,000 miles. One with about 260,000 still has most of it's dash....most of it.

The 3.9s are surprisingly stout. 0-60 is measured with a sundial but I have a client with a full-size van powered with a 3.9 that is closing in on 400,000.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
Originally Posted By: Clevy

Restore will clog an oil filter in very short order. I suggest putting it your your engine then cutting open the filter and seeing for yourself.


Have you torn one open? I run Restore in my 1990 K1500. I'll be cutting mine open very soon. I say....no way Jose. It's not clogged. If it was, my oil pressure gauge would be telling me it was....and it's not changed a bit.

Heck, I even put 2 6-cylinder sized cans in my crankcase 7000 miles ago. Which is way more than is called for.

You got proof that Restore will clog an oil filter?


Your filter is in by-pass. Restore uses soft metals to "fix" the compression by filling in the imperfections on the cylinder bores etc. these soft metals aren't nano sized particles,so the filter makes pretty quick work of them,and considering how much of these metals are in each can the filter gets filled fast.
Then as the engine runs these metals flake off in larger chunks,but because the filter is in by-pass they actually run through the motor causing much more wear then if you hadn't used it at all.
Open up your filter. You'll see.
I've used the stuff,and cut open my filter to see the end result. The only additive that works in this way is mos2. It does the same basic thing but the particles are small enough that the filter doesn't catch them,and when the mos2 does wear off its in sizes big enough to be filtered,thus no engine wear.

You'll see for yourself.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Phishin

Just a small correction....

I think in 1999, Chevy offered trucks with the 5.7 Vortec and also they moved to the 5.3 modular. I'm pretty darn sure you can get a 1999 Silverado with either engine. I think the early production trucks had the 350, the later in the year, they swtiched to the 5.3

I could be wrong tho....


They offered both body styles that year. There were both 1999 GMT400s and 1999 GMT800s. 1999 GMT400s can be identified by the small square center steering wheel, vs. the more rectangular one they had before. Likewise, the SUVs were sold on both platforms in 2000, but with only the Tahoe Z71/Limited and Escalade/Denali on the GMT400 platform.

 

[Phishin]

Clevy,

Wanna make a wager? I'll tear the filter off tonight and post pics.

I know it's possible that it's all clogged up, from everything I've see and read, I don't believe it one bit.

Do you how many people have used this stuff for the past 20 years? The product would be off the shelf if it performs the way you say it does.

I'm not buying it.

I say, the loser of tonight's photo contest sends the winter 2 oil filters of their choice...within reason.

 

[dwcopple]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
I say, the loser of tonight's photo contest sends the winter 2 oil filters of their choice...within reason.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Just buy on condition. At that price point you don't really get the luxury of picking much on 20 year old trucks. The vast majority are going to be worked to death and shot, so you need to find that 1% that was owned by an old guy who just wanted a truck to drive.

Once you find that the brand and model don't really matter, because it will be better than a beat POS that you might want.

For example I can assure you a 1995 1/2 ton Silverado lovingly cared for and garaged by the original owner will be 10000% better at anything you want to do with it, than say a loaded 2000 F350 owned by a concrete guy.



THIS!!!

Lets not turn this into a brand fighting thread! Your #1 goal is a truck that will reliably plow and be cheap to run. You don't see many successful plow guys starting out with brand new loaded diesel trucks. Most of them run older gas trucks. If I were you, I'd try to find an older gas truck that hasn't been abused too badly.

My friend bought a 2003 Chevy 2500HD Duramax. The truck doesn't have too many miles on it, but the previous owner used it as a plow truck, and cranked up the torsion in the front to give it a lift. The truck had almost brand new tires when he bought it, and he found out why. It ate through a set of tires on the front in 3 months. The front end was so messed up none of the local shops would attempt to align it. He had to replace pretty much every front end bushing and joint, and the other day I helped him replace the steering box.

For a plow truck, brand shouldn't matter as much as condition. Plow trucks are the most beat up and rusty vehicles that exist. The emblem on the front will not matter if its broken in the driveway not making you any money.

 

[hattaresguy]

I wouldn't buy an ex plow truck, not only are the front ends shot, the transmissions go, and the ice melt turns everything behind the cab to dust. I have seen state trucks at auction where the roofs had rust holes in them from spraying ice melt on the highway!

Also the problem with big diesels is a lot of them get mounted for a 5th wheel and tow a lot. Again this leads to issues.

With trucks unless your spending some money and shopping new or pretty new, you have to buy on condition.

You want to find a truck from someone like my trim guy who maintains them perfectly, never drives it on a job site, and only carries molding and doors in it. He never has any problem getting a good buck for his old trucks because they are clean and their is always a buyer for a clean used truck.

 

[jdawg89]

Chevy 3/4 ton 5spd and 454

 

[Lyman]

If it were me I'd be looking for a Ford F-xxx with the 4R70W trans. Stout transmission for sure. I had a 98 Explorer with a 5.0 and this trans and it was unstoppable. I like the Jeeps too. Great for the snow. Im done with Chevy and Dodge. Just my 2 cents.