Buying a $7,000 truck

I do have kayaks a canoe and two John boats as well as a pontoon. Certainly I could save more money I just didn’t want to. I may go up to 12,000 as recommended above though

$12,000 ?? You can't go wrong with a 2000 + 2500 3/4 ton HD Burban or Yukon XL. Hauls the family + 6.0 either a 3:73 or 4:10 and NO AFM garbage :cool:(y)

And If you look in the right areas and some luck. You MIGHT be lucky and score a GMT900 07+ 2500 3/4 in your price range


Dave
 
LOL no shenanigans. Dallas has a BIG wholesale car market. MANY MANY good deals out there !!

Wish that were still true, It has gotten crazy in the last year & only getting worse. One of my car lot clients used to have 40-50 fullsize trucks & SUV's on his lot at any given time......He now has NONE!

Not a good time to buy a used truck Ram_man......A '04-'07 3V 5.4L Ford is likely to bite you in the rear!
 
Wish that were still true, It has gotten crazy in the last year & only getting worse. One of my car lot clients used to have 40-50 fullsize trucks & SUV's on his lot at any given time......He now has NONE!

Not a good time to buy a used truck Ram_man......A '04-'07 3V 5.4L Ford is likely to bite you in the rear!
But what about that sweet 7.3L Excursion I linked? ;)
 
But what about that sweet 7.3L Excursion I linked? ;)
I have a soft spot for Diesel Excursions, Even a 2V 5.4L or 6.8L would likely serve him well if fuel consumption isn't an issue. But to spend $8,000 than have the 4R100 crap the bed, Not because they are bad units, But because 250,000 miles of who knows what & they are NOT a cheap unit to build.

Or even a 2V 4.6L in a '04-'09 F150.....But I can't say I've ever seen a 2V 4.6L in a Crew of that year range except the '04 Heritage.

Not saying you can't keep a early 3V 5.4L going by pre-emptively changing the Oil Pump, Timing Set, Tensioners, Phasers, & Followers.....But who's going to do that & sell the truck??
 
This is a tall order in the current auto market. You will have to search hard and probably tear your hair out in the process. New or Used, trucks are very high in price. I'd suggest a GMT 800 like many have. Maybe you can get a chevy or ford full size van for cheap. They can do passengers and towing pretty well, just no 4x4. With the weight of body they do pretty well in snow.
 
Wish that were still true, It has gotten crazy in the last year & only getting worse. One of my car lot clients used to have 40-50 fullsize trucks & SUV's on his lot at any given time......He now has NONE!

Not a good time to buy a used truck Ram_man......A '04-'07 3V 5.4L Ford is likely to bite you in the rear!

Long time Mr Cline :cool: (y) On my post. This was based of 2020 early "pandemic" listings seen some CRAZY deals on FB marketplace. Some deals to get posted on FB market but of course SOLD within hours !!😳😳

I think I DOUBLE MEGA SCORED to sell my 01 1500HD at TOP HIGH market used value and SCORE my low mile '08 V8 LT crew for under $7K :cool:(y)

Still kinda not happy at the dealer. Cause I was lied to I missed a HARD LOADED '07 Silverado LTZ crew "Texas edition". Black on black leather, navigation, sunroof they put up for sale for $7000 right after I bought mine. Just needed the rear bed repainted. I chewed out the salesman on that one cause when I saw it on the lot he said "it was a customer's truck" then I see for sale next day after I bought my 08 :mad::mad::mad::mad:

Dave
 
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what about a 90’s era tahoe or a midsize truck instead of a half ton? maybe something awd, a nice clean astro would be tough to find but suit the bill maybe?
 
what about a 90’s era tahoe or a midsize truck instead of a half ton? maybe something awd, a nice clean astro would be tough to find but suit the bill maybe?

Most of those are trashed out by now. If you were to fine a clean '90's Tahoe or Astro van its gonna cost ya $$
 
Car buying is also a very emotional, if not purely emotional decision. Bring a practical girlfriend, wrench buddy or the missus with you to help ground you.

If the deal seems too good, especially on a high milage truck; expect to spend another half of your buying budget on maintenence and wear parts straight off the bat. And ultimately?

Know when to say "Cheeze it!" and walk away from it. A local buddy of mine and I went to go look at a $4250 used Lincoln Phaeton. We had to ditch it. Despite low mileage, dealership was asking for too much for a non-awd car, and it had low oil pressure at start up for 20 seconds. Clattered like a box full of sewing machine parts tumbling down the stairs.

Despite the shine, the newness, it was neglected and ditched by its 1st owner when rolling up on its first major service interval.

The dealership wanted him to have at least a 730 credit score before financing the rest despite dropping his checkbook to the tune of $1200 down. They wanted $380/ month payments.

Bad deal.

I said to him, "Let's go." He told the sales creature, "Get f**ked."

He's decided to spend the $$$ repairing his hoopty. ;)
 
I would talk with a few salesmen at new truck dealerships. When they get in older trade in's they cannot wait to get them out of site and often sell them at very low prices before they go to the auction. Tell the salesman to call you up when they get in an older truck and let you know what they have. Sometimes those back row trucks are not that bad and they sell them cheap just to get rid of them. There is no emotion involved like you may get from a private owner who thinks his old truck is gold. Be ready with the money when they call and don't let a good deal get away. I would go with a Chevrolet product too if you are buying an older one. Those Cheverolet V-8's are more trouble free than many of the other brands and are very easy to repair.
 
My 2007 Ram 1500 Crew cab has been very reliable. Gave $7500 for it with 182K. Now has 219k. No motor or trans problems. Had front end aligned before new tires. Needed no parts. Has the full tow package. It is the Laramie and has every option but the telephone thing.. We love it and we pull our small 5th wheel with it. Didn't want the Ford and didn't like the Chevy seats.
 
Wanted to get some thoughts on this truck.
milder couple owns it. No rust windshield is cracked they offered to take $7300. Miles are higher than I want but it looks pretty clean. Most of what I have found is either rusty or beat up or a ton of miles.
 
$7300 sounds about as good as you can do on an '11 truck that is in decent shape. Bet you wouldn't get an '11 Tacoma with 220k for that.

The 5.3 has AFM, but at 220k who cares if it runs good.

You're probably not going to find much better for the price, assuming it checks out in person.
 
LS motors can go to high miles. When they don't they are cheap to swap.

As a 5.3 this should have the 6L80? not the 4L60? Not sure which is better at high miles, other than the 4L60 (or 4L65) is likely cheaper to rebuild.

I'd ask for the RPO codes and see what gears it has. Likely 3.42's. Maybe 3.23's, who knows.
 
$7300 sounds about as good as you can do on an '11 truck that is in decent shape. Bet you wouldn't get an '11 Tacoma with 220k for that.

The 5.3 has AFM, but at 220k who cares if it runs good.

You're probably not going to find much better for the price, assuming it checks out in person.
I don’t know much about the afm honestly I should probably get a crash course education on that.
 
I don’t know much about the afm honestly I should probably get a crash course education on that.

$7000 for a rust free 2011 5.3 Ext 4x4 ????????😳😳😳 Pfshhh.......New Windshield $175-250 installed ?? :cool:(y)

Never hurts to run VIN at local GM dealer. There could be some good work history on it from GM dealer (y) And all of these GMT900 trucks have air bag recalls so dealer visit is a must do.

The AFM can be disabled (stays in V8 mode) with a range AFM DOD disabler OBD plug in around $200 on amazon


As long as no serious drivetrain issues. Engine, trans, rear end then that's a REALLY REALLY good deal for a 4x4 late model Chevy truck I wouldn't sleep on it to long. Somebody might come a snag it !! 😳 😳



Dave
 
We have gotten in to more outside activities such as canoeing and kayaking and boating. Interesting how COVID has made us more outdoorsy. that being said my wife has been begging for another vehicle we can all fit in. We are a family of 5 most the time but occasionally we have 6 total. We have the grand caravan which has been relatively great for hauling people but it doesn’t pull a boat or do any of that stuff. Also in our quest to not have a car payment we would like to have another decent vehicle that can haul the whole family. A truck makes sense for our lifestyle and where we live. The road in the snow last winter was a major pain and it would have been nice to have a truck or something more capable. So we are going to spend around $7,000 on a truck. Strongly prefer a 4x4 and has to be club cab six seater. I did sell a truck at the beginning of the year since it was a single cab we never used it. So it has to be a double cab crew cab what have you. This price range puts me in first gen hemis ( I probably wouldn’t buy a 4.7) the 4.6 or the 5.4 Ford or the Chevy 4.8/5.3. I see a lot of 5.4 fords around for sale but I know the spark plug issues and the cam phaser issues and don’t know who if it make sense to go that route. The hemi I don’t know a ton about but as far as I know they are decent and the drivetrain in general is decent. The Chevys are probably the simplest and I don’t know of many issues with them. The occasional transmission, brake lines rust out. For the money what would you look for what would you stay away from? I haven’t ever owned a truck newer than 01 and that was a 318 ram so it was pretty old tech. I don’t have a lot of first hand experience on the mid 2,000s trucks and such. What mileage would you want to stay under? Ect whatever pointers you can provide with trucks of this era is helpful and appreciated.
99-07 gm 4.8/5.3. Try to keep if under 300k.
 
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