High mileage truck stories

[Railrust]

Always been a fan of these pickup trucks that get used for work and pile up major mileage. Out of high school I worked for a Chevy dealership and some of the fleet trucks that would come in would blow my mind...the repairs, the neglect, the abuse...pushing these things to the maximum, and watching them just keep going and going.

So for years I always just commuted in cars and tried to push these things to the limit (with excellent maintenance and care), but they just didn't seem to hold up like these trucks/work vehicles. So I bought a truck (with hopes I can keep this thing until I retire 15 years from now - with the reputation of truck durability on my mind).

I'd love to hear about some of these vehicles...what they've gone through...what they handled, what they couldn't. And how many miles they made it to without major repair, or even with major repair.

And I also realize that maybe these newer trucks aren't what they used to be - that's something I'll have to find out - so any newer truck owner testimonies would be nice too.

 

[Chris142]

My chiropractor drives an 88 Chevy pickup. The odometer stopped recording the milage 20+ years ago when the truck had 212k on it

Our shop truck where I work now gas 435k on it. Valve cover has never been off.

My F250 has been on the road since late 86. Engine has never been opened up.

 

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by Chris142
My chiropractor drives an 88 Chevy pickup. The odometer stopped recording the milage 20+ years ago when the truck had 212k on it

Our shop truck where I work now gas 435k on it. Valve cover has never been off.

My F250 has been on the road since late 86. Engine has never been opened up.

Wow, 435,000 miles? Gas, not diesel? That's impressive.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted by Railrust
Originally Posted by Chris142
My chiropractor drives an 88 Chevy pickup. The odometer stopped recording the milage 20+ years ago when the truck had 212k on it

Our shop truck where I work now gas 435k on it. Valve cover has never been off.

My F250 has been on the road since late 86. Engine has never been opened up.

Wow, 435,000 miles? Gas, not diesel? That's impressive.

96 Tacoma gas 2.4L... still passes the California emissions test

 

[Chris142]

Few months ago

 

[ls1mike]

I am on a few GMT800 boards on Facebook.
.
The 6.0 has been around since 1999.

There are tons of guys over there with over 400,000 miles on their 4.8, 5.3, and 6.0 trucks. blows my mind. Very limited repairs.
Mine only has 54,500 on it.

I feel like some of these dudes are living in their trucks to get those kind of miles.

 

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by ls1mike
I am on a few GMT800 boards on Facebook.
.
The 6.0 has been around since 1999.

There are tons of guys over there with over 400,000 miles on their 4.8, 5.3, and 6.0 trucks. blows my mind. Very limited repairs.
Mine only has 54,500 on it.

I feel like some of these dudes are living in their trucks to get those kind of miles.


Yeah the GM high mileage truck testimonials are amazing.

I purchased my 2018 Silverado with the 5.3 thinking I was getting the reliable and legendary LS engine, evidently the newer engine isn't held in that same high regard due to collapsing lifters and oil consumption. But mine has been ok so far (26,000 miles). 5,000 mile oil changes...getting unbelievable good fuel economy. I guess I'll find out if I can take this thing to half a million miles. Kind of doubt it

 

[BigGee]

I know not incredible but I have 271,000 on a 2003 f-150 that I bought new.What is unusual( and stupid) is that the differentials and transfer case have never had the plug out of them,the power steering has never been changed or added too,transmission fluid never changed or added too ,anti freeze never changed or added too,and no freon never added.The only "maintenance " has been oil changes every 7-10,000 miles.Front wheel bearings and ball joints and 1 u-joint was replaced at 200,000.It is driven hard daily.proves how good vehicles and modern lubricants are today.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by BigGee
I know not incredible but I have 271,000 on a 2003 f-150 that I bought new.What is unusual( and stupid) is that the differentials and transfer case have never had the plug out of them,the power steering has never been changed or added too,transmission fluid never changed or added too ,anti freeze never changed or added too,and no freon never added.The only "maintenance " has been oil changes every 7-10,000 miles.Front wheel bearings and ball joints and 1 u-joint was replaced at 200,000.It is driven hard daily.proves how good vehicles and modern lubricants are today.


Wow! Either you should be ashamed of yourself or the normal BITOGer over-maintains a little bit....

Think you might ever change some fluids?

 

[maxdustington]

GMT400s and 800s are the best work trucks made in the last 30 years. 400s especially are simple and tough as nails.

 

[BigGee]

It's on the to-do list lol.Just for record I'm just the opposite on my equipment (tractors,mowers,etc.)

 

[carviewsonic]

The company I work for auctions off it's trucks at around 350000 kms (217000) miles and between 7 to 10 years. There are approx. 35 trucks in the fleet, a mix of 1/2 and 3/4 tons, and all gas. A mix of the 3 NA brands, whatever bid comes in lowest each year. All service and repairs are done at our own shop (except for warranty). It's rare that an engine has to be opened up or a trans has to be replaced. Most common items for repair are suspension, u-joints, steering gear, transfer case, wheel bearings, and interior accessories. They get hard use, construction, rough roads, towing. So they are pretty beat by auction time.

 

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by carviewsonic
The company I work for auctions off it's trucks at around 350000 kms (217000) miles and between 7 to 10 years. There are approx. 35 trucks in the fleet, a mix of 1/2 and 3/4 tons, and all gas. A mix of the 3 NA brands, whatever bid comes in lowest each year. All service and repairs are done at our own shop (except for warranty). It's rare that an engine has to be opened up or a trans has to be replaced. Most common items for repair are suspension, u-joints, steering gear, transfer case, wheel bearings, and interior accessories. They get hard use, construction, rough roads, towing. So they are pretty beat by auction time.


It's interesting you mention they are all gas trucks...ran into a guy last summer mountain biking and he had his work truck in the parking lot (he owned a roofing company), he said he was going back to gas trucks - as all his diesels were in the shop every other week. Found that interesting. He said it wasn't the repairs that were killing him but the down time of the trucks. He said they were great for towing, but the newer diesels were just breaking down too much.

 

[BrocLuno]

My step father bought a 1/2 ton Ford new in 1962. I got it after it was technically totaled by red-light runner. I put a front clip on it. He had driven it about 150,000 when this happened. I stuck a Cherokee rebuilt in it and drove it out to about 275,000. I then put a Napa short block in it and we drove it on to almost 400,000. Original transmission, body, etc. 2 rear ends due to overloading and bending the housing. The engines went because the 11" clutch would push out the center main bearing at roughly 140~150K. We sold it 2002 with just shy of 400K for $1K.

Point being trucks can be tough. But you gotta fix what breaks, or wears out. But, I suspect that the push for lightness to make the fuel economy needed to compete has stripped most new trucks of their true toughness...

I would take a restored 1950'~1960's I-H pickup over any of today's offerings. Those were truly tough trucks. And they had reasonable bed loading heights. Even the automatics in the 1970's models came with 727 TQ Flites. An older Cornbinder Six will just about run for ever with care and maintenance. But you will get no Blue Tooth, or Sat Nav, or sync, or even A/C in most of them. Forget cruise control too. Just a plain bench seat and simple instruments.

Different world back then. In some ways better, but not nearly as convenient ...

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted by Railrust
Originally Posted by carviewsonic
The company I work for auctions off it's trucks at around 350000 kms (217000) miles and between 7 to 10 years. There are approx. 35 trucks in the fleet, a mix of 1/2 and 3/4 tons, and all gas. A mix of the 3 NA brands, whatever bid comes in lowest each year. All service and repairs are done at our own shop (except for warranty). It's rare that an engine has to be opened up or a trans has to be replaced. Most common items for repair are suspension, u-joints, steering gear, transfer case, wheel bearings, and interior accessories. They get hard use, construction, rough roads, towing. So they are pretty beat by auction time.


It's interesting you mention they are all gas trucks...ran into a guy last summer mountain biking and he had his work truck in the parking lot (he owned a roofing company), he said he was going back to gas trucks - as all his diesels were in the shop every other week. Found that interesting. He said it wasn't the repairs that were killing him but the down time of the trucks. He said they were great for towing, but the newer diesels were just breaking down too much.


In the long history of trucks, gasoline only lost favor to diesel in the late 1950's for heavy trucking. All the big boys offered gas and diesel options. Gas engines could be had out to 1081 cubic inches (Hall-Scott) and many, many trucks were fitted with 800+ ci engines (Hercules, Continental, Wakashau, etc.). In mid trucking like UPS and Fed Ex gasoline is still in use in some areas. Postal service runs their Grummans out to a zillion miles with gasoline.

Diesel had a place when there were no emissions requirements and it was cheap fuel. Neither are the current state of affairs. Gasoline is cheaper here and easier to get into compliance with decent reliability ...

 

[expat]

Back in the mid 80's I was running alocal delivery service with an 82 Toyota pick up longbox 22R,
I would run typically 300 miles a day with 15 stops. The truck racked up just over 500k miles when rust began making it too ugly.
To was given to afriend working up island and ran flawlessly (without any mantenance for a year before she movedto work in California.
The truck was passed on (to whom I do not no) but was still seen occasionally on the road for the next few years.

The truck had no major work other than a new clutch, brakes, water pump and 7 lifetime warranty muffler replacments from Sears.

Oh, I only ever used 20w-50 as that was what I was used to using when I was living in the UK.

 

[92saturnsl2]

When I was just out of high school, I started work with a local steel fabricator around year 2000. The shop delivery truck was a 1990 GMC 1500 4x4, auto with 5.7L engine. I filled in as a backup driver when they needed one and made deliveries with it semi-frequently.

Being a lot younger, I used to do stupid stuff to vehicles for no good reason. Made more deliveries than I can count in 4-LO the whole way just for grins, the tach bouncing off the limiter almost the whole way (about 40mph max). Plenty of self-shifting through 1-2-D hitting redline with every shift, no particular reason why. Anything dumb I could think of doing, I did it to this poor truck.

The trans had been replaced around 2007, about the time I left the company. Had 200k miles then. I went back to work there for a few months in 2014, they still had the truck, it was up to 300k, original engine. An employee purchased the truck in 2015, drove it as a personal vehicle. A couple months ago, a buddy of mine spotted it in a Home Depot parking lot, sent me a pic of it. So it's still on the road. The condition is rough enough (it looked like [censored] in 2007!), I doubt anyone wound spend the money to put a new engine in it, so I suspect it's still the original.

 

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by BrocLuno
Originally Posted by Railrust
Originally Posted by carviewsonic
The company I work for auctions off it's trucks at around 350000 kms (217000) miles and between 7 to 10 years. There are approx. 35 trucks in the fleet, a mix of 1/2 and 3/4 tons, and all gas. A mix of the 3 NA brands, whatever bid comes in lowest each year. All service and repairs are done at our own shop (except for warranty). It's rare that an engine has to be opened up or a trans has to be replaced. Most common items for repair are suspension, u-joints, steering gear, transfer case, wheel bearings, and interior accessories. They get hard use, construction, rough roads, towing. So they are pretty beat by auction time.


It's interesting you mention they are all gas trucks...ran into a guy last summer mountain biking and he had his work truck in the parking lot (he owned a roofing company), he said he was going back to gas trucks - as all his diesels were in the shop every other week. Found that interesting. He said it wasn't the repairs that were killing him but the down time of the trucks. He said they were great for towing, but the newer diesels were just breaking down too much.


In the long history of trucks, gasoline only lost favor to diesel in the late 1950's for heavy trucking. All the big boys offered gas and diesel options. Gas engines could be had out to 1081 cubic inches (Hall-Scott) and many, many trucks were fitted with 800+ ci engines (Hercules, Continental, Wakashau, etc.). In mid trucking like UPS and Fed Ex gasoline is still in use in some areas. Postal service runs their Grummans out to a zillion miles with gasoline.

Diesel had a place when there were no emissions requirements and it was cheap fuel. Neither are the current state of affairs. Gasoline is cheaper here and easier to get into compliance with decent reliability ...


Yeah come to think of it, most of the trucks I see on the way to work every morning are gasoline. I'm starting to see some of these newer GM trucks (2014 and up), being used as work trucks now.

I'm amazed at some of the stuff people are stuffing in the back of these pickups...welders, racks, ladders...just bombing up and down the highway every mornin, probably putting 300 miles a day on these things. It's pretty impressive.

I see diesels too - I've always heard diesels are more capable of higher mileage because of the low rpm's these engines are spinning at on the highway - but that the newer ones have so many systems in place due to emissions that they are becoming a pain to maintain and fix.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by BrocLuno
Diesel had a place when there were no emissions requirements and it was cheap fuel. Neither are the current state of affairs. Gasoline is cheaper here and easier to get into compliance with decent reliability ...
This lesson is going to take twenty years for the general public to learn. Asking them if they would prefer a set of injectors or a new long block seems to help.

 

[carviewsonic]

[/quote] Yeah come to think of it, most of the trucks I see on the way to work every morning are gasoline. I'm starting to see some of these newer GM trucks (2014 and up), being used as work trucks now.

I'm amazed at some of the stuff people are stuffing in the back of these pickups...welders, racks, ladders...just bombing up and down the highway every mornin, probably putting 300 miles a day on these things. It's pretty impressive.

I see diesels too - I've always heard diesels are more capable of higher mileage because of the low rpm's these engines are spinning at on the highway - but that the newer ones have so many systems in place due to emissions that they are becoming a pain to maintain and fix.
[/quote]

Our (gas) trucks go to auction running good, but may not be driving right depending on repairs. Also the bodies have really loosened up due to the rough roads and terrain. So diesels wouldn't really benefit my company, the fuel savings would take a long time to make back, and the rest of the truck is pretty tired.