Buying budget/used TV with high mileage...
...how much is too much? I'd like to 'upsize' from our current '06 Sierra 1500 5.3l to something in the 3/4-1 ton range for towing our TT, with an eye towards getting a larger TT down the road a bi...
Forum Discussion
I would caution the OP about his theory that high miles are a sign of plenty of gentle highway use. In a car, probably, but in a heavy pickup, it could lead you to make a bad decision. For example, my son is in the fracking industry. His company truck is typically a high end Ford, currently a '17 King Ranch. Like most of the fleet, his truck gets used HARD And often. It runs 40k+ miles a year, and it gets replaced at the three year mark. At that point, it's got 120K or so, of brutal miles, and it's being unloaded to avoid the massive depreciation and high dollar repairs that are coming.
Sure there are privately owned, heavy trucks out there that are not beaten hard, every day, but they are going to take some real work to find. Having owned countless trucks for my business and RV needs, IMHO, would look for the cleanest, least thrashed, Chevy or Ford with a gas engine, that you can find. As carringB shows, the Ford V10 can go forever, if given a modest amount of care, and it's a great choice for somebody who is only planning on using it a few thousand miles a year. Gas engines are FAR more durable than a lot of folks on this forum are willing to admit. I know plenty of Ford and GM gas motors that lasted well into the 400-500K range. At that point, typically a result of hard commercial use, the entire truck was basically scrap, and not worth fixing. My mechanic just had a very unhappy customer who lost his Chevy van as a result of a red light runner. He had 525,000 miles on the original 5.3 V8.
Sure there are privately owned, heavy trucks out there that are not beaten hard, every day, but they are going to take some real work to find. Having owned countless trucks for my business and RV needs, IMHO, would look for the cleanest, least thrashed, Chevy or Ford with a gas engine, that you can find. As carringB shows, the Ford V10 can go forever, if given a modest amount of care, and it's a great choice for somebody who is only planning on using it a few thousand miles a year. Gas engines are FAR more durable than a lot of folks on this forum are willing to admit. I know plenty of Ford and GM gas motors that lasted well into the 400-500K range. At that point, typically a result of hard commercial use, the entire truck was basically scrap, and not worth fixing. My mechanic just had a very unhappy customer who lost his Chevy van as a result of a red light runner. He had 525,000 miles on the original 5.3 V8.
