New Truck or New Engine
So, anybody rebuilding or replacing engines in their TC hauling trucks as opposed to buying a new or low mileage used truck?
Forum Discussion
I’ve thought about this a bit. I have a 2006 Ford “Exploder”. That’s just a nickname from other people. We’ve had good luck with it. It’s not my only vehicle, but we’ve put almost 100K on it and bought it with 100K on it. It’s mostly highway miles. I had time to search and bought it for 11,500 several years ago. Yes, I could have bought a new one. By now, I would have lost around 30K on that purchase if I had bought new.
If you are hard on vehicles, I think you should avoid long term ownership. We aren’t. We did have one annoying problem lately. It kept blowing horn fuses. It was about $25 for the parts and a few hours for me to take fender well apart.. I bought brakes online and had a local shop do front and rear at the same time. That was $400. We’ve had to replace the bolts/exhaust manifolds that was about 1000, but that happens on pretty new vehicles.
The body is still in great shape. The drive train is in great shape. It doesn’t use oil. My old mechanic said he had several of the same engines in Limos that went to over 500K miles.
My point is it depends. It is work to find a “great” deal of a one/two owner, but possible. It’s also possible to run an older vehicle for years with pennies compared to dollars. Whatever makes you happy since you will be paying for it ... not me. If you like the old vehicle and everything seems to work pretty well I don’t see a problem with replacing the engine once it is worn out. However, very few motors are completely destroyed inside, so maybe some TLC by a good mechanic could save some money.
Have fun.
If you are hard on vehicles, I think you should avoid long term ownership. We aren’t. We did have one annoying problem lately. It kept blowing horn fuses. It was about $25 for the parts and a few hours for me to take fender well apart.. I bought brakes online and had a local shop do front and rear at the same time. That was $400. We’ve had to replace the bolts/exhaust manifolds that was about 1000, but that happens on pretty new vehicles.
The body is still in great shape. The drive train is in great shape. It doesn’t use oil. My old mechanic said he had several of the same engines in Limos that went to over 500K miles.
My point is it depends. It is work to find a “great” deal of a one/two owner, but possible. It’s also possible to run an older vehicle for years with pennies compared to dollars. Whatever makes you happy since you will be paying for it ... not me. If you like the old vehicle and everything seems to work pretty well I don’t see a problem with replacing the engine once it is worn out. However, very few motors are completely destroyed inside, so maybe some TLC by a good mechanic could save some money.
Have fun.
