Maintaining/Purchasing a Used Truck

[Gabe1994]

Hello friends, this is my first post here. I am looking at used ~15' trucks to convert to full time home DIY. Am hoping to spend max $15k on the truck itself, and I have some mechanic experience with cars, but 0 experience with trucks.

I see some trucks for sale $5-10k that sellers claim in generally good condition but with mechanical issues, such as engine and transmission issues. In this situation I would pay a mechanic to do a once-over with me before purchase, but worst case scenario I wanted to ask if anyone knows what cost for engine or tranny rebuild on a light truck would be like, and is it worth it in general to risk buying it that cheap. I know that for a basic car engine or tranny rebuild is ~$3k, would it be something I could buy for $6k and maybe at the worst put $5-6k into repair? THANKS.

[6cuda6]

Depends on what your looking at....a Volvo or Peterbilt etc your looking at 10 to 20k to inframe the motor. If your going with a medium duty like Freightliner M2 with a Cummins ISL your probably 7 to 10k.

Big trucks command big prices for parts and stupid labor rates but they last a long time. Its a good thing you can do some work yourself.

My recommendation, as a mechanic, buy they best you can with the funds you have alotted....look for something with a verifiable maintenance history as mileage sometimes really doesnt matter of its been well taken care of.

[Gabe1994]

Thank you, do you have experience with Ford or GMC, because those seem to be what's around in my budget, like a decommissioned Penske or Uhaul. I'm reading the engine is usually anywhere from 4-7 liter V8 depending on the model year.

[6cuda6]

Originally Posted by Gabe1994

Thank you, do you have experience with Ford or GMC, because those seem to be what's around in my budget, like a decommissioned Penske or Uhaul. I'm reading the engine is usually anywhere from 4-7 liter V8 depending on the model year.

Personally i would stay away from anything that had an early Ford Triton V10 as it was known for blowing sparkplugs out of the heads and was major $$ to fix. Any of the V8 or inline 6 motors will probably be ok just have a compression test and a cylinder leak down test done [if possible] so you know the overall health of the motor. Everything can be fixed but before you plunk down any funds do a little research to see if its easy to get parts for that unit at NAPA, Parts Source etc....no point at any price if parts are obsolete.

[Gabe1994]

Thank you !