from my experiences, an older vehicle with lower than average miles usually sounds good at first then you realize maybe not.

vehicles work better when worked regularly, agree? when a vehicle sits or doesn't get a good use session(driving to the corner store ten times a week for years) things tend to rot out sooner and dry up. surface rust, dry rot, just the lack of getting the motor really hot for any extended time period.

my question is, would our trucks fall into this category. reason: i'm shopping for another truck. found one locally, 94 w/54K miles.(not verified if true). this truck has been garaged but the mechanicals is what i'm concerned about.


any similar experiences?

 

The short trip thing would not be good. I wouldent hesitate really if it was used good when it was out of the shop.

 

When I bought my '92 a couple years ago it had 47k miles on it. The PO used it to tow his 5th wheel but got too old to use it. Haven't had any problems with leaks, dry rot, rust, etc., and I know it has lots of life left in it.

My old F150 had around 43k on it when I bought it, but it did have some issues (valve cover and trans leak, bad paint/surface rust from sitting under a tree for years...not to mention all the leaves in the cowl vents), but it was still worth it knowing the truck would last a long time with minimal repairs.

 

In 98 I bought a 95 Chevy Z71 that had 36000 miles on it. A month or two after buyin it the mufler fell off. It was driven by a house wife that only used it to go to the store and tote the kids around. It wouldent even turn the tires over when I got it. After a few thousand miles I had it limbered up enough that it had the power it should and would gladly spin the tires. Short runs are hard on all vehicles. I would find out if the truck was a local grocery getter or got used when it was out.

 

I bought my '96 CTD in '02 with only 26,000 on it. The PO had used it once or twice a month to go to PA and back to his weekend house. I've had no problems that I could say were caused by lack of use except maybe the front axle joints giving out at only 50,000 but that was no big deal. Since I wanted a 12V 4x4 extended cab 5 speed CTD 2500 I was prepared to take what I could find but I consider myself lucky to have found this one since it was low on miles so I could beging BOMBing without having too much maintenance to do first.

John

 

The other concern you run into on the opposite end (high miles) is also realted to use, and the harder the use the truck (ie. towing, 5th wheel, and snowplowing) the more wear you can expect. The suspension and steering/brakes tend to have much more creaks, clunks, and rattles in them as they have been used. And as expected, I have had to work on these items some. That being said, in '96 at least, Dodge really put these trucks together well. With now nearly 283k on mine, I still have only a rattle around the cupholder when it's open. Oh, and of course, that wonderful rattle under the hood--which is why I bought it in the first place!