derek840378

posts in the "other" section dont count towards post count

BearKiller

Thanks. Who woulda thunk it.

Grit Dog

I'm not sure everyone is comparing apples to apples when talking about longevity of their vehicles (imagine that on the internet!). If your post read, "I have garaged my truck since it was new, keep the paint waxed, rarely off road (never at high speed), performed all regular maint religously, etc........ and it's falling apart." then I'd say that truck musn't be built very well.
I don't know if I should get nervous. I have a 6 yr old Ram 1500 4x4. 116,000 miles and it looks and drives like new (got a warped rotor though). It's had 4 sets of tires, 4 sets of front brakes, 1 tune up (replaced the distributor rotor more than once though), and regular fluid maintenance. Never even needed a front end alignment or shocks yet.
Are the seats going to fall apart and the switches quit working, doors start sagging, springs sack out, etc in the next 50,000 miles?? I doubt it.

I've had both Ford and Chevy company trucks (hand me downs) that were wore out by 70k - 100k miles, complete money pits to keep on the road. Why? Because they were beat to crap by the people who drove them. By way of comparison, I've had Ford, Chev and Dodge personal and Company trucks that looked and drove like new at 100k miles. That's because these were taken care of.

wcbcruzer

Have you bought a truck yet? Don't let the miles stop you. A lower mileage truck could have more problems than a higher mileage. Year and the treatment of the truck has more to do with it than mileage imo.

Fronty Owner

Ive got a 106K on mine and had to replace the tail gate latch handle so far.
If you take care of these things as they break, it doesn't seem so bad. But like others have pointed out, anything that moves is going to wear. I suspect Im going to have to replace rear springs in a few years if I keep the truck, but when you load your truck to max and do so regularly, your gonna wear suspension parts faster.

Mike B

The 2004 SLT in our fleet has experienced so far:

1) new clutch - replaced
2) air filter - replaced
3) balljoints (upper and lower) - soon
4) tires - replaced/Michelins
5) seems like it can use new leaf springs/shocks
6) turbo needed to be rebuilt - done

So far, all the interior components have not failed *knocks on wood*

Also seems like the interior lights around the air control area are going dim. Nothing a few bulbs cant fix.

Geico266

About the only thing I've had to replace is regular maintance stuff. There have been a few thing here & there, exhaust manifold, front end parts. I've not had one switch break, one wire fail, heck I still have the original head lights. I have had to repair the seat springs due to eating too many donuts.

Unless you bought your trucks brand new you don't know how the previous owners treated them. Maybe some of the parts breaking is due to abuse?

I'm at 200K miles guys, original VP-44, original rear shocks, original springs. I would not sell my truck for $20K. $21K and we'll talk.

Fronty Owner

We quite honestly dont know how durasmack treats the truck either.
I have seen people take a brand new vehicle and have it thrashed in a short amount of time without trying. Some people are just rougher on the equipment than others.

Geico266

Bingo! We have a winner! These are trucks, not tanks.


(Not bad for a Sooner! )

Fronty Owner

This thread reminds me of my cousin and his Fords. I have hauled three of them to his dads house where they were salvaged and put back on the road. The latest, he had for THREE days before he blew the engine up in it. Granted, the truck had 150K on it when he got it, but it ran fine.

wcbcruzer

That's true. And a lot of times those who are rough on their vehicles don't even know they're being rough on it. Guess it's just how they're used to treating their stuff. I think you can treat the truck rough to a certain extent as long as you know what you're doing. The worst damage comes from people who don't know squat about how cars/engines work and think they're brand new car will not break because it's new. Example, teenage girl drivers in their new Honda Civic.

Fronty Owner

There is always one or two brand new cars around that blow a nice blue smoke. I agree, I dont think its necessarily something that is done consciencely.

I hang out at a nissan frontier forum also and there are people who rant and rave about what a POS their Nissan is, All the problems, "defects", etc. They dont usually hang around long, but the long term members are on their third or fourth trucks. Some people have had four nissans since the days of the Datsun badge.

wcbcruzer

Speaking of Nissan, remember that commercial on TV they had a few months ago? They were interviewing "real" people who owned different makes of trucks and all of them said they wanted "more power" from their truck. Then they were blown away by the new Nissan Titan V8!!! (haha)

Except for Toyota, I think American trucks rule over any other import.

Fronty Owner

My gen 1 frontier has 170 flywheel HP.
My gen 2 Xterra has 265 flywheel HP.
big improvement and I think the fit and finish is just as good. The guys in Symrna, TN do a first class job of putting together these trucks.

That being said, I have a buddy with a nissan hardbody that has over 250K on it. There are some rough spots on the truck, but nothing a few hundred in parts and a few weeks wouldn't fix.

Hannibal

We rode in a Chevy Lumina taxi last week in DC that had 388k miles on it with origional engine. Yesterday rode in a Ford Taurus taxi with 112k on it. Rode and ran like a brand new car, looked like a taxi cab. With proper maintenance, they'll last a long time. Oil those door hinges and when they sag, replace the pins and bushings...