aighead
Senior Member
Hey Gang, I don't know if maybe this isn't the right place for it but with the insane amount of knowledge and experience y'all have I figured I'd ask... I'm looking for a truck. I don't have a ton of money to spend but depending on the truck and its uses I could see getting up to $10k (which honestly seems like a ton of money, I'd rather be sub 5k).
With that budget, ideally, I'd get a well-used 4wd truck but as we all know there are many options in that world. I may be stirring up cans of Calvin-pissing-on-Chevy-or-Ford-logo worms, but can you guys give me some positives or negatives of the various trucks out there? 4 wheel drive is about my only must have and a standard or long bed.
As I poke around I seem to be looking at stuff from the late 1990's through mid-2000's but I'm scared to buy any obvious nightmare trucks, specifically anything with known maintenance issues, and I'm willing to go with anything from any period of time. I don't care about the look of the truck, I'd really rather something that looks like crap but runs well, the crappier the better.
I bought the above 1987 F250 from my neighbor a few years back to help move from my old house to my new house for 500 bucks and while it looked perfect, for me, it never ran well and couldn't be trusted to not break down at any given point. I think that was mostly to be blamed on sitting for years without running, but I also didn't have the money or time to put into making it better. I know maintenance issues on anything used are tough and you never really know what you'll get, so I'm keeping that in mind as well. While I plan to mostly use the truck to run to the hardware store or get me to work on snowy days, I'd probably try to drive it at least once a week.
When we get into the higher end of the budget we get into a truck that would pull a trailer with my backhoe around on it and at that point I'm well out of my knowledge. Are there standard sized trucks that can do it? It got delivered to my house by a dually F350 or something, I think, so I guess yes but I'm not sure... Does it have to have a gooseneck hitch and trailer? Anything else I should be looking at in that respect?
With that budget, ideally, I'd get a well-used 4wd truck but as we all know there are many options in that world. I may be stirring up cans of Calvin-pissing-on-Chevy-or-Ford-logo worms, but can you guys give me some positives or negatives of the various trucks out there? 4 wheel drive is about my only must have and a standard or long bed.
As I poke around I seem to be looking at stuff from the late 1990's through mid-2000's but I'm scared to buy any obvious nightmare trucks, specifically anything with known maintenance issues, and I'm willing to go with anything from any period of time. I don't care about the look of the truck, I'd really rather something that looks like crap but runs well, the crappier the better.
I bought the above 1987 F250 from my neighbor a few years back to help move from my old house to my new house for 500 bucks and while it looked perfect, for me, it never ran well and couldn't be trusted to not break down at any given point. I think that was mostly to be blamed on sitting for years without running, but I also didn't have the money or time to put into making it better. I know maintenance issues on anything used are tough and you never really know what you'll get, so I'm keeping that in mind as well. While I plan to mostly use the truck to run to the hardware store or get me to work on snowy days, I'd probably try to drive it at least once a week.
When we get into the higher end of the budget we get into a truck that would pull a trailer with my backhoe around on it and at that point I'm well out of my knowledge. Are there standard sized trucks that can do it? It got delivered to my house by a dually F350 or something, I think, so I guess yes but I'm not sure... Does it have to have a gooseneck hitch and trailer? Anything else I should be looking at in that respect?