SFR New used truck - potentially

Sorta fishing-related
Evan B said:
This is me. Different strokes for different strokes, as they say. But if I bought new rigs through my adult life, I'd be in a very different financial position than I am now.

I own two rock solid Ford trucks and two boats - one for tuna and other ocean critters, and one for the Columbia River near me, all combined I'm into them for less than the cost of a single new truck. So two boats and a truck for each boat. No part of my brain can comprehend why I'd trade all that for a new truck.

(We also own my Wife's car and our 17yr old son's car). No payments on anything.
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Once I sold my boats, the need for a tow rig went away. So did the full sized trucks.

So adjusted for my needs. If I still had the boats. I'd still have the full sized 4wd truck too.

Rigs are expensive...so whatever works for your needs is my view.

Wish I still had my '68 stepside Chevy pickup with the built up 327 and the 4 speed...liked that rig.
😅😁
 
Hey Bill, good luck with your search. I've had Ford (gas and diesel), GMC, and Ram EcoDiesel trucks. Based on my own experience, I'll never own another GMC (persistent leak issues etc etc) or Ram (serious failures in warranty support) again. My Ram had wonderful features and was a great ride, but significant recalls were not addressed 2+years after they were announced and the service departments at every dealership I called were hostile and dismissive when I asked about an ETA. I decided to sell pretty quickly after that.

Before purchasing my current 2024 Tundra I asked several mechanic friends for advice. Their consistent opinion was that the offerings of-all- domestic truck manufacturers are suspect (mid and full sized). I bought my Tundra in large part because of the high marks Toyota gets for product support.

As an aside, my wife has had 2 Subbie Foresters without any issues. After a BMW with persistent electrical problems and other cars that spent too much time in the shop we've both been happy with the lack of issues. The just start up and run without issue, and the support folks at Carter and Koenig (Port Angeles) have been top notch.

I kinda wish I still had my 1998 Ford F150, probably my favorite truck of all time. Bought it used with 30,000 and finally sold it with almost 200,000 miles and still running strong.
 
flybill said:

This is what I'm looking at now. Any red flags? It's everything and more than the F150 I was looking at and $10k less. Better financing too! So many options out there atm.. at least in my area.

Also looked at a Sierra and Yukon today. The truck is where its at for me!
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They're great trucks, when I test drove mine I was immediately sold. "It's all that and more" than the F150 is exactly why I bought my Ram truck back in 2016. But the recalls/issues and absolutely shitty support from the dealers is why I'm no longer a Ram owner.
 
I'm a Ram guy. I recently was looking into a new truck and none of the big 4 full size trucks could match the Ram with the cummins diesel so I'm keeping my old Ram. One of the advantages of buying a used car is looking back at owner service records, OEM dealer records especially for anything fixed under Recall or warrantee, and in Cali the smog pass records are online for every registered vehicle. That gives you 3 places to expose soft spots in the car you are looking at. First Recalls are free to the customer. Almost everyone does them because they are free and they never expire. It the OEM is in business they got to fix it. But just because there is a Recall does not mean you got a problem. It means you might have a problem because a documented problem happen enough times to need the Federal threshold for a Recall campaign. Another issue with known historical fleet problems is after increasing time passing and increasing miles those problems most likely been fixed for the car would have whatever problem right now for you to see. Depending on how much a potential problem might cost you plan your purchase accordingly. Then some places like Carmax will refund in full if you find faults and don't want the car you just bought within 10days and 1500miles. You also get 90day 4000mi automatic warantee and you can buy 5yr/150kmi too. So there are a lot of ways to reduce your risk.
 
doublespey said:
. . .
I kinda wish I still had my 1998 Ford F150, probably my favorite truck of all time. Bought it used with 30,000 and finally sold it with almost 200,000 miles and still running strong.
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I bought my '98 F150 with 75k miles and it just keeps running strong. Towing, hauling firewood or traveling on our primitive shot-rock logging roads it just performs. It's now got over 235k miles and while nothing lasts forever, it's still not showing any signs of slowing down.
 
I’ll throw my daily driver/fishing truck in the mix. ‘93 Dodge Dakota I bought in ‘94. 12K and was a Chrysler buy back. It just recently turned 170K without really any major issues. So far I take good care of it and it takes good care of me! I added about $2,500 in high performance goodies on it way back then, sounds and kinda performs like the 318 V8 Dakota. Not a pro street monster but gets the job done! Nice knowing about the history and miles on this truck! And I’ve owned a 2000 5speed stick Outback forever……been a dependable ride. But…..just waiting for my Hotrod truck to come home!

IMG_3474.jpegIMG_2131.jpeg
 
Bambooflyguy said:
I’ll throw my daily driver/fishing truck in the mix. ‘93 Dodge Dakota I bought in ‘94. 12K and was a Chrysler buy back. It just recently turned 170K without really any major issues. So far I take good care of it and it takes good care of me! I added about $2,500 in high performance goodies on it way back then, sounds and kinda performs like the 318 V8 Dakota. Not a pro street monster but gets the job done! Nice knowing about the history and miles on this truck! And I’ve owned a 2000 5speed stick Outback forever……been a dependable ride. But…..just waiting for my Hotrod truck to come home!

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Looking forward to seeing your Truck pictures
 
doublespey said:
They're great trucks, when I test drove mine I was immediately sold. "It's all that and more" than the F150 is exactly why I bought my Ram truck back in 2016. But the recalls/issues and absolutely shitty support from the dealers is why I'm no longer a Ram owner.
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I know the owner Dave Hannah of the dealership so don't anticipate a problem. He bought whiskey and tequila for his wife exclusively from me when I worked at Total Wine. If I wasn't there he would come back when I was. He bought me a $300 bottle of scotch too! I may get something nice from him.. no worries if not! Saw him a few days ago, but he's at his house in Hawaii atm.. Rough life! 😆
 
Robert Engleheart said:
As a Case IH dealer my son in law is part of the Stellantis group which owns Dodge, Ram, Fiat and more. His company has a full service truck shop working on trucks up to semi size. He can buy Dodge and Ram for below invoice, guess how many they own. Zero. Just saying…..
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Good to know!
 
Flybill, what I'm about to tell you has saved may ass countless time when buying a used rig... When you get a CarFax report look at where the servicing was done on the vehicle and then call that dealership get ahold of the service dept and give them the Vin # and tell them you are looking at buying the rig and wanted to know if there where any concerns or red flags that show up when it was being serviced. You would be surprised at how many times when talking to the service advisers i would get service and or repair recommendations that the owner declined. IE water pumps, transmission starting to fail, electrical issues etc. A year ago i was helping my daughter find another car and i found a sweet 1 owner car with complete service history with all maintenance records. So i called the dealership where it had spent its life and talked to the service adviser and found out the last time he brought it in it was gonna need a new water pump and something else. He said the estimate was like 3 grand. The owner declined.... Wasn't about to buy a car and then dump 3 grand into it. Good luck in your search and no matter how good the vehicle looks always dive a little deeper into the history of it...
 
Bambooflyguy said:
I’ll throw my daily driver/fishing truck in the mix. ‘93 Dodge Dakota I bought in ‘94. 12K and was a Chrysler buy back. It just recently turned 170K without really any major issues. So far I take good care of it and it takes good care of me! I added about $2,500 in high performance goodies on it way back then, sounds and kinda performs like the 318 V8 Dakota. Not a pro street monster but gets the job done! Nice knowing about the history and miles on this truck! And I’ve owned a 2000 5speed stick Outback forever……been a dependable ride. But…..just waiting for my Hotrod truck to come home!

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I also had a Dodge Dakota truck for a number of years. Even towed my 21' fifth wheel with it. That 318 was a great engine. Sold it when I needed more capability. In 2006 downsized the rigs and bought a 2006 Honda Ridgeline. 20 years later I still have it as my daily driver. Just routine maintenance that is required due to time and not mileage e.g. belts. Still serving me well for my needs. Not the fanciest nor most comfortable, but suits my needs.

After reading this and other previous threads about all the known issues and troublesome as well as expensive repairs (including electrical), I will continue to keep it.
 
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