What makes more sense...driving a long paid for old truck, or making huge payments??

[DK35vince]

That seems awfully expensive....

Sure does.
A few years ago I put front rotors and pads, rear drums and shoes on my 3/4 ton truck and if I remember right it was around $300 parts.
I put front rotors and pads on my sons 03 Malibu $90.

 

[WM75Guy]

Parts & labor at the local GM dealer. The rotors are the big ticket items, almost $125 each.

 

[MossRoad]

$60 at Autozone.

Sometimes you gotta bite the bullet and have them do it. I have a friend that owns a garage. He also works out of his house. If he works on my vehicle at his house, he doesn't charge me markup on parts. But if its something he has to do at his shop, he has to charge me markup. However, either place, he charges the same labor rates. But at least he does good work and is honest and will tell me if its something I can do myself or will cob up horribly! :laughing:

 

[Cat_Driver]

So guy that buys a brand new vehicle 17 years ago, doesn't drive it ever, thinks it stupid that someone else buys a new vehicle like he did?

The biggest advantage of buying new is the lemon law. In my life of buying dozens of vehicles new and old, I ended up with two new lemon vehicles. Filed for lemon law and got two new replacements plus got to drive one for free for three years before they settled.

So you're rolling the dice buying new and used, every time I buy used, I make sure there's enough fat on the bone to cover a new tranny, brakes, etc.

I do remember in the old days people dumping saw dust in the rear end differential if was making noise and other horror stories. Now a days you need to worry that the vehicle has it's air bags, not been in a flood, etc.

 

[Copperhead]

My thoughts on pick up trucks are that you figure out what works the best for you (set up/config) then buy it and drive it for a long time. Vehicles are an expense not an investment imo. I try to keep them maintained and run them as long as I can.

Especially true if you find one you like.

 

[Deere Dude]

That seems awfully expensive....

About 4 years ago I had to change my 02 GMC duallys brakes at 90,000. I thing the bill was around $800 but a different shop would charge more or less. It was still nuts.

The mechanic told me I just had them done and I replied I did not, but he was insistent. It seems the pads were good but the rotors were pretty bad. He said I just had someone change the pads without doing the rotors. Again I told him I was the original owner and never had it done.

Upon further investigation I deduced I was not hard enough on the brakes allowing the rotors to rust up in between uses. In time they were too rusty to be wiped clean by the pads.

The shop owner told me I need to use them harder and more often. I didn't believe him so I asked a trusted GMC dealership owner I knew for 40 years and he pretty much said the same thing. I was just babying the truck too much and not driving it enough and braking hard enough allowing the fronts to do all the stopping. That was ruining the rears.

Now I can keep my truck for 15 more years.

 

[MossRoad]

.....

Now I can keep my truck for 15 more years.

Hahaha, nice!

 

[Copperhead]

I plan on keeping my current 3/4 ton for at least 20 years, maybe more. I like it well enough to not even consider getting rid of it. It only racks up about 6,000 miles a year on it and is garaged (heated in winter) when not in use. I have a bigger truck as my daily driver. The 3/4 ton is for odd jobs, hauling parts and supplies, etc.

 

[Gunny]

Some years ago, I read that a vehicle will cost you about $400 a year in maintenance, some years you wouldn't really spend much at all, some years you might have to shell out $800 for a major ticket repair.
So a new vehicle with warranty will get you out of most of that expense for several years, but sooner or later, it's going to catch up with you. If you trade often, then depreciation on your trade-ins will get get you.
I like to think that by keeping what I've got, I don't have monthly payments. I really like my current truck and even though I just went through one of those years where I had some major stuff to work on, I had a four year period before that in which I had no expenses on it other than lubricants and gasoline. Not having monthly payments allows me to keep that money in the bank, so when one of the big failures hit, it's no problem to draw the money out and get the parts.
I do 85% of the repairs myself, so there's a large savings on repairs. And I'm getting up in the age where I may not outlive the payments on a new truck, so I think I'll just hang on to it.

All said, I think financially, I'm coming out ahead, I just don't get to smell the new car smell and drive around in a shiny new truck, but I use my truck, so even a new one wouldn't look shiny for long.

 

[3930dave]

About 4 years ago I had to change my 02 GMC duallys brakes at 90,000. I thing the bill was around $800 but a different shop would charge more or less. It was still nuts.

The mechanic told me I just had them done and I replied I did not, but he was insistent. It seems the pads were good but the rotors were pretty bad. He said I just had someone change the pads without doing the rotors. Again I told him I was the original owner and never had it done.

Upon further investigation I deduced I was not hard enough on the brakes allowing the rotors to rust up in between uses. In time they were too rusty to be wiped clean by the pads.

The shop owner told me I need to use them harder and more often. I didn't believe him so I asked a trusted GMC dealership owner I knew for 40 years and he pretty much said the same thing. I was just babying the truck too much and not driving it enough and braking hard enough allowing the fronts to do all the stopping. That was ruining the rears.

Now I can keep my truck for 15 more years.

I'm easy on brakes too.... what you describe is a big problem up here, due to Winter salt.

High capacity pickups with rear disc brakes used as just a personal vehicle are pretty much the worst situation...... most of the time they never carry any noticeable load, so the rears basically do no work. To keep ahead of this, most vehicles here really need to have disc brakes serviced (cleaned, properly lubed) at least once a year.

In our climate, I prefer rear drum brakes. I'm hearing that some recent light truck brakes (w. vehicle stability systems) have deliberately changed the rear brake bias - some of that change may have been done to address calipers seizing too often.

Rgds, D.