Isuzu NPR/GMC W43500 diesel - Opinions?

cockeyedMFer · Nov 20, 2014

Flusher, my grandfather had an Oliver 70 that I really wanted as a kid. Love the styling on those...sorry to hear your letting go of yours.

Diamondpilot · Nov 20, 2014

Whatever you buy check the brakes and tires good. Easy to dump 5 grand into these two items quickly.

Chris

QRTRHRS · Nov 20, 2014

cockeyedMFer said:
I looked at a pair of trucks today - '02 W5500 and an '07 Sterling cabover (a mistubishi collaboration). The GMC is an 18', 18k gvr truck with 189k for $14k, the sterling is a 14k gvw 16 footer with only 102k on it, priced at 18k.

Didn't have time to drive either but started them both and crawled around. They're definitely "fleet" trucks - cheap seating and controls. But the cabs are roomy and little things like 90 degree opening doors and roof vent are nice features.

I think the 4500 has too many miles although its a pretty clean truck with a really nice box. (that 18 footer is roomy!). It started ok in the 30 degree temps, but the Sterling seemed mechanically in better shape. Going to have to do some homework on the Sterlings.

I thought i found a deal earlier this week and nearly bought a '14 Ram 3500 stakebed new off the lot...But when I got serious with the dealer, suddenly the price jumped from the advertised $31k to nearly $35,000. Their explanation? "A typo on the website" - which I might add hasn't been corrected yet.

Its nice to see the old scams haven't died off in this modern age

Sometimes simple is better but I will tell you that I wish I had cruise control and power windows on my E450 box truck.

FWIW, I like the sixteen foot box I have and would not want anything less or more with this particular truck. Off the top of my head I think mine is 14.5 but I would have to go look to be sure. The eighteen foot, 18k GVW sounds interesting depending on your needs. Not sure where you are and what licensing requirements you have to adhere to? I live in KY where only 10k is the threshold but I can go with farm plates which work just fine for what I do. I seem to recall some states coming in at 17k.

With my usage, I would never go back to a stake bed. Except for the fuel milage hit, the box is much more versatile.

cockeyedMFer · Nov 20, 2014

Diamondpilot said:
Whatever you buy check the brakes and tires good. Easy to dump 5 grand into these two items quickly.

Chris

Tires are always a worry, but I do most of my own repairs. Seems like parts are more expensive for the NPRs, but are they more difficult to work on?

Definitely a plus that the engine is accessible...I'm getting tired of leaning over fenders.

cockeyedMFer · Nov 20, 2014

QRTRHRS said:
The eighteen foot, 18k GVW sounds interesting depending on your needs. Not sure where you are and what licensing requirements you have to adhere to?

With my usage, I would never go back to a stake bed. Except for the fuel milage hit, the box is much more versatile.

I'm not at CDL territory in Ohio, but with either truck I could only pull my small open car trailer and still be under the combined weight limit for CDL. 5k is probably all the NPR could pull anyway on a good day.

You're right on the box vs stake - a lot of the stuff I get is boxed, and can't be exposed to the elements. Also no worries about theft/stuff falling off, etc.

If I had a stake bed, at the least we'd need a tarp kit and solid sides for it.

flusher · Nov 21, 2014

cockeyedMFer said:
Flusher, my grandfather had an Oliver 70 that I really wanted as a kid. Love the styling on those...sorry to hear your letting go of yours.

Me too--those old Oliver tractors with the metal side curtains enclosing the engine are classic.

flusher · Nov 21, 2014

Diamondpilot said:
Whatever you buy check the brakes and tires good. Easy to dump 5 grand into these two items quickly.

Chris

Right on. My NPR had 16" rims so the bite for 6 new tires was about $1100. Brakes checked out OK so I dodged that expense.

cockeyedMFer · Dec 8, 2014

Just wanted to post an update. I went back and forth over the cabover truck, but was a little uncomfortable with the limited towing and higher miles that most trucks seemed to have. And the dealer never returned my calls or sent info that I'd asked for...so I kept looking.

Out of the blue, our local county put up several trucks for auction and I ended up buying a pair of 3500HD GMCs. Both have the 7.4 vortec gas, 15 foot boxes, 15k gvwr, underbody toolboxes and are setup for towing. And the best part, they each have really low miles - 49 and 63k miles. They sold at pretty reasonable prices - both trucks together were less than I'd have in a good NPR truck, and my insurance on both is less than a single newer, more expensive truck. Its a bit of overkill running 2 rigs, but since I work alone sometimes I'll have 2 or 3 large loads in a weekend, and with limited storage...well sometimes the truck just doesn't get emptied quickly LOL. Depending on how the business goes in spring, I may sell one.

Both needed maintenance - one has a rusty brake line, the other had a bad miss. The miss turned out to be 2 disconnected spark plug wires. I'm not kidding! Probably some used car dealer trying to get it cheap. Runs like new now!

The box has really come in handy already with all this wet winter weather. The only drawback is that with the hitch mounted in the step bumper, there's no way to install a liftgate.

flusher · Dec 8, 2014

You did good. I assume those 3500HDs are rated light duty pickup trucks unlike the NPR which is rated medium duty here in CA. So the registration fee is more expensive for the NPR than for a pickup.

Good luck.