Newbie here. Don't even own a truck yet. But my DW and I are going shopping for our first travel trailer so we'll need sumpin to tow it with! I don't think I can make the $$$ work for a new diesel but I sure wish I could. So I'm looking online at used. I know diesels last forever compared with gassers, but I'm leery of buying one that's TOO old or was "rode hard and put up wet". So here's my question. If I'm looking at the last 3 years' worth, 2002-2004, how many miles is "too much" on a used diesel that old? I've been using 15,000 a year as a rough rule of thumb, so I've been leery of a 2002 with, lets say, more than about 45,000-50,000, for example. Am I being too cautious? Or am I being reasonable, for my first truck and first towing experience? By the way, the trailer we have in mind is an Arctic Fox about 28' long (not a 5er) with a GVWR of around 7,500 lbs, if that matters. Thx. Tom
Diesels will last hundreds of thousands of miles if taken care of, so something with 50k on it is just barely getting broken in. I think that the big 3 all offer 100k mile warranties on the engines too, so if the eingine is what you're worried about you'll have that to fall back on. I know with the Fords you can have an Oasis report run at a dealer that will tell you the complete history of the truck from the day it was built, any recalls, warranty work that was done on it, etc. Not sure if this can be done on Dodges and GMs, but I'd bet it can. Get something that looks like it was taken care of and has all the records for it, I'm sure that you'll do fine.waytogo
Well, in the past Dodges have seemed to be able to outlast the Fords and GM's simply because the Cummins was such a dominant motor against the GM 6.5TD and early Ford Navistar diesels but today I don't think it's the same scenario with the introduction of the Dmax and newer PSD's. Although, I will say that the cummins will still outlast the other two simply because I have heard lots of Cummins Dodges going for 500K + miles and not from the other two, but really, none of us are going to drive them that long and the trucks themselves, regardless of manufacturer, will fall apart or rust out before any of the new engines need an inframe. I bought my 2001 Dodge Ram Cummins with 101K and it's like brand new in and out. I think mileage varies greatly, something that is high mileage but gathered those miles at 70-75MPH is in a lot better shape then something that gathered them from light to light. Common sence tells me that a freeway driven 100K would be in much better shape when it comes to steering, electrical, etc simply because they have less true hours on them. Hours are just important as mileage in my book and I know that my truck had to be a low hour truck since the PO had to have driven roughly 35K per year. Auto trucks don't last as long as manual rigs of course. I would safely say that if someone takes care of a 2002 Cummins Ram HO for example that is equipped with the 6 spd manual, should see 300-400K without major overhauling to the drivetrain as a whole. THe interior, electrical, steering, body, etc. is another story. I think your thought of 45K is too low, I would look at something even as high as 120K or so. It all depends on how it was driven, where it was driven, the abuse it could have seen, and the condition of it in general.
I've been looking at ads recently for '02-03s and have seen trucks with 20k to 100k+. The low mileage trucks are running 3-4K$ more. But you have to get into what options each has too. So they're apples to oranges comparisons. Then there are the "certified" used trucks at dealers, you'll pay a premiun for them.
High Mileage? It just depends on the truck and how it was taken care of I have an 02 that has 270,000 and im not afraid to drive it anywhere and really the only part of the truck that shows any wear is the bed and my 04.5 that is seven months old already has 70,000 plus miles roughly 10,000 miles a month so on some of these high mileage trucks it is only a number. waytogo
