what are the disadvantages of buying an older truck

Have a dealer or the engine maker check it out.

 

Test drive it, pay a expert to look at it in detail. My truck has 737150 on it and it runs fine. I have an 06' Century Class S/T.

 

run an oil sample on the truck.
if you go to ops-1.com you can order true test kits for oil,coolant,trans fluid and diff. fluid
test all the liquid on this truck.
some 03's are e.g.r. engines,some arent. find out.

if it is at a dealership fun a test on the E.C.M. see what is the life average of the M.P.G.

get an oil sample at the least. five hundred people can look at a truck, but an oil sample is like a blood test for your body. it tells you exactly what is going on, in the inside. no mech. can tell you that.
true test is a real lab. not speed co type test.

if there is any fuel delution or water in oil. or if the wear metals are high, you might want to stay away
unless you are getting this truck for 8,000.
then depends how much you wanna spend on fixing things.
happy hunting

 

The disadvantages of buying an older truck is maintenance. If you get a truck that has been poorly maintained you could spend more on maintenance than a newer truck. I would have a dyno and oil analysis done on the truck once you decide that you want to buy it. Bushings, king pins are some of the obvious things which should be checked. Your biggest expenses will be the drive train. On average you can expect to be looking at an overhaul after 750,000 miles, but many engines will go over 1 million miles with proper maintenance. I would much rather buy an older well maintained truck than one that is newer. The DEF engines are only in California.

 

and DEF not till 2014 and the date will probly be pushed back again.

 

If you look at who is hauling most of the freight in and out of California it is the owner operators and smaller carriers. Those people mostly have older trucks that don't need DEF. If they want their produce shipped and products brought into the state they will need to either extend the time or get rid of it altogether. The whole CARB thing is a fraud. But, if they admit it then they could be on the hook for billions of dollars that carriers and owner operators have spent in order to be compliant in the state. They might also need to refund millions in fines that they have levied on those who idle their trucks.

 

They need to build a huge drop lot in Nevada and if California wants their crap let them come get it.

 

If that truck was running so good why did the guy sell it?, is 1 question to ask.. and look around you may not really be saving money buying used if you have to put a ton of repairs in it.. may as well get new with warranty etc??

 

A new truck can cost as much as $150,000. You can make a lot of repairs for that amount of money. Just because you have a warranty doesn't necessarily mean that the repair will be covered. You can buy a good used truck for what you would need to pay down on that new truck. Even if you had to spend a little money on repairs, once the bill has been paid you don't continue paying money out. When you buy a new truck those payments go on each and every month until the truck is paid off. That doesn't include any costs of repairs.