Advice Needed (Urgent)

Are you paying cash? Will you have another $15K in the bank when all is said and done?

If you answer either one NO...pass.

 

You might want to define that a bit. Becuse has it reads to me it sounds like that truck is about to need a lot of work done otherwise.

 

In rough terms, the price sounds reasonable enough, and I agree with the above advice to only consider it as a cash deal. And i also fully agree, with a truck of that many miles, you have to have a reserve fund available for something that does break. If you aren;t in a financial situation to ensure that the truck will continue running, then it may not be a good things to buy it. You have done right on having the dyno done, and if you are serious about buying it, I would have a full DOT done, and have a good shop put it on a jack and go through the front end completely. The dyno, DOT, and suspension check are the three things I would not touch a truck without having them done. If they check out, and you can make the money work, then it sounds like a decent truck.

 

You make a good point but its not a matter of "if" somthings going to break but when. So to me the longer somthings gone with out having a major breakdown/rebuild the more likely it is to have/need one. Even with good PM 1mil on a motor, tranny, rear end, and frame thats never had anything major done to them. That sounds like a ticking time bomb to me. And you know when one thing goes a ton of things will follow.

Lets say that a cam goes on a engine that was rebuilt at 7-800K. Odds are you can swap out the cam and a few other things then get on down the road. On an engine with 1mil+ I dont think you will get away with less then a rebuild at that point.

 

It sounds like a great deal but the engine and tranny will probably have to be replaced very shortly. My neighbor drives a Volvo (he's an O/O) and has had to replace both in the past two years but he's still making good money from his truck. If you can handle these expenses some way or another WHEN they come up, I'd say go for it if a mechanic will give it a full test for you. If you would have to sell the truck or put it out of service if something major happened, I'd pass on this one and wait for another. There definitely is something to be said for routine maintenance, though. Nothing helps a truck last longer than taking good care of it all its life.

 

If the truck is mechanically sound in all the areas beyond the engine, trans, and rears, (The big financial three!) then it's worth repairing. And if you are aware of the potential risks of something failing, then the deal is worth doing.

I have no problem with someone looking into a deal, and making a calculated descision to take a specific risk. That happens in business each and every day, and is the essence of being in business for yourself. The main reason you got the advice you did is that we get so many people on here that only see the upside of a deal, and are shocked and dismayed to find out that there was a potential downside to the business deal they looked into. If you are realistic, and can evaluate carefully hat you are doing, then it simply becomes a matter of you deciding how much risk you are willing to take. I see no problems with that, as long as you walk into it head held up and knowledgable of the potential upside and downside.

As for the million miles, while we tend to use that as a standard number for when a major breakdown is likely to occur, the fact is that I know of trucks in our fleet that have well beyond that mileage and have never been through any major component repairs. I can think of one daycab, a 97 model, and it has passed the 1.5 million mile mark with the same driver all the time, and is still going strong.

Again, it's a matter of risk management, and how comfortable you are with doing it. Only you know your financial situation well enough to be able to make that evaluation. if you have the other truck and it's running okay, obviously that changes the parameters, and if the engine did go south, you could afford to park the new one until it was repaired. You would still have one truck to put beans in the pot.

If it's a decent deal, and you are satisfied with it, and are comfortable and full knowledgable of the potential risks, then I see no reason not to go ahead. It's merely a question of risk management, and every good buisiness owner does some of that daily.

 

I agree with Burky. Also, what is the cost to replace/repair the tranny and engine vs. the cost of a newer truck with many fewer miles? If the cost to replace/repair is quite a bit less, you're probably getting a good deal.

If you actually know this place and know what they say is accurate and truthful (that the truck was well maintained, etc.,) then it's a step in the right direction IMO. A newer truck that wasn't cared for routinely might be much worse.

It's a calculated risk and you're the best one to figure out what you can afford, what the reputation of this seller is, the condition of the truck, what you know of trucks, etc., etc.

Good luck