Inframe good or not??

there are a number of ways you can slice and dice it.

while a inframe is nice to have. you still have the rest of the truck worn out. think, trans, rear ends, radiator. etc.

an inframe is only part of the equation.

an old truck, will eventually be somewhat new again. peace by peace.

 

for me having a in-frame already done is a plus but a in-frame done at unusually low millage is a bit of a red flag to me. could be a indicator lack of maintenance or driver abuse.

 

One thing i have noticed after 100 of hours of research on it is that most people that have bought a Detroit with a inframe that their Bullgear and harmonic balance r have yet to be replaced.

The Bullgear is a Grand and Detroit has 9 hours on the book for labor so another grand for labor and than 500 for the balancer plus a hundred for labor so there goes another 2600 minimum that is needed to be done.

 

There is many people that have had them be fine for more than a million miles but it is still a wear part.

In my other thread lets rebuild a 900 a lot of people PooPOOed replacing parts that are not broken.

But lets say the airline industry lived by this same token of replace it when it breaks instead of when before the time that they know the part may have a failure.

Driving a million mile truck is a ticking time bomb and may be affordable for a mechanical person to own but if he is not the downtime and 105 an hour shop rates will eat him, and that is if the shops are being honest about the hours it takes.

While doing my research on BullGear replacement there were prices all over the board for what people had paid to what they were quoted some having paid 4 to 5000 for what should have been a 3000 dollar repair if it included the new balancer. One guy was quoited 7000 be a shop in New York.

i would say any used truck with nearly a million miles on it would need the following done to it to at least give a little peace of mind that it will be fine to go down the road for a while unless something major happens like a engine, tranny , or rearend. A few of these small preventive things i am talking about could also prevent those larger repairs and save you from a costly breakdown.

For the engine I speak of the Detroit because that is all I am familiar with but I am sure Cummins and Cat have some little particulars that are needed also.

As for the motor if it is a Detroit I would get the Bully Gear and the harmonic dampner replaced 1st if there is no record that it has been done. this is a serious needed repair and could take out the engine .


While on the front of the engine replacing the bull gear install a new waterpump and idler pulley assembly.

Also purchase the aftermarket Bracket for the air conditioner compressor that changes the mounting and solves the problem of the front cover becoming wallowed out.


Wrap it all up with new hoses and clamps and belts replace the all fluids.

The rear ends I would have all new outer axle bearings installed with new seals and fluid.

New universals in the driveshafts. and check the rear brakes for wear and replace if warranted.


pull the front hubs and replace the bearings and seals new front brakes if needed. While there check the front.end for any looseness .

The clutch is something that is a wear item that if you do not know who drove it last or how they drove it could be good or bad, To me I will assume it is bad and it needs replacing sooner or later anyways so I would choose sooner and get it out of the way so one less item that could cost you a big tow bill. Change the fluid in the trans while you are there.

The batteries is something if they are more than a year I would look at carefully and replace all of them if warranted along with any cables that do not look 100%.

if the radiator is missing fins and it looks like it is quite old I would plan on replacing it also.

Now if it was my truck I just bought I would spend the extra money on a new turbo and make sure it is airtight and go down the road for another half a million not having to worry about that leaving stranded.

These are the minimum things I myself would do before I took a million mile Detroit powered truck down the road.

So if you bought a nice clean non emission truck for 20000 you would have probably another 10000 into it to bring it up to my standards.

So 30 thousand total for a reliable truck.

 

Helowrenchturn has a good point on this. Every truck is different. Do the checks and all the due diligence that an investment of this nature requires. Then cross your fingers - there's never a sure thing in trucks. One other thing, some shops are better than others. Finding out who did the inframe and some information about their quality may be more important than why it was done at 600K.

 

i wouldn't necessarily write off a truck just because it had a inframe at low millage but it would just raise a red flag. if a truck say had a in frame at 300-500k i would want to know why, what went wrong what all was replaced ect, i would want oil change and repair records. if oil changes were done every 150k miles the new motor probably isn't a lot better than one that has never been in-framed. basicly i would just want to take a closer look at why than weather or not it was done. where as a truck that was in-framed at 1mill you just assume the truck was taken care of properly but it was just due to be in framed now its done.