This is true as well. On top of a purchase price, when I say a healthy separate maintenance account I mean between 40 and 50k.
I would do both. Have the hp turned up to about 550 if I could as well, and make sure the torque was between 1800 and 2000. Lastly if I remember correctly my rears should be between 150 and 170 for flatbed. I would need to research more about gear ratio, but that would need to be respeced. Some of this stuff will need to be done no matter when I buy. So for me on top of the purchase price I will need some money aside for mechanical work.
I appreciate it. I am not the mechanically inclined. When I am ready to buy (if ever) I will be asking for tons of help, from what to look for to reliable, honest mechanics the whole 9.
Expect busted knuckles, sore back, carpel tunnel, and paying as much or more than the purchase price over 3-4 yrs. If you’re lucky, the engine and trans will last long enough to trade it off. More than likely it’ll blow up in the 2nd or 3rd yr. after buying it. Leaving you with a choice of spending more and keeping it longer to justify the cost, or cutting your losses and buying something newer based on your bad experiences. Try to buy something newer, 2017 and up, less than 500k. The lower the better. Aerodynamic Pete or KW. Freightliner only if it’s a great deal with low miles. Buying an old almost wore out Truck, and taking a crash course on repairs, or getting raked over the coals by repair costs will cost more than the increase in payments for the newer Truck. The Trucks you’re looking at will be worthless in 4-5 yrs. Add up the loss in resale on top of the money spent on repairs, and it’s not as great of a deal as it seems. Newer Truck with good fuel economy, that’s where it’s at nowadays. The roughly 2006 through 2016 emissions are problematic. There may be exceptions for a super nice Truck at a good price. But rare and hard to find. Still have to budget costly repairs. Add downtime with payment due. It’s a big gamble. Look at the newer Trucks. MPGs and dependability will make the payments.
2nd or 3rd year? I met a new owner this morning at the truck stop near my home, he had thrown a rod, actually he had to be really dogging it because there is a hole in the block. He just got the truck a month ago, was so excited by this new to him 2014 Pete, he almost crapped himself talking about it. Well the truck didn't last long, I felt bad for the guy and asked him how he bought it, he said by a craiglist post, I then asked him how much he paid for it - $63,000. Then I asked him how much work did he put into it, and he said $10k in brakes, A/C repair and other things, but he never really looked at the engine or the transmission, he wanted his truck so he felt like a real truck driver. So now he will have to figure out how to pay for the new engine.
Run away from that POS. Do not buy it. Listen to @Arctic_fox and take a look at what he went through. He is not lying to you.
I walked away from 2 trucks that had check engine lights. There was no way I was driving them off the lot with those issues. One truck blew up when Penske moved it to another location to fix the issue. I felt like I dodged a bullet. I purchased through Ryder and it was a much more positive experience.
