When to put the horse (Truck) to pasture?

2014 Cascadia daycab, DD13, 10speed, tag axle 525k miles...former fuel truck now pulling a side dump trailer.

My truck is in the shop again but it was initially taken there for pretty routine stuff... Oil change, DOT, run the overhead, little repairs that I've been putting off... I did tell them to align it as the front tires are wearing funny. While it's there, I told them to look it over for anything major that may cause problems down the road. I have a new venture that I'm getting involve in and I don't want any surprises holding up progress. I figured I'd get out of there for around 10 grand for both the truck and trailer. I don't think they're really looking for problems but they keep coming across things that need to be fix/replaced. For instance, the latest one was the oil filter module had a broken check valve (or bypass valve?) that will most likely cause a premature engine failure if left unaddressed. The part was around 6 grand. I'm probably not getting out of there for under 20 grand, at this point (5k of which is getting stuffed into the trailer repairs).

I bought the truck outright for 30k and put about 5k into it right off the bat. A few months ago, the engine needed retuned and that was about another 5k or so. Now I'll be stuffing another 15k (or worse, the jury is still out) into it. I've put over 25k into a truck I paid 30k for initially.

My question is, how much money do you dump in a truck before it's too much? At what point do you sell/trade the thing off? I know any truck out there is going to take maintenance but holy cow! If you were me, would you just keep going with the repairs it seems to always need hoping you hit bedrock at some point or do you look into finding something that is maybe a little more sturdy? I know that even 60k truck will need work just the same as my 30k truck, but still... I'm just wondering where you draw the line.

 

I've been able to afford the repair work without any credit so far. Seems like one step forward, one step back all the time but I know that everyone here already knows that dance. The truck has been able to pay back the repairs so maybe you're onto something with that. Overall, it makes money...expensive money, but money nonetheless.

 

Luckily for me, I was able to save up and buy my truck outright so no payments on that. I paid for half of my side dump and financed the other half. Having minimal payments has been a saving grace for me. I've gotten far enough ahead once in a while that I could have paid the trailer note off but it would mean losing the buffer in the bank account to pay for expensive repairs outright, like the situation I'm in right now. My second highest priority is to stay out of debt at almost any cost. Obviously, the highest priority is keeping the truck operating profitably and safely.

 

I don't think you're being a tool at all, you're right about the value of the truck. Years back I was trying to buy a business from a guy that had a truck and dirt moving equipment. His valuation of the business itself was one thing but he was doing exactly what you just described with the valuation of his truck and equipment. He had a record of every repair, oil change, filter, mud flap, and air freshener he ever put into something. He was adding those costs to the sale price of everything. Of course, we weren't able to work out a deal.

I think the only real value that the truck has is what it can return. I think Ruthless is onto something that if my repairs are creating a scenario where the truck can't make the return because of the repairs, then I likely have my answer as to whether it's time to keep beating a dead horse or find another one. I don't want to jinx myself but even with having put all this money into this truck so far, if it blows an engine tomorrow I'm very likely to go find a different truck and not fix this one.