Keep current truck forever or try to afford a new one every 5-10 years?

[hunterridgefarm]

New truck prices are insane! I have a 2002 F250 7.3 with 114k miles. I drove a company car for many years.
I retired at 61 and bought a new Range in December of 2020 to use for craft shows as it is much easier to park in these small spaces at craft shows than my F250.
The F250 is still used to hauling the tractor and farm related activities. I plan to keep it forever, even though everyone who come to visit tries to buy it. My response is, if I sell you my truck I’ll have to buy another one, have you seen the prices of new F250’s and F350’s

 

[jk96]

2012 Ram 3500 Laramie purchased new after discounts for $56k . Originally thought I would trade it in before it hit 100k miles. I tested the waters at 75k miles and the dealers were not even close to what I would consider an acceptable trade difference. Currently at 279k miles. The first 270k were trouble free and I tow heavy and a lot. This has been a great truck. At 272k egr started leaking and did a full delete. Just replaced turbo last week. I know transmission and injectors could be next at anytime but I just can't get myself to go out and repurchase this truck for $80k plus.

 

[tacticalturnip]

2012 Ram 3500 Laramie purchased new after discounts for $56k . Originally thought I would trade it in before it hit 100k miles. I tested the waters at 75k miles and the dealers were not even close to what I would consider an acceptable trade difference. Currently at 279k miles. The first 270k were trouble free and I tow heavy and a lot. This has been a great truck. At 272k egr started leaking and did a full delete. Just replaced turbo last week. I know transmission and injectors could be next at anytime but I just can't get myself to go out and repurchase this truck for $80k plus.
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Do they still offer a Mega Cab with short bed dually? That's a really neat setup, and certainly uncommon.

That back seat must be a sofa.

 

[Hay Dude]

2012 Ram 3500 Laramie purchased new after discounts for $56k . Originally thought I would trade it in before it hit 100k miles. I tested the waters at 75k miles and the dealers were not even close to what I would consider an acceptable trade difference. Currently at 279k miles. The first 270k were trouble free and I tow heavy and a lot. This has been a great truck. At 272k egr started leaking and did a full delete. Just replaced turbo last week. I know transmission and injectors could be next at anytime but I just can't get myself to go out and repurchase this truck for $80k plus.
View attachment 797480

Your truck today would probably be in the low 90’s.

The only good thing is it would have Rams excellent warranty and you probably wouldn’t have to repair anything for 5 years, but $1,000+/month payments wouldn’t be fun.

 

[jk96]

Do they still offer a Mega Cab with short bed dually? That's a really neat setup, and certainly uncommon.

That back seat must be a sofa.

They do. Would be my first choice if buying again. If I were in construction and moving lumber I would probably want the long box but I'm usually towing and if it doesn't fit in the bed most likely I'm pulling a trailer. Rear seats actually recline and in the upright position there is room to stow items behind them. They also fold completely flat to the floor leaving a huge cargo area. Our boat is too heavy for the wife's durango so we take the truck when going on lake trips and it's really comfortable even for 5 of us. The extra room for family trips alone is worth the short box inconvenience once in awhile.

 

[jk96]

Your truck today would probably be in the low 90’s.

The only good thing is it would have Rams excellent warranty and you probably wouldn’t have to repair anything for 5 years, but $1,000+/month payments wouldn’t be fun.

Just built one out of curiosity. $93,300 keeping it as close to mine as possible and skipping the new stuff I would like to add such as self leveling air bags, bed camera, safety group with adaptive cruise etc. Add all that in and it jumps to $98,000.

 

[jmc]

New truck prices are insane! I have a 2002 F250 7.3 with 114k miles.

Any idea what a low mileage, 7.3 of that era is worth? Mine's a 1999 F250 7.3 with (not a typo) 24,000 miles.

 

[crashz]

Rust free and immaculate, probably north of $30k.

That's not Kelly Blue Book, but probably what the old school 7.3 die-hards would pay.

 

[tacticalturnip]

Rust free and immaculate, probably north of $30k.

That's not Kelly Blue Book, but probably what the old school 7.3 die-hards would pay.

Yeah, there is a market out there for them that is far above any book value.

Hop on a Ford truck forum and try to get an idea for what the folks there would pay.

 

[jmc]

Rust free and immaculate, probably north of $30k.

That's not Kelly Blue Book, but probably what the old school 7.3 die-hards would pay.

Thanks. Hope you guys are right- MSRP was $35,600 when I ordered it:

 

[Hay Dude]

Man I can’t imagine what Ram wants for my 5500 Laramie now…..

 

[Snobdds]

Man were those things a BIG problem.

No they weren't.

 

[Snobdds]

I'm going to keep a 6.0 in the stable just for all the haters of them.

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm going to keep a 6.0 in the stable just for all the haters of them.

Riding the new Ford Edsel to the end, huh?
I have to hand it to you, out of the 40,000 people here, you and about 3 others stayed loyal.

You don’t know what you’re missing. Get into a Cummins one day. A diesel engine that’s also used in heavy farm machinery. 6L never did. 5.9/6.7 are legendary for a lot of good reasons.

 

[Jstpssng]

Thanks. Hope you guys are right- MSRP was $35,600 when I ordered it:

You can always come down but it's difficult to go up.

 

[Snobdds]

Riding the new Ford Edsel to the end, huh?
I have to hand it to you, out of the 40,000 people here, you and about 3 others stayed loyal.

You don’t know what you’re missing. Get into a Cummins one day. A diesel engine that’s also used in heavy farm machinery. 6L never did.

It's more like I'm riding the misinformation out. I will concede, the early 6.0 had issues, and there were some nagging quirks on the later ones too. However, there is a Ford OEM part fix for each issue. Then if you under stand the root cause of the issues, changing coolant regularly fixes 90% of everything. Once corrected, it's a very good motor and Ford at the time made the best "Truck".

We do have a Cummins on the ranch. In fact my brother had a 2006 before he passed and my dad now has the truck. It will not go anywhere because it belong to him. The problem with that truck is not the motor, it's the dodge part. Like right now, it needs ball joints and tie rods. Typical dodge.

I know, you love to point out the cummins comes in equipment. Ok fair point. But the 6.0 was actually designed to run in School busses without emissions. The 6.0 took care of our precious children.

Like all new diesels, emission kills them. Diesels in my opinion, are not meant to run at full rpm under no load to only burn off soot. I'm going to get that new HO powerstroke. I better be able to delete it.

 

[Hay Dude]

The 6L was a tough time for Ford. Lots of lawsuits. I wouldn’t call school bus duty anything much to brag about. Now a 200HP 6.7L in a farm tractor? Thats a testament to toughness.

In terms of the rest of the truck, everyone seems to think the Ram brand has come a long way and made improvements in overall quality.

 

[Snobdds]

I wouldn't say it was a tough time, that period chiseled ford into what it is today for their diesel program. If they didn't go through that period of International/Navistar...they wouldn't have a purpose built, in house produced motor that is strong and reliable. They don't have to pay and license another companies motor.

The Navistar years were very informative.

 

[tacticalturnip]

I kind of want to buy your truck, what a great spec sheet.

 

[Hay Dude]

I wouldn't say it was a tough time, that period chiseled ford into what it is today for their diesel program. If they didn't go through that period of International/Navistar...they wouldn't have a purpose built, in house produced motor that is strong and reliable. They don't have to pay and license another companies motor.

The Navistar years were very informative.

We all know Ford screwed up the 6L.
Ran much better in IH trucks, where not much was asked of it in HP wars.
It wasn’t all IH’s fault.

Try a newer Ram someday. You’ll forget about Ford 6L like the old girlfriend you had in 7th grade that cheated on you. lol
The newer trucks are speced so much better now than that era. Towing capacities are way up.

I do like the idea of keeping trucks 5-10 years, but the newer ones look suspect to BIG $ repairs because so much more is going into them.
$100,000 is a lot of stinking money, the warranties should go up proportionately with the prices, right?