death of regular cab pickups

[Hay Dude]

I keep hearing this. Yet a truck today will tow more, carry a heavier payload, and pull better than its counterpart of 30 years ago. Just because they don't beat your guts out doesn't make them any worse. About 15 years ago I thought I had to have a toy, and bought a 1987 GMC "heavy half" Sierra. That truck road so hard that my dog got so she refused to get into it. And it wasnt that she minded riding; we used to log 50,000 miles per year when I was working all over 4 states.

This ^^^^

I think the only thing better about older trucks is:
1. you could fix more yourself because they were simpler/cheaper to fix
2. they were cheaper because wages are not keeping up with inflation.

 

[Jstpssng]

They’ll never die because some of us keep‘em a long time…

View attachment 789502

Wait a minute. You tease us with a picture of a nice ‘69 Dodge then don’t say anything more about it?

You might become the first person I ever put on my “ignore” list!

Nice truck.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

In regards to "working on" a newer truck.... I'll bet 10% or less of readers of this thread can rebuild a carb? Or know how to set the ignition timing on an engine? Or can replace a Ujoint? Or do a complete brake job including replacing calipers?

Newer trucks require much, much less daily maintenance than older trucks. When they do require maintenance it is critical. With today's consumer's mechanical abilities as described above, it ain't happening at home.

Last work done on the Powerstroke. Front cover was leaking under the HPOP.

 

[stumblinhorse]

Wait a minute. You tease us with a picture of a nice ‘69 Dodge then don’t say anything more about it?

You might become the first person I ever put on my “ignore” list!

Nice truck.

Original 318. 4 speed on the floor 3.55 8 3/4“ rear end. Original paint. It’s a runner. Can’t wait to be able to drive it soon, once the snow is gone.

 

[Jstpssng]

View attachment 794488
Original 318. 4 speed on the floor 3.55 8 3/4“ rear end. Original paint. It’s a runner. Can’t wait to be able to drive it soon, once the snow is gone.

Nice! Thank you for the pictures

 

[Farmer495]

Only down side to newer vehicles is, they are cost prohibitive, unable to be repaired by someone without a full shop and once their useful life is over they go to the scrap yard. Plus older trucks can be built to compare very close to their modern counterparts for a fraction of the cost of a new truck. Give me $30K and you will have a 7.3 Powerstroke or a Lb7-LLY that will put up better (better is subjective) numbers than "modern" diesels all while being able to make repairs yourself. Then there is the aftermarket problem with newer diesels. Write a tune for a post emission diesel or sell a non carb air filter and find yourself in prison. I get what people mean when they say new trucks are not designed for work. I think a better way to describe it would be that they are not marketed for work anymore. If they were you wouldn't have subdivisions filled with them. I know of very few farmers that have 100k to drop on a new truck.

Biggest issue in the rust belt anything pre-emissions has rotted into nothing by now. Powertrain is good but nothing else is. Some will buy a truck from the west or south and bring it back, not an option for most and costly to get it here.

I saw a 2 or 3 year old F150 a few weeks back and was almost the cheapest one you could get; was an ex U haul truck.

Reg cab
2wd
8 foot box
rubber floor
5.0 V8
AM/FM radio
It did have power windows / power locks
The parking brake was an electric switch where the release would normally be....

I doubt you'd find it on the lot new like that.

 

[stumblinhorse]

Nice! Thank you for the pictures

No problem!

speaking of working on old trucks…. You can sit inside that engine compartment and work on that truck.

But with all my newer trucks this is a miracle for working on them now.

Amazon.com

Because on anything I own, if I can’t fix it it doesn’t get fixed. From the 1969 dodge to the 2021 Jeep. I am my own warranty. I am going to pull the electronics out of the 2021 case 75C looking for a bad ground as soon as the weather is better. And blew out the clutch cable a few weeks ago on the case and guess who had to fix it, before I could finish snow blowing! Me! I ordered some pieces to redesign the cable attachment so it wouldn’t happen again.

 

[Deleted member 371759]

No problem!

speaking of working on old trucks…. You can sit inside that engine compartment and work on that truck.

But with all my newer trucks this is a miracle for working on them now.

Amazon.com

Because on anything I own, if I can’t fix it it doesn’t get fixed. From the 1969 dodge to the 2021 Jeep. I am my own warranty. I am going to pull the electronics out of the 2021 case 75C looking for a bad ground as soon as the weather is better. And blew out the clutch cable a few weeks ago on the case and guess who had to fix it, before I could finish snow blowing! Me! I ordered some pieces to redesign the cable attachment so it wouldn’t happen again.

Topside creeper is pretty amazing. Definitely a must have piece of equipment if you diy and have trucks.

 

[not2old]

I haven’t seen manual locking hubs since the 1980s.

I ordered my 1990 F250 with manual hubs and had to wait 5 months for delivery as the hubs were on back order. Still drive that truck, now at 440,000 KM.

 

[ovrszd]

Last work done on the Powerstroke. Front cover was leaking under the HPOP.

I'll bet less than 1% know what an HPOP is?