Hillbilly Silverado

iTrader: (1)

So yesterday my truck bit the bullet. I was leaving work and suddenly the Check Engine Oil level message popped up, I just changed the oil less then 900 miles ago, I stop at AutoZone and pull the dipstick and find it's not even on the dipstick. I buy 3 Quarts of Oil and top it off. I know this truck doesn't leak oil or anything. It's sat for a month inside while I redid the whole brake system and there was never a single drop of oil the whole time on the ground. I've looked all over the engine and can't find any signs of oil anywhere on the engine. It's just road dirt on it and still very clean and even more so for 181k miles on it.

Now the reason I say it bit the bullet, I get home after putting those quarts of oil in, and the engine is now knocking pretty good.

The truck isn't in great condition body wise at all. The body basically has two years left in it tops. It's rotted pretty, a lot worse then I thought when I first bought it. The cancer basically spread into all the inside of both Cab corners, past the rockers, and basically its ether a lot of cash to fix or a cleaner cab swap is needed. The bed is still good. Just rust under the fender flares, the underneath is still great looking, even more so since I live in the rust belt. The frame is decent. It's flaking and peeling under the bed where the cross tubes are, but the rust is basically just surface rust. When I had the bed off, I cleaned up the frame where I could easily get and undercoated and painted everything.

The trucks has a few minor issues too between a few things. But nothing that makes it undrivable. The PO left a mess with the trailer brake wiring, heater core is clogged, and something is wrong with the fuel gauge/sender.

Unforuantely I've always needed a truck for work and what I do. This truck was a cheap one to bang on and not worry about. Basically the truck is a bare bones WT with nothing great but that's ok by me. I don't need all the bell and whistles. But I need something I can make last too. I can go like 2 months tops without a truck so I have time to figure something out.

Ive narrowed what I can do to a few choices.

1): Find a new cab and pull an engine and swap it all out and a fresh coat of paint.

2): Pull an engine if I can find one at the junkyard and just run and hope I don't have any issues. (Basically left the body rust and get another 2 years maybe out of it).

3): Just rebuild mine. Probably not worth it though being the truck will never last long enough to justify it.

4): Just buy a newer used truck. If so I can step up to a 2500HD. There are a few times a year that I need to haul some heavy *** stuff on a trailer that my 1500 wouldn't be able to safely do. I just end up borrowing my old mans Ram 3500 for these times, but it would save us both the headache of lending his truck to me. Sometimes this hauling is for work and other times it's for personal reasons.

Im leaning more towards 4 but at the same time this 1500 doesn't owe me anything. I also don't want to dump a pile of cash into this truck being the way it is. My time is limited most the year due to work.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Mike

jik294

Honestly, I'm in the same boat, I'm looking at doing #4 at the end of the summer. It's more cost effective to just upgrade. It never fails, my truck goes down every winter. this past winter the trans grenade, last winter it was the head gaskets. the t-case needs rebuilt, the rear end needs replaced, and the engine needs a complete overhaul. I also have about 300k on mine with a lot of off roading in the American Southwest and a lot of hauling(usually overloaded for a 1/2 ton) and cross country driving.

I'm in the same boat for work as well.

Plus side though is mine is a virtually rust free truck as it came from AZ.

stroker87

iTrader: (6)

i say #4

why dump money in something that short term?