How many $ do you put into an old truck?

It depends on a few things. The trucks I buy don't really have any trade in value so I fix it and keep on driving. Say I buy a truck for $10,000 and in 6 months it needs a $15,000 overhaul. Well in the 6 months I run the truck it paid itself off a couple times so now all I have in it is the $15,000 I spent on the overhaul. Now the transmission I would replace for $3500 and have a truck for $18,500 that is fresh and ready to rock and roll down the road and make me money for years to come. This is how I do my business. I wouldn't buy a truck for $35,000 and in 6 months have it need an overhaul for another $15,000+. In my business thats just crazy. Just my $0.02 cents.

 

i kept rebuilding my old 97 mercedes S320 thinking if I fix this nothing else can go wrong
$15000 later it hasnt broke in a while but of course I am never there to drive it

 

My truck is 29 years old. What do you think the value of it is? BTW, I building a hopped up N14 to drop in it, about $20 grand to do it.

 

A: Is an unknown so it can never be planned out, so don't cut yourself short of a good thing.

B: If the rest of the truck is well maintained and not ready to come apart at the seams, why not fix it if it can continue to serve you well?

C: When it totally overwhelms you to fix it then trade it broke, no need to put money in it to trade.

 

when it becomes a money pit.\

and if it don't get at least 6 mph. preferably 7 though.

 

They all are, doesn't matter if its new or 30 years old. They all eat money, and the older ones eat less than the new ones.

 

If you have a fleet of 10 trucks or more I think maybe you can play the averages a little. But with one truck it's a bit of a dice roll. I bought my truck 05 International 9400i with 700,000 miles hoping I could get by for a year or two without major repairs. It's looking good so far, but now that I have toolboxes, headache rack, and looking to put on a generator and A/C unit. It's starting to make more sense to overhaul when the time comes and run it another 5 years. I guess part of making decisions like that is how the rest of the truck is holding up. I dumped the oil out of the rear ends and tranny and it looked clean. Suspension and steering is all tight. hey, it ain't a show truck or the truck of my dreams. But it's MY truck, not the bankers, not my bosses, mine. And it gets the freight from A to B just like a shiny new one !

 

I run a 96 Pete and wouldn't trade it for anything. Some like New and some would rather run older stuff. Both ways work just fine.