Was doing taxes and figured this might be interesting to those of us who have kept these rigs a long time and plan for many more years to come. As a side note, it is fascinating to me how the forums, trucks, and general pickup culture has evolved since I joined forums. (From constant pinging and suspension questions, to now more major repair and troublesome electric issues. Plus, if you had a black wheel it meant you were a cop, now they litter every truck. Yuck.)

The minute I saw my truck on the dealer lot on June 3, 2001, I knew I'd keep her a long time. Hopefully forever. When Dodge and all makers decided to lose a large customer base by removing all manual transmission options from their line-ups, they lost me as well. I have loved Dodges and Rams since I got mine and realized I had no choice but to keep her forever when the 4th gens appeared in 09 with no stick option. Sure, there are still HDs with the CTD in a G56, but at the price of a house, I'd rather have a house.

So to keep my rig going, I planned several repairs, maintenance procedures, and preventative jobs for 2016 that I hope will bring many more years of safe daily driving. After all, this has been my only vehicle since June 4, 2001 and it was approaching 200k. I have over 215,000 miles on it currently and it has been my most reliable and constant companion my entire life. Much of these repairs were attempts to discover a drivetrain vibration that was causing me lost sleep for two years. I've included some prices but I wasn't about to go through every receipt again. The total is from my receipts for taxes. Here's what I did last year:

-(Late December 2015 I nabbed some MaxxLink end links for 3" lift but I'm not counting those. They rusted immediately.)

-Truck broken into Feb 2016 and door damaged, handle and lock cylinder destroyed, stereo, Hypertech, and speakers stolen. This gave me over $2k for repairs from Geico. They were wonderful.
-New door lock cylinders re-keyed myself
-New billet door handles from AMI $200. They don't fit properly and I had to modify the passenger side significantly.
-New door weather stripping from LMC $35
-New rear 6x9 boxes and Pioneer speakers $90
-New Omega alarm installed myself $130. I also wired up a glass break sensor and my tool box to the hood switch. Learned a lot on that job. Not bad if you don't need remote start which is just lazy. Also wired up the horn to add to the standard siren.
-New blower motor from Oreillys $80. Piece of junk. Makes noise and will have to be replaced again soon.
-New canvas Cabela's seat cover $20
-New Timken hubs installed by a shop. This was the only thing I didn't do myself.
-New brake calipers Napa reman
-New motor mounts Napa
-New Thrush glass pack and pipes (old exhaust pipe fell off so I ripped off the Flowmaster and duals) installed myself
-New Sachs 12" clutch, flywheel, bearings,trans mounts, $500. This was fun. Two years ago, my stocker was making noise so I took it to my "trusted" mechanic and told him I wanted the stock Sachs clutch installed. He did the job and within a year I see pieces coming out of the trans dust shield. Then it chattered horrible and was burning up. Finally did the job myself with a friend and discovered the shop screwed me over. It was some cheap China crap with a plastic release bearing. Of course, this was after the 1 year warranty so I could do nothing legally. New clutch is much better but squeaks when hot. It should last longer than the second one though.
-New rear main seal, oil pump, and pan gasket. $150. Ordered all parts from LMC using OEM makes. Installed myself with friend.

-After driving to MN, did the following with my Dad:
-New timing chain Cloyes
-New water pump, t-stat, gasket all napa
-New gasket set
-New hoses
-New balancer (had to return as it was for a 360, Napa said "sorry")
-New coolant
-New clamps
-New anything related to this job. It was huge and took us 2 1/2 days. Renting pullers, tools, etc. Never could have done it without him but he's a trucker and does his own work since the 70s. The new water pump has leaked from the housing since new so that will have to be replaced soon. Thanks napa. $600ish

After this trip, I decided to tackle the steering finally since it was stock except for a Spohn stabilizer.
-New T steering from Moog at LMC. $250 installed in parking lot
-Les Schwab alignment $70
-New Redhead gear. Stiff as a rock. $325
-New steering pump Napa and fluid $160. No improvement and is noisy and leaks. Thanks Napa.
-Not happy with Redhead and has slop. Complain and get replacement.
-2nd New Redhead installed. Much better feel with a little return. Left off stabilizer this time. Still fiddling with it.
-New shocks Skyjacker M95 $160 half price "scratch and dent" love these! I will never get water "hydro" shocks again.
-New LED driving lights. Now dead. Probably relay. They suck anyway so these will be replaced this summer.
-New flasher from Autozone. $20. Erratic speed. Seems retarded at idle. Whatever.
-New rear driveshaft ujoint Spicer $25 installed in truck. These were done 2 years ago but the rear wasn't in stock so I went with Moog. Now everything is OEM spicer.
-New front and rear diff oil (I do this every 2 or 3 years) plus inspection for vibration.


There are probably some smaller forgettable items, but all in all, without oil changes and parts, the grand total is:

*****$3,662.73

Due to the nice check from Geico, I really didn't spend much. Plus doing the labor myself, I saved a TON and learned a lot. Many people would say, "Better to get a new truck." Oh yeah???? Let's explore that.

$3,660 / 12 months is $305 per month

New(er) truck payment is at least $500 per month. 500 x 12 = $6000

Then I'd be paying that for at least 5 years (whereas these repairs are now done for several years). And that's just for a $30k truck which is used with medium mileage. I cannot imagine how people afford $70k trucks. My truck has been paid off since 2005 and it's price was $16,850 in 2001. I have probably spent that much in repairs over the years. But now it is nearly all new. The trans and engine are great and it fires right up every day. Even new trucks need repairs. Plus you can't show me a stick shift truck under $40k and not CTD. Do you know the maintenance cost of those?!

The paint is going fast so that's on the docket in the next couple years. But there is no reason to ever get rid of it and since you all are forum friends with the same passion, I'm happy to share this with you and hope to be around a long time on here.

Thanks for reading and let's keep these rigs going!



p.s. Since 2017, I have done a fan clutch, tires, and brakes need overhaul. The tires cured the vibration. Coopers suck.

 

If it still works for ya, keep driving it. My 96 got to the point where it was going to cost almost as much to fix it, as it would to replace it. (I don't buy new, that doesn't strike me as 'fiscally responsible'.) I drove it since april of 2010, so, pretty close to 7 years. I don't know how much money I sank into it, probably somewhere between 1500, and 2000... including tires. I do almost all of my own work, I can't afford to pay someone else to do it.

Replacement truck was 3300. I have probably already put another 2-300 into it, but, at this point, I could drive it just as it is. It still has a couple ****ling issues I would like to address, but, that will wait for warmer weather.

It's easy to spend a LOT of money or repairs, but, it is still FAR cheaper than buying a new, or even, newer... truck. And if you buy used, it's highly likely that it will need some repairs even before you drive it off the lot. I think I have bought maybe 2 used vehicles, that I could just drive, without having to spend a bunch more money on.

 

man, that is a long list (only our classics have parts lists that long)... then again, you do have a lot of miles on it. i barely broke 160k this month. i too will be keeping our 2001 forever (or at least until one of our kids sale it for scrap after we are gone) as it has sentimental value to both my wife and i. we have always maintained it with good parts...sometime OEM parts as needed. i am a telecommuter so don't really drive it much, a good thing due to the poor gas mileage. eventually i will move on to another daily driver but until then i will continue to keep ours in good shape. you have been on the right track with yours (keep up the good work) and hopefully, decades from now, none of our rides will become rusted yard art....or worse yet, the crusher

 

Sounds like lots of money spent over the years but that is a lot of miles as well. I have under half that and still always have something on my list that I want / need to replace whether mechanical or physical. Keeps me busy, plus having an old truck in good shape while everyone else around me leases / finances new stuff because they can't take care of an old car gives me pride. Parts are so cheap to keep these things going and they are easy to work on so I have no need to get rid of it. With all my mods and repairs I think at this point I could almost get back what I have into the truck if I were to sell it, which gives me a warm fuzzy feel. A truck is always useful, worth something and I don't see mine declining in value so I will likely end up keeping it around for a long time yet