Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 06-11-2009, 03:24 PM   #1
jimmygee
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 3
Send a message via Yahoo to jimmygee
Typical cost of updating maintenance a HDT after purchase

Greetings,
For those of you that have bought a used HDT, how much did you spend in updating maintenance of your HDT? What did you have done? I am particularly interested in tires, engine tune-up, etc.
__________________

jimmygee is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-12-2009, 10:25 AM   #2
Motor31
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 2,130
Not to put you off or anything but there is a better source for HDT info. Go to the escappees web site, http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php? and then scroll down to the HDT section. You do not have to be a member of the club to read it and joining the forum is free.

In short the cost is all relative. It depends on how new or how many miles are on the truck. The condition of the unit will determine how much maintenance is needed. I have a 2000 with half a million miles and have had very little done with the engine or running gear. A friend of mine has a 95 with well over a million miles and he also has had little maintenance done. Both of the trucks were in good shape when we bought them. We both have the trucks checked and serviced (oil lube and brake adjustment) annually at a local shop in Tucson. It cost me about $700.00 the last time but I had a couple minor items taken care of at the same time. There are no tune up's per se. You can get what's called an "overhead" which is a valve adjustment, jake brake adjustment and clean the injectors about every 100,000 miles.

The tires last a long time as long as they are new ones. Mine have over 55,000 miles on them and are still going strong. I did replace the steer tires because of an alignment problem that caused early wear after I had some front end work done. They wouldn't ballance properly and rather than put up with it I changed them.

Cost to set up as a toter depends on you. I did not single the rear axles out. I saw no reason to do so as it rides fine and I like having the abililty to go to 8 wheel drive in loose surface conditions. I also did not go to spend big $ on getting a custon bed put on it. I had a flat diamond plate bed fabricated with fenders for under $3500.00 rather than the heavy full box style that most folks get. The average cost for one of those is between $10,000 and $20,000.

You can either go big $ or low budget on these, it's up to you and your pocket book and how willing you are to look for the best buy.
__________________

__________________
Mike Nancy and the fuzzies
Fulltiming since June 2004
Volvo 660 MH tow vehicle
2005 MS 38RL
2007 Saturn Ion "toad"
2010 Gold Wing "piggyback"
Motor31 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-14-2009, 01:19 PM   #3
billr
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 857
What Mike Said! Additionally, this is a great time to find a good truck at a great price. As for us, our maintenance costs after 1.5 yrs of use have been only routine servicing and new steer tires and new front brakes. Total cost around $1500.00 (I do most all the work myself) I wanted to also change our a few items as preventative such as hoses and belts and a few air related items. Once you change out or rebuild anything on these trucks, it will be for the most part the last time as an owner that will be done at the level of usage we have.

Our truck has 750k on it and never had an overhaul and pulls strong and uses no oil and no leaks.

We did decide to single (remove one of the tandem axles) and set up for RV towing with simple bed and set up the Sleeper for RV registration. Cost was around $4k on top of the truck cost.

Once we were ready to tow the RV we were less than 1/2 the cost of a new 450 Ford. That and the added safety this truck offers really made our mind up. Never looking back!

Check out the HDT forum Mike mentioned. That is the #1 place for info on these gentle giants.

Bill
__________________
Bill and Joan
4 Collie pups
05 M/S 38RL3 #2046
01 Volvo VNL770
05 Smart Passion Loaded piggyback
https://picasaweb.google.com/billandjoan
Weigh-It Portable RV Scales
https://www.weighitrv.com
billr is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:45 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
×