Hey, I have been looking around for one of these trucks for about a year now but can not decide between the 6-speed manual or 4-speed auto with over drive.
I really don't want 4x4. The DWR's I am looking at have any were from 100,000 miles to 150,000. and i don't want to be replacing hole lot of stuff on it. so which one should i get? what are some issues these trucks have at that mileage? Any parts go bad?

 

Thats personal preferance. Yer either a stick guy or not, and I wish I had the chance to get the ZF-6, but only trucks I could find anywhere were all the 4R100. Love the truck and it's perfect, but I just don't like the way the auto shifts and when it chooses to shift.

100k+ yer lookin at ball joints to be needed.

Adrianspeeder

 

Ball joints cost? any thing esle?

so the 6-speed will cost less to maintain?

 

The ZF6 will on average cost less to maintain compared to the 4R100. Just don't plan to do much drag racing with the 6spd. The 4R100 gets the edge there because of the quicker shifting of the auto.


Balljoints on a SD D60 front aren't overly expensive if you do it yourself. Quotes from dealerships range up to over $1000 due to the amount of labor required to do them. It takes on average about half a day to do both sides. Its not guaranteed that you'll have to do them. Mine are at 113k and are still tight. Some guys can't keep balljoints more than 30-40k, others can run over 100k without problems. The big thing is what wheel and tire package the truck has had. The bigger the tires and wheels the more problems you're going to have.


Things to check on that kind of truck. Has it ever had a chip or module installed, has the SCA level in the coolant been maintained, does the engine have any excessive blowby, has it ever had a K&N filter installed on it, what are the condition of the turbo fins, is there any excessive endplay on the turbo cross shaft, and if the truck has been in a northern climate (lots of salt) is the oil pan starting to rust out. If the oil pan rusts out it is a $1000+ bill to fix it as the engine must be pulled.

 

I am guess the K&N air filter is bad?

 

They've been known to let too much crap by and that eats away the turbo.

Adrianspeeder

 

Not only the turbo, but it will let dirt into the cylinders and basically destroy the whole engine. Cylinder bores, piston rings, valves and seats, etc. Its an ok filter if you have a naturally aspirated engine, but on a turbo application its not.