Pickup dilemma

Hello everyone. Im in a bit of a situation here and need some input as i'm sure some of you have been in this situation before. I have an 01 ram 2500 with the 360 in it. It has 132k on it and 1 spec of rust from a paint chip I foolishly ignored. The engine has developed some mechanical issues as well as the front driveline. In short it would need 3500 dollars worth of work to bring back up to spec. The big items are intake gasket, cylinder heads, and a new front driveshaft. I am a cat technician and will be doing all the work myself. Is it worth fixing this truck or letting it go? I pull my pulling tractor with it and potentially my mother's camper this summer. I have already put a better built transmission in it to the tune of 3500 dollars and other things like wheel bearings and water pumps. The value of this truck in kbb is 8800 dollars.

If I do end up fixing it I have a mind to find a good used engine and build a 408 stroker for the truck for some additional pulling power. This will bump the price up another 200 roughly.

Thanks for everyone's insight. Being my second truck I have never run into this situation before.

You have a 18 year old truck, but miles are not too bad.. I would look at the frame, gas line , brake lines , rear bumper mounts, radiator frame.... how much rust ?  Will it last several years ?  Do you drive in the winter or just a summer truck ?   If everything is GOOD and all you have to do is $4000.  of repairs, that could be a good deal..

I think DMiller has the answer.  Get something you can hop in and drive.

You need to stop and think about all the new tech on the cars they are selling today. They are real close to self driving with all the colistion aviodance computers. But it is all just getting figured out.

Look at it this way - you are spending much less than the book value of the truck so if you sell it you should be able to get most of your investment back and you are spending a lot less than the price of a new truck. So if you do not want the latest fancy smancy electronics and gadgets keep what you have, with the low mileage you should be able to get many more years of service out of it.

I've got an '89 E-150, about 150,000 miles.

Heads need to come off due to broken manifold bolts and this engine gets worked hard and im anticipating cracks in the head. Frame and lines are all good with the factory paint still on 90 percent of the frame. It never was drove in the winter but I do drive it during heavy snow otherwise I take my rusty pontiac g6. The big items are intake manifold, heads, driveshaft, and the tires are starting to cup so joints will be needed at some point

I do not k now about Iowa but in KS  just the sales tax and registration on a new pu would more than pay for the new engine and other work on your truck.   Plus you would be paying high property taxes every year for many years on a new one.

soooooo….you wanna fix it and unload it for someone else to enjoy while you make payments on a different one that may have the same/worse problems than what you have now? you are at the mileage time when things do start to wear out, but is usually still cheaper than buying a newer one. unless you want an excuse for a change?

I agree with Festus I to live in KS and between personal property taxes, annual registrations, insurance on the new ones. I can put a lot of dollars into an old vehicle.

jaybmiller wrote: re: KS between personal property taxes, do you mean they CHARGE you on your rides ? If so, how much ? man I hope THAT doesn't come up here !!!