How many miles is too many?

mike the welder

Adventurer
After watching so many of you with your rig builds I've decided to get one of my own. I'm looking for a Suburban 2500 mostly because I need to tow allot of different things.

So here is my dilemma, looking at buying a 2500 suburban and all the ones I've seen have what I would consider high mileage(180k plus). I did find 1 with 90k miles and took it to my mechanic to check it out before I purchased it. He told me to take it back and run away. Apparently it had been under water at some point. Water in all the gearboxes, mud and grass under the dash and seats and noticeable corrosion in the fuse box.

So what I'm asking is how many miles did your rig have when you bought it, hows it holding up and how many miles now.

Thanks
Mike
 

98dango

Expedition Leader
I personally own nothing with less than 150k I drive a lot. My 2000 5.4 gas super duty has 210465 miles my wife's 2005 Chevy Tahoe has 163425. I never worry to much if they have been taken care of.

My super duty tows a lot and has had 35" or larger rubber for 3 years now I am in no way nice to it. The Tahoe will have 35s when the rest of the lift gets hear.
 

mike the welder

Adventurer
I would love to have that Suburban but it's a little above my 6k-7k budget. I'm looking to tow a car trailer mostly and have plans for a camp kitchen/tent trailer. I don't want to rock crawl but want to do some remote camping where the average person can't go.

Here is what I tow around to car shows. My dodge 1500 with the 318 just barely held 65 towing it.
196514_1020744896723_1768226084_40501_174943_n.jpg
 

Buckshot62

Observer
1999 dodge 3/4 ton 4x4 cummins. Had 223,000 when I bought it, now has 347,000. A couple of lift pumps and an alternator are about it. Will be driving it back home to Texas in December about 1300 miles one way. 1990 Jeep Cherokee ( was my dads) 299,600 and driving it every day. Wife's truck, 2000 crew cab Chevy k2500 with 193, and change. (tired of putting door handles on it !). I don't think miles matter as much as maintenance...maybe i'm just lucky.
,
 

dvsjw

Observer
The maker of the vehicle and the individual that previously owned it are the biggest factors for me . I have owned Toyota's that were fine at 175 K and ready to cross the country, but had a Jeep and many Fords that were trashed at or before 140 K. Some of the Fords I've driven were kept alive beyond 250k but were a hazardous POS well before that point. HD trucks fair better, but even so lack of care and abuse have resulted in some of them being relegated to limited driving status and only when there was no other choice well before 150 K. Transmissions are the weak link again and again. I would prefer to get a manual transmission on a higher mileage vehicle as the gears generally will be fine with a new pressure plate, clutch and fresh hydraulics. They will cost a fraction of a new auto transmission and can be done by a shade tree mechanic.

So MY answer is, it depends... I lean towards brands that have treated me well and individual vehicles that have no evidence of abuse / damage and an ease of cheep parts. The sweet spot is below 150k for me to tow a small ish trailer and adventure to areas that would place me or the family in harms way if something failed on the vehicle.
 

hoov100

New member
With a 5 digit odometer I stopped counting how many times it's rolled over, although the motor is starting to show it's use.... Personally I would stick with a sub 150k mile vehicle, even highway mileage puts a good amount of stress and wear on a car. Also remember that even though some idiots are saying "it's a million mile engine" the vehicles they are in generally don't last that long. And a vehicle with freeway miles is going to exhibit a lot of wear on everything but the interior and motor.
 

AFBronco235

Crew Chief
As mentioned, previous care is a bigger factor than miles or age. There's the brand and type of motor used. For example, the Ford 4.9L I6 is indestructible, so long as you can keep fluids in it, it'll keep on running. You just have to do you're research.

Since you're looking for a tow vehicle, look for either a big block or a diesel. Something with power. If its an older vehicle, say 97' and older, go with manual transmission. Newer automatics can be just as tough, so don't discount them. Manual transmissions tend to be easier to rebuild too.

My 91' Bronco was a company vehicle that spent most of its time parked. Low miles. Just needed a little tuning after I got it. The 302 engine was in great shave, as was the body and drive train. But at 140K miles, its got some age to it. E4OD transmission hasn't given me any real trouble besides a leaky pan seal, which I fixed over the summer.
 

Ozarker

Pontoon Admiral
My '99 F150 was 1.2 miles, new, it has 78K on it now. For years I bought cars that weren't over 50K and sold them about 2 years later before they hit 90K, seems to be a mental barrier knowing you'd turn over the 100K within a year.
While many get many 100s of Ks out of domestic vehicles, not everyone does, I wouldn't buy any gasser Ford, Chevy, Dodge type over 100K, there isn't much difference even if you make payments. Now, if it was a hobby car that I didn't really have to rely on and was going to be rebuilt, miles could be irrelevant.
 

pugslyyy

Expedition Vehicle Engineer Guy
Our shop truck is an F250 diesel with almost 400,000 miles on it and I wouldn't hesitate to take it across the country tomorrow. As others have said, it's how a truck was treated/maintained. Especially with a diesel, actual mileage can mean very little.
 

superbuickguy

Explorer
It so depends on how the vehicle was used, but a million miles (on some vehicles) isn't too much. A 4x4 that's never seen off-road... here's some guidelines (my experience) all of this presumes good service history... motors in pre-90 GM, 150k miles; 91-up 300k miles, automatic transmissions 100k miles; manual transmissions, transfer case and rear differential at least 500k miles. Interiors 100k-250k depending on material - leather seems to last longer, especially if the owner wasn't... how shall we say? portly. Body panels, if the paint is intact, forever, if it's breaking down....

On IFS vehicles.... 500k then you need to really start checking the frame for cracks where the A-arms attach. If there are cracks, run away... simply welding them does not give you the strength that the an unwelded frame has.

Mind you, this isn't a comprehensive list - it's more a guideline to add to the "look at" stuff that you'd normally check...

and again, all presumes a good service history (easy, IMO to tell by just overall condition), and no major rust issues (they kept it clean)
 

east_tn_81

Adventurer
I always like to see if the previous owner has maintenance records. Check the quality of parts replaced, if there are cheap parts probably not well taken care of. Good luck.
 

AFBronco235

Crew Chief
Expensive parts aren't always going to be the best ones.

I know many a vehicle with over 100K miles on them and so long as you take care of them, they'll last forever. I won't even buy a vehicle made after 2000. Just not tough enough for me.

With that said, you also need to take into account the actual construction and design of the vehicle. Someone mentioned IFS and they're right, but not all IFS are the same. Anything with a unibody/frame has the potential of warping the body so much that the vehicle becomes scrap, even if it looks show room ready. Some will get rebuilt or even upgraded motors and drivetrains. THese you need to be extra careful on and should demand receipts for any major work done on the vehicle. If it was done by the owner, definitely take your time and look it over and take it to a mechanic before you even lay down any sort of number. The best example I can give of this is the Twin Traction Beam suspension on my bronco. Stock, its one of the toughest front suspensions out there, even by todays standards. However, when you try to lift the TTB, you end up changing the geometry of the wheels and where forces can become concentrated and that can severely weaken the whole system. While it is possible to do a significant lift on the TTB, you pretty much have to rebuild the whole front suspension to do it. The other good example is the use of blocks on a suspension lift. If you see that on any sort of lifted vehicle, don't buy it unless you intend on doing a proper lift.

On the other side of that coin though, you can sometimes pick up an excellent vehicle at dirt cheap because the PO didn't know how to fix it or how simple a fix it was. My sister bought a Maxima for $200 for college. The PO sold it that cheap because she thought it needed a new transmission. It didn't. I took a look at it, topped off the tranny fluid, fiddled with the throttle a little because it was getting stuck and 3 years, and 50K miles later, she sold it for $400.

As I said before, you just gotta do your research. And if you're not mechanically inclined, take a friend who is.
 

Woofwagon

Adventurer
I lucked out on my Suburban. It was an ex-USGS survey rig that was only driven 4,000 miles a year back and forth to Mt. St. Helens here in Washington. The '89 and previous years are cave man simple with little to no electronics to foul. This truck has the lowest odo mileage of all my vehicles at 99k. I look for rust, body damage, do all the electrical accessories work and does the engine smoke at any time. For the Chevy/GMC trucks I steered clear of the IFS system as they can be really expensive to redo or modify (at least from my experience). They do ride nice though.

As stated before, take a gear head friend with you who has experience in judging 'horse flesh' so to speak.
 

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