I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). No gages except the tach
and odometer work. One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:46:42 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). No gages except the tach
and odometer work. One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

Plenty of used trucks out there. 3-5 grand will get a decent one you
won't have fix daily, depending how careful you are in picking one.
No need for payments or paying comp.
Your choice.

--Vic

On Oct 20, 12:46 pm, wrote:
I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). No gages except the tach
and odometer work. One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

Maybe I am too obsessive about having little debt but I always thought
of it as a freedom issue. With little debt I could do as I pleased.
Of course, having kids changed that some but still I have waaaaaay
less debt than most. It just seems WRONG to take on debt that ties me
down. My wife says "Dont worry about it, you'll keep this truck for
20 years too" but it is the near term debt idea that slays me. Saving
up to pay almost all cash would be difficult with so many kid expenses
and my wifes mouth surgery and so on and on, even the down payment is
tough when we want to keep a reasonable cash reserve just in case.
How do y'all justify debt on a vehicle to yourself?

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:56:48 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:


How do y'all justify debt on a vehicle to yourself?

Everybody's different. You might guess I pay cash.
Had a $1100 note on a used '64 Olds way back,
because I didn't have the cash and had to get to work.
Paid that off way early.
Most I ever paid for a car was $6k.
Had 31k miles, and I junked it at 190k 11 years later when it rusted
out. Well less than $1k in repairs, and it only failed to start once.
If you go used, talk to plenty of truck mechanics first.
They'll put you onto the right one.
Some people don't mind getting into debt for a car/truck.
I'm not one of them, and you don't seem to like it either.
Doing your own repairs helps.
Second best is having a good mechanic.
But picking the right vehicle is the key.

--Vic

On Oct 20, 12:56*pm, wrote:
On Oct 20, 12:46 pm, wrote:





I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. *This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). *No gages except the tach
and odometer work. *One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). *She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. *I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

Maybe I am too obsessive about having little debt but I always thought
of it as a freedom issue. *With little debt I could do as I pleased.
Of course, having kids changed that some but still I have waaaaaay
less debt than most. *It just seems WRONG to take on debt that ties me
down. *My wife says "Dont worry about it, you'll keep this truck for
20 years too" but it is the near term debt idea that slays me. *Saving
up to pay almost all cash would be difficult with so many kid expenses
and my wifes mouth surgery and so on and on, even the down payment is
tough when we want to keep a reasonable cash reserve just in case.
How do y'all justify debt on a vehicle to yourself?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Same way, I get a new truck, then drive it for 350,000 or so miles. I
figure if I get a vehicle with a four or five year loan, and drive it
for 12 or 15 years, I'm good to go!

wrote:
On Oct 20, 12:46 pm, wrote:
I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). No gages except the tach
and odometer work. One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

Maybe I am too obsessive about having little debt but I always thought
of it as a freedom issue. With little debt I could do as I pleased.
Of course, having kids changed that some but still I have waaaaaay
less debt than most. It just seems WRONG to take on debt that ties me
down. My wife says "Dont worry about it, you'll keep this truck for
20 years too" but it is the near term debt idea that slays me. Saving
up to pay almost all cash would be difficult with so many kid expenses
and my wifes mouth surgery and so on and on, even the down payment is
tough when we want to keep a reasonable cash reserve just in case.



How do y'all justify debt on a vehicle to yourself?

I imagine it involves a lot of lying to ones self

wrote:
I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). No gages except the tach
and odometer work. One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.


Use the huge tax refund you'll be getting from McPalin.

On Oct 20, 11:46*am, wrote:
I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. *This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). *No gages except the tach
and odometer work. *One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). *She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. *I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

From what limited knowledge I have concerning Nissans, the
transmissions were a one-shot deal. from what I know, the transmission
casings didn't even have berings on the end suppord and ran with the
shafts right into the bored aluminum. When the transmission started
acting up it was usually because the aluminum casing was worn out. So
the only option was to find a New, re-man, used trans. or get a new
casing and transfer the already half-worn guts into it.

I'd say the truck is toast.

But don't feel bad. I hate making payments too!

It never seems to bother the mrs. though.

On Oct 20, 1:16 pm, jim wrote:
wrote:
On Oct 20, 12:46 pm, wrote:
I have kept my two old trucks running far beyond reason with my old
1985 Nissan having 313,000 and the 1988 Dodge having somewhere between
180,000 and 200,000. This weekend, coming back from working on my
sailboat, I was seriously worried the Nissan would not get me home.
Not only is the transmission going bad, the center support bearing is
gone from the driveshaft, I cannot get her to go into reverse without
effort, now I seem to have a timing issue making her miss a lot and
lose power (maybe timing chain has slipped). No gages except the tach
and odometer work. One of the front drive axles has a torn boot (I
never use the 4wd so it does not matter). She would not pass
inspection anywhere else cuz the pollution control stuff long ago
rusted away.
Now the Dodge (the only vehicle I allow my 18 yr old son to drive) has
developed transmission probs. I simply cannot continue to repair so
many things because it takes all my time.
I loathe the idea of truck payments and comprehensive insurance but it
looks as if I'll have to just do it if I want to keep towing my boat.

Maybe I am too obsessive about having little debt but I always thought
of it as a freedom issue. With little debt I could do as I pleased.
Of course, having kids changed that some but still I have waaaaaay
less debt than most. It just seems WRONG to take on debt that ties me
down. My wife says "Dont worry about it, you'll keep this truck for
20 years too" but it is the near term debt idea that slays me. Saving
up to pay almost all cash would be difficult with so many kid expenses
and my wifes mouth surgery and so on and on, even the down payment is
tough when we want to keep a reasonable cash reserve just in case.
How do y'all justify debt on a vehicle to yourself?

I imagine it involves a lot of lying to ones self

Quite frankly, I am finding that I have little time to do any repairs
the past few years. Fortunately, my trucks are so old that I dont
have to do that much cuz all the stupid stuff like pollution canisters
long ago fell off. It is possible that I am old enough that I can
justify not lyin under a truck in the heat to replace a clutch. I
lalso know that I have waaaaay too many projects to spend much time on
repairs. Maybe I am just tired of doing it.
Here is a possible scheme: Buy a Titan or Tundra and then build a
trailer to allow me to occasionally haul the 7700 lb sailboat places.
Could I justify this with the Titan or Tundra costing about 1.4X the
gas all the time? The smaller Tacoma or Frontier would easily haul
the Tolman Skiff.
Y'all with larger trucks, how did you justify it?

On Oct 20, 12:13*pm, Vic Smith
wrote:
On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:56:48 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

How do y'all justify debt on a vehicle to yourself?

Everybody's different. *You might guess I pay cash.
Had a $1100 note on a used '64 Olds way back,
because I didn't have the cash and had to get to work.
Paid that off way early.
Most I ever paid for a car was $6k.
Had 31k miles, and I junked it at 190k 11 years later when it rusted
out. *Well less than $1k in repairs, and it only failed to start once.
If you go used, talk to plenty of truck mechanics first.
They'll put you onto the right one.
Some people don't mind getting into debt for a car/truck.
I'm not one of them, and you don't seem to like it either.
Doing your own repairs helps.
Second best is having a good mechanic.
But picking the right vehicle is the key.

--Vic

That's what I like about my '90 mercury wagon. It's a good car. paint
isn't the best but not bad. It cleans up nicely and I don't mind
taking it on a trip. The 302 engine isn't the best for pulling the
heavy boat, but it does the job. I've got less than $1100.00 in it not
counting the maintenance (tires and brakes) And I plan on driving it
for another couple years (minimum) or so. Which will make my 5 year
anniversary with it.

No. I'm not a slave to fashion.