In the market for a plow truck couple questions...

[TinyGiant]

here is the f150 i got

[firemachine69]

Err... Is that 2WD?

[TinyGiant]

Nope its 4x4

[TinyGiant]

so the black f250 has 200k on it but 110k ago the engine was replaced with a factory crate and the tranny was rebuilt. The guy says its super solid he just wants something smaller.. since he obviously drives alot.

the problem for me is that he is over 2.25hrs away (plymouth mass) and i dont want to drive all the way down there for nothing if i dont like it. He said the only thing that isnt up to snuff is the paint job.. if you look at the pics in the listing you can see its lost some of his luster.. paint doesnt really bother me. but the 200k kinda scares me .. yeah the engine was replaced and tranny rebuilt but who knows about the other maintenance...

hmm

[CTScott]

Like someone mentioned above; If the truck breaks down, you're done with plowing for the day, and your customers are not happy campers. 200K on the chassis would worry me.

[TinyGiant]

my neighbor has a huge new dodge that i think he is going to put a plow on this winter so he can do the house he rents out next to me. I know he'd let me use his truck in a pinch.

lol why cant the grass just grow all winter too so we can cut it and keep the cashflow lol

[CTScott]

Originally Posted by TinyGiant

my neighbor has a huge new dodge that i think he is going to put a plow on this winter so he can do the house he rents out next to me. I know he'd let me use his truck in a pinch.

lol why cant the grass just grow all winter too so we can cut it and keep the cashflow lol

At least the grass is reliable and needs to be cut every week. Around here it's feast or famine for the plow guys. Last winter they made a killing with all of the storms that we had, but the winter before they only had about 4 plowable storms.

[TinyGiant]

yeah. well the wife and I have a part time job working on the weekends that pays the bills. We are back at the pet store we were laid off from a while ago. I usually landscape for the owner and Meg works the pet store. but i have a feeling he is going to screw us over yet again this winter. even though he promised he wouldnt. I figured if i can do the plowing in the winter it would make up for losses. And since my boss also has a landscaping and commercial plowing company he pays $50 an hour to plow if you have your own truck. So i figure if there isnt normal weekend work for me there should be winter work that pays way better. and i will have my own accounts too.

[TinyGiant]

the dealership i bought my yaris from has a nice 2001 f250 superduty with 130k on it just came in on a trade. havent heard back yet on the price.

I'm not too worried about breakdown and such. I plan to put every penny of the plowing money away. i figure its about time i had a savings account. We just sold our screen printing equipment the other day so i have a good deal of cash to sit on right now, helped buy the truck, paid some bills that needed to be paid and i still have 4k now in savings.. which is more than i have had in savings since i sold my paintball business a few years ago.

my goal is to pay off all my credit cards in the next couple years and then the car as well :) When we got married i paid off all my debts so we could go into it without any debt .. of course true to American form lol i have some cards to pay off.

[TinyGiant]

So i went and grabbed the F250 today. Traded my truck and I added $200.. it was supposed to be $300 which after i looked the truck over a little better when i got home i should have almost had him add.. but oh well.

drove the truck home for 3.5hours thanks to traffic and it ran like a champ. rides nice and smooth. brakes were a tiny squeaky at times but he did mention (after i got there) that i would need brakes at some point.

when megan jumped in the truck she noticed the passenger visor was down.. she flipped it up to find he was trying to hide a spider crack in the windshield. I told him i wanted $100 back from the money i gave him.. he acted like he didnt know it was there.. we know he was being sly.

the drivers side mirror was gutted and just fitted with a mirror so its non-power or adjustable now...
the pass door lock doesnt lock with the power it jiggles but doesnt quite lock.
the rubber leaf spring stop things were missing on one side and replaced with two blocks of wood painted black.. lol
the overdrive button was super touchy and sometimes would pop off over drive if i brushed it with my hand or something.


all simple little things i dont mind fixing. would have been nice to have a honest heads up on them though.

all in all the truck is pretty solid. did check the oil when i got home to find it wasnt even registering on the stick.. bought some synthetic and threw 3 quarts in there to get it to the optimal range.

drove like a dream for a beast of a truck. the thing is huge. 2000 5.4L V8 XLT 8ft bed, single cab. Has the towing package with the electric brake control in the cab.

It will be a great work truck for sure.

lol also its been spray bombed flat black.. which actually .. i'm quite fond of.. i guess it was maroon..flat black is better.. more post apocalypse... more beasty!

[TinyGiant]

here is a picture of the beast


Makes my yaris look like a toy. lol


i put $40 in the beast today and it was only a half a tank. i put $25 in the yaris and its full.

[TinyGiant]

picked up my fisher push plates yesterday found a gently used set for $300

found a guy locally that has a plow and harness/controller for $1000 hopefully that works out. i'd love to have the complete package for $1300 plus install :)

[TinyGiant]

I decided to put the push plates on myself. save myself some money local place wanted $250 to install just the plates. Took me a few hours and had to buy the bolt kit for it .. darn $80 for a bag of bolts lol.. most of the time it took to install was the stupid cordless drill running out of juice every 3 holes i drilled in the frame.. needed 8 holes total.

yesterday i picked up the harness and fishstick controller for $470 and had a friend help me install it at his garage for $40

we swapped a couple plugs and ended up blowing my low beams lol but couple new bulbs and a fuse and we were good to go :)

we are supposed to drive to VT tomorrow to pick up the plow .. getting a 7'6" MM2 RD .. trading a brand new macbook for it. (got the macbook in a craigslist trade.. have $550 into it)

so piecing it all together i have a total cost of

380+470+550+40=1440 I really didnt think i was gonna end up with the complete setup this cheap. a new mm2 is like $4500 complete :) I love craigslist lol

i wanted to get the harness and plates installed asap so i could test the plow I am getting.. dont want to end up with something broken :)