Second thoughts..

[Rickalicka18]

Hi everyone,
This is my second thread and i guess im just having some second thoughts... I currently have an 06 tb ls with 4wd, 3.42 gears, 150,000+ miles on it and its also my first vehicle.. Millions of crazy memories with that beaut. But! I just feel like putting all kinds of money into it would just be a huge waste of time and money because of the miles on it. Not to mention this car has been beaten up since i drive it ...... Anyways.. I guess what im wondering is if its worth it to put the money into it OR upgrade to a tbss... i really like the tbss because of the added power it has with that 6.0l v8 ... Any feed back would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[tarsh]

just remember, what's broken can be fixed. Then it's new again. Mine broken many a time but i fix it and it becomes new again

[navigator]

I would think one with a few miles and bumps and bruises would be the perfect candidate.

[Rickalicka18]

I do realize that things can be fixed and made new again.. But I'm just hesitant on if my tb as it stands will last me a long time. Im basically starting from scratch rn some upgrades I want to do include 1.5 wheel spacers, 3" lift kit, front end conversion to lt style headlights, open mouth lt style grille, ss front bumper and ss rear bumper, would love to get 32s on it, will most likely need to get 4.10 gears, 06 silverado towing mirrors( so i can pull a trailer plus i like the look of the towing mirrors on a tb). but i will also most likely need some repairs on the transmisson.. But i just wanna know if it would be more beneficial to buy a newer tb with lower miles and less repairs needed then start my upgrades. I want my tb to last me awhile.
Thanks

[HARDTRAILZ]

SS will require more work to convert to a real TC for offroad use. Better off to find a 5.3 if you want a different V8 one.

[Rickalicka18]

I've actually been looking and see a 5.3 lt tb with 82,000 miles on it! Only problem is its in Virgina and I live in Maine :/...

[BC backroader]

I've actually been looking and see a 5.3 lt tb with 82,000 miles on it! Only problem is its in Virgina and I live in Maine :/...

Sounds like a road trip to me. The Virginia truck will probably have been subjected to much less winter salt than your Maine truck, and has half the miles, BUT it's a complete unknown in terms of service history. You'll also find that the 5.3 has very little more power than our very torquey 4.2. Several other considerations with the TBSS models, if your still leaning that way; they are NOT true 4 wheel drive, but AWD, with no low range in the transfer case, therefore less capable off road than the other GMT models, and the 6.0 is a real gas hog if you get your foot into all that extra power. My Sierra 3500 6.0 uses 35 to 40% more gas than my TB, though it will,of course, tow and haul more than twice as much.

It's your money, so your decision whether it goes into maintainance and upgrades of the truck you already know, or payments, maintainance, and upgrades for a newer lower mile one that you don't know.

Good luck, either way.

[Rickalicka18]

I've actually been looking and see a 5.3 lt tb with 82,000 miles on it! Only problem is its in Virgina and I live in Maine :/...

Sounds like a road trip to me. The Virginia truck will probably have been subjected to much less winter salt than your Maine truck, and has half the miles, BUT it's a complete unknown in terms of service history. You'll also find that the 5.3 has very little more power than our very torquey 4.2. Several other considerations with the TBSS models, if your still leaning that way; they are NOT true 4 wheel drive, but AWD, with no low range in the transfer case, therefore less capable off road than the other GMT models, and the 6.0 is a real gas hog if you get your foot into all that extra power. My Sierra 3500 6.0 uses 35 to 40% more gas than my TB, though it will,of course, tow and haul more than twice as much.

It's your money, so your decision whether it goes into maintainance and upgrades of the truck you already know, or payments, maintainance, and upgrades for a newer lower mile one that you don't know.

Good luck, either way.

I guess im bound to have to fix my tb eventually whether its before i put the modifications which is what ill have to do with my current tb of after i put the modifications on it which will eventually happen with a tb with less miles on it. So I'm just gonna work with what i got and not get greedy.. Plus! Its my first car ever, and no other vehicle will be able to replace the memories.. Thanks for the advice, I'm gonna stick with what i got i think

[moose1]

Just to add my two cents. my first TB was an 02' and i sold it to a buddy for his daughter to take to college. it had 120+ and that was in 08'. last time i asked him about it it had 3oo+ and still going strong.

[escapepilot]

Keep your current TB. The price difference between the resale or trade in value of your TB vs. a TBSS can pay for a lot of repairs/upgrades.

[Rickalicka18]

Keep your current TB. The price difference between the resale or trade in value of your TB vs. a TBSS can pay for a lot of repairs/upgrades.

That's very true. I've already just paid for $734 in repairs. As long as the transmisson doesn't go, i'll be good

[Trail X]

At 150k, your trans is suspect. Just watch for the telltale signs and watch your transmission temperatures closely. Nothing will kill a trans quicker than fluid overheating.

[Rickalicka18]

At 150k, your trans is suspect. Just watch for the telltale signs and watch your transmission temperatures closely. Nothing will kill a trans quicker than fluid overheating.

Yes! I completely agree! I just bought a transmisson oil cooler and im going to purchase a transmisson temp guage also. I use to beat on it all the time in high school with burnouts and drag racing so I've been trying to be nice to it lately haha..

[Regulator1175]

For what it's worth, I am pushing 300k with a lot of hard offroad miles. I have gone through a couple of transmissions, but other then that it has been minor repairs. Keep your truck, modify it and have fun. It is always cheaper to fix then make payments.

[Rickalicka18]

If my tb can make it as far as yours, i would be very thankful

[Shdwdrgn]

Where does this concept come from that high-mileage vehicles should be thrown away? I have a friend who keeps telling me anything over 100k isn't worth buying because it will blow up soon. Of course he's also the type that can't change his own oil...

To the OP, do yourself a favor and learn how to do vehicle work yourself. Swapping an engine sounds like a daunting task, and yes it is labor-intensive and takes some time, but really it's all about knowing what to unhook, and how to re-connect it back to the new engine. The last time I swapped the engine in my old Pontiac, it took my 12 hours from the time I drove up to my workspace, until I fired up the replacement engine and drove home, and this was done completely by myself and required drilling the frame for different motor mounts. Transmissions are even easier. You don't even have to much about them since you can buy crated units that are completely rebuilt and ready to drop in. Once you get around those two major components, everything else is a piece of cake.

Since it sounds like you're wanting to take your truck offroad, I would definitely stay with the your original. If you get some extra dings on the trail, you won't care. I used to take my old car up mountain trails all the time, had no concerns at all, but the first time I took my shiny new TB up a trail, I was absolutely petrified the whole time that I was going to bash a panel or scratch the paint -- Not fun at all! And like was mentioned above, you already know what you need to about your current vehicle, but buying a different one means you'll have a completely new set of problems.

[Rickalicka18]

Yes I completely agree with you. I'd say that the miles on my tb have been pretty easy considering they were all highway miles. The only thing im worried about is that my mom who drove it before me is the kind of person who waits till something breaks, then might fix it haha. I drove around with a idler pulley that really needed to be replaced... She never got it replaced. Finally after getting annoyed with the constant whining I finally bought the new idler pulley and replaced it because I thought this ain't suppose to sound like that i think it was like $50 lol. I got the tb at around 120,000 miles and am up to around 155,000 and the 35,000 miles I've put on it were definitely some hard miles. I will definitely try to do everything myself and learn as much as I can about fixing my tb because when something gets broke Id rather be confident to do it myself. They're are many dents on my tb now so dents don't bother me haha... I am getting around to repairing all those dents just because I don't want to look like a scrub though. I still need to be careful with what I do to and with my tb because it is my daily driver and I can't not have it because Something happened to it.

[KingBird]

OK, with that, I have to say that you should change your transfer case fluid yesterday!

I doubt it's ever been changed, and most of the time, transfer cases are expensive. Change it now!

Both differentials could use a fluid change as well.

[Rickalicka18]

Yes i have changed my transfer case fluid. A year ago I went of the road in a snowstorm and I went to get my oil changed and They said that it was dirty and needed to be changed so it has been changed recently.

[KingBird]

Ah, good. I'm glad to hear that!