Big Surprise

We took the truck in this week for the front end work and got a call with bad news. The main thrust bearing is out.  On Friday I went to go pick it up and got the details.

From what the mechanic said, the motor needs to be rebuilt. It may go 20 miles or 20,000.

We picked up the truck. It just made it home before shredding the serpentine belt so is not drive able now.

The 1991 jeep purchased 10 years ago for $4700 has lasted 10 years and 100,000 miles.

Total miles on it are now near 170,000. I figure all told there have been brakes, tires, fuel pump, water pump etc not more than $5,200 spent in maintenance. For ten years and $10,000 that is cheap transportation.

This year I knew it was time to get ready for a replacement or spend the time and money to maintain it to last another 10 years. To have the wheel and axle bearings replaced might cost about $2k. The motor might last a bit longer and a rebuild one is about $1,200 to $2,000. The body and interior are in good shape.

For this truck I know that to get it to last another 10 years it might take a series of $1,500 to $2,000 dollar maintenance projects. I just thought they could proceed one at a time and not all at once.

My hope was these projects would not happen all at once. Even if $6,000 were spent on the truck it is cheaper than replacing it with one that cost $20,000 - $25,000.

Now is sooner rather than later. Time for a new engine or rebuild this one.

Estimates are at $3,500 installed out the door for motor replacement.

Still not bad considering I had the new brakes, tires and fuel pump done in the last 3 months. With the front end and power steering pump replaced then we should be good to go. Down the road would be the rear end and small paint touch ups. I have been told the transmission and transfer case are good for another 100,000 miles as is. The fluids were changed and looked good.

I'll go to the motor re-build specialists on Tuesday for further research.