In the market for a 90s suburban. Help me make the best choice.
December 31st, 2017, 1:51 AM
#1
CF Beginner
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
In the market for a 90s suburban. Help me make the best choice.
Hey all, first time in this community. Happy to see it looks useful and active. I just rolled my toyota t100 and it's time to shop for the next car. I've settled upon the suburban (maybe tahoe) as the next vehicle.
Anywhere from late 80s to late 90s. I've been doing a fair amount of research but I could use some advice on a few things that I've been seeing, what I should look for and what route to go down.
My budget is about 3 or 4k which is going to get me something with 130k-200k miles. I'd love to spend a little extra on a lower mileage truck but in my area, with the model years I want, that's a standard odo reading.
So old truck, high miles, this prospective vehicle ain't going to be too pretty. Especially with so many miles of potentially questionable maintenance records. That said, I see so many postings where the engine and tranny have either been replaced of have failed. This leads me to believe that I should expect to rebuild the engine and/or tranny at some point during my time with the truck. My first question is; am I being pessimistic? If I buy a truck that doesn't burn/leak oil, shifts smooth, serviced, and has had vital fluids changed recently, may I have scored a major repair free vehicle if I keep up diligent service on these big parts?
So now comes the question of choices. I'd be interested to hear what of the 3 options you'd pursue if you were in my position. As I said, I have roughly $4500 coming from the insurance company and I want to save about $750-$1000 of that for inevitable maintenance. So options are listed below.
A.) <$1000 truck with a bad tranny, stock engine. A shop quoted me $2400 all said and done for a transmission rebuild/swap for a rebuilt unit. So ~$3500 all said and done, and I don't have to worry about the tranny, but have to cross the fingers on the engine.
B.) ~$2000 original engine and tranny that "work fine". May be able to go for years with them continuing to function OR I could go a month and then have to do the tranny and/or engine, bringing the total to ~$4500+
C.) ~$3500 rebuilt engine, rebuilt tranny with <100k on them. High mileage everything else
D.) ~$4000 Lower mileage, original engine tranny
Other misc. questions I'd love some insight on;
Reliability and MPGs of big block 7.4 vs small block 5.7. I don't need the power of the 7.4, but should I stray away from it?
Carbed vs TBI?
Pre '93 vs '93-'99?
Vortec vs non-vortec?
Major problems these baby's are known for that will drain my $1000 repair budget??
Offroad capabilities? Get one with a lift already installed? If I lift it myself will a 3" body lift and bigger tires suffice? My t100 had way high clearance bone stock and was much more "nimble" than the sub which is one reason I consider the Tahoe over the sub.
I realize this is a pretty lengthy post but if you have insight into any of these questions or topics, it would be really appreciated. Hope to be more active in these forums soon with a burb of my own!
Anywhere from late 80s to late 90s. I've been doing a fair amount of research but I could use some advice on a few things that I've been seeing, what I should look for and what route to go down.
My budget is about 3 or 4k which is going to get me something with 130k-200k miles. I'd love to spend a little extra on a lower mileage truck but in my area, with the model years I want, that's a standard odo reading.
So old truck, high miles, this prospective vehicle ain't going to be too pretty. Especially with so many miles of potentially questionable maintenance records. That said, I see so many postings where the engine and tranny have either been replaced of have failed. This leads me to believe that I should expect to rebuild the engine and/or tranny at some point during my time with the truck. My first question is; am I being pessimistic? If I buy a truck that doesn't burn/leak oil, shifts smooth, serviced, and has had vital fluids changed recently, may I have scored a major repair free vehicle if I keep up diligent service on these big parts?
So now comes the question of choices. I'd be interested to hear what of the 3 options you'd pursue if you were in my position. As I said, I have roughly $4500 coming from the insurance company and I want to save about $750-$1000 of that for inevitable maintenance. So options are listed below.
A.) <$1000 truck with a bad tranny, stock engine. A shop quoted me $2400 all said and done for a transmission rebuild/swap for a rebuilt unit. So ~$3500 all said and done, and I don't have to worry about the tranny, but have to cross the fingers on the engine.
B.) ~$2000 original engine and tranny that "work fine". May be able to go for years with them continuing to function OR I could go a month and then have to do the tranny and/or engine, bringing the total to ~$4500+
C.) ~$3500 rebuilt engine, rebuilt tranny with <100k on them. High mileage everything else
D.) ~$4000 Lower mileage, original engine tranny
Other misc. questions I'd love some insight on;
Reliability and MPGs of big block 7.4 vs small block 5.7. I don't need the power of the 7.4, but should I stray away from it?
Carbed vs TBI?
Pre '93 vs '93-'99?
Vortec vs non-vortec?
Major problems these baby's are known for that will drain my $1000 repair budget??
Offroad capabilities? Get one with a lift already installed? If I lift it myself will a 3" body lift and bigger tires suffice? My t100 had way high clearance bone stock and was much more "nimble" than the sub which is one reason I consider the Tahoe over the sub.
I realize this is a pretty lengthy post but if you have insight into any of these questions or topics, it would be really appreciated. Hope to be more active in these forums soon with a burb of my own!
