My son has/had me looking at used GM Silverados and Sierras until I learned of GM frame rust/rot...

[Ingomike]

Do keep in mind these vehicles have features Cadillac and Mercedes never had 30 years ago. They also have the costs of 30 years of government regulations built into them as well.

 

[KG1]

You know me. I'm in the industry also. And yes, I am fully aware of vehicle pricing and based on what I see from the inside, I don't know how we can buy vehicles so cheap! (actually I do. It's all about volume).

But when I see a $1,000,000 price tag the OEM has to pay in tooling, not including the piece price, in order to get 4 assist grips into a Tundra, how do they do it?

That said, to my level of affluence, cars are all expensive. I did a pricing exercise the other day; I took the current offering of small/mid-sized trucks to see what I could get a one step above the baseline model for. They came in from $37.5-42.2 with the exception of the Maverick which was $32.8. Then I thought I'd see what I could do with full size trucks. I hit $50K without even trying.

Heck, the most I have paid for a vehicle is a little over $13K. I can't wrap my head around $50K price tags.

I used to drive mostly PU trucks when I was younger and enjoyed their utility but I have'nt been able to afford one for many years now. Even good used ones if you can find them for a decent price are extremely rare.

 

[Ingomike]

I wish Ford would make a simple, plain Jane body on frame 4x4 pickup.... think 90s era Ranger.... for under 30K

and the Maverick is not it.

That probably is not even legal to meet all the vehicle regulatory standards…

 

[Ingomike]

I used to drive mostly PU trucks when I was younger and enjoyed their utility but I have'nt been able to afford one for many years now. Even good used ones if you can find them for a decent price are extremely rare.

Oh yes, the unintended consequences of regulation. They regulated the value right out of cars with the gutting of strength and safety to get gas mileage. Everyone went to trucks.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

I wish Ford would make a simple, plain Jane body on frame 4x4 pickup.... think 90s era Ranger.... for under 30K

and the Maverick is not it.

2021 Ranger
XL - SUPERCAB - 6' BOX
4x4

BASE MSRP
$28,925

There you go. Buy one.

 

[churchmouse]

2021 Ranger
XL - SUPERCAB - 6' BOX
4x4

BASE MSRP
$28,925

There you go. Buy one.

I loved the base model "Truck" back in the day. They were for working not family cruisers.
70 Ford standard cab long bed 360 with a granny 1st 3 peddle. Manual steering and brakes 4WD. That thing would go anywhere, and we abused it terribly. In the year I owned it I replaced the bed once from sliding off road and down a hill into some trees. Sheer ice. Found a bed at Zores, got some friends and a hoist and the bed was R&R'd in about an hour. It was even the same crappy blue as the truck.
Traded it to a friend and we put a doghouse on it soon after. Truck was about 5 years old then.
Not long after he sold it to another friend, we swapped out the cab due to his drunken wife taking his truck out for a ride.
So, it was totally re-bodied in the 1st 7 years of its life. Still stump pulling strong runner.

I lost track of it for a few years, and I saw it at a local garage a friends dad owned. It was getting a clutch. Met the then owner and it was the same rig. My whole point here is nothing since the mid 90's would have survived under those conditions.

 

[BE Mike]

All the bells and whistles? $65k before this latest mess.

Yeah, I was basing my price on the 2018 new truck I bought. I expect that COVID and inflation have pretty much caused the numbers to jump sky high.

 

[Pepi]

You should see my 2008 frame. Only 66k on it and it looks like

 

[CallSign Snafu]

I wish Ford would make a simple, plain Jane body on frame 4x4 pickup.... think 90s era Ranger.... for under 30K

and the Maverick is not it.

This is what I have been hoping for, for a while. Perhaps foolishly. I would say up until recently the simplest light truck you could get was probably the Frontier but I am sure a lot of people on here know more about pick ups than I do.

On another note I do find it interesting no one has mentioned Nissan trucks, there seem to be a fair amount on the road.

 

[04FXSTS]

Good friend had a 1976 Ford truck and the floorboards were gone. You could sit anywhere in the seat and watch both front tires go around. He finally welded in a new floor, truck always ran good. Jim.

 

[Armed Citizen]

You said "you will find this in most truck brands".....but you did not say all brands. That indicates to me that you have seen brands that do not have this rust issue.

Would you care to share which brands you have seen that don't have the rust issue?

Do you find that there is a difference between a 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickups?

Dodge / Ram utilize a box frame we do not see the rust on Mopar frames as we see in other GM / Ford lines. Toyota / Nissan has greatly improved their frames and coatings, there was actually lawsuits and recalls in regards to import truck frames rotting so badly that the vehicles were deemed unsafe to operate. This was a result of the road salt we utilize in the US.

 

[gregkl]

This is what I have been hoping for, for a while. Perhaps foolishly. I would say up until recently the simplest light truck you could get was probably the Frontier but I am sure a lot of people on here know more about pick ups than I do.

On another note I do find it interesting no one has mentioned Nissan trucks, there seem to be a fair amount on the road.

Nissan sales are on the low side so probably that is why they aren't talked about as much. The new Frontier is promising. When I did a comparison of the small/mid-size trucks, the Nissan came in at $38.3 which was in the middle of the pricing for the 7 trucks I looked at.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

This is what I have been hoping for, for a while. Perhaps foolishly. I would say up until recently the simplest light truck you could get was probably the Frontier but I am sure a lot of people on here know more about pick ups than I do.

On another note I do find it interesting no one has mentioned Nissan trucks, there seem to be a fair amount on the road.

Same thing I told BigRed:

2021 Ranger
XL - SUPERCAB - 6' BOX
4x4

BASE MSRP
$28,925

There you go. Buy one.

There's even a $1500 rebate in some markets right now.

Nissan is an also ran.

 

[stocknup]

Toyota / Nissan has greatly improved their frames and coatings, there was actually lawsuits and recalls in regards to import truck frames rotting so badly that the vehicles were deemed unsafe to operate. This was a result of the road salt we utilize in the US.

I commented on Toyota earlier ........not sure I would say Toyota has greatly improved .
Here is a portion of the letter they sent out to me . It`s happening again . Still waiting on my inspection .

 

[two70]

To each their own but I'd rather worry about GM frame rust in 10-15 years than a Ford spontaneously exploding transmission in 70,000 miles or less.

 

[gregkl]

To each their own but I'd rather worry about GM frame rust in 10-15 years than a Ford spontaneously exploding transmission in 70,000 miles or less.

How often has that happened? Percentage wise.

 

[Armed Citizen]

I commented on Toyota earlier ........not sure I would say Toyota has greatly improved .
Here is a portion of the letter they sent out to me . It`s happening again . Still waiting on my inspection .
View attachment 171840

I have actually seen Toyota's come in the shop with "minor damage" that would become a total loss due to buckling of the frame. So over the past few years there has been some strides on their part to improve their frame strength and ability to resist corrosion. Kia for example has a current rust inhibitor corrosion spray recall that has affected nearly all their domestic vehicles sold in areas of cold weather climates.

 

[two70]

How often has that happened? Percentage wise.

Out of 7 2013 or newer Ford's my employer has purchased, one has already lost a transmission well before 70K and two others have had a litany of nagging but less severe problems, then there's the 3 Foci that my wife and 2 coworkers had that never made it past 67k. Adding in a few others that people I know own that brings the percentage to about 25% of them that lost transmissions prior to 70K, another 6% that lost transmissions prior to 200K and the remainder somewhere between 80K and 200K without any problems yet. So, more than often enough for me to never waste my money on one.

 

[stocknup]

I have actually seen Toyota's come in the shop with "minor damage" that would become a total loss due to buckling of the frame. So over the past few years there has been some strides on their part to improve their frame strength and ability to resist corrosion. Kia for example has a current rust inhibitor corrosion spray recall that has affected nearly all their domestic vehicles sold in areas of cold weather climates.

Dang , we can`t catch a break ............My wife has a KIA she bought new in 2013 . I looked up their recall , and her car is on the list .
We have never received a notice ......glad this thread was started .

 

[Patrick Taylor]

Frames are often made by someone other than the automaker. The Toyotas mentioned for example....components are stamped in a Hopkinsville Ky plant .... trucked to an Owensboro Ky plant to be welded into a frame and coated.....trucked across the Ohio river to the Princeton Indiana Toyota plant for assembly into a truck. At one time the Hopkinsville plant when it was owned by DANA had Toyota trucks they had to buy back from Toyota over bad frame coatings.

Not just Toyota.

The same company that makes the Toyota frame in Ky also makes the F150 and GM Colorado frames in Ky. F250 frames ar ealso made in Ky by a different company.