I wanted to get everyone's opinion. I am looking at a 94 chevy kodiak dump truck with 3116 106k miles. 33kgvw single axle, air to rear with pintle. inside is very clean, outside it pretty clean minus cab corner rust frame is clean new tires front and back runs good the bad: needs front brake chambers needs new shoes all around needs fuel tank The inspection runs out in a month. I was thinking about if i put a deposit on it and ask the seller to take it to cat dealer to get a dot inspection (on my dime) It would alleviate a lot of my worries with buying a 20 year old truck. What do you think something like this is worth? anything else I should be looking for on it? if it matters i will be using it to pull my 5k lb mini ex to dig small 3 yard holes
I would think a truck shop would do a lot better DOT service than a Cat dealer. The cat shop would only have engine parts.
The 3116's are pretty decent engines. You wont get there very fast but you will get there and if you decide to try and haul a load of rock and the mini at the same time you may as well plan on spending most of your day driving. I had one in a FL50 service truck with a six speed and it just didnt want to get up and go. Some of the problem could have been the fact that there werent enough gears but i would try to find something a little bigger than a 3116. this was my experience with them but like i said some of that could have been transmission so i would deffinately stay away from the 3116/6speed combo
How much are they asking for the truck? I had the motor in an f650 and pulled my skidsteer or my Kubota 057. It did ok but it gets old quick.
10k or less
I agree about the gearing. I have a 95 wih the same size axle setup. Mine has a 10 speed trans and really gets down the road good. I have 365,000 on my Kodiak, and it is still running great. It is used to pull loads of firewood on a 25' gooseneck trailer. I am grossing about 45,000 truck/trailer/ and load. I have never had to drop below 8th gear, even on long uphill grades. I also have a 96 kodiak dump/grapple truck with the 3116. It has tandems and a gvw of 56,000. This truck has an 8LL transmission. It will run all day up or downhill at 65mph in 8th, with only ocassional shifts down to 7th. I would not buy a truck with the 3116 unless you get it with "lots of gears".
That's kind of what I figured. I have heard that they are even worse with the Allison auto those transmissions rob so much horsepower Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk
shoot, it has a 6 speed. The guy says he wont take a penny less then 6,500
Well, I would pass. The price seems fair, IF, it had an 8LL or 10 speed. I think it will be pretty gutless with just a 6 speed.
Since you are from Pa., here is a truck you should look at. Seems to be set up right and priced right. This site will not allow me to link to another forum. so, replace all the blanked out spaces in the link with l a w n s i t e, but leave out the spaces. http://www.********.com/showthread.php?t=421340&highlight=international
mowingman, that one you gave the link to is rough. thanks anyways. I think I might just buy this one. As long as it doesnt turn into a money pit I should be able to make my money back pretty quickly.
It is pretty old, but I bet it can still get the job done. I figured at that price, you could hardly go wrong Then again, those old trucks can bite you in the b-tt. Might hold you over until you can find what you really want.
thats what im thinking too. Ill do a couple jobs with this and then sell it for almost what i paid for it. Assuming it doesnt turn into a money pit. But you always take that gamble when buying used. I am waiting for the seller to get me the serial number so i can check the cat database.