Hey guys, I'm trying to decide between restoring or selling my truck. It's a 1996 psd (in my signature). I got it for a really good price and with low miles for a diesel (113k on it now). The issue is that it seems to be in the shop more than in my driveway. It seems I can't go more than a month or so without something popping up. I know all vehicles have issues, but these have been costly, frequent issues. Before I bought the truck it had been sitting for several months, and before that it had a plow on it, so the truck has seen some abuse. I bought the truck with the intentions of it running forever, these diesels have a great reputation and with only 113k, its hardly broken in, as they say. The truck is my daily driver though, and its getting to be a real hassle every time it breaks down. Now I'm torn between selling it, or restoring it. If I sell it, I could sell it for more than I paid for it and buy a newer truck (probably a 99-up 5.4 f250 or something). The problem is that I really love this truck and when it's running well, I wouldnt trade it for the world. Recently I've been thinking about doing a restoration of sorts on it. Pulling the bed and cab and addressing the rust issue first and foremost. As I said, it had a plow on it and this Pennsylvania road salt is pretty bad, the frame is really rusty. The rust hasnt caused any real issues yet, it just makes it extremely hard to work on it when I need to fix things. Then I would work my way back up the truck addressing any issues or potential issues. I've never done a project quite to this scale before, but I've always wanted to and now seems like the perfect opportunity to learn. What are your thoughts? I know ultimately the decision is up to me, but do you think it makes more sense to fix up this truck and run it for another 100k-200k or just sell it and buy a less capable, but more reliable truck? Thanks guys, any advice, input, photos etc... would be extremely appreciated.

 

What all have you replaced? Eventually you'll run out of parts that need replaced
I say keep it and fix it.

 

X2^^^
If you start slow on the resto you could have a really nice truck in a year and who says that the next truck you buy won't have mechanical issues either. I have had issue with the triton 4.6 which is the same as the 5.4 and I would rather have my truck any day. I still have my diesel but three months after I bought it I had to rebuild the tranny, rebuild the turbo, and do a total brake job on the rear and I still have the truck. They are older trucks and you should plain to have mechanical issue, nothing will run forever if you don't keep up maintance. It also sounds like you have a mechanic work on your truck. If thats the case the truck will cost you a lot of money. So you need to buy yourself a good manual and refer to this website and start getting your hands dirty to save yourself money. Granted it will most likely take you longer to fix than a mechanic but you can have pride and say you fixed it yourself. I am also not saying you can do everything because more than likely you don't have the specialty tools, if that the case send it to the mechanic once in a while for the hard jobs.
but don't give up and keep trukin with the obs