My mom lives on 16 acres of woods ourside Charleston, SC. She currently has a 86 F150 for her farm truck. It's AC and rear main seal need fixing. She wants to just fix the truck and keep it. Her mechanic and I both think she'd be better off buying a newer truck and using the repair money plus selling her F150 for it. The problem is it's hard to find a newer single cab long bed truck. She's about as stuborn as me so that's a factor also.
what kind of shape is the truck in otherwise? Does she really use it just around the farm, or does she use it more widely?
If it's really just farm use I'd be hard pressed to recommend buying a newer truck. Fix the AC, put some heavy weight oil in it, and check the oil before use. When it's costing you more in leaked oil than it costs to keep it full, fix it. Otherwise consider it rust proofing.
If she's regularly driving longer distances in it, relying on it as real transportation, or there are other factors then upgrading makes more sense.
im seeing a lot of 2wd long bed v8 gmc work trucks cheap around here, also a decent amount of the chevy ones too. but they are WT spec so small radio, vinyl floors/seats some cloth seats.
I'd personally fix the old truck.
At this point, the Ford is like a comfortable old shoe. I don't know how old your mom is, and I don't know how many miles a year she drives it, but if it's truly a Farm Truck, then I'm guessing it doesn't go too far.
If the truck has spent it's whole life in South Carolina, I'd guess it's not too rusty. If it doesn't have a ton of miles on it, I'd fix it. Those old Fords will run forever.
I wasn't sure so I gooled up '86 F150. That means it is this body...
If the real intent is work then I would be inclined to drop up to $4k into this truck rather than drop $15k on a newer but still used newer truck. New trucks are also higher so for her getting items in the bed of a new truck might be much harder. Also, getting herself in the new truck could be harder.
That depends. If she's looking at taking on a note, fix the old truck. If she's got the cash, new truck. The old truck owes her nothing- and if this fix will knock a couple years of payments out of the way, the value is there.
Let mom dance with the devil she knows
if she has any emotional attachment to the truck, i say fix it.
unless the oil leak is wreaking havoc on her farming, i'd fix the AC and check the oil. you can buy a lot of oil for the price of RMS R&R.
Say what? Hard to find a rclb? I pass a thousand of them a day.
have you thought of maybe buying an ex-fastenal truck or similar?
Fix the current truck. Nothing compares to something you know well, and trust. I've owned my REPU for 17 years, and it's not going anywhere. A good yard truck is invaluable.
If she already knows where to smack the dash to get the blinker to work and where to kick to get the vacuum front hub to unlock, I'd say fix and keep the old truck.
It's usually less expensive to fix the working truck you have instead of buying a new truck. Rust is the exception to that.
Thanks for the replies. I guess part of the problem is my mom isn't capable of treating it like a work truck. For example it has "rust" that's she's talked about getting fixed. I doubt that "rust" will be a problem she or I have to deal with. Maybe Lil Stampie if it gets passed down that far. She is the person you want to buy a vehicle from because she'll have everything on it fixed and working perfectly. I've seen her fix things on vehicles that's she's selling that no one else would bother with. But that's how she is. I was thinking a GMT800 WT with a 4.8 would be perfect for her but maybe she is better off keeping this one. It really is a farm truck only used to take stuff to the dump and to haul many a bed of horse E36 M3 to be used for fertilizer.
I'd stick with the devil you know and fix it. For her use case I don't see what a newer truck would get her.
Unless you are getting a new truck you are just getting something with its own batch of problems that you don't know about until they show up. With this one you know what you got.
GM800's. .. . . Lets see. .. . . Water pumps, fuel pumps (every 80-100K), evap systems cause all kind of issues as the plastic parts age and brake, Intake manifold seals, exhaust manifold bolts, power steering coolers rust away and will suddenly bleed out and you loose power steering. brake lines rust away really bad on these. Unless you get one with all of this fixed recently for the same price it costs to fix her current truck (you wont) I say fix the one she has. GM makes good trucks but they have there own list of things.
In reply to dean1484 :
You just described my last two years with my GMT800. Glad I'm ok to 290k now.
If the parts are available, and its a farm and go to the grocery truck, then fix it.
I had an '86 F250 and I'm pretty fond of that body style.
I also fix things before selling.
Any pictures of your mom?
Just kidding - but keep the Ford. 
Will trade her straight up for a sweet 2003 Disco. All dash lights work!
Keep the truck, mama.
Listen to your mother. Fix the AC, check fluids regularly, and keep the old truck.
gumby (Forum Supporter) said:Listen to your mother. Fix the AC, check fluids regularly, and keep the old truck.
This
In reply to bludroptop :
There's pictures here of her. She's also a GRMer at heart. Not many Grandma's have four vehicles and a tractor to boot. Plus she's been to the Challenge.
poopshovel again said:Will trade her straight up for a sweet 2003 Disco. All dash lights work!
Keep the truck, mama.
This belongs in the place that one dare not say its name.
Stampie (FS) said:In reply to bludroptop :
There's pictures here of her. She's also a GRMer at heart. Not many Grandma's have four vehicles and a tractor to boot. Plus she's been to the Challenge.
Need somebody to look at it? I'm in summerville.
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