OT: '99 Chevy 3500 diesel ?

[1Rocketman]

I know this is way off topic, but I know some of you who used to be on the TTA mailing list have a load of truck knowledge as a result of towing your cars around to various places. I've been looking at a 2-owner '98 Chevy 3500 dually with a 6.5L turbo-diesel. 4-door, leather, loaded, almost 100k miles. I ran a car fax, and the original owner was local, had it dealer serviced regularly, and appears to have no significant issues in its history. The seller wants $14,950. I've heard some of the earlier transmissions in some of these had issues. Any thoughts on whether this is a good deal and what might be problem areas? Its going to be used for towing.

Thanks in advance.

Brian
TTA # 735

 

[milesengineer]

I dont know about the tranny issues but for what it is worth I do know that the motors seem to fail around 100k. The design for the 6.5 diesel is not as strong as it should be and the abuse catches up with the bottom end. I haul cars for a living and have seen two chevy's pulling trailers, the rest are either dodge or ford.
Shop around and for the same amount of money you can land a nice dodge or ford.

HTH