Interesting Suburban

[SirReal63]

It is nice, however NADA lists avg. retail at over 11 grand and rough trade in at just slightly less than he is asking. It makes me think there is something not right. Perhaps the wife and I will take a drive down there next week if time permits. We have been deep in getting the extra house ready for sale.

 

[ScottyBoy]

And get a Carfax history report, especially if you think something isn't quite right. Also, if you have a feeling that something isn't quite right, as if the seller is hiding something from you about the truck, then I would pay a mechanic shop to do a full vehicle inspection. Yes you might have to pay $100 or $200 to have a complete inspection done, but if you are paying over $5,000 for a vehicle it's well worth it. Combined with the fact that it's now an eleven year old Suburban with 175k miles on it, a full vehicle inspection would be a wise investment. Either way, you might be out $200 because the inspection revealed major hidden problems that will be far too costly, or else it will reveal several small but easily fixed problems. I'd rather be out $200 than to pay $5000-$6000 for a truck with a bad Transmission or engine or something.

 

[SirReal63]

A PPI is always good advice, I know all too well, I have done it for others. Though I am not a mechanic, I got my first job turning wrenches in 1976. I have paid a mechanic once to work on my vehicles because I didn’t want to do the job.

 

[MadDogDelpho]

We always have our mechanic inspect any vehicle we intend to daily drive, even just for peace of mind.

 

[SirReal63]

I won’t disagree, it is always good advice. Whatever I end up will have some things new for me, mainly suspension as in air ride and electronic shocks. The basic mechanical doesn’t worry me, I will know during the test drive if there are issues with it that would prevent me from buying it or if I can accept them.

I expect it to have some issues and that is ok, they all have something that needs attention. I bought my 03 2500HD at 274k miles and I knew it would need an oil pump and possibly lifters. It didn’t need lifters, just a good flush and all is well. It did need the oil pump, that is the one I paid the dealership to do, I did not want to mess with dropping the front diff just to drop the oil pan or jack the engine up enough to clear. They also did motor mounts and I didn’t really want to do that one either. I assume the dealership jacked it up to clear the pan and that is when they discovered the motor mounts. At the time it wasn’t feasible for me to do the job because I had too many things going on and no shop. It is about to turn over 314k miles and is such a great truck.

The AWD will be a new one for me as well, but the system is pretty simple and if the front diff needs to be rebuilt I can handle that. I have my shop now where I didn’t in the past few years.

 

[ScottyBoy]

The air ride that you speak of is really just air shocks. It has softer coil springs, but the shocks are air assisted with air lines running to an electric air compressor. It's not a huge deal to work on unless you start having problems with the air lines or the compressor itself. In that case, most people just rip it all out and end up replacing the shocks with conventional shocks and springs. I had the other type of self adjusting shocks on mine, the "Nivomat" shocks which are not air assisted but they are self adjusting capable when towing or hauling heavy loads. I just replaced them with KYB Monomax shocks, and some junkyard springs off a base model Suburban. Not because I couldn't replace them, but because the Nivomat shocks are ridiculously expensive. The cheapest replacements are still over $600 a pair. I got the Monomax shocks for around $50 each.

 

[SirReal63]

Yeah, that is why I wanted to see the RPO codes, to know what is there, or originally there.

 

[abright52]

The red isn’t my choice of colors, it invited tickets too easily.

People really still believe that?

I have had more tickets in my silver Sunfire winter-beater than in my 400HP red GTO. The RADAR/LIDAR doesn't care what color your car is.

 

[mattt]

Interesting find there. Was there a Tahoe LTZ made in the same year, or only Sub?

 

[swathdiver]

People really still believe that?

I have had more tickets in my silver Sunfire winter-beater than in my 400HP red GTO. The RADAR/LIDAR doesn't care what color your car is.

It still really happens. The Radar is aimed/targeted by a man or woman and red still sticks out as do beaters.