I wanted to catalog my recent experiences buying a vehicles so “future Greg” would remember why he did what he thought was best for his family at the time. (creepy third person talk!)

Let’s get up to speed

Back in 2013 you financed a 2003 Ford F-350 FX4 with the 6.0L turbo diesel which had around 95,000 miles.  It was $11,995 out the door. You did this because you spent over 6 months searching for a diesel truck below $15,000 that also had less than 100,000 miles. You also wanted to keep the payment under $400. After all, you don’t need a daily driver. You work from home.

The reason you sought a diesel was because you friggin’ love trucks and for towing the camper. Prior to the Ford, you drove a 2007 Toyota Tundra, which was A) expensive B) while could adequately tow the near 8,000lb camper C) only got 8MPG towing said camper. At the time, you did a lot of camping. Over a dozen trips a year.

You were head over heels in love with this truck. You probably spent too much time on powerstroke.org, and because quite obsessed with how you were going to “fix up” this old truck and turn it into a $20,000 “Friday Night Truck”. The trouble was, to do this, was going to cost between six-eight thousand dollars.

By 2014 you had all but stopped camping because of how difficult it had become to deal with the hitching, loading, towing, unpacking, unhitching, and setting up – all with a baby. In the fall of 2014, you started scouts with Chase and trust me, you did plenty of primitive camping.

Through 2015 you continued to camp and travel with scouts. In April, you went camping at Frank Jackson State Park during the week. You and Tara had cabin fever and needed to get out. That was a mistake. It was brutal. Never again. In June, you took a week long vacation to Chattanooga where you camped with your parents. It wasn’t as brutal, we actually had a lot of fun. I think though, this was because you didn’t have to work and could help with Chloe – plus grandma and grandpa were there to help too.

The truck towed your camper fine, however issues with the high-pressure oil pump became quite annoying. Having to wait 45-minutes in between starts was beginning to be a real pain in your ass. This was the “beginning of the end” of your love affair with this truck.