Quote Originally Posted by bluemeate View Post
is this correct?
a. wheel bearings, timing belt are easily changed
b. valve springs, piston rings, pushrods, camshaft, crankshaft and transmission valves are inside engine/transmission and not easily swapped
c. intake and exhaust valves and rubber mounts, are these easily inspected? are they easily replaced?



I'm replying by phone so excuse me if the post is weird...
Good luck with that. Just did wheel bearings and a timing belt. Neither was "easy", but then again I'm not a mechanic. A "cheap" mechanic wanted 400.00 for the timing belt that cost me 20.00 and about 6 hours to put on (which is quite a bit longer than a mechanic). Wheel bearings were a bear also.

It looks like you are doing a lot of maintenance that just isn't needed. You may find that you put 1200.00 into a truck that throws a rod and the engine is toast.

Change all the fluids and hoses yourself at home (including transfluid). Get the timing belt changed (it can be done at home if you have some air tools).

Every vehicle I own has over 250,000 miles.

Changing the oil and fluids, that is the main thing to keep a modern car running. If you haven't, nothing you do now will fix the wear and damage now.

If you had a 4x4 things may be different (because they hold their value), but a 4x2 that old could easily turn into a money pit. You could put 1000.00 in for maintenance and find you need to rebuild the trany. Now you are in the truck 2k, then find the engine threw a rod and needs to be rebuild. Now you are in the truck 3k until the next problem.

Drive the truck till a problem manifests and address the problem.