Need some convincing advice

[JGrefenstette]

Here is my situation,

Im 16 years old and have been saving for a used truck for the past few summers. My dad is a stuburn man who is set in his ways. He is a diehard honda man. He once swore by diesels. had a vw dasher for 16 years. when it came time for a rebuild the vw dealer didnt do it right. He took it back 3 times and the couldnt make it run right. he got a bad tast for them ever since.

And now, in a few months im going to be looking for a used truck. he wants me to just follow his family tradition and pass along another honda. I am a Cummins fanatic if you wanna call it that, and ive done all that i can to convince him that a cummins would be a wise move. Especially since i am planing on going to school to be a John Deere Diesel Technician. It only makes since to be driving a truck that has a heavy equiptment/tractor engine in it that i would be able to use my knowledge on and have sumthing to tinker with. does this seem logical?

my budget will be from 3,000 to 5,000.

how can i convince him that a Cummins would be a wise idea.

I have told him before that i cant exactly put a deer in the back of an accord, or take it ona trail through the woods. (welll i guess you could but it wouldnt be pretty)

Also i plan to do welding as a side job (protable from the back of a truck/on site welding for farmers ranchers etc. )

there are many lejitemant reasons i have i just need some convinceing facts/advice.



i would greatly appreaciat ANY advise at all. i have till around next spring to convince him. help me become a CTD owner please! Ive driven them before and tinkerd with them and am with out a doubt in love. Ive done my home work... ... i think. so now i need your help

(wow, sorry to be so lengthy)

 

[Joe G.]

If your dad is stubborn in a bone headed don't confuse him with facts way then you are probably stuck.



If not you might mention that the Dodge Ram is the smallest vehicle that the Cummins 5. 9L engine is used it. Some of them go for over a million miles. My '95 has 242K miles on it. I could probably haul his Honda and tow a trailer with a half dozen of them on it at the same time. This truck is extremely reliable. Weighs about 7K lbs with my fat butt in it with the normal junk I have with me. 20 MPG is not uncommon if I don't walk on the skinny pedal. I would like to see a Honda match that and get as many miles on it as my truck does. It does not use any oil between normal oil changes. On top of all that it's fun to drive.



If you lived near here I would let him take my 12 year old truck for a ride. Then I would ask him if he knew about any Honda in this good of condition with that much time and miles on it.

 

[JGrefenstette]

well put. Now my dad aint exactly bone headed, i mean i love him and all, but he is stuburn. you make some good points ill pass em on.

and thanks for the offer if my location allowed it id take you up on it.

 

[EKlem]

I went through the same thing with my parents 6 years ago when I got my license. For me, they were very concerned that once I bought the truck, it would turn into too much money for me to maintain. It is a very valid concern. Trucks are more expensive to drive between the fuel costs, insurance and maintenance. If you can prove to your parents that your investment won't become expensive for them, it may help.



Another thing that I think would help you is to prove why you need the truck. If you can show that you will use it to really help out your parents that would be even better.



It sounds to me like your dad is anti diesel because of reliability issues. You politely point out to him that there is a reason why all large boats run diesels and why tractor trailers are diesel. As Joe said, the 5. 9 is used in much bigger applications and is a medium duty engine.



Good luck convincing your parents. You have several months so that is plenty of time to do some research and try to convince them.

 

[JoshPeters]

Honda makes a truck? No I mean a TRUCK! That should be factor number one. In your price range would be the other. You can find a CTD in that range, that is going to need a little TLC, but that's not the end of the world.



You said your a hunter. What else do you haul?



Your reasons after school are also very good ones. Unfortunatly, you probably won't need to work on the cummins as much as the Dodge that surrounds it, but it's all good knowledge.



The only issues I have had with my truck have been due to modifications and a very very very heavy right foot. I drive my truck like I stole it.



JP

 

[FDavid]

For $3000-$5000 your gonna be hard pressed to find a really nice cummins. My advice is take the Honda and its cheap gas mileage, get a nice side job and save your money. By the time you are 18 you will have a few more dollars to tinker with and you wont need his permission to buy a Cummins.

 

[troll3193]

Just tell him if you have to drive a honda, you want a minivan or station wagon, so you have plenty of room on your dates. .



He will start to think a regular cab pickup is a great idea.



Bryan

 

[hearingyourlies]

hey man, it's your money. Just wait until you're 18 and there really isn't anything he can do (17 in some states). As for me, I have a bad taste from Honda's. 2002 Civic, 56K, broken trunk latch, front driver and passenger A-Pillar came off, no rear windshield weathersripping after 40K and a bad CAT. That's when I traded it in on my 2004 Ram.

 

[JoshPeters]

Just tell him if you have to drive a honda, you want a minivan or station wagon, so you have plenty of room on your dates. .



He will start to think a regular cab pickup is a great idea.



Bryan

That's the best idea I've heard yet!



The Shaggin Waggin! :-laf Oo.



JP

 

[troll3193]

That's the best idea I've heard yet!



The Shaggin Waggin! :-laf Oo.



JP

Just hopefully dad doesn't know the benefits of a full bench seat in a pickup :-laf

 

[Rebel Ram]

Some good advise has been handed down here, But I have renewed faith in todays youth. I am just thrilled he doesnt want a skateboard and a nose ring.

 

[JGrefenstette]

man i cant thank yall enough for all the advise. It gives me plenty to chew on, and hopefully will be able to lossen my paps up a bit. The only problem with getting a honda and saving the money till im 18 is, i plan to use a truck to make money. As i mentioned before, welding, deliveries for work (big reason rite there), i do servicing for people on small stuff like mowers etc. , and my dad is lookin into getting a boat so having a truck to pull it for him would also help.



i like that idea bout the minivan or wagon. haha

unfortunatly i think he would think i was smart mouthing him and tell me to for get any kinda of transportation. :-laf

 

[Greenleaf]

My parents simply are not diesel minded at all. They cannot understand at all why I would buy a used truck with 166,000 miles on the clock ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . when they trade a vehicle at 80/90k :-laf



I did one better than that. I then picked up another Ram/Diesel with 306,000 miles. Still factory/OEM injection pump/turbo/injectors etc. etc. etc.



Some folks just don't get it.

 

[JGrefenstette]

i no exactly what you mean. I pretty much in the same boat.

one thing i have been thinking of, is, if i look into getting say an early to mid 90's Ford F150 with the I-6 300 ci. and the 5 spd, i could mostlikly get one of them with decent miles for pretty cheap and have it perform the duties i may need a truck for. then when i turn 18 if i have enough money i could sell that and look for a CTD.

i think i would have an easier time convincing him about an F150 than a Ram250 with probly over 200,000-300,000 miles on it. You see my angle?

its just a thought.

 

[JoshPeters]

I'd rather push the Dodge than drive the Ford... . but that's me!



If your going to buy a truck... do it right the first time!



JP

 

[RVTRKN]

Tell him if you buy a Honda you will trick it out for racing and if you buy a truck you will use it for working and hunting. I think I know which one he will chose, as I am a father too.

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

Reminder..... you have the TDR as a knowledge base of other Cummins owners that have probably seen everything go wrong and know how to fix anything that troubles you.



Myself, I just bought about 6 months ago..... a 91 Cummins that has 306,000 on the clock and just consider it broke in... :-laf Completely restoring it and having fun doing it. I use these forums all the time for the little things that I don't know yet. TDR members are great for both telling you what you need to do and what to look for if you ever did have any problems.



If you watch EBAY and keep tabs on what some trucks are selling for... you'll have an idea what to pay for one when the time does come. I just watched a 98 12 valve quad cab with 150,000 sell for $ 9800 buy it now option... . and it was gone within hours. Seller obviously didn't know what he could get out of it.



As for your dad..... don't do anything to make him mad. Show interest in the Cummins. Get some books about them and read them. If the interest is strong and he see that . . . maybe your desire will be seen and he will go along with it.



My father still thinks my truck is hard to start in the Winter time... . even though I have had these Cummins Powered truck for 14 years now, and never had one not start..... its part of the old mentality that diesels back in the 80's ( before you were born :-laf :-laf ) some didn't start at all.

 

[JGrefenstette]

yall raise some real good points. However, he would never believe me if i told him that i was gonna supe a honda to race. haha... he knows me too well to fall for that. good idea though.

I think it is a real good idea to got a lot of info in the 5. 9 and be able to impress him with that. that may hold someweight in the end.

i already follow everysingle 5. 9 that inters and exits the ebay truck classifiesd, so i have pretty well figured that its gonna take a special deal to find a ctd in my pricerange. see the big thing that i have to factor is the fact that the college i plan to attend is about 5-6 hrs from my house. so between summers/holidays/& intership with a local john deere dealership, im gonna need somthing that will be road worthy for highspeeds for realativly long time spans.

ive also played that card on him, "dosnt it make sense to use a truck for highweigh use that has the same style/brand engine that over the road haulers use?"

he dosent have a hole lot to argue with when i throw that one out. :-laf