I can see both points, and to be honest, I love my old Burb, That is mostly why I went with this truck when I bought it, it was cheap ($800) and I can work on it. I got to try that out quickly after I bought it since the water pump took a dump, then the fuel pump locked up which in turn smoked some wiring, Since that nicely happened at my house away from my garage, the transmission got smoked pulling it to the shop since the old automatic hubs never unlocked and kept the input of the tranny turning even though the transfer case and transmission were both in neutral.
I spent $800 on the fuel pump, since there was a half a day of rewiring involved at a repair shop since I could not figure out what went wrong. Then another $800 on the rebuilt 700R4 that I put in myself. I also threw away the auto hubs, and put a set of Milemarker lockouts on it.
I have other gremlins that need addressed, As was mentioned earlier, the 350 tbi is getting pretty weak and puffs out a nice cloud of smoke when you start it. I put in about a quart of oil per week. There is also a antifreeze leak someplace I cant find, as I get to fill the resevoir about once a month. There is something keeping the motor from idling correctly, I have replaced the IAC, and done the seafoam trick with no improvements. I have tried to pull the codes, but something is amiss there too, as it wont read out any codes.
I know that the styling is awesome on the old ones, and this is the third one I have owned. But I like the styling of the newer ones too. Granted the old one is easier to lift, but I dont care to go over 285's anyway, and that is somewhat easily done on the newer ones. I am looking at replacing a motor either way, so why not just replace the motor in the newer one. We can beat this horse to death.
It is going to come down to the fact that I can either sink alot of money in the one I have and still have a 22 year old vehicle or I can go up 11 years and sink alot of money in that, either way, I cant go buy a new one, so Im stuck spending money..
Thanks for all your input, and Ill keep checking in, You guys will know what I decided, as soon as I decide..
Tim B.
Victoria, Kansas