1988 heavy half....

[Mr56P]

I have an opportunity to pick up a 1988 Chevy 'heavy half' - 3/4 ton for a decent price. (I want to use it as a beater so as to not tear up my as yet delivered 2014 GMC AT... )

I've not heard of these before, anyone have any information on these?

Also, are there known things that are common to the 1988 trucks? I know the automatic transmissions in the later years often require rebuilds around 140k+ ...

Thanks for any help / insight.

 

[tomtom1988]

The 88 to 98 pick up are the best easy to work on and find parts for

[grampadirt]

I know there are 2500s with six lugs,like a light duty 3/4t,had a couple where I worked years ago.Pretty good trucks.

[greg74]

My previous truck wasn't exactly the heavy half you describe but similar probably. Had a 94 Cheyenne, 1/2 ton, regular cab long bed 4x4 with 350. Basically a plain jane work truck, actually that's exactly what it was when it was new. It was used by a local propane company for deliveries, was even set up to run on propane or gas. I disabled the propane injection as the tank took up about 1/3 of the bed and by the time I bought it, propane was so expensive that it really wasn't cheaper for me to use it(free for them so I see why they had it). Was a good reliable truck. Had a ton of miles on it when I got it(about 240 K) but I bought it for $1000 and drove it for about 2 1/2 years until I bought my 99 about a month ago. Only major repair the whole time was the radiator had to be replaced last summer as it was leaking really bad. Other than replacing a bad brake line when I first got the truck, it was just oil changes the rest of the time and putting gas in the truck and a trans flush as well just to be safe. Started and ran great, didn't use or leak a drop of oil, though I'm not 100% sure if it was the original engine or trans but both performed just as they should have. Had a/c but was bypassed because compressor was bad when I got the truck, would have cost more than the truck was worth to fix it so I just rolled the windows down(yes crank windows) if it got hot and dealt with it. Was a great old truck. Even if the trans does go bad, they're not as expensive to rebuild as newer ones. A friend at work just had the trans go out on his 2wd Tahoe and he said it cost about an even grand to get it rebuilt at a local shop and that's without having to pull it, would have cost even less(about 650) but they said that you get no warranty unless you let them do all the work, i.e. let them install it basically so its probably worth a few hundred extra if you don't really have the time anyway. Cost might vary a little depending on where you are but its a reputable shop that does good work so it probably about the same everywhere.

[Mr56P]

Truck was 4 hrs away... so I passed on buying it... mistake! Friend who found it for me bought it... took title to dmv next day to register it, and guy at dmv saw the truck and wanted it... sold it for 2K more then he paid for it!

 

I'll find my 'worker' truck ...

 

Thanks.