Advice on a used ‘18 3500HD

[fsunole33]

Hi guys, relatively new to the forum and appreciate the information I’ve been able to gather thus far!  
 

My wife and I are in the process of building a tiny house on a fifth wheel trailer, and are looking at purchasing a 2017-2019 used 3500HD Diesel to tow it.  We are planning on purchasing a truck upon completion of the build to ensure the truck we buy can handle the load, but heaviest case scenario is we will be around 15,000 pounds with a 2500-3000# pin weight.  Our hope is that we are even lighter (shooting for 12-13k pounds) but assuming that’s around where we are at, my research has shown a SRW 2017-2019 3500 Diesel shouldn’t have any problem with this trailer.  
 

While we are planning to wait to purchase the truck until the home is complete, a local Chevrolet dealer just took in a 2018 3500HD LTZ SRW Diesel on trade.  The truck is a one owner local truck, clean car fax, but it has high miles (85k).  Due to this, their asking price is $42,000 which seemed pretty reasonable considering the mileage.  It’s pretty loaded with leather and power seats, etc. 
 

My question, since I am new to diesel/HD trucks altogether, is should those miles scare us away from the truck?  We love the overall appearance of the truck, and similar ones with half those miles are over $50k here.  
 

Thoughts on price/mileage/value?  

[JimCost2014]

Drive as many as you can, $8000.00 for a truck that you like better (less mileage, wear and tear) is probably worth the money spent.

 

3500 SWR is a great choice, better to have more truck than you need.

[fsunole33]

4 minutes ago, JimCost2014 said:

Drive as many as you can, $8000.00 for a truck that you like better (less mileage, wear and tear) is probably worth the money spent.

 

3500 SWR is a great choice, better to have more truck than you need.

Great point- I guess I should point out that this particular truck is our preferred color combination, the only thing that worries me a bit is the 85k miles.  If it were 40k miles at $50,000 that would be a more difficult decision. 

 

Do you think a SRW 3500 diesel will have any issues with a 15k fifth-wheel?  From what I see it meets the capacities I have calculated, but if I pull the trigger and buy the horse before the cart I don't want to be stuck with too small a horse. 

[H-town Silver Bullet]

My two cents...
1. 85K not that bad on a diesel engine
2. 2500 would handle that load too and more easily found on the market than SRW 3500 (at least in my area, Houston, TX) [emoji2379]


SN: You have a build thread or YouTube channel out there for your tiny home build?!? I blame HGTV for my obsession. Lol

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

[2018GMC]

6 hours ago, fsunole33 said:

Hi guys, relatively new to the forum and appreciate the information I’ve been able to gather thus far!  
 

My wife and I are in the process of building a tiny house on a fifth wheel trailer, and are looking at purchasing a 2017-2019 used 3500HD Diesel to tow it.  We are planning on purchasing a truck upon completion of the build to ensure the truck we buy can handle the load, but heaviest case scenario is we will be around 15,000 pounds with a 2500-3000# pin weight.  Our hope is that we are even lighter (shooting for 12-13k pounds) but assuming that’s around where we are at, my research has shown a SRW 2017-2019 3500 Diesel shouldn’t have any problem with this trailer.  
 

While we are planning to wait to purchase the truck until the home is complete, a local Chevrolet dealer just took in a 2018 3500HD LTZ SRW Diesel on trade.  The truck is a one owner local truck, clean car fax, but it has high miles (85k).  Due to this, their asking price is $42,000 which seemed pretty reasonable considering the mileage.  It’s pretty loaded with leather and power seats, etc. 
 

My question, since I am new to diesel/HD trucks altogether, is should those miles scare us away from the truck?  We love the overall appearance of the truck, and similar ones with half those miles are over $50k here.  
 

Thoughts on price/mileage/value?  

Make sure you get the service history for any truck you buy. 2017 was the first year for the l5P Duramax. 2011 - 2016 LML Duramax.

 

The only difference between the 2500 and 3500 SRW was the rear leaf spring pack, everything else (rear axle, frame, truck) the same. Of course higher payload sticker on the 3500 due to the extra spring pack. 

 

[JimCost2014]

6 hours ago, fsunole33 said:

Great point- I guess I should point out that this particular truck is our preferred color combination, the only thing that worries me a bit is the 85k miles.  If it were 40k miles at $50,000 that would be a more difficult decision. 

 

Do you think a SRW 3500 diesel will have any issues with a 15k fifth-wheel?  From what I see it meets the capacities I have calculated, but if I pull the trigger and buy the horse before the cart I don't want to be stuck with too small a horse. 

You have not mentioned if this will be a daily driver for you. But IMO, always buy more truck than you need, so you have the capabilities if you ever need them.

 

If it is not, next choice would be a 3500 DRW, which if you have not driven one, I would do before buying (meaning an overnight test drive).

 

My choice would be the 3500 over the 2500, it is easier to upgrade to a new trailer (tiny house), rather than a new truck each time.

[fsunole33]

7 hours ago, H-town Silver Bullet said:

My two cents...
1. 85K not that bad on a diesel engine
2. 2500 would handle that load too and more easily found on the market than SRW 3500 (at least in my area, Houston, TX)


SN: You have a build thread or YouTube channel out there for your tiny home build?!? I blame HGTV for my obsession. Lol

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 

No thread or YouTube yet- I’m having a professional build out the shell and we are finishing the rest on our own  

[fsunole33]

1 hour ago, JimCost2014 said:

You have not mentioned if this will be a daily driver for you. But IMO, always buy more truck than you need, so you have the capabilities if you ever need them.

 

If it is not, next choice would be a 3500 DRW, which if you have not driven one, I would do before buying (meaning an overnight test drive).

 

My choice would be the 3500 over the 2500, it is easier to upgrade to a new trailer (tiny house), rather than a new truck each time.

 

Great advice- I may just do that to test out the DRW, however it is a daily driver hence why I am more considering the SRW.  

[Donstar]

If you are comfortable with a higher mileage truck, then go older and less expensive.  If it truly is an '18 one owner local truck, ask your salesman to contact the previous owner to see if s/he drove unladen across the country several times to visit an ailing relative or if it was a 24/7 delivery vehicle.   The key advantage to spending more on a newer vehicle is the lower miles and use.  This truck is simply a very used truck in a newer body with a higher price.   I am also a fan of tiny homes but could never justify the cost when compared to a used large mobile.  I know couples who purchased older fifth wheel trailers for full-time retirement living.  They live and travel (not now) on the equity from the sale of their family home.  I far prefer the looks of a well built tiny house but they can be costly.   I do appreciate the personal satisfaction and quality can justify spending more.

[mpouls1]

Just a reminder to check out the payload. A 2500/3500 certainly have the tow capacity I'd be more concerned with payload. I've got a small travel trailer and belong to a forum with a lot of similar questions and asking for advice. More often than not you will run out of payload well before towing capacity.

[fsunole33]

1 hour ago, Donstar said:

If you are comfortable with a higher mileage truck, then go older and less expensive.  If it truly is an '18 one owner local truck, ask your salesman to contact the previous owner to see if s/he drove unladen across the country several times to visit an ailing relative or if it was a 24/7 delivery vehicle.   The key advantage to spending more on a newer vehicle is the lower miles and use.  This truck is simply a very used truck in a newer body with a higher price.   I am also a fan of tiny homes but could never justify the cost when compared to a used large mobile.  I know couples who purchased older fifth wheel trailers for full-time retirement living.  They live and travel (not now) on the equity from the sale of their family home.  I far prefer the looks of a well built tiny house but they can be costly.   I do appreciate the personal satisfaction and quality can justify spending more.

This is a great point- I am not so excited about the high mileage, even if it was taken care of that is a lot of driving in a very short time.  But even an average mile 1-ton 3500 is in the mid to high 30's, which to me is a good thing.  If I buy a used truck with at or below average mileage, I should be able to maintain its value over the next few years. 

 

The tiny house has always been something my wife and I have wanted to build, and now is a great time for us.  We plan to live in the home for 12-18 months and then use it as an investment property (vacation rental or long term rental) on our property.  Pretty excited about it! 

[fsunole33]

54 minutes ago, mpouls1 said:

Just a reminder to check out the payload. A 2500/3500 certainly have the tow capacity I'd be more concerned with payload. I've got a small travel trailer and belong to a forum with a lot of similar questions and asking for advice. More often than not you will run out of payload well before towing capacity.

Yeah I don't think a 2500 can handle the payload, so unless I can come across a slightly used 2020 2500 that has more payload than in years past, I will be sticking with a 3500. 

[gearheadesw]

If that 3500 drives nice and smooth, no chevy shake, steers well, no digital assist steering issues, then I would but it. It's the color, weight, and price range your looking for. Having the truck for a while will let you give it a good shake down, and have it ready for pulling from the get go, I dunno.

[fsunole33]

19 minutes ago, gearheadesw said:

If that 3500 drives nice and smooth, no chevy shake, steers well, no digital assist steering issues, then I would but it. It's the color, weight, and price range your looking for. Having the truck for a while will let you give it a good shake down, and have it ready for pulling from the get go, I dunno.

So in regards to this particular truck sort of a bummer...I made an appointment and went and saw it.  Love the features and body style, which I knew already, but man the truck was beaten on.  Looks like maybe some kind of farmer owned it- it was heavily smoked in, and it had animal poop (looked like goose crap to be honest) in the back of the truck.  I would say the entire front bumper/fascia is missing about 30% of its paint due to rock chips and bugs.  I couldn't believe the dealership has had it as a trade 2-3 days and didn't clean it at all.  Price made a bit more sense due to the condition, but the body itself wasn't too bad.  I didn't even test drive it, I left. 

[Donstar]

Two years ago I was looking for a truck to pull a heavier travel trailer.  My salesman told me about this super low mileage trade arriving soon.  I was there when it arrived and you just described how it looked!  I told the salesman that there may be few miles on this truck but I can guarantee they were very hard miles!  Some people have no interest in vehicles and treat them rough.  You made the right decision to walk.  I bet there wouldn't be a long list of maintenance records available upon request!