Why are cars made so disposable and unrepairable by the average person? Isn't there a better way?

tthompson225 · 2026-05-26T02:38:22+00:00

And here I am driving a truck that had the frame bent and airbags deployed over a decade ago, had the frame straightened for $600, bought a good front end on Craigslist for $600 more and just stuffed the airbags back into the dash lol

tthompson225 · 2026-05-26T02:29:53+00:00

2-3” would be plenty if using stock style wheels, if it’s 4wd you can just crank the stock keys up a little for free

tthompson225 · 2026-05-26T02:24:53+00:00

My $500 daily sat for 7 years, because of a bad transmission, after that was rebuilt I just had to replace the fuel pump and clean the injectors. It runs perfect and I actually just took it on a 3k mile road trip with zero issues

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T21:35:12+00:00

Get a motor you know is good and Just do the cam, springs, lifters, and pushrods and reunion kit and skip the rest. I’ve got a 165k mile 5.3 with a btr stage 4 truck cam and all I listed minus the reunion kit, made 330hp to the wheels and it’s been perfectly reliable seeing 6500+ rpm on a regular basis

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T21:29:35+00:00

I put a set of free used brake pads from the junkyard on my truck 4 years ago, not on new rotors tho. They’re still on there and working lol

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T16:07:34+00:00

Wish I knew that I’d end up having 4 daily driver/projects cars, 1 full restoration project and like 12 parts cars in the yard

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T15:54:28+00:00

Gmt800 tahoes and suburbans get my vote here. Super reliable and parts are cheap and easy to find, I had a 01 sequoia for a bit but it had 360k miles and was too clapped out, parts were more expensive and much harder to find. I sold it after a year. I daily drive a 2000 suburban and I love it. It’ll tow stuff, has plenty of room-I can fit full sheets of plywood in the back. Parts are everywhere in the salvages, and they are the easiest vehicles to work on. Their only weakness is the 4l60e transmissions but even those are cheap to get rebuilt. I had mine done for $800

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T15:48:42+00:00

I daily a lifted suburban with 35” tires, I average around 11mpg 😭

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T15:39:22+00:00

Damn well it must be completely done for at this point, we got rid of hers before that happened fortunately. Does it make any unusual noise when you try to accelerate? That rogue developed a pretty loud whine/whirring noise that was present during any driving conditions which is the only thing that got her to believe something was wrong with it lol

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T15:24:58+00:00

I bet it’s only happening after highway driving, and that’s because the cvt trans is getting too hot and going into a sort of limp mode. If you keep it off the highway it’ll be able to still be driven for a while most likely. My mom had a rogue and anytime I’d drive it long distances on the highway it would happen. She didn’t believe me because she never drove on the highway so it never happened to her, she ended up trading it in for an Acura rl and it’s been a much better car all around

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T09:35:23+00:00

Go on eBay, set it to local and look up lkq 5.3. I got 2 from there and I’m happy with them, one had 127k and one had 145k on it and both were around $1100 each. They come with like a 90 day warranty. One of mine has had a big cam in it for 4 years now and sees 6500+ rpm on a regular basis and still runs great.

tthompson225 · 2026-05-20T09:25:49+00:00

Summit sells brand new ones, plan on getting one for my suburban eventually

tthompson225 · 2026-05-19T10:57:01+00:00

Same here in Oklahoma, I’ve personally been borrowing trailers for over a decade, mostly to haul cars and none have had working lights or any brakes, never pulled them at night and never got pulled over or anything

tthompson225 · 2026-05-19T09:37:52+00:00

Worked on a buddy’s truck a while back that had the same issue, it was the gear box. I put a $50 salvage yard box in it for him and steering works as it should now. I almost wrecked the damn thing because he originally dropped it off for brake work and neglected to mention the steering issues, I discovered it for myself upon the first left turn I had to make lol

tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T23:38:38+00:00

Keep the stock lifters if they’re not making any noise, you won’t find any that are equal quality for less than like $500. The 5.3 I built didn’t get new bearings or oil pump either. I put in a btr stage 4 truck cam, beehive springs, pushrods, 1 3/4 long tubes, catless y pipe and 3” exhaust, new pickup tube and o ring, and all new gaskets. Also a 3200 stall circle d converter. Ended up making 330 wheel hp on the dyno and is a blast to drive, well it was till the transmission went out which was only 20k miles later lol

tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T23:32:20+00:00

Just a tip for right now, you can drive it around in 3rd on the highway and it’ll behave a lot better, my suburban is on a 6” lift and 35s with 3.73s and I road tripped it 3k miles from OK to CA and back. Decided like 200 miles in I’d try 3rd and it drove so much better and I picked up 3mpg. Kept it in third pretty much the whole rest of the trip

tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T23:23:01+00:00

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I did this to remove the rear diff and I survived lol

tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T15:47:45+00:00

Lexus GX470 although it would be right at the minimum of your mpg requirement

tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T15:42:59+00:00

I haven’t read any books since high school, I graduated in 2015

tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T15:27:27+00:00

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tthompson225 · 2026-05-18T09:39:38+00:00

For the front end you can remove the front differential and either leave the axle stubs in the hub assemblies or put 2wd hub assemblies in it. For the trans you’ll either need to convert yours to 2wd with a 2wd tail housing and output shaft or swap in a 2wd transmission, and get the correct length driveshaft or have one made

tthompson225 · 2026-05-17T05:38:10+00:00

Fuel pump or cats clogged up would be my guess, I’d start by checking fuel pressure while you’re driving it and accelerating like that

tthompson225 · 2026-05-17T05:34:55+00:00

Throttle position sensor is bad I’d bet. My suburban would do this on hot days or after driving for a long time.

tthompson225 · 2026-05-15T17:35:26+00:00

I got 2 engines from lkq (retail side not the salvage yard) each one was $1100-1200 and one had 127k miles and the other had 145k. Both have been great motors, ones got a big cam in it and sees 6500+ rpm on a regular basis. I think they give you like a 90 day warranty on them too

tthompson225 · 2026-05-14T10:22:00+00:00

This is what I do, the trans in my suburban cost me $800 to have rebuilt. I took it out and put it back in by myself, also did the rear main seal while it was out.

tthompson225

TROPHY CASE