Routine stuff. Overheated it once and had to replace the cylinder head. 3 clutches, 6 sets of tires. Couple of A/C repairs. 5 Batteries. Balance shaft chain broke at 260K. 3 water pumps. Exhaust manifold. Bunch of minor type stuff I can't remember.
I bought this truck brand new as a demonstrator in 1988, and I still own it and use it as my primary transportation at 277,000 miles. I am one of the few original owners left of one of these trucks. It is affectionately named Old Reliable. The 2.0s were not real good engines, but the 2.6 is another story, and legendary in their reliability. It has never let me down, except when the balance shaft chain broke. With the proper care, these things will run forever, no exaggeration there whatsoever. The list of original parts still on the truck is amazing, including the carburetor, ball joints, alternator, and exhaust. No telling how long it will continue to run, I've quit speculating. Since I live in a salt free environment, the body is still solid, with original paint. I'll eventually replace it, but I'll keep it as a second vehicle. When my son was born, I joked I would pass it along to him. Now he is 12, and that may turn out to be true, LOL. Old school style reliability. When stuff wears out, fix it right and keep going.
Compared to my 1983 MB 300D this car is pretty bad. At 438,000 miles the engine/transmission hasn't even been touched. Besides batteries, tyres, brakes I've changed rear muffler, front dampers, lower joints and suspension rubber that was sagging/rotting. And I did a $20 overhaul of the alternator since this unit easily can be overhauled by anyone. I've spent less than $1000 in repairs on this car the last 19 years since I bought it second hand. Previous owner replaced nothing on this car. Can anyone beat this?
The car has non functioning AC, don't bother to refill/fix. Othervise this car is 100%.
Nice. Is the Mighty Max the same as SPX? My dad has the 1987 4x4 SPX truck and he hasn't taken good care of it. He meant to hand it down to me once I reach 16. Never did, now it's 2009; I'm 26 years old and it's sitting at my mom's house, collecting dust because it needs new carburetor and other parts. Yet can't find any. I know that this truck is rare since they were only 500 of them at the time, 1985. I am wondering if there is a way to fix the truck and get it to run smoothly...
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