Taghkanic

My mechanic—whom I like and trust a lot—recently did a ton of work on my 2003 G500 (140,000 miles). The work wasn’t cheap. And being an honest guy, not just wanting to get more money for future repairs, his advice is that I should sell it.

Not because it is a bad car, but because he thinks it is the wrong car for my purposes. Let me explain.

I have a large farm property which is mostly forested, and I am going to be harvesting wood over the next 10 years. There are about 5 miles of trails throughout the property, with extremely varied and quite rugged terrain. There are multiple stream crossings, muddy areas, steep rocky slopes, etc.

After considering a wide variety of 4WD vehicles to navigate this terrain—mainly lifted Jeeps, but also Land Rovers and Land Cruisers, along with Gators and Mules—I stumbled into a great deal on this G500. The right price and mostly good condition, along with the three differential locks, led me to conclude that this would be an ideal vehicle to get around the farm.

Most of the time, I am just creeping along in the G500 at 5-10 mph max. I do take it out on the road sometimes, but rarely, and there are parts of the property where I get up to 15-25 mph, but not much. I am using it as a utility vehicle, one with tremendous power and the ability to get out of jams (e.g. mudholes).

However, in the past six months I have spent a lot on repairs, including replacing fittings and hoses, oil stuff, the power steering pump, and more.

My mechanic asked me to describe in more detail how I was using the G500. When he heard about how slow I am usually going, he said he believes that is the problem. He says that the G500 is designed to have more of its heat dissipated by air flowing under and through it than occurs at these slow speeds, especially if it is laboring hard up/down terrain, through mud, etc.

He says that the most recent time that they opened it up, they found a lot of fittings etc. that were degraded or even melted, which would fit with his theory about slow speeds resulting in too much heat underneath.

He feels that I should sell the vehicle (I can probably still get what I paid for it back) and get something more specfically suited to farm utility.

I thought I had done a clever thing. And I love the G500. I can go anywhere on my property and not worry about getting stuck (except maybe after a blizzard).

If anyone has read all the way through this: What do you think? Is my mechanic right?

hubert

I think your guy is not right considering that the G is a military vehicle and was designed to be used as utility truck. I would say, not knowing the history of how the previous owner maintained the truck and considering its age that(12 years) and high miles those things just went from being old. When and if you replace the ware and tare items the truck will be fine on your farm working for you and with you . I say keep it but take it for a spin on a freeway from time time let the V8 breathe

chudak18

Those items all sound like wear and tear items and need to be replaced regardless of speed, but more related to time. Rubber will lose its form, qualities and dry rot... This must be changed out sooner or later. This is very basic maintenance at this stage in your trucks life. But once it is done, you'll have another 150k+ miles of worry free operation. Again, it's a military spec vehicle designed to run in the Sahara desserts and the German country side... A little slow driving in the forest will not take this truck down. It almost sounds like your mechanic is intimidated by the truck and is giving you "friendly" advice that is not in your best interest. Enjoy the truck and do with it what it's meant to do... Drive.

bmwade

You're mechanic is misguided. Sounds like your PO dumped the truck before it needed typical maintenance and so your truck just needed some love. I do some simillar stuff in my G our family farm. Aside from not having a bed it's much better suited than anything American. I can't count how many times my dad has stuck his 2500 cummins in our back section and needed me to rescue him. It's got several seasonal creek beds & some wetlands that our trails cross and if it's even a little wet he gets stuck in 4 wheel drive. ive even gone trail riding with my buddy in his rubicon on the exact same tires and pulled him out of a couple of tight spots that I had already passed. These trucks will basically take all the abuse you can throw at them as long as you look after them.

Taghkanic

Thanks, everyone... I plan to hold onto it a while longer, though I may have just done something stupid with the battery which is going to mean another expensive repair (see my more recent post!).

Chorcoal

I do agree!

blackberg

That is why these things were made in the first place....

If anything, I would add an electric auxiliary fan upfront if there is any space, for some piece of mind

-bb