The Money You Have to Put Into a Farm Pickup is Crazy, Montana

Have you ever thought about how much a vehicle actually costs you?

I told Mark today that I'm about to put on my 30th set of tires on my farm pickup. Driving where I drive and the type of gravel I have I'm lucky if I get 10,000 miles on a set. I think I paid about $35,000 for the thing when it was brand new. I know that I've changed the oil about 100 times. My brakes usually last about 25,000 miles so I've done about a dozen brake jobs. I've had to license it and insure it every year.

About two years ago I took the box off since it rattled apart and put a flatbed on it. I have to replace my rear shocks about every 25,000 miles so that's 12 sets of shocks. I know I've been through 3 sets of plugs and this pickup has 16 of them. I've had a tranny shop service the tranny 3 times but that's worth it.

I have replaced countless tie rod ends and bushings along with oxygen sensors and air filters. I've only had to put in 1 water pump and it still is running on the original alternator and fuel pump. I'm guessing I've put in about 7 batteries because the vibration is so hard on them. Only 1 starter in the last 300,000-plus miles so that's not too bad.

Get our free mobile app

I average about 10 miles per gallon so that's over 30,000 gallons of gas just in this thing. At an average of 3 bucks, that's close to $100,000 just in gas. All in all, I figure I getting close to $150,000 in this thing for 12 years of work.

So don't start thinking about your vehicles the way I do...

See ya tomorrow at 5 a.m.