My 99 is getting old[er]. What is a good year for replacment

I've long believed that in general unless the vehicle has frame issues it's almost always cheaper to fix and keep in the long run. Factor in that you will have a long struggle finding another one like it and I think you definitely should keep what you have.

Curious, what problems are you speaking of?

 

Not to hijack OPs thread but, it's mostly little things.

The biggest problem I have right now is that it can't seem to hold a wheel alignment for long, even though I've replaced all the ball joints, control arm bushings, steering rack, shocks, etc. I just had one done about a month and a half ago and it's already showing signs of getting out of alignment. My mechanic keeps asking me if I'm going over rough roads. I'm not.

The rest of the problems are mostly cosmetic. Diver's side door panel is cracked from my knee resting there over the years, and the window / door button switch is a bit loose because of it. The passenger door lock is starting to act up by halfway locking when you close it while unlocked. Little rattles everywhere. Half my dash lights are flickering even though I replaced them with LEDs a few years ago. Little paint chips and scratches everywhere. Door weather-stripping is cracked and needs to be replaced. The usual old truck things.

That being said, I take care of my old truck as best as I can despite being in not too good health and not being able to do a lot of the work myself and 21.5 years and 189k miles later, I've never had a major mechanical problem or failure.

On a side note, I replaced my valve cover gaskets a couple years ago and, like OP, the inside of the valve area looked new.

 

Not quite at that age, but my 2010 is starting to be similar in terms of things being age versus miles based. Thinking about it you can definitely fix a lot of problems (and most of those are as you said minor/non issue ones) for what it would cost to buy something else.

 

This thread is almost like relationship advice from your buddies… dude you have smokin’ hot girl friend who is a good person and would make a great wife/mom, marry her OR … she is a lying, cheatin’ whore, get rid of her.

This should be turned into a voting thread…

 

As a 2nd gen guy, I couldn't agree more. If they made the 1st gen 4 door with a long bed, I would have bought that. I love my 2nd gen, but the 1st is the absolute perfect size.