Scotter wrote:awesome! we just sold our '03 a year ago. they're tough trucks...ours had 145k miles and was in our ownership for 15 years. never let us down aside from a dead battery because we left the lights on. not sophisticated, not great at any one thing, but it could go just about anywhere we needed it to.
make sure you re-pack the front wheel bearings every couple years if its 4WD, and its probably time to look at the idler arm and pittman arm assembly in the steering. i'd also be certain to get new leaf packs for the rear axle...ours had softened up considerably at that age and would hit the bump stops a LOT with any serious luggage in the back. with your use the leafs will almost certainly be overwhelmed full time.
best of luck, looking forward to seeing what you do with it.
Nice rig! And thanks! Sadly ours isn’t 4wd but we did lift the back 1.5” so hopefully that takes care of any sagging issues