I have a “94” 3500 Chevy Dually. It has been and still is a great truck. I have 152K miles on it. Never anything major to fix on it. Pulls great. It is not 4WD but I just watch where I put it when we go trail riding or to horse shows.
I have a 2001 Suburban 2500 8.1L 4wd for sale in your budget. Maybe look into one of those, if you can find one, and you have a bumper pull! They are somewhat rare. Mine is loaded and in great shape, no rust, 186k miles but still lots of life, and I imagine there are others out there too. We used it to haul a big 2h+dress for years, in mountains, and it was wonderful. Only recently upgraded to a 4h gooseneck and got a truck, so now my burb has to go 
I have a 2000 Chevy Silverado 2500 (4X4) with 155,000 miles. It’s a helluva truck. The body is rusting apart (we are in far northern WI with horrible winters), but man that engine just keeps ticking. We end up putting about $1k a year into it to keep it running happy, but that’s so much cheaper than a new truck it’s worth it. I should add, it pretty much only hauls hay, horses and a boat, very little non-hauling miles.
[QUOTE=SusanO;8860591]
I have that truck in the 1995 version. It has been a good truck but I just replaced it with a 2014 Ford diesel. I just feel like I was on borrowed time hauling with it. For short distances it is OK but it doesn’t like 3 hour trips. Also it doesn’t have as much power as it used to. It only has 104K miles on it. The mechanic that last worked on it said it was in good shape, especially considering that I used it primarily to haul but that it was an old truck and had old truck problems.
I am not a mechanic and it could have been maintained better but I have pretty much taken care of it. Just don’t trust it anymore to haul with.[/QUOTE]
Me too, the GMC version. I still love it but it only does occasional hauling with a 2 horse gooseneck. We also use it to pick up shavings and hay. It has 110k and I bought it new. It is geared for hauling.
[QUOTE=N2Equus;8864758]
I have a “94” 3500 Chevy Dually. It has been and still is a great truck. I have 152K miles on it. Never anything major to fix on it. Pulls great. It is not 4WD but I just watch where I put it when we go trail riding or to horse shows.[/QUOTE]
I have the same truck in a 1996 version, and have had the same repair experience. I paid $5K for it in 2008 and it’s still kicking butt. I’m going to be so sad when I have to retire it.
Not the same make but I own a 2500 Dodge diesel 4WD (with the beloved 5.9 Cummins Diesel). Brought it in last week for its annual safety inspection and I was offered $12,000.00 cash for it on the spot! Its in excellent body shape, has almost 350,000 km on it and would I would NEVER ever consider selling it. I hope to be hauling my big LQ trailer with it for a long, long time yet. When you find a really good oldie but goody they are absolutely worth the money. Keep looking. The 90’s vintage is a good era for pick ups.
