What Inspired Us to Get Our Homestead Vehicles
Most people like the idea of having a new or practically new vehicle. Making a vehicle payment (or two) is just a way of life for many Americans . . . right?
Thinking back, it seems foolish that we just kept making payment after payment every month on two vehicles. It seems so wasteful. Now keep in mind that all this information you are getting is coming from two people that always had to have the top of the line, most powerful, best looking cars and trucks that our money could buy.
Well, that’s exactly what Alisa and I were doing until this past year when we decided to start homesteading and everything changed.
What to Consider
Part of our homestead lifestyle includes cutting out excess spending as much as possible. We thought, what better way to start than not having $1,000 or more going out every month for two car payments? So, we sold both of our cars and voila! No more payments!
But we still needed transportation. Before we got rid of our vehicles, which were both only one to two years old, we started looking at Craigslist, Autotrader.com, eBay, and everything else you could think of to find used vehicles.
We considered the many uses of a vehicle on a homestead such as hauling lumber, bags of soil and feed, as well as towing a trailer. We came to the conclusion that we needed sport utility vehicles with full body-on-frame construction because of their towing and hauling capabilities. I will dive more into that in a bit.
We had decided after about a month of looking and research that a Chevy Trailblazer would be our best fit due to its reasonable cost and durability. The Trailblazers were in production from 2001 to 2009, so we knew we could definitely find one or two of those that we could pay for in cash.
We eventually found two Trailblazers on Craigslist that we liked. After driving halfway across the state to see the first one, which was not at all as described, I made an offer, because after driving 2 1/2 hours, I did not want to go home empty handed. The gentleman wisely took my offer and we had our first project in hand. We headed back home hoping we would make it without a breakdown.
The second Trailblazer was only 20 minutes from our house and we went to see it the next day. Pleasantly surprised at the condition of the second unit, we made an offer and shortly thereafter became the owners of two Chevy Trailblazers.
Fixing up Mike’s Truck
Immediately, we started the process of fixing everything on them that we could find wrong so that we knew exactly what we had and could depend on them for many years to come.
We started with our newly purchased white 2003 Trailblazer EXT. Several items we needed to fix included:
- the check engine light was on
- the air bag light was on
- the transmission was slipping
- there was no radio in it
- the air conditioner blew warm
- the exhaust leaked and rattled
- the brakes did not do hardly anything to stop it
- the truck was all over the road in the steering
- the interior and exterior were a mess.
That is just a short list of all the issues. I had my work cut out for me!
With Covid-19 at its beginning, and many people off work during the shutdown, including myself, I spent three whole weeks replacing every part you could imagine, fixing that whole list of problems and repairs.
Then, I gutted the interior, cleaned it all up, and put everything back in. It looked almost showroom new!
I never thought I could be happy with an older used vehicle. But actually, I’m so satisfied knowing I have a good truck I can depend on and it’s paid in full. I had paid $900 for the truck and put $3,200 in new parts on it. I plan on driving her for many more years.
Fixing up Alisa’s Truck
Once I finished all the work on my vehicle, I started the transformation on Alisa’s dark gray 2006 Trailblazer. Her vehicle had been taken care of much better than mine. Again, I tore out the interior to clean every nook and cranny. It didn’t look bad, but I just wanted to start from fresh.
After the interior was done, I changed all the fluids including oil, transmission flush, brake fluid flush, coolant flush, fuel filter and air filter. Next, I put on a gauge to check the pressure in the air conditioning system and added a little Freon in there to top-off the air conditioning. I replaced the front lower A-arms because there was some play when I moved the tires.
I also replaced the motor mounts because the whole vehicle vibrated when it ran. I then took the buffing wheel and some rubbing compound, wheeled out the entire truck, and detailed the outside. That was all she really needed to have a vehicle we would be proud to drive anywhere. Alisa loves her Trailblazer and says that out of the dozens of cars we’ve had, this is her favorite.
I am quite handy when it comes to mechanics. So, we were not afraid that anytime we had an issue with our new-found trucks, we could take care of the problem ourselves. We wouldn’t have to worry about going to a dealer to have a high repair bill hit us. The key to having a reliable vehicle is to know what you have and keep up on any maintenance.
If you notice something out of the ordinary, or a warning light comes on, then fix the problem. DO NOT put it off to do later or think that it is just minor issue and can wait. Waiting just leads to more problems and more money spent.
What IS a Body-on-Frame?
Earlier, I stated that we wanted body-on-frame vehicles. I know many people do not know what that is, so here’s a short explanation. A body-on-frame means that the body of the vehicle sits on a full steel frame. Examples include the Chevy Tahoe and Trailblazer, GMC Yukon, Ford Expedition, and most older trucks and SUV’s that are rear-wheel drive platform. The newer SUV’s nowadays are front-wheel drive and have what is known as unibody construction. Unibody construction means that the body of the vehicle is also the frame of the vehicle which is not at all as durable and cannot haul the weight, or even close to as much towing capacity, as a full-frame unit can.
When it’s Not Frugal to be Cheap
When considering mileage on a vehicle, it is not as much of a concern if you keep up on routine maintenance and replace parts as soon as they wear out. It’s always best to use the factory parts when they need replacing. Do not use the knockoff cheaper parts. The knockoff parts never last as long or work as well as the factory replacement parts!
For example, I took the cheap way out and bought knockoff motor mounts for Alisa’s Trailblazer because they were a fraction of the price of the GM originals. I ended up doing the job twice and had to throw away the knockoff mounts because the vibration was actually worse when I installed those cheap mounts! After that huge mistake, I ordered the factory originals. A week later, I replaced my newly installed cheap mounts with the factory original AC Delco parts and Bingo! … we had a smooth-running unit now. LESSON LEARNED!!
You can do this!
You might be saying to yourself that this is all fine and dandy, but I am not a mechanic and cannot fix stuff like that. Well, I am here to tell you that Google and YouTube will help you fix anything at all on your vehicles that might go wrong. For instance, your headlights all of a sudden stop working. You can ask Google: “2003 Chevy Trailblazer headlights quit working.” Your Google search will likely recommend articles or forums that tell you your relay is probably bad if your lights work on bright but not dim, but everything else is working fine. You can then go to Amazon and look up a headlight relay for your Trailblazer and order the twelve-dollar part. When it arrives, find a YouTube channel that explains how to replace the part you just bought. Many videos will walk you through step-by-step.
Trust me, it is much more rewarding to have a paid-for vehicle you can put a few dollars of maintenance into than have to pay hundreds of dollars every month to a bank for payments on a vehicle or a lease on a vehicle you’ll need to return to the dealership.
A Few More Tips:
Also, keep an eye on all your fluids and get yourself set up so you can do your own oil changes with a good oil and high-quality filter. Soon you’ll see how easy it really is to take care of your vehicles yourself. Brakes, shocks, struts, and exhaust are all wear items that will cost you big money to have a shop fix them. But if you have just a few tools and some time to watch some YouTube videos, you can do any of those repairs for a small fraction of the price.
That is part of what homesteading is all about: do everything you know how to do around your homestead, and the things you do not know how to do, learn how to do them.
I hope I inspired you to go out and save some money, work on your own vehicles, and get a little dirty. Sometimes it means getting A LOT dirty, like taking a bath in transmission fluid! But that’s what it takes to be self-sufficient: Rely on yourself not others.
If you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear them. Let me know if any of you have traveled this same route as we have. Please leave a note in the Comments section below, or email me at: admin@ourfrugalfloridahomestead.com
Thanks!
Mike
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