Whoops. We have had our first major failure. The way we pile the mileage to them, I expect repairs. The biggest issue is a truck in the shop leaves me short a vehicle.
The higher mileage truck clicked over 205k miles last week, this week reverse stopped working. The transmission is ready for a rebuild. It went in the shop Monday afternoon and should be ready for pickup by Friday. Total cost, $1500.
That brings my cost per mile on this truck up to $.22, not counting fuel.
The cost per mile on the truck I drive is about $.18.
Still not bad. Those costs should decrease pretty steadily as the miles pile up.
They are still great little trucks.
Another milestone.
Still no major issues with this one, though it is developing a rattle from the belt tensioner in the morning when it's cold. I'll change it in the next couple of weeks.
The other rolled over 210K a couple of weeks ago. That's the one we put the transmission in.
Great little trucks.
5 months later...
Still clicking right along. I had to change the idler pulley in my truck, and after 45K, it's time for tires.
The wheels on mine were starting to look pretty bad so I hopped on Tire Rack and ordered a tire and wheel package.
Before, though the steel wheels were missing half of the paint.
After
The new package hangs out of the wheel wells 3/4" so I may order a set of factory flares to install.
Edit: I'll add, the Firestone Destinations were not very good tires. They didn't wear well at all.
Have you had the issues with oil consumption? I've just started having the problem, it seems because there is no pcv valve, Chevy put some baffle in the valve cover that gets gunked up. Intake has to come off to take off valve cover. I believe this is only a problem with the 5 cylinder engine.
In reply to Iusedtobefast:
No issues so far. Both trucks have been using less than half a quart every 5K miles.
einy
Reader
3/8/17 8:23 p.m.
Just came across this thread ... (much) earlier you made note of a telltale noise indicating a bad u-joint. What specifically were you hearing?
Reason I ask is because my (newish to me) S10 has an odd sound when rolling above 5 mph, sounds sort of like a "whistle" but not what I'd call wind noise. Happens whether trans is in drive or in neutral and coasting. Brakes up front are completely new as are wheel bearings, and all check out fine as of last weekend while looking for an obvious source if the noise. Noise does not seem to change in tone or volume as I go faster, except that it stops below 5 mph. Truck is a 2.2 liter 4 cylinder, auto trans, rear wheel drive if that makes a difference. 60k miles.
Most of my cars have been fwd (except the odd Miata here and there) so this whole u-joint thing is a bit new to me.
Thanks in advance!
In reply to einy:
Just about every failing U Joint sounds just like this. It's not going to be as loud inside the vehicle, but it will be rhythmic squeak, squeak, squeak.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/erlGGs_O3KE
We are now just shy of 190k and just over a year of ownership on my truck, and I spent the morning working on it.
Brakes all the way around, shocks all the way around and a tire rotation and balance. The rear brakes still suck to change because of the stupid ebrake cable design. The front shocks are also a bit of a pain, because the springs are mounted on them.
Fuel economy is still in the 20s on most tanks. It's probably time for plugs so I'll do them some time this week.
In 62K miles my truck has been through a set of brakes, one idler pulley, and a set of shocks.
The other truck has seen less mileage. It's at about 215k. It has gotten a rebuilt transmission, a idler pulley, a thermostat and rear brakes.
I can still comfortably recommend these as a decent, economical, and capable vehicle.
We will keep piling the miles on them. I'll report back if anything happens.
I went almost 300,000 km (180k) on the original brakes on my 06, and sold it before they needed to be replaced. 62k seems low to me. 160,000 km (100k) on my 11 with the original brakes. Still, a 13 yr old truck used commercially, you can't complain about the reliability.
I will fully admit I am hell on brakes. These brakes had 10k-15k of towing on them. That's pretty hard on the brakes as well.
Reliability has been outstanding. I have only had 1 repair that took a truck off the road for any period of time and that was the transmission.
Any updates, I am looking at one of these locally, and am following this intently.
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps :
Mine is about 200 miles shy of 200k and has been pretty flawless. They are both still trucking right along.
Toyman01 said:
In reply to Billy_Bottle_Caps :
Mine is about 200 miles shy of 200k and has been pretty flawless. They are both still trucking right along.
Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it
In reply to Ranger50 :
When this truck reaches the end of it's usefulness as a work truck, something like that just might happen. I have a T56 on hand, and a LS truck engine is dirt cheap. I'm reasonably certain a whole lot of tire will fit under the wheel wells too. Low, wide, and way too much HP. 
This was the odometer when I got home last night. I'm reasonably certain I will forget to take a picture at 200k so...
Suprf1y
PowerDork
3/10/18 8:41 a.m.
Toyman01 said:
Mine is about 200 miles shy of 200k and has been pretty flawless. They are both still trucking right along.
Obviously you're lying because every time the Colorado is mentioned on here the experts step up (thank god) to tell everybody what a piece of junk they are.
You must have some sort of a rebadged Toyota or something for it to be that awesome.
In reply to Suprf1y :
Must be. I haven't experienced any of the horror stories that are told around here.
It's sitting at about 200120 now, and I missed the picture. I looked at the odometer at 199991, the next time I looked at it was 200098.
It could blow up tomorrow and I'd still call it a good truck. It's cost me less than 7 cents per mile so far, not counting fuel and oil changes.
It needed front brakes again, and this time the rotors were toast as well. Changing them wasn't as bad as I expected. It probably adds 20 minutes to the brake job. I would imagine if you lived in the land of salt and snow it might be a good bit worse.
It's just shy of 220k miles now. So that's almost 100k since I bought it. It's had 2 sets of brakes , two sets of u-joints, and a idler pulley. That's not too bad for a fairly cheap truck.
Update again, and probably the last one as this truck is now going to one of my employees.
I've had the Colorado for 2 years, 3 months, and 100k miles. It has been outstanding in just about every way. I seriously considered getting another one. I decided it was time for something a little upscale, and less "work" truck. So I bought a replacement today.
This is a 2007 Silverado LTZ Vortec Maxx. 4x4, 367hp, 395tq, 6.0L, crew cab. It's a pretty nice place to spend some time. We will see how this one does for the next 100k or so. It's going to take some time to get used to a big truck again.
Last post in here. I spent a couple of hours giving the Colorado the once over. I still needed to get my junk out of it and I figured the least I could do is pass down a clean truck. She still cleans up pretty well. In some ways, I'm going to miss this truck. It was so easy to stick just about anywhere. It always ran beautifully and never let me down. I'll have to make sure the next driver takes care of it.
