Two winters on a gas 3500 flatbed feed truck off boonville

cliffs gas flatbed thread got me to finally write up mine since i have two full feeding seasons on it now instead of just an opinion. 2013 Chevy Silverado 3500 regular cab, the 6.0 gas V8, 4x4, dual rear wheel with a steel flatbed and a bale bed on it, 88k when i bought it. it is our dedicated cattle feed truck and nothing else, it does not leave the county.

i went the same road cliff did. everybody said buy a diesel, i did the math on my own place and it never penciled. we feed about 90 cows through the winter and the truck maybe sees 6 thousand miles a year, almost all of it crawling across pasture with a bale on the bed. the diesel premium to buy, the pricier service, and the emissions grief on a truck that idles cold and runs short just was not worth it for what we ask of it. so i hunted a clean gas dually flatbed on purpose.

found this one on boonvilleautosales.com. i was two states away so this was a sight unseen deal and i was nervous about a used flatbed shipping in with a cracked bed or a wallowed spike. called the boonville lot and the fella walked out to it, got down and shot video of the bed cross members and the frame, ran the bale bed arm up and down on camera, and showed me the one honest fault, a couple of the marker lights on the flatbed were out and one tire was down to the wear bars. nothing structural, exactly the kind of thing i fix in an afternoon.

bought it and had it hauled in. showed up straight and titled clean about two weeks later. anybody else feeding off a gas dually flatbed, curious how yours held up.

fair worry shelby, a wore out flatbed hides better than a wore out motor. what i did was make them video the specific things i cannot see in a listing photo. i asked for the deck to frame welds up close, the spike base and the bale bed pivot worked up and down, the frame rails behind the cab, and the underside of the deck. boonville had no problem doing every bit of it, the fella laid right down under it with the phone.

then i had a hauler friend who was passing through central missouri swing by the boonville lot and put a hand on the bed and rock it, check the frame is straight and nothing is cracked at the mounts. between the honest video and a set of eyes on it in person i was comfortable sending money on a truck i had never stood next to. that is the same thing i would tell anybody buying a flatbed from a distance, do not judge it on the pretty three quarter photo, make them show you the ugly angles.

UPDATE two winters in on the 3500 now and total repairs has been a set of tires and the marker bulbs it came needing, so figured id close the loop for the next buyer weighing gas over diesel for a feed truck.

fed 90 cows off the bale bed two seasons straight and the 6.0 has not skipped a beat. it starts cold every morning, crawls the muddy lot loaded in 4 low, and rolls a big round off without me leaving the cab. did the plugs and the gear oil marcus mentioned and that is the extent of it. no emissions light, no shop bills, no gelled fuel headaches.

if you are a cow calf man trying to decide, run your real miles and quit letting the co op crowd talk you into a diesel you will never work hard enough to justify. buy the clean gas flatbed and feed your cows. mine came off boonvilleautosales.com straight and honest sight unseen, and it has earned its keep every day of two winters. worth a look if you are hunting a farm truck out of the middle of the country.