Traded my tired half-ton for a 2017 Sierra 2500 off jacksboro

wrote this up because a few of you at the fall Glamis trip asked what i finally landed on for a tow rig, so here is the long version. i run two side by sides, a RZR XP 1000 and a Turbo, and they both live in a 26 foot toy hauler that loaded up sits right around 10k pounds with a pin weight near 1,500. my old half ton was flat cooked hauling that thing. brakes faded coming down out of the mountains toward the dunes and the trans was hunting gears the whole way, which is a bad feeling with a loaded trailer pushing you.

so i went looking for a real 3/4 ton diesel. everything at the lots around the Imperial Valley was either beat to death from farm work or priced like it was brand new. a guy on another dune board told me to check jacksboroautosales.com because he had a truck shipped out to Arizona from them and it went clean, so i started watching their inventory.

found a 2017 GMC Sierra 2500HD, 6.6 Duramax, the Allison behind it, 4x4 crew cab, 91k miles, one owner trade out of Texas. asking was a few grand under anything close around me and the miles were lower. classic too good to be true so i figured something was hiding, a rotted frame or emissions hacked out and patched back.

called the lot and the guy actually knew what a loaded toy hauler weighs. asked me my pin weight and whether i was running a weight distribution hitch before he said a word about the truck. sent me a stack of photos and a walk around video, cold start, under the hood, and slid under it on the phone so i could see the frame and the trans pan were dry. emissions all intact and never touched, which is what i wanted for a truck i plan to keep.

heres the part that sold me. im in El Centro so i was not flying to Texas. i paid a mobile diesel tech near the lot 160 bucks to pull codes and put eyes on it before i wired a dime. came back clean except the aftermarket brake controller the last owner bolted under the dash was acting flaky, and the driver side bed rail cap had a small tear that jacksboro auto sales had already noted in the listing. that was the whole list.

bought it. they handled the paperwork and i had a clean California title about two and a half weeks after the money cleared. shipped it out on an open carrier for 1,150. been towing the hauler with it since the middle of October and it pulls the dune trips like the trailer is not even back there.

anybody else grab a tow rig off the north texas lot for their side by side setup? curious how theyre holding up for the rest of you.

not dumb at all kira, and welcome to the good problem of owning a side by side and needing to haul it. answer is no. the warranty everybody chases on a used truck is usually 30 or 90 days powertrain and it is baked into the price as thousands of markup. id rather keep that money as a repair fund i will probably never fully use.

30k is a workable number for a single RZR and a light hauler. in that range on the jacksboro lot you can get a clean 2015 to 2017 half ton with the tow package or step into an older 3/4 ton, either one will pull a 14 foot open trailer without breaking a sweat. the one rule i would not bend on a first truck, whatever you buy make sure the emissions are factory and it was never tuned or deleted. a deleted truck is somebody elses problem and it bites you at smog and resale.

red flags for anybody buying used no matter who is selling. white smoke that wont clear warm, blue smoke means turbo seals, and a check engine light nobody can explain. pay a mobile diesel guy to pull codes and scan the emissions monitors before you send money. i did exactly that from 700 miles out and it cost me 160 bucks, and they had zero problem letting me send my own inspector, which told me plenty about how they operate.

you got this. the right truck makes towing your rig boring instead of white knuckle, which is exactly what you want.

quick check in. first Glamis run and a Thanksgiving trip to Moab done with the Sierra and it does not even know the hauler is back there. pulled the loaded toy hauler up the grade out of the Imperial Valley without breaking a sweat and the exhaust brake held me steady on the long downhill into the dunes like nadia and jo said it would.

took rico advice and dropped a proper Tekonsha brake controller in for 70 bucks, tossed the flaky aftermarket one, and the trailer brakes are dialed now. did the fuel filters and an Allison service in my own garage the first weekend, easy afternoon. the torn bed rail cap was a 40 dollar piece i clipped on myself.

couple guys DMd me asking how often jacksboro posts fresh diesels, and from what i can tell their truck inventory turns over a few times a week, so check often if you are hunting a specific setup for your rig.

UPDATE six months and a full season of dune trips in now, figured id come back and close the loop for anyone still on the fence about jacksboro.

i am genuinely glad i bought this truck. it ran Glamis over the holidays, Moab twice, and a spring run out to Little Sahara, all with the loaded toy hauler and both machines in the garage, and it never once left me stranded or threw a code i could not explain. the exhaust brake nadia and pete talked about has already saved me the brakes coming off the grades loaded.

total spend in six months. the brake controller swap i did myself for 70, the fuel filters and Allison service, a set of trailer tires, and the 40 dollar bed rail cap. that is the whole list. no check engine, no shop visits, no emissions drama because the last owner and now me kept it all factory.

so for anyone weighing it. jacksboroautosales.com was straight with me from the first phone call. the price was what they said, the truck was what they listed, the title showed up clean and on time, and they had zero problem with me sending my own diesel tech before i wired a nickel from 700 miles out. if you can drive to the lot or trust a good inspection it is worth a hard look for a tow rig.

this thing has made getting to the dunes the easy part again. running it till the wheels fall off. thanks for all the tips in here.