[AT] The newer trucks re just not going to last.

[Cecil Bearden]

I have a 98 Chevy C8500 Medium duty I use to pull my trailers with.   I 
hope to eventually get a winch bed on it, but as it is it has a 
Gooseneck hitch with  fenders.  It was originally a county dump truck 
and the bed was removed after a month and the mechanics bed was 
installed and it was used as a mechainc truck until about 2007.  It is 
sprung really stiff, and the rough roads here have torn up the doors and 
the dash.  I don't dare drive over 20mph on these roads, but the 
washboards and potholes are impossible to miss.  The dash panel has 
literally fell apart.  It will not hold the instrument cluster to 
operate the gauges.  All the press fit connections get loose in a few 
miles.  When i removed the gauge cluster, there are massive gaps and no 
pieces to glue back in.  The wiring harness is over an inch in diameter 
and stiff as a board.  I tried all day to find a NOS dash panel and have 
the GM number, but good old GM has discontinued the part.

I would have thought there would be a NOS one around but no luck...   
This truck has a recently overhauled Cat engine and a rebuilt Allison 
transmission.   Brakes have been reworked and the A/c works great too..  
It is the nicest truck I have ever had. Now, it may have to be scrapped 
due to the plastic parts in the dash.   I have found salvage das parts, 
but they are broken too....  When I contact  a dealership, they tell me 
that is a 24 yr old truck..   I guess they don't think I can do math 
anymore.. My old 66 Chevrolet still hauls wheat.  My others are built in 
the 70s, and are most all steel....

Cecil