Oh come on GE, I can see where DH is coming from. Basically, the question is "is it worth considering buying a 20 or 25 year old specialty truck if one of the accessory systems may fail?" Sorry, most of my MV's fall into the 20 to 25 category and I EXPECT things to fail. Do I like it - No, but you do the repairs and consider yourself lucky to have been able to buy such a vehicle at what is usually a bargain price. If one is planning on really working one of these trucks and dependability is of critical importance, it might be worth considering a newer commercial truck. Nothing is "free" - there is always a tradeoff. The newer the vehicle, the lower the odds of having a failure (at least that is the theory!). We all make concessions on durability, etc., based on what our budget constraints and percieved usage/requirements are. I think DH may have just been offering some "tough love" with his comment. Sometimes we all need the "duh" comments to put our choices in perspective!