@DenverDiscoII - Yeah these vehicles are not for people who don't want to get their hands dirty. If you are relying on someone else to do the work for you, it's not a economical decision. As many people on this forum have demonstrated, with a weekend, persistence and a couple hundred bucks, you can fix the head gasket yourself.

 

Thank you both for the input. This is obviously new to me and look forward to challenges and enjoyment of my new ride! I’ll get the book you recommended asap. Will update here when I do some troubleshooting

 

my chirping/squealing noise ended up being the t-case. So I had an 04 t-case installed with the cdl...