Can you use a crossbow instead of rifle?
The guys around me use body bags of all things to recover deer in urban settings.
I've switched all my rifles to copper bullets so have some experience. If you go subsonic I'd make sure that bullet expands.
The 8 speeds in the Colorado are no more reliable than the 10 speed in the ranger. When I was researching midsize trucks I actually found more complaints on the 8 speed than the 10 speed.
From a pure financial focus option C makes the most sense. Worst case scenario is you replace the transmission with one that has the fixes (cdf drum, etc) and you get 150,000 out of the new one. That's exponentially cheaper than taking on another rig.
If you start adding in peace of mind, the...
For the 5g I'd be looking for a 2023 model with the improved cdf drum. Or research any 22 model to see if it received it. Pretty pure this was a mid year change.
Thought id provide an update. The recommendations i received to use a ozone generator were spot on. Hard to believe how well it worked. No more mice have gotten into the truck that i know of. Now that the cold weather is behind us maybe they arent interested.
I bought a couple similar to your picture. I put them underneath the truck baited with peanut butter but havent killed any. Too chicken shit to stick my finger in it to find out if it works.
Yeah, i did the 1/4 hardware cloth on the two holes on the firewall, intake to air filter and the vents behind the back seats. Not sure how they are getting in.