Buying a used truck

That truck is a beauty!

 

rollin coal luv your comment RERM check to see that the rear suspension has been updated and is in good condition / check the actual mt weight on the truck if weight is a concern / not sure when the change was made but look at the frame where the rear hanger of the front spring bolts to the frame, if 2 bolts go up through the bottom of the frame rail, look for cracks / I would want to see the actual invoice for the overhaul / price wise I am not sure

 

Oh ####. That's too bad. Any other hopefuls?

 

well think of it like this! most likely you saved your self a bunch of money and a lot of headaches. the story behind the statement. I was working for a farmer who bought a blue 1996 w900 mid roof. I went to go pick it up. this was in 2003. the truck looked good from the outside. the simple dot I did made it safe as far as mechanics go. so I took off. little did I realize the the steering column was only held together with the 4 springs in it. when I turned the wheel the whole column turned. so I kept going down the road heading back to the farm. it was cold and rainy. the wipers sorta worked. after a few miles I started smelling hot wires. then I seen the smoke coming out of the dash. so I had to shut the heater, lights, and wipers off. about 20 miles into the 50 mile trip. the engine started missing. then it started getting hot. so in the last 15 miles the engine started knocking. and white smoke started pouring from the stacks. by the time I got to the farm. the engine had lost all the power. so once on the equipment lot at the farm. the farmer came out and asked me what I thought. I sorta rolled my eyes and said it's a pos. so his sun took it down the road. well to the stop sign about 500 feet away where the truck blew up at. the part that the farmer said edited out. nearly $45,000 dollars later. the truck was safe for the highway and running. had to rebuild the engine, rewire the dash and all lighting, rebuilt the 13 speed transmission, replaced the busted junked out steering column, had to put new brakes, drums, chambers , foot valve on the truck, replaced the king pins and all the suspension bushing, replaced the radiator, 6 new injectors, 2 newer seats, new mattress, new turbo, had to replace both fuel line in the tanks out in Wyoming. tubes were cracked inside the tank. plus he had to put 4 new batteries in. after all that work. the best fuel mileage that truck would get is 5.2 mpg at 65 mph. the farmer b###ed about it the whole time. it had the 3406 cat in it.

some really good advice, the next truck you go to look at. take a mechanic you can trust with you to look at the truck. if you are spending thousands of dollars on a truck. the $250-$300 is worth it to find out the truth. and if I remember right about the truck in the story. the farmer paid $25,000 for it. plus a rough estimate of another $45,000 in repairs on top of it. he learned the hardest lesson I think anyone could ever learn.

 

The problem with this argument is you can always do the same things with a "bubble" truck and you will always do better than the hood.

But I would rather drive a hood with a pre-emission engine than a bubble with EGR.

 

I had a hood and I'll stick with my pre-emission COE.

 

Some more "really good advice". If you are going to get someone to drive it home for you, make sure they know that, if it starts to run hot to STOP and not keep driving until the head cracks.

 

the best advice I can give anyone wanting to buy a truck. don't it's a big loss. after seeing the low baller rates and the high cost of operation. there just no money in it anymore.

even better advice: if buying a truck in spite of all else. do run to the internet seeking advice on a trucking site. that is a very bad idea.

more advice about buying a truck. people lie!!! dealers and sales people are the worst kinds of liars. most used truck and car dealers. don't do anything in repairs to vehicles they sale. like the truck I bought back for the farmer. there was a chemical found in the coolant and oil. I don't remember the name of it. anyways it's used to seal any internal engine cracks. the bad. it doesn't last very long. a lot of dealers use it to sale vehicles with bad engines. the point is: don't believe them when they say the engine was rebuilt. make them show you the paper work for the repairs. new paint on the engine doesn't mean it's been rebuilt. just means it was painted to sell easier.