jbtvt

Just picked this beauty up the other week from the second owner. 27,000 original miles, spent about 20 years in a garage. I think part of that may have to do with it being fairly terrifying to drive on the highway with 38s and the steering set up as it is. In addition to the other pictures, I took a few of the linkage, maybe someone knows if there's a better way to do this as I plan on putting some of the goodies onto my '88 after an SAS.

I will be restoring it to mostly stock, putting on some 31s, losing the bumper, and giving it a thorough rust prevention treatment in the spring - POR 15 on all reachable interior body panels, and chainsaw oil on everything else. Nothing much will happen with it over the winter, and no road time until this is done.




Came loaded with gears, front shaft, newfield birfs, unopened bimini top, extra 5 beadlocker rims, hard copy FSM and lots more.




Original window sticker










Needs carpet


Steering piece I think causes the slop. Anyone know if that tube piece between the pitman arm and aftermarket green drop piece is stock? It seems to allow quite a bit of pitman movement before it pushes the tie rod.

HoneyBadger

If you are talking about the piece with the slotted plug, then yes it is stock. It has a spring loaded plunger set inside that acts to absorb small steering system shock and such. it is pretty easy to tear apart and inspect. Pull the cotter pin, get a big slot driver and back that "plug" out. sometimes the internals can be a little chewed up at which point makes it a good candidate for a drag link rebuild kit. If it isn't too torn up, you may be able to give the plug a couple cranks in from where it is and tighten things up a bit.

jbtvt

Yes, that's the one. Thanks for the info.

yodafan93

you bought this out of nc lol. i was planning on getting it, it was about 30 mins from me. got my money together and it was gone, congrats on the find! awful long way to go. would love to see more pics.

BigBluePile

iTrader: (3)

Wow, nice find

westjohns yota

doesnt look like a 27k miles truck thats for sure, what did you pay for it???

rokblok

iTrader: (1)

I agree. That undercarriage looks a bit weathered. Must have been near the coast?

And it appears that the driver side spring has sagged a bit? 7th pic down. Or is it parked on some slight hill on that corner?

yoda84

Last I seen the guy wanted 8000 for it.... he wanted to buy my runner I kinda regret not selling it to him. A Justin congrads on the truck, tell you what ill sell mine for what you offered me.. best of all its stock.

jbtvt

Haha, thanks, and you're correct! I was wondering if any of the guys I was racing for it were members here. It was a long way to go, and scary as hell on the highway, that steering piece was not built for 38s. I wound up shipping it from Richmond. I'll try to get a few more shots when I have a chance but I'm not home very often and have 20 other projects to get done before it freezes.

I am very confident about the mileage, Carfax and a thorough inspection confirm. This is a 27 year old east coast truck, man... Considering no rust prevention measures were taken, a (very!) little undercarriage surface rust is immaculate for these parts! Those pics were taken with it on a hill with ~1000 lbs in the back, BTW.

Thanks Auggie, but my GF and landlord would take turns beating me with a stick if I bought any more vehicles. Anyway, living in VT I've never had the opportunity to wrench on a vehicle this clean underneath so I'm kinda looking forward to the project!

yoda84

its all good, enjoy the build down that is. oh if your interested i got stock sr5 chrome rims for the stock look if your interested. I told you that truck was bad ass and i would buy it.

smracing

iTrader: (1)

Really nice truck. It might just be the pictures, but it shows more wear than a 27k truck. How does the clutch pedal pad look? If the pad shows any wear, the truck has more miles.

rokblok

iTrader: (1)

But you can buy pedal pad replacements at any parts store. If what you say is true, my 245k truck is brand new...

jbtvt

Yes, but if they're OEM style pads it's true that's one area to check.

I know, I know... it's hard to believe someone would buy a rig like this and not drive it, but honestly folks. It isn't hard to tell whether a truck has 27k! The undercarriage/suspension isn't the place to look either. If you drove a brand new 80's truck in the salt once and parked it for 20 years with weight in the back it would be scrap. If you put 300k on a truck in a dry climate, garaged it and left the top off or replaced springs the outside will look mint.

Big (chassis) areas to check are wear on/in
- seats
- the vinyl patterns in the steering wheel, console, armrest, top of door, door lever and window crank area and dash.
- cracks in dash, although garaging can eliminate that also.
- the painted on emblems on the turn and wiper switches always show wear in very short order
- shift and transfer levers
- etc etc All of which this truck passes with flying colors

Also in this one's case, the Carfax shows that it was only registered in ~ 85, 86, 96, and then 06-12. I have paperwork from 08 or 09 when the PO bought it showing that he put less than 500 miles on it since then. He was an older guy with 6 other cars and a very nice house and no reason to lie. He says he bought this and another vehicle from the original owner who built it up and then lost interest. In addition the tires on it are like new except for minor age cracking, and are no longer made Denhams, which ceased to exist years ago. They are definitely old, and definitely don't have more than a few thousand miles on them.

So basically, if a credible person here says, "Oh yeah, I remember when my buddy turned back the odometer on that one and replaced all the wear areas except for some surface rust on the front undercarriage," I'd love to hear it, but otherwise mileage is case closed IMO, and I'll reopen the thread when building resumes in the spring.

rokblok

iTrader: (1)

I agree. I never said your odometer was false, I just stated that it looked a little worn on the pics I saw of the undercarriage. And I was also stating for any noobs that don't always know what to look for, that pedal pad wear isn't always a good indicator of actual mileage. I'm glad you listed some of the more common things that one can check when a super low mileage vehicle is tempting their wallets....

CAPTDASH

OP do you want to sell that front bumper? I would be interested.

jbtvt

Cool, yeah I was just saying. Happy Thanksgiving.

I was going to put this one on my 88 and sell the Superwinch that's on that one now, but if someone makes me the right offer I could part with it. That's a 9000lb Warn on it, could get a couple more shots if you want. Don't know how shipping would work out for you though, lot of weight there. Should probably continue by PM since this isn't the classified section.

westjohns yota

if you want to sell the springs or ubolt flip kits let me know, id also be interested in buying some stuff off you for my 86, as well as the rear bumper too

riddarunner

Please do not use por15 on anything on that truck. It WILL separate from anything not severely rusted and trap moisture behind the separated paint. I have a rusted out 4runner to prove it. That stuff is like brushing on cancer.

jbtvt

Appreciate the advice. I hope the rusted out 4runner isn't the diesel in your build thread?? That thing sounds like it's got some hours... or months... into it!

A friend of mine had good luck with POR, but I talked with him and he said he didn't clean his frame thoroughly. So maybe I'll stick to Herculiner.

WJY - I plan on keeping the rear bumper, I can avoid rear-ending things, but can't speak for all the other drivers on the road! May be getting rid of some misc parts that won't transfer to the 88 after SAS, but that's a ways off yet.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

Pretty good find.
What kind of tires are those? Some kind of Maxxis or regrooved ground hawgs? f you were a bit closer I would make an offer on them.