Mornin' all, first post, so I do apologize, just wanted to get acquainted w/ things.

Well, in the title is the truck I'm thinking about getting. $700, but the bed's rusted out pretty bad, needs a passenger side mirror and rear bumper and some minor engine work. The engine, transmission/clutch, and 4WD all work great though.

What common things should I be looking for if I go to purchase it?

 

Oh let's see...mileage, smoking, brakes, steering, rust, tires, clutch, frame fatigue, things that go bump in the night...oh yeah, did I mention RUST?

If you have a rusty bed, chances are you have a rusty frame. You can replace the the bed with a custom flatbed, but the frame is another story. A rust eaten frame is dangerous.

 

This is definitely what concerns me the most. The truck really only has to last me about 8 months or so, but it is worrisome. I know that it can go at any time, but it seemed to have lasted the current owner quite a while.

I did notice some surface rust on the frame itself, but nothing too major.

EDIT: Brakes were squishy, but need to be bled. Steering was fine, pump made no noise, nothing bad coming out of the exhaust either. Clutch and tranny felt good as well. The valves need to be adjusted, either that or there is an issue w/ the fuel injectors. But, I guess the only real issue would be the condition of the frame.

 

Id say go for it unless the rust is real bad. I have the same truck, it runs great now even though the previous owner abused it. Again as long as the rust isnt too bad all your gonna need is to give the truck a little tlc and it'll run for a long time.

 

Okay. Yeah, the rust is fairly bad on the lower part of the fenders, but honestly, I don't plan on abusing this thing that much nor do I plan on donig any heavy hauling or anything. It's going to be a ˟˟˟˟˟ kicker for a while until I can move on.

Thanks for the opinions though.

 

Re: Brakes....

Sure, go ahead and bleed them. But unless whomever did them the last time screwed up, then bleeding them will not help. Might be best to just start at the rear drums, overhaul cylinders, calipers and put new shoes & pads in. If you do the job yourself, you can probably keep it under $400. I like my brakes better than I like my accelerator.

 

Good point. I'm coming from the VW camp (Corrado, dunno if people know what it is) so I can appreciate good brakes. I had to overhaul those down to the lines as well. Never had to deal w/ drums though, that'll be a first. I do have 2 repair manuals for it, so I think I'll be able to put 2 and 2 together.

 

for 700 bucks i don't think you can go wrong. just make sure the frame isn't rusted through!

 

It's gettin' checked out by my mechanic today to see what it'll take to bring it up to VA inspection code. This should be interesting.

 

Needs too much work.

Shocker, but thanks for the opinions and my brief stint on here.

 

Hey Bilingual Gringo, where in VA are you? I'm in Fredericksburg...


Chuck