F450 good deal?

[phaux]

Found a guy selling a 97 F450 for $3200. Is 4x2, 7.3 turbo, 212k miles, single cab, 5spd, flat bed, and he said it has 4.12 gears. The only problem I can see is that the tranny grinds going from first to second and down from 3rd to 2nd. Is than an easy/ cheap fix? How hard would it be to convert to a 4x4. Is this a decent deal?

[fixithud]

I had a similar situation this summer.

I gave 2500.00 for a 1999 f-550 cab and chassis. 220k, six speed xl with ac.

Don't know what to tell you about the tranny other than I think it requires a few special tools to do the job right. I suppose the synchronizers are going out, thus the grinding.

I have put two tires, a dump bed with steel sides, pintle hitch on my truck and have about 6000.00 invested now. Truck looks good and runs pretty well. I am actually fighting an intermittent drivability issue, over all I am happy with it.

My advice, be sure you want this truck for a while. If not, don't buy or don't impove it beyond it's worth.

I bought my 95 with similiar mileage, now it has 300,000 and will run all over the 99.

Hud