[Steelehc]

I'm looking to replace my current and woefully underpowered truck with a new one... The one in my spotlight right now is a 1995 F-250 Diesel, 4x4, Extended Cab, Auto tranny, and various other non-essentials (power windows/locks...).

She has 87,416 miles on her, highway or city is unknown, is in relatively good condition overall, although the bed has a lot of dents and dings and the rear bumper is loose.

The truck probably needs at least two new tires, if not all five, she has plastic hubcaps, three of which are broken, and looks to be a good deal for $9,995. The biggest complaints I have so far are the rear bumper and the vinyl bench seat in the cab.

Is this a good deal? Is it too good of a deal? Will it explode the instant I make a down payment? Will it last for years of solid use? I'd appreciate any advice you all have for me.

The truck will be used for work chores, IE hauling lumber/firewood, carrying water, possibly plowing snow, and hauling a slide-in camper. It will be driven at most two to four times per week.

Steele

 

[bigblue]

Let's see. 8K miles per year. Sounds like a pretty "new" truck. It's possible it did short heavy loads too, so not knowing how it was used... But still, low miles is low miles. As long as the oil was changed and had regular maintenance, sounds like a good deal to me...

 

[radarman]

Gosh.. sounds like a good deal to me. nothing you mentioned was much work to fix.

You may want to have a good look at the tranny before you pull the trigger. Other than that, there is just the expected maintenance coming up for a truck closing in on 100K miles; TTB bushings, diff fluids, etc.

Good luck!

Oh.. If the truck is gunna be more or less a work rig, then the vinyl bench seat is perfect. You can clean it real easy, cus you will probably get it dirty.

 

[WorkinMan]

Keep in mind that those plastic hub caps are about a hundred bucks a pop if you buy good ones from Ford, and don't assume you have five tires. Alot of these trucks, mine included, didn't come with spares. In fact, I'm still trying to locate a spare rim. They don't seem to be easy to find.
Other than that, I would check the turbo for dusted fins, test the SCA's, sniff the transmission fluid, try to verify the milage,and go from there. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me if everything checks out okay.
Good luck.
Chris

 

[WorkinMan]

Oh, and the seat... I have the cloth bench in my regular cab, and I have a $40 cover on it. Works just fine. (Might be a little bouncy at times)

Chris

 

[BlindViper]

Only think I picked up on. Is that the truck may have very low miles normally a low mileage truck is taken a good condition truck inside and out. If the outside of the truck is in that state of neglect ie: getting new hupcaps and just tightening up the bumper or getting new tires. Was the maintenance performed on the vehicle?

 

[PetePete]

I got mine used at about the same milage as that one. The problems I found was 5 of the glow plugs were shot and the front brake rotors were cracked

 

[Steelehc]

Well, I went and looked at the truck again, started her up, drove it up and down the road a few times. I didn't have time for a real test drive, but I spent maybe 5 minutes with the engine running.

My observations:
It doesn't have power windows or locks. I don't know why I thought it did, but they are the old-fashioned kind. That's fine with me.

It starts right away. After waiting the requisite 10 seconds or so, it turns over quickly without cranking too hard. Good sign.

It seems to shift smoothly, although I have no experience with whatever auto tranny Ford put in these things. No jerkiness or clunking or whatever.

The vinyl seat is uncomfortable. The springs are fine, but the cushioning isn't very good. I could probably put a cushion underneath or something.

I like it more than I did yesterday.

The hubcaps are about as unimportant as anything else could be. I plan to take them off anyway, and if they are really worth anything, maybe I'll sell the good one. It has a spare tire and wheel, which looks to be in good shape, but the rear tires aren't so hot. The front ones look alright, though.

Tomorrow I'm taking her for a real test drive (already have a route planned, including some 65mph highway driving, a city street, and some of the dirt roads near my house). I'll also try to have a mechanic look at the tranny and the turbo (the things I know the least about) and the suspension (I've never had to work with a twin-traction beam before).

After that, if things go well, I'll be a proud new member of the diesel club!

 

[Steelehc]

Alrighty. I test drove her today. Everything seems to be working fine.

Tranny shifts smoothly, even at high speeds (65+ mph). The suspension seems rough, but acceptable for a truck this size. Fuel mileage seems good too, after driving 30 miles, the fuel gauge for the front tank went down only a small fraction *less than 1/8). Hard to say, though.

Biggest problem is a loid and jarring rattle that occurs intermittently at between 50 and 60mph. Lasted only a second or so each time, and it sounds sortof like the motor ar idle, but much much louder. Didn't seem to be coming from the engine... Any ideas on what could be the cause? The dealer said they'd have their mechanic look at it, but I want outside opinions.

Other than that, I'm impressed with her. We'll see how this rattle issue turns out and then, if it's workable, I might pull the trigger on the deal.