Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and Hello everyone. I figured I would introduce myself before I start diving in asking for your input and experience on these trucks.
I just picked up a 03 last week for what I think was a pretty good deal. Its got the 4.0, 4x4, 5 speed in the xlt trim and is sitting at 160,000 miles. It’s even got a sprayed bed liner under that old man cap. What really blew me away was how clean the interior was. Not one rip, stain or crack.
I gave the kid 3500 for it which I thought was pretty reasonable considering every other truck I was looking at in the same general condition was in the 4-6k range around here. Found this one in Jersey.
It’s had some work done recently. New brakes and brake lines all around, new tires and shocks. Front end feels tight and looks to have had the ball joints done recently.
only leaks I found was the rear differential cover is slightly wet, some oil is dripping on the right exhaust manifold which I suspected was a valve cover gasket but there is some oil in the valley too.
The more concerning issue is actually why the kid wanted to get rid of the truck rather than put more money into it. There is some ticking in the valve train and some more noticeable noise that I’m assuming is coming from one of the timing chains. I havnt quite narrowed it down and really haven’t had the time yet to be able to even describe what it is I’m actually hearing.
im a full time firefighter, drive a truck part time and live on a cattle farm so after we get all the corn planted I hope to have some time to dig into it. im capable of pulling the engine but i hope to not have to.
my apologies for the long winded introduction. I look forward to interacting with you all and maybe get the opportunity to pay it forward with my experiences. I’ll head on over to the engine forum to see what info I can dig up before asking a bunch of dead horse questions.
Matt
I just picked up a 03 last week for what I think was a pretty good deal. Its got the 4.0, 4x4, 5 speed in the xlt trim and is sitting at 160,000 miles. It’s even got a sprayed bed liner under that old man cap. What really blew me away was how clean the interior was. Not one rip, stain or crack.
I gave the kid 3500 for it which I thought was pretty reasonable considering every other truck I was looking at in the same general condition was in the 4-6k range around here. Found this one in Jersey.
It’s had some work done recently. New brakes and brake lines all around, new tires and shocks. Front end feels tight and looks to have had the ball joints done recently.
only leaks I found was the rear differential cover is slightly wet, some oil is dripping on the right exhaust manifold which I suspected was a valve cover gasket but there is some oil in the valley too.
The more concerning issue is actually why the kid wanted to get rid of the truck rather than put more money into it. There is some ticking in the valve train and some more noticeable noise that I’m assuming is coming from one of the timing chains. I havnt quite narrowed it down and really haven’t had the time yet to be able to even describe what it is I’m actually hearing.
im a full time firefighter, drive a truck part time and live on a cattle farm so after we get all the corn planted I hope to have some time to dig into it. im capable of pulling the engine but i hope to not have to.
my apologies for the long winded introduction. I look forward to interacting with you all and maybe get the opportunity to pay it forward with my experiences. I’ll head on over to the engine forum to see what info I can dig up before asking a bunch of dead horse questions.
Matt
