Need purchase input from the pros please (long sorry)

[Slim]

You guys are awesome and this place friggin' ROCKS! Like DAYUM!

Okay, with tremendously helpful input from y'all here and the Tech Pages (fantastic stuff!) I took another look at the '97 tonight. I crawled underneath and spent a good 15 minutes looking and snooping and such. No rust on the cab at all, or under the bed, or on the firewall (checked under the dash, too - didn't help lol). The body and bed mounts are in near perfect shape. The brake lines, fuel lines, tank (plastic?) are rust free, as well as the recently replaced exhaust. I was surprised to find a rear anti-sway bar already in place (perhaps this is a Splash? I don't know, still learning) and he's throwing in 4 snow tires. The engine and transmission fluids look/smell okay, so at the very least they've been tended to.

If I wanna complain then the current tires are vibrating a bit from a bad balance, the frame itself has light surface corrosion and the wiper arms ..... well, they somehow need some loving. They work, but I think they should be replaced.

It's not perfect, but it's nowhere near the pos level of trucks i've been looking at and when I drove it home today (seller let me drive it home since I have no wheels right now) I realized it's not as bad as I first thought.

I left a deposit on it tonight. With luck we'll finalize the transaction this coming Friday and Saturday i'll post some pics in a new, highly-enthusiastic thread.


THANKS to everyone for the great input!!!!!!!! I feel confident I made a thorough and intelligent examination. I also feel confident I picked a good site.

 

[Ozwynn]

there was a 98 supercab flareside (splash model?) foresale up the road for $2895. I'll see if its still there later today. advertised as having 5 speed and 3.0L 2wd.

he sold it 30 min before I got there for $2600 with 100,000 miles even.

 

[Slim]

he sold it 30 min before I got there for $2600 with 100,000 miles even.

Okay, thanks. Traffic to Michigan was a pita anyway.

 

[c_note]

just in case you ever decide to do some offorading, this one is already prepared. it comes factory with alot of the stuff people on this forum do as upgrades. take a look!



http://http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=252345631&dealer_id=615045&car_year=2002&rdm=1227743089208&model=RANGER&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=2002&keywordsfyc=&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&keywordsrep=&engine=6+Cylinder&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=both&distance=300&marketZipError=false&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=FORD&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&drive=4+wheel+drive&default_sort=priceDESC&seller_type=b&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=92131&advanced=y&end_year=2003&doors=&transmission=Manual&max_price=12000&cardist=292