Problem areas to look out for on a BII?

[Ravenbar]

A '88 Bii popped up on Craigslist last night. Hoping to go look at it tonight. Talked to the owner's grandfather on the phone and said owner would be home after 4 so I'll call back then.

The Ad:

1988 Ford bronco II Eddie bower - $900
Runs and drives great, v6 6cyl clean title needs two mirrors, drivers side tail light and front bumper. Other than that, very little rust awesome southern truck. In the process of painting it all black, email me for offers, trades are open for jeeps or standard truck

I've got a '87 Ranger parts truck with a rusted out frame so I have the bumper and can probably scrounge up a set of mirrors fairly easily although I'll eventually put on a set of stock mirrors on. The ranger has the drivers side one but passengers was missing when I got it.


What areas should I be looking fort problems? When I got the ranger it was supposedly road ready yet I never put it on the road as the frame rust and also a bent valve took out part of the head on the engine. Would cost almost as much as I paid for the truck just for a head.

 

[Ravenbar]

Well that was a no go. The frame was great and the engine sounded strong. Lacked exhaust and the body had been rolled .

 

[wildbill23c]

This is the typical problems with craigslist. People list stuff on there that needs serious work but don't tell you all that's wrong most of the time, or have no clue, screwed around with stuff to the point that its in worse shape than before, then they try to pass it off to someone else.

Typical issues from what I've heard have been the cylinder heads cracking due to overheating are the biggest problems, rust of course, the other thing is the rear drive shaft has a cv type joint on it rather than typical U-joints and they are expensive to have rebuilt as they are no longer available. Also, the U-joint version is a direct swap.