Bit the bullet and bought a new truck

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

After almost 13 hrs and close to 700 miles on the road we are now the proud owners of a 1998 Chevy 2500. Both trucks made the trip with no problems at all...averaged 18mpg out of my F150, and to my surprise the Chevy averaged just a tick over 15, so pretty happy about that. 

[JCM 9,130]

Nice find Bryce, don't see to many of those in 3/4 ton.Good luck with it, one of these days I will post some pics of a 99 same model, great truck and    Thanks

[briankd 817]

truck looks to be in great shape one like that year around here all rotted out with rust. i been looking for a new truck wife blew mine up had a 96' chevy 330 thousand miles just not ready to break the bank to pay what they want for a new truck 

[ebinmaine 67,277]

Nice find Bryce!!!

 

I'll be on the lookout for an old square body Ford F with a straight 6 sometime in the next 3 or 4 years....

 

[Pullstart 62,795]

Woo hoo!  Things out there are so clean...

[ZXT 2,401]

Very cool! I would've gladly went and looked at it but you never got back with me.

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

21 minutes ago, ZXT said:

Very cool! I would've gladly went and looked at it but you never got back with me.

Thanks I appreciate it...a very close family friend that's originally from down there was there visiting his family...he saw my FB post about it and went and looked it over...but thanks again

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Its hard to believe but I've been looking for a truck like this since July. None of the car dealers here locally ever have any 3/4 ton trucks and if one does happen to show up on a lot around here it's a crew cab short box, which would not work to haul our camper. A person would think with this being the heart of farm and oil country there would be more of them out there. Really wasn't ready to drop 5k on another truck right now with everything we've got going on right now, but as hard as they have been to find I figured we better jump on this one or it might be another 6 months before we found another one. It does have a few minor issues, but that's to be expected for a 21 year old truck with 241k on it. I was gonna sell the F150 to get some of my money back, but after following me home yesterday Krystal has since claimed the Ford as her truck, so I guess it's staying 

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,497]

Best of luck with your new truck. It sure looks nice.

 

Glenn

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

Nice set of wheels there Bryce!!! Please post some detailed pics and a write up in the “Vintage Trucks” thread.  It doesn’t seem vintage to us but it is already 22 years old!  I will echo the sentiments of those above about the condition of the body. Around here in the “salt belt” everything turns to rusted junk way to fast!  I love Warrior (my 1995 K2500) but I wish that he was in the same condition as your new truck.  I often have to remind myself that I’m driving a 3/4 ton vehicle.  The IFS and creature comforts seems more car like and my truck is now 25 years old.  

 

Great find and well worth the trip in my opinion

[oliver2-44 9,690]

Nice find, Good luck with it

[WHX?? 48,783]

Nice …. were you able to talk them down on the price abit? 

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

1 hour ago, WHX24 said:

Nice …. were you able to talk them down on the price abit? 

Got him down to 4900...tried real hard to get him down to 4500 but he wouldn't budge much off of 4900

[peter lena 8,583]

professor1990 nice looking rig , you would be doing yourself a great saving improving point on the truck rust issue , by first thoroughly giving it a detail wash down , especially the wheel wells , upper rust zone , that hold road salt and de vower trucks. another this you could do is rustproof your truck with this .https://www.movingupgaragedoors.com/lubriplate-l0152-063-gear-shield-extra-heavy-lubricant?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CjwKCAiA3abwBRBqEiwAKwICA1H-ObsD12XXdF37udkwtyF16aijE8FNZw3k9QGbMDVbSH5Zw_c3phoCbFMQAvD_BwE , this gear shield will make your truck live on , inside doors , and every boxed area , total frame set up , inside tail gate , once it sets up it is just bombproof rust protection , recommend using a white paper/kevlar  dust suit , that you Will throw away. they have a very good price on this , used this lubricant for years , recommend it highly , zero rust on my equipment , good luck , pete

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Pulled the headache rack off the truck this morning...hated to do it cause it really gave the truck that look I really liked, but the main thing I bought this truck for was hauling our camper, so the rack had to go. Kid I work with was sure excited when I gave him the rack for his truck

[PeacemakerJack 10,738]

 

That is a really nice looking truck all around.  Knowing that you like to tinker with stuff (like most of us on this site😁) what are your plans with the truck— Let’s call it a punch list of stuff that you either have to do or want to do with it?

 

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

@PeacemakerJack the truck really doesnt need much...mostly just a few little cosmetic issues with the interior, but that's just normal wear for a 22 yr old truck with 241k on it. Neither of the power mirrors seem to work so there is that issue, will probably end up just swapping them out for some manual ones, I like the looks of those better anyway and they're a bit bigger to see around my camper a little better. One thing I am going to do in the near future is get it into an exhaust shop. Maybe I'm still a kid at heart, but the thing is just too quiet going down the highway. Might put some chrome side steps and grille guard on it one of these days

[tom2p 2,394]

lookin good

 

solid / clean and straight 

 

 

 

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,307]

Real nice! That body style was always one of my favorites. I had a Chevy 1500 1995 extended cab years ago. 

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Already making her earn her keep...pulled this trailer with my F150 last weekend...this ones so much nicer

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Did quite a bit of work on the old truck the past couple days, the pitman arm and idler arm were both showing some wear, as well as the upper control arm bushings on the RH side. Probably didn't need to do it, but I went ahead and replaced everything under the front of the truck. With 247k on it I didn't want to only replace what was showing wear now, only to have to wrench on it again later on down the road, this way I know everything is new and should last for a long time. We have not had an alignment tech at our shop for about three months now, so was planning on taking it to the same shop I took Krystal's car to, but the kid I work with has been reading up on our alignment machine and wants to learn, so I figured what the heck I'll let him try it, worse case scenario he doesn't get it right and I have to take it to Jim, which I was gonna have to do anyway. So we stayed after work last night and played around with it for a while, between the two of us we were able to figure it out and I must say that it drives perfectly. And the 12 pack of Bud I promised him turned out a lot cheaper than the $100 Jim would've charged to do it

 

Then today she got some new shoes, LT265/75R16 Hercules Terra Trac AT-II on the front and Terra Trac MTs on the rear. Out here at the ranch even the slightest bit of moisture turns our driveway into a slimy slippery mess, and I was tired of getting stuck. The new tires sure look good, but they sure didn't stay clean for very long They made all the difference in the world getting in the driveway tonight though.

 

I will say I have been very lucky the past couple months, when I bought the truck it had Yokohama HTs on the front, and one Yokohama AT and a Hercules AT on the back. I never paid that close attention to them, only to notice that they were all the same size, When dismounting them today I noticed that the oddball Hercules was noticeably softer than the other three, upon closer inspection I discovered that it was a load range C and only rated for 50 PSI max...and all this time I've been running with 80 PSI in them when the camper is loaded and 65 PSI when empty

[ZXT 2,401]

4 minutes ago, ProfessorBurden753 said:

Did quite a bit of work on the old truck the past couple days, the pitman arm and idler arm were both showing some wear, as well as the upper control arm bushings on the RH side. Probably didn't need to do it, but I went ahead and replaced everything under the front of the truck. With 247k on it I didn't want to only replace what was showing wear now, only to have to wrench on it again later on down the road, this way I know everything is new and should last for a long time. We have not had an alignment tech at our shop for about three months now, so was planning on taking it to the same shop I took Krystal's car to, but the kid I work with has been reading up on our alignment machine and wants to learn, so I figured what the heck I'll let him try it, worse case scenario he doesn't get it right and I have to take it to Jim, which I was gonna have to do anyway. So we stayed after work last night and played around with it for a while, between the two of us we were able to figure it out and I must say that it drives perfectly. And the 12 pack of Bud I promised him turned out a lot cheaper than the $100 Jim would've charged to do it

 

Then today she got some new shoes, LT265/75R16 Hercules Terra Trac AT-II on the front and Terra Trac MTs on the rear. Out here at the ranch even the slightest bit of moisture turns our driveway into a slimy slippery mess, and I was tired of getting stuck. The new tires sure look good, but they sure didn't stay clean for very long They made all the difference in the world getting in the driveway tonight though.

 

I will say I have been very lucky the past couple months, when I bought the truck it had Yokohama HTs on the front, and one Yokohama AT and a Hercules AT on the back. I never paid that close attention to them, only to notice that they were all the same size, When dismounting them today I noticed that the oddball Hercules was noticeably softer than the other three, upon closer inspection I discovered that it was a load range C and only rated for 50 PSI max...and all this time I've been running with 80 PSI in them when the camper is loaded and 65 PSI when empty

Looks good! Now that you know how to do alignments, you'll save yourself $$$ in the future!

 

There's a extremely clean 99 Dodge ext cab, 4x4 3/4 ton V10 with 74k miles at the lot that you bought your truck from. Pretty steep at $9k, but if I were in the market for a truck, It would be hard to keep myself from it!

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

2 minutes ago, ZXT said:

Looks good! Now that you know how to do alignments, you'll save yourself $$$ in the future!

 

There's a extremely clean 99 Dodge ext cab, 4x4 3/4 ton V10 with 74k miles at the lot that you bought your truck from. Pretty steep at $9k, but if I were in the market for a truck, It would be hard to keep myself from it!

I will say that if I'm ever in the market for another used vehicle, I would not hesitate to make that trip again. I have bought, sold, and traded several vehicles in the past, and I must say that Kirby was one of the best salesmen I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with, would recommend them to anyone

[ZXT 2,401]

7 minutes ago, ProfessorBurden753 said:

I will say that if I'm ever in the market for another used vehicle, I would not hesitate to make that trip again. I have bought, sold, and traded several vehicles in the past, and I must say that Kirby was one of the best salesmen I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with, would recommend them to anyone

I've heard similar from a few folks. Seems he advertises it as it it and doesn't try to cover things up. That's a rarity nowadays!

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

1 minute ago, ZXT said:

I've heard similar from a few folks. Seems he advertises it as it it and doesn't try to cover things up. That's a rarity nowadays!

Yes it is rare, I was very impressed by him before we even got there to look at the truck, when I first found it and called him, he told me straight everything that he knew needed attention on it, which wasn't much, and never once tried to cover anything up once we got there. The only issue he didn't point out was a problem with the brake lights intermittently not working, but I'm sure he didn't know about it, hell I didn't discover it for a week or so until I had the camper loaded where I could see the glow of the third brake light in the rearview mirror. 

 

It did take a bit longer than expected for him to get the title to me, and I'll admit I was beginning to get a bit worried as he wouldn't return my calls for a couple days, but when he finally got ahold of me he apologized and said he had been home sick for a few days, but he immediately went and overnighted the title to me that afternoon