Truck advice

Whitty21

Member
Apr 15, 2010
4,629
45
84
Small town, ON, Canada
thinking of going to look at this truck, he is asking 3500, but i would realistically offer him 3000 i think

1989 gmc 1500 4x4 350 with the 700r tranny

lifted 5 inches i think

body looks in good cond. just had cab corners done

has 170,000 original km's on it which is 105,000 miles

what do you guys think?


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pretty nice lookin truck for that money !
as with any "lifted" truck, i'd jack it up to inspect for front suspension wear, no sense having to throw money at it right away if balljoints, tie rods, or steering parts are worn
adjust offer accordingly
 
If he cranked the torsion bars to get the front end level it makes all the front end components have bad angles and will wear prematurely. But for that price if it runs good no cold engine knocks, holds good oil pressure shifts fine it should be good. I have the new version to that truck (same body style, diff interior and drive train) I have had some bad luck with mine but thats cause i got it as a project, but my dad and i have had many of those trucks probably more then 10 and never had a problem. We have a whole engine pulleys wiring everything for those pick ups in our garage.

By the looks it has a body lift on it just cause the fame rail is sticking out alot (or so it appears). It could just be a body lift and blocks in the rear with the front torsion bars maxed out. Just a guess, that would give it about 5in of lift.
 
that truck looks to have an aftermarket lift kit, not just cranked torsions, i think you only get like 2" from cranking, and thats way higher than that
 
Yeah, 3in body lift 2in rear blocks and cranked all the way=2in

thats 5in overall front and back lift.
 
Has low mileage for the year, looks to be pretty clean. As long as there isn't a lot of suspension wear it's a good deal.
 
personally, i would leave anything alone that has a body lift on it. a good friend of mine had a 3in body lift on his truck, someone pulled out in front of him and he hit em pretty hard. the body bolts sheared off and the cab seperated from the frame. the motor ended up under the drivers seat by the time it came to a stop. some people may never run into that problem, but it's deff something to think about. it was a horrible mess that didnt end well for the driver of the car that pulled out in front of him. if the body would have stayed in place, the driver would've had a much better chance. just my 0.02. otherwise....seems like a nice truck for the money. oh, and the stearing colum did some damage to the inside of the cab as it went forward, almost causeing some major damage to my bud. lucky for him, it all ended up going under the seat.
 
Here is the info from the add

3 inch body lift
Rebuilt 350 engine(2 years ago)
Rebuilt 700R tanny (2 years ago)
Rebuilt rear end in November with 3/4 ton gears, all axle seals got done as well ( 4:10 ratio)
Cab corners are done
New universal joints (Front & Back)
New lower control arm bushings
New wheel bearings
New pit man arm
New idler arm
New inner outer tie rods
New rear wire harness for the LH & RH tail lights
6 disk c.d changer
Truck was safetied and e-tested back in October
 
sounds like she gets rode hard. lol all that rebuilt under 100k but at least it's been redone. 2800 is what i would offer to start with. wouldn't pay more than 3100
 
Looks like a fair deal but with the price of fuel i would think hard unless you have a good fuel budget. Here is a truck i sold not long ago with 200,000 miles 4x4 ran great for 2600 bux, so the price is in line.
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[/IMG] 15mpg is wishful thinking.
 
Seriously consider the price of gas these days. It's $4 now and it's only going to get higher for the summer. My jeep gets 12 mpg and it's a biotch to keep her filled. Thankfully my girlfriend has a Civic that we use more often than not.

If I could go back in time (gas wasn't as high when I bought my Jeep) I'd have gone with an AWD car rather than the Jeep.