I'm looking at buying a 1994 F250 4x4 extended cab long bed tonight. Truck is an XLT, captains chairs, 135k miles, tranny rebuilt 50k ago, in nice shape and everything works.

Here is the truck:

1994 Ford F-250


What should I watch out for when looking it over? I'm usually a diesel guy but I want to buy this truck for snow plowing in the winter....

 

Not sure if you are in road salt use area, but I would take a good look underneath her, I have seen rusted thin rails bend from plowing pressures. Good luck to you if you buy her.

 

Slip Ford Man... I'm basically doing the same thing as this guy, keeping an eye on craigslist and going to look at used 1987-1996 F-150's.

I'm wondering how to decide what's "too rusty" and what's just "well it's a 20 year old truck, there's gonna be some rust." You know? I know to check out the fuel lines because they're metal and can rust... but I don't know how to judge the rest, I guess.

I live in PA where road salt is a constant reality from December-February or more.

 

The upper portion of the wheel well openings; between the rear tires & rear bumper, lower lip; the channels where the doors meet the cab, pull up the rubber seal and look (can also see this from underneath).

The floor pans where the driver's feet go (can also see this from underneath).

The front fenders, down low, between the tires & doors.

The rear cab corners - back of cab to front of bed.

Those are common rust spots.

 

Great! Thanks for the quick reply.

There are two trucks I'm considering right now that are in very good shape as far as body rust... fenders, rocker panels, cab corners are all clean.

Truck #1 -- 1995 F150 XLT Lariat Supercab
Truck #2 -- Ford Truck '90 F250 Ext cab

But underneath, the frame has rust on both. Unless someone had put POR15 on it when these trucks were new, I'd have to assume this is normal. On truck #1, the guy had replaced the leaf spring hangers on one side of the rear recently when his mechanic said they would need to be replaced soon. The ones on the other side are rusty, but it doesn't seem (to me) that they're in jeopardy of failing. And they evidently looked okay this past November to the mechanic that inspected it. But the hanger for the drive shaft about mid-way up the truck looks pretty rusty. Things like that are what I'm unsure about... maybe I can go back and snap some pics. I can definitely get pics of the white truck's underside, it's sitting two blocks from my apartment...

 

Pictures are always good.

Truck ****.

 

F150 is over priced even though it appears to be nice.
the f250 is priced right