So I'm contemplating a new DD from this select few (6) I would like the more experienced diesel owners opinions on them.
All 94.5-97 PSDs, 5/6 are manual transmissions.

Some require more body work than others, some are clearly far cleaner than others. Mileage ranges from 135k- 224k miles.

Modifications vary from truck to truck and most of it doesn't matter since I would just add more to the fun.

In order by price. (truck miles/ round trip pick up miles)

(1) $4,000 OBO 94.5 ford powerstroke (212k miles/100 miles)

(2) $4,000/$5,000 1995 ford f350 crew cab powerstroke (215k miles/ 860 miles)

(3) $5,500 F250 take a look! (224k miles/ 800-1,000 miles)

(4) $6,500 (Automatic) 96 7.3L PowerStroke 135,xxx miles (135k miles/ 120 miles)

(5) $6,500 95 f250 powerstroke diesel (160k miles/ 600 miles)

(6) $6,800 1995 F350 powerstroke crew cab (190k miles/ 800-1,000 miles)

Drive time/price doesn't matter to me, they are just close by without having to drive too many states away. I'm looking for opinions on the trucks such as "(?) the body is too rough for that kind of price" or "(?) I think you could talk him down because of mileage"

Thank you in advance!

Once I obtain a truck I will surely be looking to you guys MORE for all kinds of goodies for the truck.

 

#6 would be my pick. That is a well sought after combonation. Crew cab 5 speed, and dana 60 front axle. Low miles and at a good price. And stick around after you get one. We will help you spend some cash!

 

#3 and #6 would be the two that I would go look at. Keep in mind, you don't want to go spend too much money on a new daily driver that needs tons of work dumped into it. All those trucks with rusted out bodies would be out of the question for me.

Out of the two that I pointed out, #6 is more sought after because of the dana 60 front axle. The D50 TTB can be finicky when it's time to do bushings, leaf springs, etc. You also need to know a good alignment guy to keep it from chewing up tires. IMO, if you have someone who can align it properly, a D50 TTB isn't too bad. Most guys who complain about them chewing up tires and always needing alignments is because the guy aligning it doesn't know what he's doing with a TTB.

 

I kinda like the automatic because you can probably talk him down a bunch if it needs a tranny and then you could do a ZF swap and have a manual which it seems like you might want anyway. The miles are low and if you get it out of the Michigan rust you can probably clean up the body. I'd try to steal it for under 5k because of the tranny and body issues.

 

^^^^ But the automatic is the rustiest and second most expensive one of them all. And that K&N ! The steal is the CCLB in IL for $4000. OTOH, if A/C is a make-or-break, as an XL truck, it might have no A/C. Even the $6800 CCLB up in Waupun is a deal, since it's so clean. It appears to have spent its life considerably south of there.

One thing to ask in each case is whether the clutch and OEM SM flywheel have been replaced. Any truck with those mileages still on the SM flywheel is a ticking time bomb.

Thing is, you'll need to look UNDER the truck, UNDER the hood, to really know the condition wrt. rust.

 

I'd consider #6 for these same reasons.

 

#2 is also a CCLB (thus a D60), and the automatic one, FWIW, has had a D60 thrown under it.

 

A/C isn't really a big deal to me I'm pretty happy with the windows down until I get caught in traffic.

I'm leaning toward the one in Waupun since most of you guys are favoring it.

The rust on the automatic doesn't bother me too much since my bronco was about that bad, BUT I would like the DD to be more solid until it can become my project.

Getting it out of the Michigan rust is kind of a no go since that's where it will be sending it's life.

 

X2 I am with Travis on this.

 

So I finally got a hold of the owner of #6, but he says that it is currently not driveable because "of the dipstick leaking at the pan, it's a common problem, the oil sprayed into the clutch so that needs to be taken apart and cleaned."

Thoughts?

 

95 F350 Slideshow by Fordman96 | Photobucket

I figure a link to the slideshow would be better than linking all 13 photos.

 

I would prefer 3 to 6. I think the cclb trucks are too long and the turning radius sucks. Backing a trailer with an eclb is bad enough, cclb we're talking major frustration. But that's just me.
Also between my two trucks I've drove 87,000 miles on D50 axles without an issue. My 96 does need ball joints now though. I use it as a farm truck so its seen plenty of abuse, but no snowplow yet. It will this winter. Point is I'm not scared of a D50.

What truck you get depends on what you need it to do. How many people will be riding along? Are you going to lift it? Will you be taking tight corners or backing trailers often?

 

The truck is going to be used for a DD/work truck (I'm a construction worker) so it will carry anywhere from me to full.
Lift? I might throw a 4" under there just for cosmetics, if it's a CCLB it won't see much off road time that's what the bronco is for.
As for the trailer towing it's a 50/50 shot depending on the job mostly, and that long of a truck will be good practice for when I start my CDL training. My dad has an 02' excursion and that's what - like a CCSB in length? I've backed up trailers with that so a long truck I'm not a big stranger too.

 

Then there was two - new ones.

1995 Ford F350 4x4 Powerstroke Diesel

1996 ford powerstroke

 

^^^^ Both pretty good deals. Clean CCLB 5-speed is the "holy grail" up these parts. Mods on the white truck are more functional. Personally, I'd prefer the actual useful bumpers and OEM wheels/lights (and aux fuel tank) on the white truck. Whazzup with the uneven lift on the blue truck?