Hey guys,

Posted this in the buying subforum but haven't got much traffic on it. Since the 300/5 spd combo is more what I want to know about I decided to post it here.

Looking at a 2WD 1995 RCSB F150 with a straight six and 5 speed. Has close to 100k on the odometer. Really good condition, better to say excellent. Spray in bedliner, A/C, and cruise are about the only options to speak of. Main use will be as a driver, running down the highway at highway speeds. Sometimes tow a small utility trailer or haul some wood or an engine, nothing extreme. We live in the country so it will see the miles. Wanted ya'lls thought on this truck as to using it over the road mostly.

They (dealer) are wanting $3995 for it and I'm thinking $3-3300 is more suitable. There is another one in town that is virtually the same truck just with 179k miles and no cruise for $2200 from an individual. In ok condition. Would much rather have the lower miles and cruise if I can get it for close to $3000.

Just wanted to get someone's opion with experience. Last Ford I had was a '96 EC Ranger that was salvaged and I bought it for $2500, drove it around for 30k miles and sold it for $2750.

 

depends where you are located, but to me thats a 2500 dollar truck and a 1000-1500 dollar truck. i had a 95 2x4 for 2 years, had pwr windows, locks, auto trans, a/c, cruise, bedliner, the ford chrome wheels, and cd player, BARELY booked for 2500 bucks. and didnt have much for rust either.

 

I have a '96 300 5 speed stick 2w SCLB,I paid $3400 for it 3yrs ago with 134k on it,167k on it now.It is pretty plain XL with a/c,no cruise,rubber floor mat,dual tanks,now has rusted on pass door and over rear wheel wells.I run that truck up to the upper peninsula to my other house,365 miles one way,about 8 times a year and I love it.It has 2.73 rear gears and gets about 20mpg on the high way,at 75mph it's hardly working.I have hauled my 6x10 trailer with building materials several times and worked just fine,had to drop to 4th gear on long hills and the gas mileage dropped a bit,but no big deal.My best friend just bought a '96 300 5sd 4x4 with a nice body and 87k on it for $3995.It is an XLT with a/c,cruise,power windows and a little nicer carpet.That few hundred more than you would like to pay,may not mean much if you aren't happy with the truck,or you get it cheaper, but put more than that back into it fixing it or making it the way you want it.A good deal is when you are happy with what you bought even if you gave a little more for it.As for the type of driving your looking at,I don't think you could make a better choice,it's the same type I do and I love mine.I had a '91F150 300 A40D auto 2wd SCLB before this one and it was great except the trans,which was good,but I like the 5sd stick better.

 

IMO the 300-6 cyl was the best engine ever produced!!!...i worked for a construction company out here in phoenix,az...this 1985 F250 had 417,000 miles on it before it finally gane up the ghost...we changed the oil on it regularly,and the truck had little to no major problems during its servive life!!! i'd buy the pickup your looking at if i had the money or space to keep it!

 

I got my 1995 F150 4x4 SCSB for 3000 with 6in of lift and brand new 35s. It only has 132K on it now. They do not book very high. Just make sure the transmission is good, I'm on my 2nd M5ODR2 since i got the truck last July. Besides that and a oil leak it has been a great truck. But most of my issues are because of ORV parks haha. I love the 300 5-speed combo.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Went ahead and picked it up Saturday for $3100. Got him to $3700 and the brought up that it needs a new oil pan gasket, instrument cluster (wanted a tach anyways), and the cruise didn't work (gonna see if the recall was done or not then I'll do some hunting if it was). All that got it down to $3100.
Not sure if it's the original tranny or not but it feels good. Clutch feels good but with only around 100k it still should. I'm gonna do my standard new used vehicle tune up at the end of the week when I can get it into my warehouse so I'll get the oil pan gasket changed then and I've got a new cluster on the way already. I'll try to get some pics up of it when I can.

 

Be sure to check the lifter cover gaskets, they are much more prone to leakage than the oil pan gasket. Just try tightening up the bolts first.

 

Be sure and check that pan for rust,I've changed my '96 300 pan for rust out,along with my '91 300 that I had,also my '89 Bronco 302.That may even be your leak,they are know for this,something about recycled steel.While your in there you may want to replace your oil pump with a Melling HV oil pump,it's good insurance.Believe me,once you have changed that pan gasket,you will not want to be in there again.The oil pump will help insure bearing longevity and a new aftermarket pan will do away with the rust out worry.Fel-pro makes a great gasket for these,don't use any sealer on the neoprene type gasket,it will make it want to squeeze out when you tighten it,and mine have sealed up great with out anything on them.They also come with 4 corner plastic "hold-ups" that unscrew with your fingers once the pan is in place.I don't know what climate you live in,but rusted pans are real common.Pan is $100 or less and pump about $50 and gasket around the $20 mark,but is a very wise investment.

 

Also check the oil level in the transmission. The 5 speeds that came behind 4.9s have an issue with oil starvation. There are holes in the cap of the tranny that are plugged with rubber plugs rather than galvanized steel plugs like they should be. The rubber shrinks and gets brittle over time and allows the oil to slowly leak by when it's being whipped around by the gears. I don't know what the oil capacity is for that tranny, I'd look it up for you in the factory service manual but I have to use the library for internet and the manual is home. But if you look up the oil capacity and then drain your transmission you would probably find you have half that amount or less actually still in your transmission. It's probably a good idea to just put fresh ATF in it anyway.

 

jas - Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out to.

Buster - Don't think it's rusted. Paint it peeling for sure but our climate is somewhat desert like so I doubt it's rusted through. May put a new one on there just to be safe. Thought about doing the oil pump but didn't know how I felt about putting in a new one when the original seems to be fine. How hard is it to switch out the pump? I've been a Chevy guy up until recently and all the builds I did I always tacked the pickup to the pump so there was always some trial and error that couldn't be done underneath the truck. Would it be anything like that or is the pickup fixed?

91Bronc - Planned on doing that as part of my new used tuneup. Are there steel plugs that you can use to replace the rubber ones, are the holes even tapped for them?

 

The pick up is bolted to the pump.You are probably going to need a Haynes manual (a good one for these) .Plan this out good because it's pretty involved.You have to raise the engine for the pan work and you may want a buddy around to give you a hand.The oil pump pick-up has to be removed in order to get the pan out,so at this point,changing the pump is not much more trouble,and if you have a problem with it later on,you will kick yourself for not doing it,not only that,but you are insuring you will have a fresh,healthy pump to feed the bottom end bearings.The Haynes manual covers it step by step,the one I have covers F150's and Bronco's 1980-1996.They are available at most auto parts stores and I know that Autozone has them and they are available the web in several places.

 

Real quick, when you check your transmission be sure not to use gear oil or atf. They actually were designed for 10-40 and I believe it is 3.75 quarts. They really don't like being low.

 

The book recommends atf in the 5 speed

 

Good luck on that oil pan bud it can be a real pain in the @$$. You either need an engine hoist or just a bottle jack under the transmission but anyways you lift the engine up a couple inches or so and then put 1'' wood blocks between the two engine mount pads. This holds the engine up just barely enough to allow you to wrestle the oil pan out from above the crossmember. And yes, I would just put a new oil pump in for sure while you're in there. If it goes out later you will kick yourself for it. And also about the gaskets yes make CERTAIN you get a ONE PIECE fel-pro gasket. fel-pro also makes a 4-piece gasket, that is a piece of crap, I got it, was a @%#%^#$ to try to get it to stay lined up while installing the pan, even WITH it tacked down with cement (which probably also helped screw me over in the end) and anyways long story short my pan gasket leaks.