Price seems a bit high. What's the mileage? How many owners?

 

Don't be intimidated by the diesel. The IDI is simpler than a gasser. Once you have everything dialed in it becomes just a matter of maintenance, very little repair. And all the knowledge you need to repair and maintain it is right here in this forum.

One thing I've noticed, priced vary widely from one part of the nation to the next. An old truck that brings $2,000 on the east coast may only bring $500 here on the west coast. So when I tell you that price seems a bit high, I'm only going by personal experience by what I see around my area. Around this neck of the woods that truck would bring around $2,500.

Awesome trucks though, hope it works out for you.

 

That's a $3000 truck here... like said before the value of these trucks varies a LOT depending on were you live.

 

You guys may be right. I saw another truck on Craigslist, a 91 with the 7.3IDI, 100K miles on rebuilt engine, for $3800. Everything else is the same--F350, Crew cab dually.

Unfortunately, we got our wires crossed and I did not meet with the truck owner yesterday. I am hoping to meet with him today.

 

You have to figure that the banks turbo kit alone is worth about $1000, so really it's not a bad deal at all.

 

Is that what they run? I don't know anything about them, to be honest with you.

This is a list of all the new stuff he claims to have put on the truck. It suggests to me that this druck has a boatload of miles on it.

PAINT
GLOW PLUGS
TWO BATTERIES
ALTERNATOR
NEW STARTER
NEW FUEL PUMP
NEW STEERING BOX
NEW BRAKES AND SHOCKS


The turbo isn't new, but there is one on the truck.

 

If the turbo is the old non waste gated it's worth about $600 to $800... if it's one of the newer waste gated ones or the newest sidewinder then figure between $800 to $1200. GP's wear out so do brakes, shocks, batteries, alternators and starters especially if the gp's are bad and your overworking the starter. Fuel pump and injectors are every 100k to 150k. So for the price with the new paint I still say it's a good deal.

 

Really, the thing that kinda stood out to me is the new steering box. I've owned plenty of Fords over the years. It takes a lot of miles to wear a steering box out. I am sure the truck still has a lot of miles left in it, but needing a new steering box certainly suggests a lot of driving.

 

If you bought that Banks kit new, you are looking at over 2000 dollars.

My 86 has 480,000 on it.
We were out plowing snow all night last night.

I did rebuild a motor for it a couple years ago at over 300,000 miles, but most people don't work their truck like I do mine.

That looks like a 2 wheel drive, so the price might be a bit high for what it would go for here.
Then again, the cab and front fenders look to be in good shape, not something you would normally find here.

If all that stuff was replaced recently, you should be trouble free for a good many miles if he used good parts.

Don't forget, crew cab 8 foot bed, you will be cranking the front wheels a lot more than you would with a regular cab.

 

True. I am definitely not looking forward to finding parking spots or turning this truck around on narrow roads. My wife is starting to think that maybe we should look into getting an RV instead of a truck and camper combo. I gotta get this truck before she decides against us getting it. It's not that she wears the pants in the family or anything like that, but we don't do anything vehicle related unless we are both in agreement. She was cool with us going this route, but then she started thinking about how long a truck/camper combo is and how we're gonna sell our standard cab Chevy. Every now and then she gets a hankerin to drive the truck. A truck as big as that Ford scares her. She's still OK with us getting this Ford, but that could change. Y'all know how women folk can be about things sometimes. LOL!

 

You simply learn why all the big trucks are parked out in the south 40 at walmart and you learn to walk a bit further. Driving a big truck can be a pain at times but when you need that truck it's there and ready to work for you. It's a great feeling

 

The truck I had before my current one was a '92 F-350 Crew Cab dually long bed. It wasn't any serous challenge to drive, don't let the size worry you. Once you get used to it it'll be like driving anything else. Tight parking lots are the only real problems, but hey, it's got power steering. An RV will just be even harder to drive and it only serves one function so it'll be sitting around not doing anything when you're not camping. That's a waste of registration and insurance IMO.

 

then your limited to just having an RV.
with the truck,and camper separate,you have a workable truck that can do many other tasks while getting much better fuel economy when driven around without the camper,and have something that can be used much more often than a devoted RV would.

that is kinda high for a 25 yr old 2wd truck.
then again,like Dave says,that truck would be pretty much rotted out and long since gone with the rest of them in these parts.so it's hard putting a price on it like that.

the easiest way to find the value of a truck,and this works no matter the location.
hit up all your local swap and trade mags,craigslists,and ebay.
look at all the trucks that you can buy for a certain amount of money in your area.
keeping in mind,not to compare the 2wd with 4wd's,keep those devoted.expect to pay more for the diesel trucks over the old 460 trucks too.
a little time spent doing this,will very clearly reveal the over priced and under priced trucks.often it can be the under priced ones you need to be more careful of.

if you live or plan on traveling in snow county,the long wheel base 2wd crew cab dually is the last truck you want.
if you plan on carting the fam around on dry pavement,no off road use,and towing a 5ver,then this could be ideal.
duallies are great for payload and stability.when it comes time for traction,they are about worthless compared to the SRW trucks.
iv noticed about 1-1.5 mpg less in fuel economy as well compared to the SRW.however these cons,are smothered to death completely if you really have the need for the DRW,by far.

 

And the duallie, you can forget about using most drive thru windows.
Same for parking up close to any store, plan on far from the door and more walking.
The length will have so much truck sticking out of the parking place, it will be bound to get hit when some of the more talented drivers back out of the space across the traffic lane from you.

But on the bright side, walking is good for you.
With the turbo, hills will be a lot easier than it would with a NA motor.
And you can tow about anything you want to.

 

That list is full of parts that need replacing every so often because they wear out, and don't worry about the steering box...you'll find a lot of us have had issues with the seal above the pitman arm letting go. Of the 3 IDI's I've had, only 1 has been a non-leaker!
As for price, it's a bit steep of a price if it were in Massachusetts. But it also looks nicer than anything you'd find here. My first one was $500 and I dumped about $2k into it with fresh parts. My current one was a STEAL at $900 only needing a windshield, a fender, and a new wooden bed. With a turbo, you're getting a pretty good deal...but I would try to negotiate a little lower if you find some issues. All in all, sounds like a solid rig.

Here's food for thought, you might be interested in swapping over to single rear wheel.... that would get you away from having a seriously wide truck, and the single wheels would certainly handle whatever you tow just fine. Look at this thread, I did the swap this past summer and LOVE LOVE LOVE the singles. I'll NEVER go back to a dually! The rear won't work for you because I think it's too wide, so you would need to find a single rear wheel axle out of any 80-96 F250 or F350 PICKUP. A dually axle will not work for you. There are two: the one you have which is too wide for a SRW swap, and the Cab and Chassis dually which is under all the dump trucks or flatbeds with a 34" wide frame.
I'd say find a junkyard with an 86-97 F250 or F350 with single wheels. Try to find one with 3.55 gears for good MPG's, and get the bed at the same time!
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...surements.html

My dad's truck is an '03 F350 crew cab 8' bed with single wheels. At the time of purchase we were doing the EXACT same debate as you. Back in '02 we were looking at buying a used Class 3 motorhome. (Of course a Ford with a 460 GAS HOG.) But my Dad decided he was going to get his truck...because the motorhome is just gonna sit in the yard for 50 out of 52 weeks of the year. A 2 week vacation and MAYBE a couple weekend trips. So that option was out, because we weren't gonna pay to regster, insure, and maintain a single-purpose vehicle. If we had more time to go on vacations for longer than 2 weeks, an RV might have been a better choice.
We ended up buying the truck, then spent $100 on an 8' slide-in truck camper. Gutted that, and rebuilt the insides and went cross-country twice in that. My sister, our 2 German Shepherds, and I rode in the camper both trips. Oh, on a side note, the second trip was also towing my grandparents 28' tandem axle camper trailer with the truck camper in the pickup bed! Tell your wife it won't be too bad. Once you get the hang of it, it gets easier each time!
The truck now has 165k miles. Everything is original and bone stock. 7.3/4R100/Ford 10.5. We've flushed the tranny twice, changed the transmission filter maybe 4 times, and changed the rear end gear oil once. Oil changes at 5k miles, a heater core replacement, and several fuel filters. We did the brakes all around once, and all the wheel bearings.
That truck has gone cross country 3 times, the last time was with an even bigger 11' slide-in camper. We towed my truck home on a trailer, hauled many kids to soccer games, and have made MANY vacation trips to Old Orchard Beach in Maine, plenty of trips down to PA to visit family, and we're going down to the Blue Ridge Parkway next summer...can't wait for that one! The truck doesn't get worked very hard, but it's one heck of a daily driver that's an RV/daily driver in the summer. Plus, it's VERY nice knowing that if you need to haul something, you can do it...piece o' cake!
Try to compare that to a single-purpose RV...hard to justify the 4 MPG all year commuting to work in an RV. LOL

Also, the advantage of usign a slide-in camper is that the truck is really only a couple feet longer, from overhang off the bed. The only big issue is that it's taller. However, that is an issue for some parks where height is an issue driving through the park. HAHAHA I remember on our second trip we went through Custer State Park in South Dakota. My dad used to drive straight-job trucks, he's a good driver, but there ae 3 tunnels and switch backs in the park. I remember having to crank in the side windows, and crank down the roof vents just so we could squeeze through LOL.
The advantage of a tow-behind camper is that you could just drop it at the campground, or at the entrance to the park.
However, there are parks that have tour trolley's that could take you around the park too.
I guess it's all about how you plan to visit the parks. I mean if you don't own a camper yet, don't just hop into one without thinking about how you'll travel. The IDI is certainly capable of cross-coutnry travel!