HI, Im 16 and i am on the browse for a vechile(Truck) i have noticed a truck by owner its a 1979 F100 totaly rebuilt to look stock and new its a beauity!! Black Dual exaust lifted 351(stock) now i got to drive it but i noticed a couple of things. The stering wheel feels like it has some "slack" in it and the breaks do work great but they take a sec to really star on(griping)(is this all normal for an old truck?)before i buy it take it to a mechanic to have them look at it(is that a good idea). One more thing! THe owner is asking 7,500$ and it has 140,000miles on it. is this a reasinilbe price or should he come down on it please post your opions here!


Thanks,
Sean

 

Hows the body on it??...Make sure it has no filler in it around the rear wheel arches, It'll rust back out in a few years...The mileage seems a little high for that price, Is it a Short bed or long???...You can make them into awsome hot rods..Im 17 and I just got restoring my 79' F-100.It was my dads, he bought it new and it had sit in a weed pyle for 8 years, he parked it because it started using oil...Anyway man, for the steering and the brakes, all of that is normal for a old truck, if you get it change the front brake hoses and that sould make the pedal harder instead of a spungy felling...Take a look of my truck and see what you think about it, you can get all sorts of performance products for them.. The 73-79 ford pick-ups is the best looking truck ever made in my opion

Custom

 

The truck better be an immaculate 4X4 for that price!

The loose steering could be any number of things. If you're not farmilliar with the machanicals of these things then yes, it would be a good idea to have at least the front end checked out by a mechanic. It could be a worn out steering box (read: lots of $$$$), worn out tie rods, drag link, steering shaft, cracked frame at the steering box, etc, etc... Keep in mind even new these trucks didn't steer like newer vehicles do. Even my truck with EVERTHING brand new in the steering has about 1" of "play" in the steering wheel.

The brakes should not have a big delay before they start stopping. The pedal isn't right there like newer vehicles but there shouldn't be a delay. It's possible the brakes are just out of adjustment. That would be an easy one for a mechanic to diagnose.

 

F100 trucks don't sell for prices anywhere near that in North Carolina. They are for the most part rust free when compared to northern ones. I wouldn't touch it for anything more than $3,000 and it would need to have lower miles even. Don't let the nice paint or whatever you see that you like the looks of impair your judgment. Look at the whole truck and be realistic with yourself and think that all of the worn out driveline and suspension that may look good at a glance (painted up nice to fool most people) will need repair and or replacement someday. Is the owner of this truck the original owner?

At 140,000 (may even be more than that) miles it is impossible that the suspension and driveline is still that great if it is original. Get the price way down by pointing out things that are going to need replacing. If the owner gets irritated at you then he was/is hiding something and just walk away from it. There is always a better price and just as nice of a truck somewhere else.

The steering can maybe be tightened up a bit at the steering box with the adjustment screw on the top side of it. It looks like a threaded stud with a slot in it with a locknut. Using a flat scewdriver and wrench you can adjust some slack out of it by turning the stud clockwise a quarter turn at a time and testing. If you overtighten this adjustment screw your steering will get too tight and may damage the steering box.

 

Yea the owner is orignal and he had it when he was i dunno how old but anyway he re-bult it for his son who didnt want once it was built not to long ago so if he was building it for his son i would assume its in good shape what yall think?

 

You are probably looking at a pretty nice truck, but the price is still too high. The odometer has been rolled over at least once right? If the guy has some receipts for things like engine parts, machine shop work and a tranny kit or rebuild, then maybe he is on the up and up. Without some receipts then I would not believe anything has been rebuilt or replaced. Rebuilding or replacing something in the drivetrain and or suspension will come up sooner or later since 140,000 miles are on the truck now. This point alone is very powerfull in lowering the price of any vehicle I am interested in buying.



Ask him if he will allow you to look under the valve covers at your expense and see how he reacts to this. I mean be prepared to do it the day you ask. Crawl around under the truck and look for recently removed and replaced bolts and nuts. Look for leaks and such. Look for engine paint overspray on the frame or inner fenders and exhaust system where someone painted over old engine paint. Become a critic and pick the truck apart in your mind and you will probably find the deciding factor to buy or not.

He should be prepared to willingly show everything needed to back up what he says he is selling.

If this guy is trying to reclaim every penny he spent on this truck then he is dreaming. You can never get all of your money back out of restorations unless you have a very rare and sought after vehicle. There are countless trucks like his all over the country in all conditions and prices. Knowing this should motivate you get him to lower the price a bit if you are determined to buy it.

 

Too much $$$
Don't spend your whole wad on that unless it is near show quality.
I do agree that they are the best model years to own, and you can dress em up to suit your personality. Buy one for less $$$ so you have enough bucks left over to "personallize" your truck IE: flares, visor, wheels/tires, a lift or even for the un-timely break-down...
There are plenty out there, and they are all old.

 

yea, the price does seem realy high, especially for all the miles it has. You will probably be better off getting a different truck. You will look back one day and wonder why you blew that much money on it when you could buy two perfectly good ones for that much. Thats only if you do decide to buy it.

 

well the truck is lifted about 4" new tires dunno what size(bigger than usual) duel exaust. so if the owner put the stuff on do u think the suspencion should be good and new? and i am willing to even if im still unsure of buying it and already checked for leaks to get a pro opion by taking 50$ to a mech. and have him check it out is that good even if im might still not buy it? and what price should he come down to 5,000 i was thinking but should it be lower?

 

btw clean i was looking at ur pic of ur truck and its just like the one im talking about same lift tires look alike short bed so on

 

Did you crawl around under the truck and look for rust repair in places like floorboards and cab mounts? Take one of those magnetic flags or something like that and see if it sticks to the common rust areas like over the rear wheels and lower rear outside corners of the bed near the bumper, cab corners, lower rear area of the front fender corners and bottoms of the doors. The outer edge at the bottom of the hoods sometimes get rusted out too.

If the suspension has been overhauled you wont see cracks in the rubber bushings.

Unless you are able to get someone with knowledge of these old trucks to go with you and look this truck over, you will need to pay a mechanic look it over for you.