Greetings all,

Need to ask for collective wisdom/advice on this 1995 Bronco. It has lived its life in MS and AR and has a 5.8 with 140k miles.
1995 Ford Bronco Eddie Bauer 140000 miles

I am looking at this for my daughter. I currently own a 1965 and 1966 F100. I've had old slicks for over 25 years and do my own wrenching. I must say that the newest Ford I have owned was a 1970, so this is out of my wheelhouse on what the good points/bad points are on a late model Bronco.

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated- Tom

 

Arange to have a trusted mechanic or a dealership look it over. the hours worth of labor would be worth it since your knowledge is lacking.

the truck looks decent though, hard to say otherwise with out driving it. good to see manual hubs yet they kept the electric tcase so you would still have to get out to engage the hubs to use 4wd. Run the AC hard while driving to make sure the engine doesnt get hot. pay attention to how the transmission shifts and if the OD light on the shifter is blinking. Test the tailgate window (switch on dash) for proper operation, open close tailgate and try the window again to make sure its all good. probably offer $3500 or so.

again a mechanic might be worth the hassle

 

That's the only way to fly. It doesn't necessarily remove the need for you to inspect things but it is another set of eyes on things, and they are professionals in that they see this stuff everyday. They'll get it on a lift and be able to see evidence of prior collision and repairs, flooding and other stuff you might not be aware of apart from the more usual worn out steering parts or leaking transmission. Well worth it, maybe $100 or less.

 

Thanks, guys. Truly appreciate your advice.

Tom

 

Look for rust/paint bubbling in the fender wells and bottom of tailgate.
Difficult to find one w/o it.

Kemicalburns mentioned the rear window operation.
As a point of interest, in my wife's '93, the tailgate window has to be ALL THE WAY DOWN before the tailgate latch will operate. I don't know if all of them are like that or not. A previous owner didn't know that and literally bent the latching mechanism on the inside of the tailgate.

If the Bronco looks as good in person as it does in that add, it would surely sell for more than $4K in my part of the country.
Wife paid just a tad over $7K for her '93.
But it truly is a clean one inside/out with no rust and less than 3K on a Ford crate 5.0.

 

DL126, that is true for all bronco tailgates that the window must be down all the way. replacement mechanisms can be purchased at bronco graveyard.

 

I would not be afraid of that truck. Looks like it towed some (the rear bumper is sagging slightly and there are "hit" marks on either side of the ball mount area. Not a concern as these trucks tow well. But something to look at and discuss...

 

Guys,

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. Truck didn't pan out. I asked him if there was a lift in town where we could get it inspected and I let him know I wanted to plug into the OBD after the test drive. He said it wasn't insured because he bought it to sell, so I couldn't drive it off the property on the street. I told him that it wasn't going to work me, not being able to test drive a vehicle before I bought it.

 

BINGO! Just mentioning "inspection" will smoke out a lot of the problem people. No insurance sounds reasonable, maybe, but... An alternative is to bring a mechanic out, equipped with a scanner. Bet he wouldn't like that much either.

Was this a dealer? Or a dealer posing as an individual? I wonder if you could call up your agent and explain the deal, and they would cover you for inspection purposes? Not sure how that works.

 

Tedster,

I don't think he was a dealer as he would have had blanket insurance and dealer plates for test drives. He said he had title in his name, but I seriously doubt he has it registered/plated with the DMV. That being said my insurance is not going to cover me in someone else's vehicle that is not registered/plated. I think he just doesn't want someone digging deep into the mechanicals. It's a 3.5 hour round trip for me, too far to just go and look. The search goes on.

Tom

 

No, some dealers will send a truck home for them to sell, I guess. They pose as private sellers, thus no dealer plates. Why, exactly I'm not certain but it's common practice.

If it's not registered, insured, or plated how did it get there?

I'm not up on all that stuff but insurance companies do not like gaps in coverage. Maybe somebody knows what the deal is on test drives and insurance, at least.