I live in the UK and have driven American cars for many years. I am looking to buy a 1983 F350 CrewCab which is an ex-USAF truck. Having never owned a truck before, what do I need to look for when examining the vehicle prior to buying it i.e. rust points in the chassis and body, engine problems (351w engine I believe), things that usually go wrong etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Hi Bud,
Most of the points to look for are self evident, HOWEVER - trucks are used for Hauling stuff, Carrying stuff and for pulling stuff, pulling from the front and or the rear. Trucks normally have large engines, so when the truck is unladen, it should be able to pull the tread off the tyres at the lights without making smoke from the tail pipe. If the engine does not pull sharply when empty, it is a tired engine and is gonna need work. Bear in mind, it takes a lot of ****e to make a truck engine sluggish, so a little sluggish engine equates into MANY hours restoration.
Take your Steel Tape measure and do the following measurements, were looking for balance and no distortion in the cab, the rear deck or the chassis. Front First: Measure from the hub edge at the top of the wheel to the bodywork. Remember the reading, repeat on the other front wheel. if they are not within an eighth of an inch, then either the shockers are worn, the body front is twisted or the suspension on one side is goosed. (it does NOT matter what tyre pressures are for this check)
Rear: Do the same measurement for the same reasons.
Left Side: with the steering wheels straight ahead, measure wheel hub edge on the front to wheel hub edge on the rear, remember the reading. Do the same on the other side. This measurement needs to be within a 32nd of an inch. If it is not, you have either, Bent chassis, mis-aligned rear axle, or bad geometry at the front. Figure the worst cost (Re-Build the Chassis)
Open the driver's door and latch the tape to the inner well of the hinge on the door, measure to the rear bumper edge, repeat on the other side. If there is a difference, either the bed is askew or the chassis is bent.
Next
Extend the tape vertically so the end of the tape is on the ground (only just) and with a bubble, gauge the EXACT height of the rear body pan near the tailgate. Repeat on other side of truck. THESE SHOULD BE EXACTLY THE SAME. If not, then the rear bed may need removing to correct the chassis or the bed may need to be replaced.
Inspect the bed. There are drain holes at the front, these should be clear and show little sign of rust. If there is a Bed-Liner, ask to see under it as a badly abused bed means a badly used engine (Guaranteed).
Check for signs of wear under the rear of the bed at the chassis, if there is rope or wire rope wear, it has been used for pulling trees etc. Check for mounting issues for the spare tyre, if they are new, then the truck has been used on V.Rough Ground and hammered so much, they needed to replace the tyre holder. Bet you, the shocks are bad and the suspension is tired.
Under the front, there should be stone guards under the wheel arches. If the truck has been mashed over very rough ground, these will have been damaged and possibly fallen away. Ooops, be careful.
Funny thing, the Yanks don't consider the battery or alternator to be important, they are so cheap here. Check the mounting for the battery and the connectors.
If the unit has Air conditioning, CHECK IT WORKS and MEASURE the temperature drop on full blast, it should be significant, then apply main beam, stereo and any other electrical load, if the A/C needs a recharge, the cold blow will be momentarily replaced with warm air.
Put your foot on the brake and see if you can pull the truck in second gear, if so, brakes are bad. If not, ok, but... if the engine or gearbox make a whumping sound, then the clutches are going in the gearbox.
Is the exhaust dry????? Should be a little moisture that should not change with power applied. Sniff the exhaust, if you smell oil or soot, then the clean air stuff is knackered and you will be getting a v.low mileage to the gallons....
The bumpers (fenders) are normally pretty bloody solid things. If one corner is closer to the body panels than the other three corners, then it has taken a pretty hefty whallop sometime. Check the bottom and upper rails of the fenders to, they should not be titled up or down.
Bodywork. Look for the places that the water is designed to drain away, drains should be clear, it is important, otherwise standing water may be eating away the body a layer at a time.
Look for CB mounts, if it has extra holes drilled in the rear bumper, you know a redneck has used and abused the truck.
Look for Gun Mounts in the rear cabin, they should be clean holed.
Check the inner wings for rot on both sides near the exhaust, it is a very difficult place to repair and may show signs that the outer skin has been recently replaced to up its value.
IMPORTANT, check the Cam Belts, little TINY horizontal cracks indicate that the timing belt is over thirty thousand miles and it should be replaced. Some belts have a red or orange braid embedded near the surface, this is a wear indicator, DO NOT IGNORE.
Check all the fluids, transmission fluid should be checked HOT for Color, Smell and feel. Any carbon, stickiness, or sulphery smell indicates wear in the transmission.
Note. When the dashboard is pulled to get to the air conditiong, there are three or four earth return wires, one always seem to be forgotten on rebuild, so check ALL the electric's in the cab, Footwell lights, ashtray light, radio and radio light, dome light, door opening lights. If any are not working, ask your self if the dash has been removed. Normally this is only done for the A/C and indicates there has been a problem with a hasty re-build. What else got skipped ?????
If the blower motor does not blow at all, there may be an air-conditioning failure, for the pressure sensor will cut out the system if it is leaking. Do not accept a truck that has got the new freon a/c unless the truck was designed to use the new freon replacement. Reason: The new stuff is THICKER than the old freon and requires an uprated pump and cooling rad and drier and gaskets. Simply stuffing new refrigerant into the old system causes two things to happen. 1) Because it is thicker, it wont be pumped as fast, therefore it will NEVER run as cool, but more importantly, 2) instead of running at the right pressure, it builds up a much higher pressure, enough to bust through the drier if the a/c is left running for a few hours. A neat trick to get it through sale, a rotten trick to buy a new drier, pump, filter and gaskets, my truck had about $2,5000 dollars worth of work to repair the a/c after that happened to me.
You should not be able to start the truck unless it is in neutral or park, if you can, the system may have been altered to allow for stalling out when towing tree trunks and stuff, look for body wear.
Hand off the wheel should let the truck drive a straight neutral line with only the driver, if it does not, then there is a geometry problem, if it drives straight with a passenger in but not with no passenger then the camber is off (badly), this effect will worsen with a load or at speed. Get up to about thirty and do a hands off emergency stop. It should be a nice straight line with no wheels locking up. Suspect brakes and steering damage.
Look for Dents and dings, see if you can feel rough spots inside behind the dings and dents.
Look for water in the headlight cowls, a sure sign of abuse.
Look for a mounted light or light bar on the cab roof, was the truck used as an emergency vehicle, regard with caution if so.
If there are attachments for one-inch thick flagpoles on the rear bumper, then it has been used as a convoy guard, these people hate to drive slow all the time so they mash the thing when not playing guard.
Well, there is plenty to get your minds working, remember, stay away from vehicles NORTH of the Snow Line, go for Texas, or Florida trucks, they only ever see sunshine and rain. (Not snow, salt ice, deicer etc etc).

Hope this is of some use.

 

Thanks for the info.
The F350 we went to see in Hastings was a disaster, had all odd tyres, cracked windscreen, no tax and the brakes wouldn't pull it up properly, it wandered all over the place, engine lacked power, water temp gauge wasn't working, kick-down wasn't working, and when we got there the engine was warm (obviously a bad cold starter) so we didn't buy it. The journey was crap, took us 1 hour to get out of Warrington 'cause the M6 had a smash just over Thelwall viaduct. Took us 4 hours in total (266 miles). The journey home was a nightmare, we had to divert off the M25 on to the M3, on to the M40, M42, M5 and then onto the M6 at Birmingham. Miles of queues were everywhere, it was pouring down and dark. We left Hastings at 1430hrs and got home at 2200hrs, the amount of traffic was like continuous rush hour traffic for all 300 miles home, where the hell was it all going to? We only managed to average 35 MPH from Birmingham to Warrington (over a 2 hour journey!!!).
We went out on Sunday to see another truck which was about 8 miles from J13 on the M1. 1984 Chevrolet C10 Silverado pickup in red with twin chrome bars on the back. 305 V8 4bbl, taxed, 12 months MOT as from next Wednesday when it goes in to have the work done (failed on bottom ball joints). Body in reasonable nick (paint is a little dull), manual box with L, 1, 2, 3 and R. Drives good and all the tyres matche, headers and a single 2.5 inch out pipe on the right hand side. We pick it up next Saturday.

Once again, many thanks for the info.

Gaz