1983 F250
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1983 F250
I have owned a 72 F100 and a 77 F150 4x4. I am looking into buying an 83 F250 4x4. It has a 460 and a 4 spd. It runs and drives, engine doesnt need much. The suspension has a lot of surface rust and the body is very faded with just a little surface rust, no cancer. It was a farm truck and currently has a flat bed with a haypole and a winch on the back. The seller would rather keep those which is fine by me, I dont need them. The front leaves are the lowboy style and the passenger side one looks a little weak. It doesnt have a tag on it so I dont know how long it has gone without being tagged. He wants 1800 for it with the bed 1400 without. I thought I would offer 1400 for the truck if he puts a bed on it or 1000 without a bed depending on how much it will cost me to tag the truck. Sound fair? What problem areas are there on these trucks, I cant imagine them being all that different from the previous generations but I thought I would ask the experts.
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Aaron
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Aaron
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Joined: Sep 2000
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From: Southern California
1983 F250
Doesn't sound like a bad deal except for lack of current registration.
Before you make any offers, it might be best to find out how long it has gone without registration. Some states like CA levy hefty fines for unregistered vehicles that go up with every year it was unregistered. Even if it was used off road. If the owner filed for a certificate of non-operation prior, then it should be okay. But it will say so on the registration, which usually must be kept current, but DMV doesn't issue a tag. If none was filed, your state DMV can tell you what the fees and fines will be to get it on the road again.
Other than that, you might check the oil level in the transfer case and look for seal leaks. That sort of gets neglected in older trucks.
Before you make any offers, it might be best to find out how long it has gone without registration. Some states like CA levy hefty fines for unregistered vehicles that go up with every year it was unregistered. Even if it was used off road. If the owner filed for a certificate of non-operation prior, then it should be okay. But it will say so on the registration, which usually must be kept current, but DMV doesn't issue a tag. If none was filed, your state DMV can tell you what the fees and fines will be to get it on the road again.
Other than that, you might check the oil level in the transfer case and look for seal leaks. That sort of gets neglected in older trucks.
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1983 F250
The transfer case and transmission are 3 years old. His mechanic is selling it, the owner doesn't know the first thing about trucks. As far as registration, yeah my 72 was 2 years behind when I tagged it and it was about 150 dollars where as the 77 was about 12 dollars. So I am very aware of that aspect. The mechanic did say that it was rolled in a ditch about 18 years ago (been his mechanic for a while) and he patched the drivers side door frame. It looks good and has held up well for the past 18 years, no rust near the welds, so I dont think that will be a problem.
Thanks
Aaron
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Aaron
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From: Virginia
1983 F250
I would get under the truck and check the u-joints and slip yokes/splines on the driveshafts. These wear out when they are not greased. It would also be nice if you could jack up each front wheel and see how the ball joints are. These are a pain to fix.
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