Hopefully checking out the truck this weekend. Read through some of the sticky’s on “how to buy” but I’m as green as it gets to diesels. I’ll do more reading to get a plan hatched when/if I can go look. 2000 F-550 4x2

 

Two of the most important are 1) Check blowby by placing the oil filler cap upside down on the filler tube. If it blows off with force there are major engine issues, if it just sits there and rattles off engine should be good inside. 2) If it's an automatic (I can't tell by what I see) check the dipstick for burnt fluid. Otherwise things aren't too hard to fix with a little help from your friends and it looks like rust is not an issue. Other guys will probably chime in with other items to check too.

 

Thanks! She’s a 6speed manual.

The only odd thing from look at the pictures is the huge rip in the steering wheel?

 

If it were me, considering price, I would definitely do what Mark said and go from there. That truck looks beat on from the photos and was most likely owned/driven by someone who doesn't know 7.3s and how to take care of them. The mileage concerns me, as in it is too low for the amount of wear. If you really want a good 7.3, I'd start looking around. Do you need a 550 or did you just decide you wanted a diesel because this one came available? I see a few red flags for sure....not to rain on your parade, I'd just hate to see someone get into an abused 7.3 that doesn't know diesels.

 

What are you seeing that indicates beat on? And that torn 'steering wheel' looks like the air bag to me. If you need one PM me, I might have one I could cut ya for a reasonable price.

 

Yo Byron..im with Walkeye on this. Cant see anything that shoots up a red flag. Has some rust around items that id think, should be colored red but most looks like dryed mud/dirtstains...
O.P...Whats he askn for it? I'd take a gander at it if i needed that type of setup.

 

To answer some questions:

I’ve been looking at trucks for my landscape contracting business for 2 years now. First Ford diesel I’m looking at. I’m avoiding 6.0/6.4 without a debate here. Been debating between 550 or the 26 GVWR trucks. Both are hard to come by. Payloads between 7-10,000lbs are needed along with towing an enclosed trailer. Right now a truck in this range makes sense.

The asking is $11,500 which I think is a bit steep. My bank values just the truck at $5k should I need a little assistance or dealing.

Checking it out Sunday and will report back after doing those couple tests.



It’s a 19 year old truck. Stuff is going to go wrong with it but some repairs here and there is cheaper than the $1500/month for these over priced new trucks. And the ones that are 5 years old are still just as whooped and command $35-$40k price tags. I’d rather have a $100/month payment for 2 years with $2000 in repairs each year leaving me with $14,800 to head to my bank or to help finance equipment that actually makes me money vs into a new shiny truck that I’m afraid to scratch and have a monthly payment for 6 years. I expect it to have issues down the road with any used truck but hopefully can get a few years of service.



Phew. Now that that’s over here’s hoping it turns out to be an ok truck!

 

That's the way I'd look at it all, good luck!

 

The air bag went off.

There is no passenger side air bag in the 2000 model year F-550, just a hard plastic cover that looks like an airbag, where the airbag is supposed to be, and indeed was, on pickup trucks.

So there is only one air bag in that truck... and it went off. Why? What happened?

That is what I'd be looking at... the front of the truck, behind the bumper, underneath, the front rad support, the power steering and transmission coolers, pinched lines, bent frame components, cracked castings on the shock towers or the spring hangars, leaking radiator, cracked track rod lower anchor stamping on top of the passenger side front axle. Even if 2WD, the front axle is a monotube set up very similar to 4WD, just without a front differential.

I'd see if the front tires are brand new, concealing alignment issues. Sure, you can always get an alignment, which is a good idea anyway if you change beds, as a different bed weight will change alignment slightly... but fixing a bent frame, or subframe forward of the firewall, is another matter that should factor into what you would be willing to pay for this "hard to find" truck.

Something caused that air bag to go off, and someone was too cheap to spend $300 to replace the airbag. Which could mean they were too cheap to spend any money on things that are not so obvious and readily seen.

And if the air bag went off and was not replaced, then insurance likely did not fix the vehicle, which makes it more likely that you might be dealing with a clouded title... salvaged or some such... and that could not only effect registration, but it might effect your ability to insure that truck commercially for your business, since we all sign a waiver with our renewed policies to allow insurance companies to share all data regarding vehicles... incidents, claims history, owner history, etc. One big fat database in the cloud, serving the insurance industry.

This isn't said to dissuade you from purchasing the truck... it is just in response to the question you asked, which was what to look out for. Look out for these issues... look up the registration and title... check the vehicle status in the records... make sure you can actually do what you intend to do with the vehicle... and if you can't... find out what it will cost to remedy the vehicle so that you can do what you intend, and subtract that cost from the asking price when making your offer.

 

Y2K has the inspection list covered for you. In spades!

I'll add the blown airbag is an atomic club to beat the price down. The engine has had some work by a noob, as evidenced by the IC tube clamps being out of position. But I'm really liking the old alternator. Taken with the noob clamps, that suggests the electrical has not been a problem.

My take is if the front tires are older with reasonable wear, offer half what he's asking. Have it bulging in your pocket and fan it slowly.

 

Speaking of spades... has the OEM frame been repainted black on the driver's side? See top leaf of main rear spring pack (overspray), and compare driver's side frame rail to the rusty colored passenger side frame rail in the same area above the axle (since the side saddle tool box is in the way). Also compare the cast spring hangar tone of black to the surrounding frame tone of black... they are the same, when the frame in 2000 wasn't painted, it was wax coated, but the hanger wasn't, so there would normally be a more significant difference in black tones, as the wax takes on a brown hue from road dirt sticking to it, while paint isn't as sticky.

Again note the passenger side of that truck, where the frame is rusted, which means that the frame wasn't painted black by the upfitter who installed the dump body... only one side of the frame appears to be a deeper black, more cohesive black, with neither dirt nor surface corrosion evident that would otherwise be normal for a 20 year old work truck. The black coating on the driver's side appears to be more recent than the age of the truck, and the rough texture suggests that the fresh black was applied over the top of existing dirt and rust that was already there. If that is true, then Why?

And why is the rubber jounce pad missing on the driver's side forward overload spring stop on the frame above the rear spring pack? Why does the parking brake cable and equalizer also appear black? The cable is galvanized and unpainted from the factory, so at this point, should only be dirty and rusty, not black. Why is the rubber jacketing where the cable is protected appear blacker on the top half than on the bottom half?

The only other explanation plausible is that the hydraulic pump and reservoir leaked and continually sprayed backwards... but that theory won't hold fluid if the hydraulics are located inside the toolbox on the passenger side, so again one is left wondering why the driver's side frame rail appears so different than the passenger side frame rail? All points of investigation (and subsequent negotiation).

 

Other than the paint and rubber bushing missing from leaf pack and the air bag the biggest thing that sticks out to me is the rear diff leak. It looks like the main seal is leaking as well as the pinion seal. Not a big deal, but how long has it been leaking? By the looks of it quite some time, makes me wonder what type of abuse this truck saw with that low of miles to have the pinon seal leaking. Did it stop leaking because oil got low enough? I would for sure take a syringe or even just a soda straw and suck some oil out of it to look for metal flakes and check the level/ viscosity. I know there is more expensive things then a diff on this truck, but that's a main drive component, especially with the weight you will be hauling.
Another quick tip, medium duty vehicles are proven to be the least taken care of just because the constant need for the,. Look to see if the lift has grease points. Which any pivot should IMO, but if it does, check to see how old the grease looks, bring a big pipe or pry bar to check the pin wear. Trust me if you are dumping anything heavy with it and a pin breaks... It's not pretty, have see to many accidents with dump trucks. Hope this helps!

 

Great info!! Thanks!

 

I thought the same thing with the rear diff. Thanks for the other ideas too!

My current truck leaks a little too and will need a repair. I’ve owned my truck for 8 years now. I don’t abuse it, but I do use it, and have leaks here and there.

 

@MDSuperDuty Yeah, if they don't leak at some point in their life we are doing something wrong. Just my experiences with medium duty vehicles. Hope we are all wrong and its a solid truck!