$18,000 is not too bad. It’s the middle of the NADA estimate. I would get a look at the CP4 before purchasing. That will be your most costly repair so long as the transmission is in good shape.

 

Have you seen it person? Pics alone can be deceiving. 300,000 miles / 12 years is 25,000 miles/year. Not too bad. BUT...we're those hard miles (a lot of towing heavy or off-roading) vs Daily Driven (Pavement Princess). Just some thoughts.

 

Haven't seen in person just pics and videos. From what I can see and read from the reports looks like it was a lot Highway miles, I don't see any signs of towing from bumper hitch and no fifth wheel hitch. According to dealer last owner was Insurance adjuster and drove allot for work.

 

According to me, my truck has never been offroad. That wasn't me at 50mph launching the truck off the berm in the desert.

Don't trust what anyone says. Was 5th wheel hitch removed? I can't see an insurance adjuster driving a loaded f250 when most around here drive gas sippers.

 

True and amen cant take anyone's word on vehicle sales.

 

I see no signs of a 5th wheel hitch but again only what I can see. Did these truck come standard with a 5th wheel hitch?

 

No, but many came with 5th wheel hitch prep package. The bolts in the bed should give you a sign. Does it look like the bolts have been removed recently?

 

Cant tell has plastic bed liner in the bed but looking from the rear fender wells I cant see any signs of hitch.

 

If the plastic liner isn't new, I would assume there would be holes cut in the liner if there was a hitch mounted, that's usually how it's done.

 

Looks like faded plastic. If it had it idk why they would cover it up?

 

The other thing the puzzles me on what the last owner did. He has a ranch hand grill guard with light in the middle nothing special right. But then you look in the grill he has led flashing lights. In the truck cab looks like he may have equipment mounted in the center console you see little screw holes and the center console cup holders removed. Do you think was some kind of hot shot truck or something? I'm seeing majority of oil changes in one town and a couple out of town.

 

If the bed was beat up and I was selling, I'd throw a cheap used liner in it to try to get top dollar. But that's a stretch. I would assume if the liner is faded it's been in there and they didn't have a 5th wheel hitch installed. Doesn't mean they didn't bumper pull with it. It's easy to spray the inside of the reciever to make it look better. I've seen a lot of little touch ups on used vehicles over the years from car dealerships. Everytime I've assumed the better scenario, later I found out I was wrong from some crafty cover ups.

 

It was obviously a work truck then. But not a laborer grunt work truck.

 

I see what you are saying and now looking closer at the bottom side pictures it looks like someone painted the whole under side of the truck not everything but a good portion. In your opinion would that be red flag?

 

Yes and no. Yes if it's cancer rust. No if it's just to freshen up the bottom which after years of dirt can look pretty dingy. I wouldn't spray it with paint though, I'd use an oil after pressure washing it. I'm guessing it's rust under there. Question is how much.

 

You can see some little surface rust but not like up north rust. The truck spent its whole life in Texas and mainly in south west Texas.

 

When I'm spending time near the beach, everything will rust within days. But you're right, it's not the deep snow road cancer.

 

Yeah 100% right prbly has some beach rust going on but not too bad. One thing i see is those tires days are numbered along with brake rotors. I thank you for your insight and taking time to reponed!

 

The whole reason I am looking for second truck to keep around as a back up truck.
I already got 2015 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel as a daily.

 

I would at least consider this truck. Given all the information you're providing, it sounds like a construction worker's truck more than likely. I'm not sure what exactly was done with it, however I have absolutely seen much worse and much more beat to death trucks.

 

Check the hours. Engine total and idle. 1hr of idle time is equivalent to around 25 miles of driving. We have a truck in our fleet with 180k miles but 16k hours. 10k all idling. Intake system completely clogged with soot.

 

I will check the hours. I think may be ok. Since it is deleted.

 

Now i just need convince the old lady on why i need to spend 18k on another truck and when she see the miles she will probably flip. haha. Pray for me boys.

 

The track bar bushing looks shot. I'm surprised it doesn't have some death wobble. That will need to be fixed soon after purchase. I just saw the pictures, didn't see them before. The paint looks decent, meaning the cancer rust usually has very rough texture to it that you can easily identify in the paint. Most of that looks smooth. It's hard to tell in the pictures with the dirt run off though.

If you stick your head in there, you'll find the areas the spray paint missed and you can see what it really looked like before the cover up.

 

Researching online replacement of the track bar seems doable, meaning i can do that in my drive way. Should this make stop looking at the truck and move on? I guess it calls into the question the rest of the suspension components.

 

Well upon closer inspection looks like somebody has been in there. You can see where someone was beating on the ball joint knuckle.

 

Im not sure why they painted the front axle, but the paint looks nice - cant comment on the prep work. I’ve cleaned up many rusty axles, components, and parts, and it does not look like that was rusting out - as above, it is too clean and smooth.

Looking at the frame adjacent to it, it looks clean and original, no rust. Just from the few pictures, I would doubt that truck has any rust issues.

Higher miles, but a good looking truck. Good luck with it.

 

Im not sure why they painted the front axle, but the paint looks nice - cant comment on the prep work. I’ve cleaned up many rusty axles, components, and parts, and it does not look like that was rusting out - as above, it is too clean and smooth.

Looking at the frame adjacent to it, it looks clean and original, no rust. Just from the few pictures, I would doubt that truck has any rust issues.

Higher miles, but a good looking truck. Good luck with it.

Thanks Jeff. Yeah I'm not sure why they did that but looking at other trucks at this dealer. Looks like something they do. I guess to try and pretty them up and try get more money.

Looking further into this dealer. They have had this truck since 5/2023 and originally listed for $22k now going on year they dropped it $18k. Kind of makes me wonder if there is more wrong with the truck that scared off others. Or was just the higher price at the time.

 

They have a you tube video if any you gentleman want to look at it.
https://youtu.be/w8iPDT5ZymA

And

CarFax

Dealer Site

 

I find it interesting there are front LED strobes, but no rear ones. A casual look shows though the truck was put together decently, although I do see a tuner, which may be an indicator of potential abuse (or not) the headlights are not the factory Ford lights, if you notice they've got projectors and that LED half halo around the outside edge, and I can't precisely identify the LED lighting by brand, which would tell me if it was someone who cared to build it well, or just rig it together. The tires are an obvious indication of the kind of owner, Toyo tires say someone spent money to care for their truck. They're not some weird name like AMP or venom, which I equate with trash. My thoughts: I would test drive it, have an independent mechanic evaluate it with their own 120 point inspection. If you like what they say, offer $12-14k and see if they bite. With the mileage, I'd be willing to bet they'd negotiate a decent bit.

LED strobe lighting comes in two flavors: cheap, or QUALITY. IF the strobes are SoundOff Signal, Whelen, Feniex, Code3, or Federal Signal, they're quality. Then there's lower priced quality stuff like SpeedTech Lights, which I have, or UltraBrightLightz, which are the lower end of the good stuff. Below these, is all your no name chinesium crap, which is cheap, not super bright or well built, and preferred by people who don't know squat about good lights. Sorry for the dissertation on emergency lighting.

 

I find it interesting there are front LED strobes, but no rear ones. A casual look shows though the truck was put together decently, although I do see a tuner, which may be an indicator of potential abuse (or not) the headlights are not the factory Ford lights, if you notice they've got projectors and that LED half halo around the outside edge, and I can't precisely identify the LED lighting by brand, which would tell me if it was someone who cared to build it well, or just rig it together. The tires are an obvious indication of the kind of owner, Toyo tires say someone spent money to care for their truck. They're not some weird name like AMP or venom, which I equate with trash. My thoughts: I would test drive it, have an independent mechanic evaluate it with their own 120 point inspection. If you like what they say, offer $12-14k and see if they bite. With the mileage, I'd be willing to bet they'd negotiate a decent bit.

LED strobe lighting comes in two flavors: cheap, or QUALITY. IF the strobes are SoundOff Signal, Whelen, Feniex, Code3, or Federal Signal, they're quality. Then there's lower priced quality stuff like SpeedTech Lights, which I have, or UltraBrightLightz, which are the lower end of the good stuff. Below these, is all your no name chinesium crap, which is cheap, not super bright or well built, and preferred by people who don't know squat about good lights. Sorry for the dissertation on emergency lighting.

I tried to get the dealer budge on price. I offered 17k they would not budge. I did get closer look at the lights in the grill and the appeared to be Fenix T something and they wired to the up fitter ford switches. It looks like someone took the time and try do things right on wiring. The tuner is SOFT tuner looks like 5 tunes. I'm thinking the only reason they had tuner. It was because the truck was deleted and they spent some money on decent tuner.

 

Truck is deleted? Didn't feds make it illegal to sell that way? That's got to be worth $5k off the price right there...

 

Yes its deleted. Get look under it. Its lost weight. I have seen trucks for sale all over Texas that are deleted. Dealers just ignore it and wont say any thing in writing. I mentioned the delete they don't care. 18k take it or leave it. Again this dealer tried to sell this truck at 22k for year.

 

Vehicle Sales
Texas law prohibits any person from selling, offering for sale, leasing, or offering to lease any vehicle not equipped with all emission control systems or devices in good operable condition. Violators are subject to penalties under the Texas Clean Air Act of up to $25,000 per violation. Buyers are advised to have the vehicle checked for all required emission control devices prior to purchasing a new or used vehicle.
A vehicle may not be legally sold if its original engine has been replaced with another certified engine but without the related emission control components. Tampering includes the failure to install the emission controls associated with an engine configuration.

Tampering of Vehicle Emission Controls

Defines "tampering" and what kinds of vehicle repairs can be made to correct tampering. Texas law prohibits selling or leasing tampered vehicles.

www.tceq.texas.gov

 

I mean i guess could send that to them. But I'm sure they will just stop talking to me and wait for someone else to come along.

 

"I would pay the 18k, but your business will need to rectify the emissions situation prior to sale according to Texas state law, or 15k and ill do it myself"...

 

Yes sir that is the one way to put it.

 

I wouldn't rock the boat bringing up emissions laws. Bought a truck deleted from Texas as well. No questions asked. Dirty work already completed is another way to put it. It costs a few grand to delete a truck nowadays, remember that.

 

You also don't have the equipment to return to stock if you ever decide to sell it. If the clean air nazi's are in power 4 more years who knows what penalties theyll levy... you can go either way. The laws currently allow for citizens to sue companies, other citizens, etc if you don't follow those laws. It's already gone crazy IMO. I don't usually keep cars that long so I'm more weary of resale ability.