I hate car shopping

[CasterTroy]

Well....no I take that back, I don't HATE car shopping.....I actually love the thrill of the hunt. Finding that PERFECT vehicle at that great price. What I DON'T like is dealing with either:

1. Ignorant people that know nothing about the vehicle they're trying to offload onto someone

2. People that think YOU'RE ignorant and lie thru their teeth.





OK, so I got a bug up muh butt to MAYBE look at getting a truck. My 7yr old exploder needs wheel bearings and the rear end (ford 8.8 independent) because the friction plates are eat up. So it needs a ring and pinion eventually too, but it's not bad enough to REQUIRE it. Just means I no longer have limited slip posi. Big deal, it's an AWD...I gots the front wheels still

If I got all the work done that the stealership SAID I needed done it'd be $4,288



REALLY all it NEEDS is $900 worth of wheel bearings (getting fixed tomorrow), but I eventually I want a truck. SO I STARTED looking at maybe replacing the exploder.

$7000 is what a few dealers were willing to give me for the exploder...so I was looking at maybe $22-$28k trucks. And of COURSE found a $31k truck I couldn't live without


Thought it over and it just wasn't a good move for my family. We need the 7 passenger capacity of the exploder too bad....so I went from a $31k primary family vehicle to $5k secondary trucks and keeping the exploder. Well $5k went to $10k and of COURSE I found a few $14k trucks I couldn't live without

I'm stupid like that

Anyway...in my adventure I came across a truck that a local custom bike builder owned. He's been on Discovery channel when they use to have those biker buildoff shows.

Now I admire the heck outta this guy...he does daily what I'd do if I won the lottery and just had money to blow doing something fun. Which would be fabrication of custom bikes and rock crawlers (he doesn't do crawlers...but still)


Anyway...I go to look the truck he has listed in craigslist (since it's like 3 blocks from my office) for $12,500

Looks great...has a dent in the fender, and some molding is coming off, but the interior is awesome. It's a 6 speed 7.3 (not that utter bomb the 6.0) but it's also as long as a football field...however it's not bad...but hi miles.

I ask to drive it....he says "sure" take it wherever you need to go, we won't need it till 2 (it was 11am)

So I decide to drive to home to show my wife (who will ultimately give me permission to either buy or reject whatever it is )

Keep in mind what the ad says "no disappointments" and up until I got onto the hiway headed home (series of tight downtown roads) there weren't any. But when I made the sharp turn onto the on-ramp...I heard the right front wheel bearing screaming bloody murder.

So right off it needs a $300 wheel bearing

Then I tested the AC...no worky

Then I looked up to see what was behind me...no rear view mirror

Then I went to click the cruise....no worky

Then I went to just stroll down the hiway for 8 miles and found that I had to pretty much keep the wheel turned to 9:00 to go straight.

Got home and noticed that the tires were nearly BALD.....

MAN I was so disappointed. Wife liked the interior and sheer size of the inside of the truck though, but she too was put off by the miles and all that was wrong with it. I figured if it was listed at 12,500 I could make it work and get everything fixed I needed too for 8,500

Took it back and told him what all was wrong and he seemed shocked....turns out he JUST had bought it at auction the week before and was trying to flip it.

Anyway.....I couldn't possibly give him what he wanted and get all the work done in it that it needed. (The ad is below) And the lowest he'd go was 10,500. So no go.

Well this was the 5th truck I had looked at in 2 weeks. The first one, was OK, but just didn't float my boat. Kinda banged up....even for a "cheap truck" Then I go to drive it and the owner tell me "Oh everything works great"....and as I go to test the AC, the friggin button is missing?!?! Then I test the cruise and it doesn't work.

I get back and inform the owner....OH YEAH I need to get a button for the AC, and I forgot the cruise doesn't work.

Truck two was very similar. Owner was from PA and brought it down with him...so on the phone before I ever got there I asked if there was any rust "No man this truck looks GREAT....no rust" (apparently to a northerner it DID look great...but that's relative)

I drive out there, and immediately spot a rusty frame and several steering components that might actually break off under a hard bump Open the door and since it's a super cab it has suicide doors. The latch down on the door sill has bolts that are completely rusted into the bracket solid with blistering paint all around it. Even the aluminum wheels had corrosion issues. And the lug nuts were almost rusted to the studs. NOOOOO... no rust

I drive THIS one....and cruise on it doesn't work, and the 4wd won't engage.....after asking him directly as well "does everything work?, are there any known issues?"

"Everything works great, no problems at all"

RIIGGHHHT

Trucks 3 and 4 were along the same lines.

I DID however see one the other night I liked.....and have made an offer...but we'll see. If this one doesn't work, I'll stick to the 'sploder and rock it a few more years.

[azoomm]

Dude, you need to come down here.

[Sixxxxer]

Thats def shitty on the part of the owners being dumb fucks about what works and doesnt work on there vehicles. They most likely assume nooone is gonna check out every little thing with the truck...Hell half of them probably dont use the cruise hence why they arent aware it isnt working.

But sometimes you gotta sift thru hundreds of shitty deals to find that golden nugget.

[CasterTroy]

Originally Posted by azoomm

Dude, you need to come down here.

I'm seeing that!

[TommyHotWheel]

Damn...in Michigan, if I remember correctly, there was a dealership selling overstock, brand new, fullsize, short bed work trucks for around $18,000.

[CasterTroy]

Originally Posted by TommyHotWheel

Damn...in Michigan, if I remember correctly, there was a dealership selling overstock, brand new, fullsize, short bed work trucks for around $18,000.

They sell those here too......but not 4x4 solid front axle F250's It's the 2wd F150's

I got my LAST truck as an overstock W/T

It was a 2002 Chevy Silverado EXT cab short bed. Listed for $23,000 and i got it for $17k OTD

[wildchild]

i hear you. just went through the same here. last truck i looked at before buying the one I got was a new left over 2010 dodge 2500 4x4 work truck. dealer used it to plow with for 700 miles.
they dented the front and back and just a little bing on the bed as well. he offered to "take all the fat out of the price" and offered it to me for 26,800. i didn't stick around long enough for him to come to his senses and offer a real price.
they had a used one on their lot as well. with 34000 miles on it. it was interesting until he told me the whole front end had been rebuilt. why? didn't matter as soon as we hit the road the front end was vibrating all over the place.
and then there was the 3/4 ton that was really a half ton with 2500 markings. gotta love scam artists

[Particle Man]

Originally Posted by CasterTroy

They sell those here too......but not 4x4 solid front axle F250's It's the 2wd F150's

I got my LAST truck as an overstock W/T

It was a 2002 Chevy Silverado EXT cab short bed. Listed for $23,000 and i got it for $17k OTD

There's a ton of those around here - they're all 4X4 though and on most of 'em, the bed and cab corners are rusted to shit.

[CasterTroy]

Originally Posted by Particle Man

on most of 'em, the bed and cab corners are rusted to shit.

Yeah that's why I look for florida vehicles most of the time. If this OTHER one we looked at last week doesn't pan out I'm flying down to see Moira

[CasterTroy]

The whole REASON for looking for a truck had to do with the fact that my 2004 exploder (valued at a whopping $7000 trade-in) needed so much work that it wasn't worth fixing.

See it's been roaring for a few months now, and popping and jerking at very low speed turns. I knew the clutch packs had given out in the LS rear. Not a big deal. But I was concerned for the ring & pinion health so I had it checked out when I got it inspected last month.

The mechanic at the inspection station said it WAS pretty worn and maybe I needed to look into it further, but there was no leaking. SO he said no hurry. He priced a new rearend at $1,700 + $200 install.

Since he wasn't a ford dealer he couldnt GET the internals...he needed to get the entire rear assembly from JASPER. But that had a lifetime warranty. See it's a full independent rear suspension, not a live axle so it's a stationary rear assembly with floating axles and rear wheel bearings.

OK...an option.

So I took it to Parkway ford to have them look at everything it needed.

Parkway Ford won't even LOOK at your car unless you give them $95 But I wanted to know everything so I paid it

Their estimate?

$1650 for new gears and clutchpacks
$390 for right front bearing
$634 for BOTH rear wheel bearings
$298 Leaking front pinion seal

OH and you're getting close to 100k.....

$280 for new plugs

I got to thinking....a few months ago when I got tires I decided to put some Jeep Rubicon wheels on...




had a painter buddy spray them and fill in the JEEP on the centercaps. Thought it'd be "different" but ever since then is when it started acting funny and roaring. I got to thinking, maybe since the JEEP wheels stuck out about 1.5" maybe THAT had something to do with some of the issues. So I thought....I'll just put the stock wheels back on it while I'm at it.


So I took it to King, NC to Piedmont Radiator and Tire where I have all my work done.

He replaced the front wheel bearing and threw the stock wheels back on then drove it. Said I didn't NEED any of the other work done (well, I'll need plugs in another 1000 miles) and said as long as I didn't care that I now had an OPEN rear diff instead of an LS, then he wouldn't do squat about the rearend....that ALL 8.8's hummed like a bad streetlamp. Since it's an AWD model I don't care about the LS.

I literally had to argue with him about the rear bearings though. I figured he just didn't have the time that day to DO the rear bearings or didn't WANT too. I told him I'd schedule another day to do the rear bearings if that would help him?!?!

He said "You don't NEED them man....I'm serious!"

?!?!?!?!

SO I happily paid him $300 for the front bearing and jumped in the exploder. On the ride home I found that it road fine, no roaring, no vibration....no nothing. Smooth as silk....other than the typical 8.8 rearend hum.

Apparently the rubi wheels caused most of the vibration, slow speed wheel hop, and chatter....and the roar was just the front wheel bearing.