Buying a 20 year old truck...

[rjpoog1989]

Hi all. I am looking for an old beater.  I saw one at a dealer the other day and intend to look at it this week.  Not sure what year it is or anything really as this place doesn’t have a website.  I’m hoping it’s $5k or less.  I’m probably going to have my mechanic look it over as I’m sure there’s things wrong with it. I’d like to know what I’m getting myself into here. I’ve never bought something this old before, but I figure a $20k truck has just as much chance of breaking as a 5k truck.  I’ve been down that road before and don’t want to do that again. I want to have a few bucks leftover to fix whatever breaks.  What are some common issues to look for in the late 90’s chevys?

[diyer2]

Whats this truck going to be used for?

Daily driver?

Buying anything used is a roll of the dice IMO.

The newer the better IMO.

If your not capable of fixing it, this could get expensive.

[Daly]

Not true at all, the older trucks have less to go wrong and the parts are cheaper when they do go wrong. If you shop smart you'll find a great one. And in all honesty, the older trucks were built better. My $900 91 C2500 has been more reliable and useful then my 2014 Silverado and, 2016 F150, both were lemons. 

[diyer2]

2 minutes ago, Daly said:

Not true at all, the older trucks have less to go wrong and the parts are cheaper when they do go wrong. If you shop smart you'll find a great one. And in all honesty, the older trucks were built better. My $900 91 C2500 has been more reliable and useful then my 2014 Silverado and, 2016 F150, both were lemons. 

I will agree if you find the right truck.

[The Zip]

2 hours ago, rjpoog1989 said:

I saw one at a dealer the other day...

If this vehicle was on a corner lot, I'd say forget about it.  You get the right old vehicle, it'll hold-up.  I have 16, 21, 25, and 31 year old vehicles at the house.  The most I spent in repairs was for emission control parts after I ruined them with too much oil on the air filter (K & N)   

[carnau]

I would put my 1985 C-10 up against any new truck out there... Even when It didn't have the 383, 700R4, and 3.73 =-)

[aseibel]

3 hours ago, rjpoog1989 said:

What are some common issues to look for in the late 90’s chevys?

Rust. That's the first thing I would take note of. The bottoms of the doors and cab corners all rusted out on that generation 10 years ago. If by chance you find one with solid doors and rear fenders, then that's a great sign.

 

Second, I would worry about the front end & suspension just due to age. You need to know going in if you need to replace parts immediately or if everything looks like it will last a while. If you cannot determine this on your own- your trusted mechanic should take a good look at everything. same with all the other routine maintenance stuff, are the brakes any good, are the tires drive-able for a while? A $4,000 truck will turn into $7500 real fast if you need to do a bunch of maintenance and you are not working on it yourself.

 

Hopefully you found one that was garaged and rarely driven by a grandpa- if so, then you should definitely purchase it.

[rjpoog1989]

3 hours ago, diyer2 said:

Whats this truck going to be used for?

Daily driver?

Buying anything used is a roll of the dice IMO.

The newer the better IMO.

If your not capable of fixing it, this could get expensive.

 

It’ll be a DD maybe 3 months out of the year, rest of the time I’m not sure what I’ll use it for.  Hauling wood to feed my furnace and home improvement projects for sure.  Right now I put about 13k on my 14 Sierra which I’ll be trading or selling.  That’s a lot of driving for recreation and camping though.  I DD that 4 months of the year but planning to shorten the amount I drive the truck.  Camping trips and such will probably be handled by the wife’s Jeep from now on.  Hopefully will put no more than 5k miles per year on the “new” truck.  I can fix most anything myself, especially if I have 9 months of summer to deal with it. I have a very reliable DD for those months, but still hoping to keep it out of the salt.

[rjpoog1989]

8 minutes ago, aseibel said:

Rust. That's the first thing I would take note of. The bottoms of the doors and cab corners all rusted out on that generation 10 years ago. If by chance you find one with solid doors and rear fenders, then that's a great sign.

 

Second, I would worry about the front end & suspension just due to age. You need to know going in if you need to replace parts immediately or if everything looks like it will last a while. If you cannot determine this on your own- your trusted mechanic should take a good look at everything. same with all the other routine maintenance stuff, are the brakes any good, are the tires drive-able for a while? A $4,000 truck will turn into $7500 real fast if you need to do a bunch of maintenance and you are not working on it yourself.

 

Hopefully you found one that was garaged and rarely driven by a grandpa- if so, then you should definitely purchase it.

Rust is a concern. I don’t care much how this truck looks though, just need function and to pass inspection.  It’ll get new tires the day after purchase, Duratracs or KO2s.  I need it to get around my land and be stellar in snow. I have done suspension stuff in the past, just need things to last till March.  Brakes are no big deal, cheap weekend afternoon affair.

[rjpoog1989]

Anybody know how car seats fit in the rear of these old extended cabs? It would be ideal for me to be the one picking the kid up from daycare. I get off earlier than my wife, but only by a half hour, so not the end of the world.  I could just steal her Jeep in a pinch.

 

If no dice on car seats, a good friend has a very well cared for 94 2500 single cab he will sell me for 2500$.  I still would rather have a extended cab though. No A/C in that truck though, but I’d mostly drive it in winter.

[east3021]

The third door helps. Here's a booster seat in a 98 with the front bucket all the way forward and all the way back.





It's fine for running around town, the bucket can be in the middle position without the passenger's knees being in the dash.

An infant seat (the ones with the base on them, forward or rear facing) pretty much has to be in the center position which uses a lap belt. It would then use the little metal clip that comes with infant car seats.

A bench seat wouldn't work as well with an infant seat in the center. The child's feet are pretty much on the edge of the console, so having the gap that buckets provide is best.


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[davester]

If your budget is in the $5K range, then right off, I would suggest not going to a dealer.  They don't add any value to the truck besides maybe washing it, but they jack the price several thousand dollars up from it's actual value.  You can get a lot more truck for that same $5K buying directly from another person (by more truck, I mean newer, more options, less damage, less miles).

[east3021]

I'd agree with that.

Unless you just really like the 88-98 style, the subsequent generation (99-06) offered significant improvements and would still be affordable in the used market.


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[rjpoog1989]

45 minutes ago, east3021 said:

I'd agree with that.

Unless you just really like the 88-98 style, the subsequent generation (99-06) offered significant improvements and would still be affordable in the used market.


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I’ve seen a few gmt-800 trucks I like. I do like that body style as well.  I hate the 900’s, wouldn’t want one even if it was affordable.  The simpler the better though.  I spent the last summer rebuilding a 1948 farmall, I’d like my truck to be just as easily understood.

[davester]

I bought my truck for $5500cdn, but it did need work that the prior owners were incapable of doing and didn't want to pay for.  I bought the full-service manual for it, and then over the next 3-4 months and maybe $1500 or so in parts, it has been running pretty well, beyond maintenance stuff.  And I also got Autogenuity w GM Enhancement for helping figure out what's wrong with the engine and also doing some diagnostic procedures (for example, bleeding the ABS system, and and checking that the injectors were functioning reasonably well).

 

And I did consider getting a new truck, but realistically for how I use it as a landscaping truck, I am buckets of money ahead with this truck.  And only twice in the past 3 years has it let me down (as in, something broke that had to be fixed immediately, 1 was a newly installed Russell braided stainless steel brake hose [huge mistake, they are an EXTREMELY POOR product], and just yesterday, the alternator gave out and I barely made it home).