Looking At A Chevy

gm88 · August 6, 2008

I'm looking at a 1999 (old body style) C2500 regular cab long bed with about 75000 miles on it. It has a 350 with auto tranny. The truck seems to have a very good body and frame especially for being a 10 yr old northern truck. I drove it today and didnt feel anything weird. My question is, what goes wrong with these trucks, if anything? Im coming from a ford and my family has owned fords for years. On my current '94 f150 a few things have gone wrong that happens to "all of them" such as rusting oil pan and rear leaf spring shackles. Is there anything on these truck that goes wrong with "all of them".?

Also, how do i find out the rear axle ratio? it seems to cruise at 1500 rpms at around 45 or so.

thanks

nhproxr · August 6, 2008

Not much goes wrong with all of them. Probably a fuel pump at 100k, that's about it. Many others have problems with intake gaskets on vortec small blocks, but I have 169k on my '98 vortec 350 it its still running on everything original...injectors, intake gaskets, thermostat, water pump, etc. Only thing my truck has succumbed to is a fuel pump failure at 115k.

Look at rpo codes on glove box door. GT4=3.73s or GT5=4.10s, I know on k2500s those were the only choices, don't know if you could 3.55s or even 3.42 on a C truck.

pennzoil29 · August 6, 2008

I really like my '99, but she can sure be a bitch. I have replaced fuel pump, intake gaskets, alt, crank/camshaft sensors, water pump, calipers/rotors and brake lines. She has 164k on the clock. I use my truck for work, so there is a lot more stress and demand on her. I don't ever want to get rid of it. The rpm's you are describing are close to what mine runs, and I have 3:73's in the rear. BUY IT!

Oh yeah, welcome to the forum.

04silverz71 · August 6, 2008

i say go for it i used to have a ford and traded that off for a chevy and i am not dissappointed, i will never go back to a ford again. but thats just my two cents.