What do I look for when purchasing a used Medium Duty?

[byggtyme]

New to large vehicle purchasing. Looking at purchasing a used medium duty truck. The price is almost too good to believe. It's a 2006 GMC 7500 with only 22000mi. I think it's because the box doesn't have a liftgate. Can any anyone let me know what I should be looking for?

 

[dodge man]

My first question is where did you find this great price? If its on Craigslist, its most likely a scam, and don't fall into that trap. You see $35,000 trucks, cars, boats, tractors etc being sold on Craigslist all that time for 25% of the true value. SCAM

 

[byggtyme]

The GMC 7500 is actually at a dealership in PA. They have sent pictures of and a VIN. I am looking to purchase because it is one of the few 24' trucks equipped with a reefer unit (Thermo King).
Here is the link:2006 GMC C7500 for sale in Duncansville, Pennsylvania - CommercialTruckTrader.com

Let me know what you think.
And Thanks for the reply.

 

[slowzuki]

The price is inline or maybe even a bit high for what I see around here, but I only really follow private sale stuff, and besides year/milage, don't know much about the desirable engines etc.

I know that high mileage cabovers are cheap here and common. Something that age with 400,000 km's would be in the 10,000$ range with a box.

 

[westcliffe01]

Who does the engine ? Is it a CAT ? Suggest you have the PCM scanned at the nearby chevy dealer. They can tell you how many hours on the engine (lots of idling) and whether there have been serious fault codes.

 

[flusher]

New to large vehicle purchasing. Looking at purchasing a used medium duty truck. The price is almost too good to believe. It's a 2006 GMC 7500 with only 22000mi. I think it's because the box doesn't have a liftgate. Can any anyone let me know what I should be looking for?

A recently bought a 2004 Isuzu NPR EFI (6.0L GMC V8 gas engine, 12,000 GVWR) stakebed (8 x 14 ft bed) with 49,500 miles for $11K off eBay. Fortunately, the truck was located close by so there was no problem arranging for the test drive.

The NPR is identical to the GMC W3500.



I weighed it at the Petro truck stop--7140 lb with 3/4 tank of gas, me in the drivers seat and no load in the bed. So I have about 4800 lb of payload capacity-more than enough to haul my parade tractors around (heaviest is about 4000 lb). I'll get a set of heavy duty aluminum ramps (16" wide x 10 ft long).

Interior of the cab is essentially perfect--shows very little wear--no tears or stains on the seats.

The engine is clean as a whistle. Front tires need to be replaced (70% of the braking is done by the front discs so the fronts wear out first). Not a big expense since these are 10-ply rated LT215/85R16.

It has a vacuum assist on the brakes--the vacuum pump runs off the serpentine belt and is making bearing noise so I'll have to replace the pump and also the belt.

There was a rock crack (with spidering) in the windshield right in the driver's field of view (wouldn't pass CA inspection). Seller had the windshield and the gasket replaced ($200 and the job was done by the windshield guy in the Seller's driveway).

In CA the seller is responsible for getting the vehicle smogged--it passed easily ($99 please).

Fortunately, the manufacturer's window sticker was in the glove compartment so I know exactly what equipment is on my NPR.

I just returned from my steel supplier--needed some angle and bar stock to stiffen the corners of the stakebed. Bought some weldable D-rings since there are no tiedowns installed on the stakebed yet.

The deck is built by Supreme (one of the big guys in truck upfitting ). It's tongue and groove 2x6 dense pine and it shows a good bit of wear (the truck was initially owned by a tile company). The black paint on the top and bottom sides of the deck is high solids acrylic enamel and has to be redone.

I calculated the bending loads on the frame of the stakebed and it should carry my 4000lb parade tractor with no problem.

I realize that my NPR is a lightweight version of a medium duty truck compared to the 7000 you're eyeballing, but I think you can get some idea of what to look for from my story.

Hope this helps.
Good luck.

 

[dgl24087]

Who does the engine ? Is it a CAT ? Suggest you have the PCM scanned at the nearby chevy dealer. They can tell you how many hours on the engine (lots of idling) and whether there have been serious fault codes.

The ad says it has a Duramax.