Chev 2500

/ Chev 2500 #1  

MIKE R

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I am looking at a old road crew truck the township has for sale. Its a 1999 Chev 2500 extended cab 4x4. It has some what they call extensive rust (more or less surface rust), rotten floor, passenger door held shut with a rope, spongy brakes, missing emergency brake and loose steering. I haven't found out what engine or transmission are in it yet. It is currently still in use for collecting recycling and hauling there lawn tractor. I plan on using it for a farm truck possibly adding a dump box and plow.

They want people to give them offers in a sealed envelope until Friday 10th at 3pm them they will see whose offer was the best and take it.

What do you all think is a fair price for it?
 
/ Chev 2500 #2  
about $6.

no in all honesty, hard to say without knowing more about the mechanical condition. It's gonna be a farm truck so who cares about the rotten floors and door held shut with rope. I think there's a good chance it would have the 454 in it which would be cool. One of the county forest preserves around me has an auction where they sell of their old trucks and stuff like that. I have seen similar trucks in what sounds like better condition go 2k-3k and sometimes that's with a plow. This is also at a public auction where people often raise their bids due to the competition. Again, without seeing it or hearing it run or even knowing how many miles are on it I would probably guess maybe $1200 if everything else is good. Usually forest preserves and the like maintain their vehicles pretty well, but this doesn't sound like the case here.

Kinda neat to see a township still using something like that. Most feel they need to replace their fleet after 4 or 5 years at taxpayer expense. I can't believe some of the things that I see at these auctions going for pennies... stuff that has absolutely nothing wrong with it- and not just vehicles.
 
/ Chev 2500 #3  
I would go $1001. That extra $1 has won me lots of junk which is what this truck sounds like. I would pass and let this money pit be someone elses problem.

Chris
 
/ Chev 2500
  • Thread Starter
#4  
The way they re doing this is so no-ones knows what has been offered until after 3pm Friday then they will take the best offer. There won't be any people drive the bids up, that's good for me! I'll probably go take a look at it tonight and get some pics if possible. They say it will need over $1500 to get to road worthy shape.

I am thinking of biding somewhere around $450-$600. If I don't get it I don't care.
 
/ Chev 2500 #5  
Does this truck plow snow? If so, check the frame behind the A arm mounts. They tend to crack there.
 
/ Chev 2500 #7  
Money Pit. I suggest you pass on this truck alltogether. Even for use as a Farm Truck, it'll nickel and dime you to death. Except it'll be a hundred here and a hundred there...

I'd check the crew trucks on Iron Planet auction for about the same price, most of which are even certified for highway use.

...my opinion only though. It's your dime.
 
/ Chev 2500
  • Thread Starter
#8  
I went to look at it. Didn't get to see it run or drive it. The door don't shut because the pins are gone. Frame. inside wheel wells, cab corners, most body looks good, minus what is pictured. It has a rip in the seat and has 310 000kn on it.
 
/ Chev 2500 #10  
I think I would go the other way and charge them to haul it away.
 
/ Chev 2500 #11  
the price / value of something like that could vary a lot. the days of buying a $500 vehicle that was functional are long gone. you can sometimes get near that in scrap value alone on a vehicle. now figure in that it's a very common make and model truck, and you have a salvage value of quite a bit, because there will still be trucks of that style on the road for years to come. even on core value for some of the main parts - engine, transmission, transfer case - you've got something.

years back i bought a used high mileage company truck that was the same body style and it had the same door pin issue. as probably is the case with this one, it won't be able to be repaired perfectly, because they neglected to replace the bronze bushings and the pins when they should have, so the pins wore into the steel of the hinge. you can likely put new pins and bushings in now, but the holes in the hinge are likely worn larger than the bushing now.

the thing that would keep me wanting to offer on the lower end would be that it's bordering on 200k miles. alone that's not unheard of, but when you look at the driver's seat and the door pin issue, it's had an awful lot of start, stop, in and out use, just like any typical town truck would. if it was a salesman's or commuter's vehicle you wouldn't see the seat and door wear as bad at 200k miles. you can assume multiple operators who were just "on the job" and didn't really care about the condition of someone else's equipment.

if their estimate of $1500 is real, and not a load of bs, then there really isn't much to do. $1500 doesn't go far when it comes to repairs now. check brake and fuel lines for rust just to see what you are likely to have to do next. maybe used doors if you aren't fashion conscious. fix the floor properly and it probably wouldn't be too bad. assuming that there are enough interested parties that are interested, my guess is that it could go around $1000-$1500. is it worth that? well, hard to say, but check the stuff out there for sale in that price range. every now & then you'll find a diamond in the rough, but they are few & far between. to be honest, with a few repairs that truck is probably more sound that a lot of the ones i see on the roads here.
 
/ Chev 2500 #12  
At that age and it's obvious they didn't clean it or care for it. Won't be long and the frame lets go. Put a plow and a dump, give you part of a winter before she all falls down. Usually right in front of the rear axle it'll let go.
 
/ Chev 2500
  • Thread Starter
#13  
I talked to the road superintendent today. They were still using it up to the other week when the door wouldn't stay shut. He said it's not worth them keeping it when they have a 2010 Chevy they use now. The frame looks to be in good condition. It wasn't used in the winter months as the fire department kept it inside there garage for getting up the roads where the fire truck can't go in the winter. It hasn't seen to many drivers because they have a rule that only the road superintendent is allowed to drive the trucks, tractors, ect. The door pins are a minor issue. I don't care if its perfect as long as they shut I'm happy. It has the 350 in it with the automatic transmission. I am going to go and test drive it tomorrow.
 
/ Chev 2500 #14  
Last year I paid 2400.00 for a 95 chevy 8 ft bed 6 cyl with 85,000 miles. It was the rustiest thing I've owned but runs and gets great mileage.
 
/ Chev 2500 #15  
i used to work for a municipality as a mechanic, so i know how vehicles are treated. that truck idled its whole life. it has a billion idle hours, was abused by everyone who drove it, and was poorly maintained. even if the oil was changed every 3k miles, it ran for 750 hours in that time frame. after what i have seen as a municapal employee, there is no way on earth i would pay anything over scrap value for any municiapl owned vehicle. those trucks were poorly spec'd to begin with (they have to settle for what is available on govt/state contract), and lived a miserable life. if the door pins are shot, an aweful lot of people got in and out of that truck
 
/ Chev 2500 #16  
If it cranks and doesn't smoke, drives ok, transmission shifts good i would bid on it. The door can be fixed without much cost. Seat is no big deal or the rusty sheet metal. Do you have access to a lift? Get a better look at under side.
 
/ Chev 2500
  • Thread Starter
#17  
If it cranks and doesn't smoke, drives ok, transmission shifts good i would bid on it. The door can be fixed without much cost. Seat is no big deal or the rusty sheet metal. Do you have access to a lift? Get a better look at under side.

It drives and trans works. They were still using it up to a week ago. I ain't scared of a little rust. I crawled under neath it and it looked good. Only minor surface rust on the frame.
 
/ Chev 2500 #18  
It drives and trans works. They were still using it up to a week ago. I ain't scared of a little rust. I crawled under neath it and it looked good. Only minor surface rust on the frame.

You will want to check the frame right under where your feet would be sitting in the drivers seat. This is where it starts to turn and transition up into the fender area. There is a plate on the inside of the frame and this area is more boxed than c-channel. This is where the frames rust out. Hit it with a hammer and see if large peices shale off. I have fixed up 4 of these era trucks, They all were rusty in this area and all needed some sort of welding to reinforce.
 
/ Chev 2500
  • Thread Starter
#19  
I went and drove it today. There is 2 rotations of the steering wheel before the wheels turn, bad front drivers side bearing, brakes are either almost locked on or off... no in between. It starts and runs real good and also the transmission works good. After this I think I won't pay more than scrap value for it. As for as the road superintendent knew I was the only one interested in it.
 
/ Chev 2500
  • Thread Starter
#20  
I was the only one to bid on it. Council didn't accept the bid because it was below scrap value. They said they need $600 for it or scrap it. I am thinking that if I was to part it out I could get more then $600 out of it. Any input on what I should do.
 

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