96_12V

Well I knew this day woud come eventually. Sold old 96_12V to a co-worker today, with just shy of 373,000 miles on it. Little hard to let it go, it's been just a month short of 12 years with this truck. The frame has started some serious "death rust" around the rivited sections near the rear axle, as well as under the radiator support area. Plus the body panels such as fenders, doors and bed are rusting heavily at this point. Oddly, the quarter panels and cab corners are still solid.

So my co-worker plans to drive it a while, then swap the engine and 5-speed into his much nicer condition V10 '95 truck. We'll see how it goes, but for this individual engine and trans swaps are pretty straight forward. Hope it works out well for him.

But I won't leave here that easily. In a week, I'm picking up a '99 24-valve 2wd dually that was purchased new by a neighbor from "back home." Should be a great truck with a fully known history, little if any rust, a new 5-speed transmission just installed, and hopefully a lot of miles left to run. It's just over 250k now. I'll address the lift pump first, then just look forward to getting it on the road. See you all soon!

Diesel Dave2

Too bad about the frame rust on the 96...Like everyone says...the truck will fall apart before the motor will..

Make sure to post pics of the new dually truck..

joem

Why dont they undercoat trucks at the factory? my Subaru has a quater inch of rubber on the bottom but all my trucks I have ever owned come bare
Lucky for me I live in oregon where they never rust, and I do mean zero rust at 300K miles! I feel sorry for those in the mid west and eastern US where they use salt. They tired salt here in oregon but the ECO fish hugger freaks put a stop to that real fast so now they spray chemical de-icer rather than salt- I drive the back roads when I see the spray lines in the road!

96_12V

So I don't have it in hand yet, just took these photos while I test drove the truck a week back. Will pick it up Saturday. Old '96 left on Friday and I really do miss it!

Old truck is the two-tone 2500.

New truck a red 3500.

Very excited about the next several years with this rig!

Diesel Dave2

Wow....That dually looks in dam nice shape...

96_12V

Thanks Dave - that's the reason I went through with the deal. I know the family well and know how they tend to take care of things they own. I really hope it's just as clean under all that sheet metal. I was told there have been no accidents with it either. Looking forward to driving it again! (Only have test driven it, but it was nice on a 10 mile test trip.)