Hello everyone, I am obviously new here and was hoping to get some helpful input/insight into a 1st gen that I am considering purchasing. The pickup is a 1993 W250, Club Cab with 165,000 miles. The seller told me that the Getrag puked at around 120,000 and an NV4500 was swapped in it's place. Other than that it has a Caravan Camper all-steel canopy made in Reno on it and the rest is bone stock. I saw no fluid leaks anywhere on the pickup but did notice that when he went to pull it out of the spot it was parked in he had it in 4-wheel and when he went to pull the t-case to 2 wheel, it appeared that he had to put quite a bit of effort into it.

Questions: What should I look for on this pickup? What are the potential weak spots? What should I ponder regarding the tranny swap? If I buy the pickup (He's asking $6500, I think he's about 1500 too tall) what initial mods would be the first to make? As of right now the only thing I saw that was aftermarket was a tachometer and a three hole power supply thingy that was used to take the place of the cigarette lighter, apparently it broke and was totally missing. Basically, I want to know, in your guys opinion, what may go wrong with this pickup after I buy it....I know that none of us have a crystal ball, but you cats have a whole lot more experience with these 1st gens than I do.

Thanks for any advice you can give...sorry so lengthy.

-Mag

 

Rust is the biggest concern (roof, rockers, floor). The motors are pretty tough unless if it sounds horrible it probably is fine condition. As far as the swap goes as long as it sounds happy going down the road not much to be concerned about there. How neat the swap was done would also something i would look at. It could mean a lot to how the truck was taken care of if it was done neatly.

As far as mods, take a look at the "sticky" at the top of the page. A governor spring and fuel pin is a good starting point. Get gauges before you start to turn up the fuel though.