1RMDave

Hey, great little community here. I have learned lots just lurking a few weeks.

So I bought my first Cummins a month ago, a 1993 W250 Club Cab 5spd. I bought it from the original owner, some farmer a few hours away. I bought it for $4100 sight unseen, however he was willing to deliver it (250 miles away) so I figured it should be decent.

Turns out he hadn't done much for maintainence (has 160K miles). I ended up replacing steering shaft with borgeson shaft, rebuilt front driveshaft, replaced all u-joints, changed all fluids to synthetic, changed fuel and air filters, fixed the speedo, replaced the radio, took off the running boards, changed the window seals, replaced rear brake shoes/drums, brake master cylinder. It still has oil leaking from every part of the engine haha but I'll get to that soon.

The reason I bought the truck was mostly to haul my snowmobile between BC and Manitoba. I wanted a diesel and something with decent fuel economy. So last week I did my first trip (2300 miles). An important part of the story is that I am using WMO with my diesel. Well actually the oil is clean and new since I get it at work, we have a surplus.

Trip started off good, was nervous since I don't know the truck that well but I'm a technician daily so I knew I could make some roadside repairs. Around 100 miles into my trip I was pushing a nasty headwind and blowing ALOT of smoke. Everyone that passed me looked at me like I was solely responsible for climate change. I had no power either, almost to the floor doing 60mph. At this point I decided I had a problem with the charge pipes or possibly the turbo.

I pulled off to a rest area, started to inspect the charge pipes.....aha! I found one of the charge pipe couplers had rubbed through on the fender. I proceeded to a parts store in the next town and managed to buy a very large section of very large heater hose....that'll work. I finish the repair and hit the highway again hoping the smoke clears up. Well let me tell you, it smoked a TON for the next 800 miles! It wasn't till I hit some 12% grades that it finally cleaned itself out. Its back to normal now. My fuel economy took a big hit on the way out but on the way back it was pretty good. Averaged 21mpg. I figure it was pumping a lot of WMO into the cylinders when the coupler went. Took a long *** time to clean it all out.

Its funny, I can definately tell why there are no cup holders. My coffee would be everywhere!! So driving a getrag equipt cummins is not the most one hand friendly truck if you are trying to have a coffee and a smoke lol. Yeah I only have one hand, cut it off in a grain auger haha totally different story.

enafzige

Welcome to the club! Sounds like you got a good truck. Good insight on the boost leak.

So, can you run canola oil, or do you have access to it? We drove up to Alaska last summer, and noticed you guys grow just a little of the crop

--Eric

patdaly

Nice score on the truck, even though you had to do some work, 4100 is a number we can only dream of for a 160K 4wd 5 speed ext. cab.... You don't want to see what kind of roach coach 2WD's they are getting that kind of money down here for......

1RMDave

No canola oil haha. I have the easiest time getting regular oil through work.

Thanks, yeah prices are pretty high here too which is why I bought it without seeing it. The farmer didn't even have internet access, he had a neighbor post it for him. I called him the day the ad went up, offered to wire the money. The next day he called and asked if he was selling it too cheap, said his phone wouldn't stop ringing (and the ad was already down). I'd like to keep it forever. We built a bond on my trip haha.

NJTman

Nice story Dave,

Both of my CTD's that I bought I had to do all of the maintenance issue you spoke of.....and then some.. I think it's a normal process, as a large majority of folks who had these trucks since new, never did a whole lot to them due to reliability, and then we buy them.....

Go figure..



How about some pix of your new ride ? would help with the "envisioning" the trip.

1RMDave

Yeah, I expected to do most of the items I did repair. I wasn't expecting to have so much oil leaking from the engine however, and I didn't know it had no tailgate. But as a bonus it has a gooseneck hitch and a trailer brake.

Here are some pictures from my travels and a cleaner picture from when I bought it.

Glen_63

I remember seeing this for sale now, hopefully it does everything you want looked like a good buy.