Like what was stated above I would check it out good first. The oil leak could be just a oil leak from the ps pump. I had a vacuum pump leak and it looked like I had a big leak, it wasn't that bad. I think I had to add a quart in-between oil changes and I change a 7500 miles. And a little oil can make a big mess. Also when I changed my seals in the vacuum I had a huge leak, I lost a quart in 50 miles. If you think it is the vacuum pump just get under the truck and look at the shaft between the vacuum pump and ps pump. If the shaft is wet and has oil on it the seals are leaking. The truck looks good and looks like someone took care of it. If they are putting aftermarket parts on the truck I would think that they were taking good care of it. Most people that don't care just put stock parts back on, JMO. I think it looks like a good deal as long as everything checks out when you look at it. I would at least go and check it out.

 

Well said!

 

You are right it won't hurt me to go look at it. It could be a great deal in disguise or a huge proble, but I don't know until I go look at it. BTW 99 or Farmer Dave do y'all have the part number for the fitting that screws into the fuel filter? There is an Advanced Auto just a few block away I can go puck it up today. The truck is exactly what I am looking for so I might as well go check it out with my friend. I will take a note book to write down everything I see, like 53 block where it is leaking how it drives all the mods and so on. I can get cought up in the excitement of driveing it and forget everything. Other than hooking up the presure guage and checking the leak plus the 53 block, how long should I expect the trans to hold up. I think towing would put more stress on it than just some big tires. Plus it is rebuilt so I think it would last a long time the way I drive. I will keep every one informed on how it goes.

 

It's been along time since I hooked mine up but I think it was just an AN6 fitting. If the tranny is the 5 speed manual and it was fixed right it will last for a long time even towing, the problem is with people taking shortcuts to fixing them. Instead of replacing the OEM shaft with a full spline shaft and upgraded nut they just weld the old nut right back on to the original shaft. If it's Auto, well your out of my lane there. Worst case scenario on the manual is if you have to pull and rebuild it someday it's $400 worth of parts to do it yourself or $1200 from most shops to have it done. In my gallery there is a picture of the guage setup I am talking about, but the pictures are small. I aint figured out this whole how to post pictures thing yet.

 

I am not sure what size the test port is. I have heard of guys using grease gun hose to hook the pressure gauge to but you will still need a fitting. I would call a company who sell kits here and ask them. They will most likely tell you the size. I have mine gauge hooked up by the injection pump. You have to take a shrader valve out but it is jsut like a tire valve stem. Here is a kit you can buy http://www.smokindiesel.com/dodge/BriarHopper.htm or just give Doug a call and he will tell you what size you need. This is who I have worked with but there are many other vendors here that would be willing to help.

As for the tranny I have no clue. What type of gears does it have? If it is 4.10 then I would think that it would be less stress on the tranny. Just drive it and see how it feels. If it goes out the you have a good excuse to get a built tranny.

 

since its a '99 you can check the pressure by removing 1/8 th pipe plugs on top of the fuel filter. the one towards the front is post filter and the back one is pre filter.

 

Yep, that's the road-draft tube. On some trucks it's at the rear of the engine, driver side, and on your 99 it's on the front of the engine. Mostly what comes out is in vapor form, with the odd liquid drip. On a 99, it's often enough to make the rad fins oily and the steering gearbox wet. That's completely normal. What you need to worry about is when the whole underside of the truck is wet, and there's oil dripping off the rear bumper, and spots all over the tailgate. Don't laugh, I've seen it. It looks like a simple valve cover leak, or rear main seal leak (usually those areas are leaking too), but after fixing the external leaks, it becomes apparent that 75% of the leakage is coming from the tube, requiring an engine teardown to solve the blow-by.

 

Test port: 1/8" pipe thread.
Lots of blowby out the tube is rings gone bye-bye. Rebuild time.

Chris

 

Thank you every one. I was think this morning about the trans in the truck. I drive maybe 19k miles a year. I plan on driving this truck for about 4 years before I am able to buy a new truck. So 10k miles a year x 4 driving years = 40k miles on the truck. So with 30k miles on the trans already and 40k with what I am driving in the future = 70k on a rebuilt trans. Should it last me this long? I won't be doing any pulls or much racing just crusing and daily driveing. I think the trans will be fine for me, As long as the engine checks out. Plus I plan on down sizing the lift and tires to put less stress on everything. But I did find another truck that is just as nice or nicer than the 99. Thing is it has 244k miles, but the trans is built up strong tell me what you think:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...RK%3AMEWA%3AIT

 

That is a lot of miles on a truck, but it is up to you. I you do end up buying the first truck I would have a valve body put in to help increase the pressure. This will help you torque converter. It won't be a fix to a problem if there is one but if the tranny is good it could help it last longer.