HI folks,
My buddy is selling his '98.5 24 valve 2500 Ram and I really want to buy it, but, - 400K miles What am I thinkin!
The truck seems to run really great. He bought it from a dealer last year on a whim and has done lots of little things to it, and some big things. New IP lots of new hoses, chipped it, added 4-5" exhaust and - and he had a frybrid SVO kit installed. I currently drive a Mercedes SVO, but I'd like a truck. We don't have much of a history on the truck, but it can't be running the original tranny. Truck seems to run just great in all aspects. I just drove it on a trip for 420 miles on SVO and Bio and all was great. Tiny bit of tranny drip, very small amount of oil seepage, but no leaks. Sounds great, Super power. With the SVO kit and new IP ($5k of the bill),my cost will be $13,k. Am I crazy , what should or could I inspect or check? Help me while you can.
Roy

 

The thought of buying a truck with 400K miles for that amount of $$$ is ludicrous. I don't care how well it runs.

So there is a new VP44, big deal. That is normal upkeep. The seller can't expect to recoup the cost of that on the sale. As for the SVO fuel system.... new cost is about $2450 for a VP powered Cummins. Again, you as the buyer cannot be expected to pay for something like that. Aftermarket anything does not increase the value of a vehicle.

If you have $13K to spend on a truck look somewhere else. You will be able to find one with less than half those miles and be much happier.

 

$13,000! for a truck with 400,000 miles, there is no way I would pay that. I would offer him 1/2 and he can keep the frybird kit. You can buy alot of bio-diesel for that kind of $$$

Edit: If you're interested in running SVO, a 12 valve is the way to go.

 

I think thats an insane ammount of money to pay for that truck. I paid $10.5K for my one owner, 130K mile '97. If he had been the only owner and had every maintinence record, and the truck was truly in imaculate condition i might see paying $10-11K for it, but no way for what hes asking.

 

Man hes not even giving you vaseline to smooth it out when he...well you know.

 

4K tops for something that is near retirement. WAY to many miles. You would be living on borrowed time from your first day of ownership. Not to say there is not a few good miles left.

 

IMO, I think it could be a good truck for a lot more miles, but...you dont know the history and 400,000 miles is alot.

I wouldn't pay anything over $5000 for it.

 

Although you may get another 100-200,000 miles from the engine, the rest of the truck is already on borrowed time. If you buy this thing you're going to be throwing money at it left and right. No matter how nice you think this truck is, believe me, there nicer ones out there.

DON'T BUY IT!

With $13k you should be able to find a truck in nice condition, with under 150,000 miles easily. Go up to about $15-16k and you should be able to find a nice 01-02 with low miles.

 

WOW $13k....no way! My brother just bought a 98.5 Dodge quad cab dually 5 speed with all options including leather, rhino lined bed, edge comp box, maintenance records of Dodge dealer doing every oil change & repair. It also had all new tires, no scratches & a turbo timer. One owner [old guy who used it to travel after retirement] with 90k highway miles for $15k.

 

http://www.nadaguides.com/default.as...027&da=-1&nx=1

nada says only $1,100 hit on the mileage. I bought a toyota 4 runner that had 220k miles on it. it was much tighter then many low mileage rigs I looked at. it has needed an alternator and a 3rd member for a total of 150 bux in maint. costs. you never know what you are gonna get on a high mileage rig. I say if it starts cold well, does not use any oil, is tight bodywise, it might be a decent purchase.....but with that kind of mileage, I would have enough $$ in my kitty for brakes, bearings, a tranny/x-fer and a rearend rebuild. so 13k sounds like a great deal for your buddy...not so much for you. I would tell him to keep the frybird and eat about 5g's

 

400k old man freeway miles beats 150k abused miles, but since u don't know the history it's not worth it. People have 1 million mile cummins, but u can definently find a better starting point. Plenty of low mile cummins for under 14k.

 

Uh, , Thanks for the advice and ideas and thoughts. General opinion seems to be that 400K miles for these trucks is allot. I know it is allot, but. Man, it sure runs & drives great. The big Cummins engine should have another 100k in it as long as it was taken care of. Y'all are right about the rest of the truck, with the FAST 400K it is hard to tell what parts have already been replaced once and what parts have survived all that mileage and are ready to quit or break. It had to be 90% freeway to get that many miles in 9 years. (like 45K each year!) The driver seat shows all 400k miles of butt time. Has some tears and rips, and sags pretty bad. Does show small wear-N-tear on exterior, but nothing glaring bad. Should be some mileage awards somewhere for this thing.
Perhaps I should let him put it on the market to get a reality check and then make a fair offer.
Anyone out there with 400K miles or more want to chime in ??

Roy

 

I wouldn't touch it.. 91' in my sig with over a mil. bought in 2000 for $2800 needs some repairs now but stood up to two years of farm use and 4 years of my teenage driving. A very good truck for me. The 01' I ve been driving for almost three months with 200k was bought in Texas for $10500. Sure I had to go to Texas to get it but it is in great shape. I have pics floating around of my rigs. There are better deals out there.

 

No way!! Too much. For that amout you could buy a lot nicer truck with way lower miles!! A good friend of mine is an auctioneer and did an estate sale and there was a 95 4x4 5spd reg cab with a little over 340,000 on it sold for 3,000. Said it ran great and looked good. He check with other auctioneers and they told him the range would be 2500 to maybe 4000.

 

I am quite a few over 400k and mine isn't for sale. Probably a good thing because I wouldn't take $13k for it...BUT...I am the original owner and take very good care of it. I'm about to replace the dash top because of one crack and looking at replacing the steering wheel because of a dime size hole. I replaced the outside seat panel when it wore thru and had the padding replaced at the same time, that was around 300k miles. From what you describe I'd offer him no more than $8000. If it has a bunch of holes in the bed from a gooseneck and/or a 5er hitch it may have been a hotshot or RV transporter rig. In that case I'd go even lower.