The overdrive on the auto is slightly higher than 6th on the NV. Personally, unless you are going to tow heavy, I wouldn't get 4.10's. Somewhere between 1900 and 2100 seems to be where the engine likes to run while cruising down the freeway.

 

If you have any inkling of it being a patch truck run far and fast! I don't care who drove it, it's had an abnormally hard life.

 

I LOVE mine! I wouldn't worry a bit if it's an SO but the 6 spd is WAY better for towing. After I towed with my 03 I didn't miss my 97 5 spd 3.54 any more - there's no comparison. You don't get the 7/70 warranty if it was a lease truck. Check the diff really good. DC shipped a lot of 03s low on lube and trashed a bunch of diffs. Warm it up good and listen for noises. I didn't warm mine up enough to hear the noise and I got one with a noisy diff - just waiting for it to get bad enough to warranty. Mine doesn't have any of the driveline or steering column vibrations that a lot of 03s had. Craig

 

What you should do is start out by kicking the tires. Then open the hood and make like you know what you are looking at. Use words like valve lash and turbo wastegate and finish of with cp3. Then reach your arm in the window and pull the steering wheel back and forth while watching the front tire. They will soon know that are dealing with a trained professional and should drop the price by 5k at least.

 

Actually I'm a HD mechanic by trade so I DO know what I'm looking at mechanically. As far as kicking the tires go I've never found that actually tells me anything but makes you look awefull silly to someone who DOES know what he's doing.

 

Kicking a tire is a way of thumping a tire to check for pressure. But you would really have to boot it with steel toe boots on. And it reall only works on large truck tires. But yes you would look like a fool kicking tires on a pick up.