looking at 95 GMC 1500

[mgoncalves]

Hey guys, I'm going to look at a 95 gmc 1500 pickup tomorrow morning. This will be for my company truck. It is a 4x4, auto, 350 with 185,000 miles. The transmission has 10,000 on it. This is a farm truck that has been used pretty hard, but the price is cheap and with a new transmission and how cheap 350's are I am going to check it out.



Question I have, is what is there to look out for on these 4x4's. I've never had a Chevy before, so I don't know what problems they have with their frontends or transfer cases.



Any advice on what to check out is greatly appreciated.





Matt

 

[Kernel]

I had a '90 1500, good truck, with IFS I would check to see if the rubber boots on the front are still intact. If they are not I would look close at the front end, see how much play there is in the front shafts. Once mud, dirt, sand gets in there they get ate up. Kind of expensive and labor intensive (to me) to fix. Hope this helps.



Scott

 

[JoshPeters]

Really they are pretty good trucks.



The front differentials ALL leak. I swear the seals are bad from the factory. Make sure the fluid level is good, and there is no noise out of it.



I've also heard of the 4x4 actuator in the front differential not working. The obvious... make sure the 4x4 works.



Umm... . Ball joints, tie rods... the normal check over stuff will show how "good" of a deal it is.



JP

 

[Sageair]

Really they are pretty good trucks.



The front differentials ALL leak. I swear the seals are bad from the factory. Make sure the fluid level is good, and there is no noise out of it.



I've also heard of the 4x4 actuator in the front differential not working. The obvious... make sure the 4x4 works.



Umm... . Ball joints, tie rods... the normal check over stuff will show how "good" of a deal it is.



JP

Yup 4x4 actuators can be troublesome on these trucks. They use an electrically heated gas to expand a piston to engage the front axel. They are not terribly hard or expensive to fix but major bummer when you need 4x4 and she no workee. Other than that i have found that vintage of GM trucks to overall VERY good trucks.

 

[mgoncalves]

Thanks guys,



I checked out the truck, everything seemed OK, well at least for a truck with that many miles. He had already told me $2000 on the phone, I told him my budget was 1500-2000, and that 2000 had to be a ready to go truck for me.



Anyways, it needs a windshield, a mirror, tailgate latch repaired, and the check engine light came on then went off while we test drove it. I waited a day to think it over, and then called and offered $1500. He said he would have to think about it, but that he probably wouldn't take it. So, I'm still waiting and looking for a work truck.



I thought he'd take the $1500 since the truck has been for sale for almost a year now, with no lookers.





Matt