Dont you hate previous owners?

[Randy92782]

Not generally. Most of the vehicles I've bought have been well taken care of.

They don't have time to mess them up with only 10,000 miles on them craig haha

 

[Txchevy18]

Hmm lets see where to start. Im 19 and on my 5th k5 and 7th truck..

My 1st k5 was bought hwen i didnt knwo any better and just wanted a lifted k5 like my dad had. i started lookin and found a 76 k5 with a 79 body on hmm, that should of been the first red flag. It had 8" of lift ,4 sup. and 4 body on 37 boggers rear and bald 36" tsls and was missing a front drive shaft due to tire size supposedly. d44,sb350 bored .30 over, sm465, np203 w/part time kit, and a 12bolt rear. Truck was originaly an auto so there was huge hole rite in the middle of the floor Was told gears were 3.73's. Nope had 2.88 up front and 3.08's in the rear. Found that out the had way, no wonder I was breaking shafts everytime I went and played. It also had zero interior, cheap roll on bedliner on the floor and jerry rigged pop locks with no door handles, that didnt work half the time. But it had a beautiful black gloss paint job and was incedibly staight and it had a billet grille. It had horrible axle wrap so I looked into a t case drop kit when i noticed these block in place already.. They were 2x4's painted black! Fixed that and then i noticed the exhaust. It was routed between the frame and body and dumped b4 the rear tires. The trucks wiring was a total joke. I found all kinds of wire leading no where or other constant hot wires just hangin out under the hood and dash. How that truck never burnt down is a mystery to me.. The radio was just stuck in a hole no real support or surround just a bare radio in the hole. The brake lines were to short so they just pulled the factory mounts down 6"s and welded them inplace. Within a yaer I had most of this fixed when one day the entire wiring system decided to become non fuctioning.. everything seemed fine and then it would just randomly quit working. It also claimed 3 red tops b4 i finally put her down.. She was scarped the day after i was kicked out..but yet my drug head brother still lives there to this day...

theres more but im sick of typing..

 

[BKinzey]

It's part of buying a used vehicle unfortunately. The more through an inspection the more you will catch this stuff.

I'm willing to bet Craig passes on a lot of vehicles before he buys one.

Then again, some people do some screwed up ****!!

 

[Blue85]

Let's see. First, the P.O. kept the truck in the desert so there was no rust anywhere. Then they had the nerve to yank the factory 305 and replace it with a crate 350. Some people.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Let's see. First, the P.O. kept the truck in the desert so there was no rust anywhere. Then they had the nerve to yank the factory 305 and replace it with a crate 350. Some people.

Hopefully I find one of those kinds of PO's for my K5.

 

[RENO88]

Alot of cool stories here. One thing I can say is I love my truck.

 

[vortec]

"Four matched 33" tires, with an ancient 31" spare."that's how mine is right now, except my spare isn't ancient. and it was my doing. i don't think it's that big a deal, but i do have my eyes open for an inexpensive 33" spare.if they're so bad, why are you guys buying them? ha. mine is just what i needed. i wanted it to look decent, but not so pretty that i wouldn't wheel it. i passed on a lot of beautiful rigs because i didn't want to puke every time i got a rock chip. inside:-wiring from hell. i've pulled out more than i've added or redone. everything was contacting everything else in his spiderwebbed mess. i ghetto rigged some LEDs into the dash to get by and now i actually really like them, now.-don't get me started on his attempt to install his own alarm. one good yank and a few splices took care of that. -he made so many screw holes in the dash that i can't even guess what all he had on there. -he broke the passenger seat latch. no big deal. under the hood:-more bad wiring, but i fixed it easily-he had no clue how to route the emissions hoses. i did. i routed them directly to the floor after yanking most of them off. -heard of changing gaskets? he hadn't. my valve coveres were leaking oil all over the place until i spent $7 and took care of it. -missing this and that here and there, but no big deal. it passes inspection and gets the job done. that's what matters. there's a reason i was able to talk the dealer from $2500 to $1200 cash. they took $100 off for a huge dent in the driver door. it took me about 5 minues to pop it out and it looks perfect. my dd...she's a different story. my baby. PO did think he was a performance expert and tried to supe up the tranny. that resulted in it failing on me at 119k. at least he knew how to care for an engine.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Oh, not complaining really...got my $3000 '96 Tracker with over a grand in aftermarket parts for $2000 cash and a 5 hour drive each way. Deal of the century and I'm still ahead...just amazed at the "work" they did.

 

[Burn-N-Daylight]

I forgot to mention when i bought my 85 k5 it was the middle of winter the guy told me that it had A/C and it worked great. Little did he know i am an HVAC Tech. so when i was looking at the motor i happend to notice the condenser was missing along with all the refer lines. the look on his face was priceless. That cost him another few $$$ in the asking price.

 

[Randy92782]

I forgot to mention when i bought my 85 k5 it was the middle of winter the guy told me that it had A/C and it worked great. Little did he know i am an HVAC Tech. so when i was looking at the motor i happend to notice the condenser was missing along with all the refer lines. the look on his face was priceless. That cost him another few $$$ in the asking price.

so the guy actually tried to sell you a rig while telling you something worked and pieces were missing??

classy

 

[jonathon]

if they're so bad, why are you guys buying them? ha. mine is just what i needed.

I bought mine because:

1) It ran, shifted, and drove pretty good(other than the way too big carb but I could see that)

2) Solid body, very little rust, and only on the floor pans.

3) They'd done a lot of stuff I would've done already... no emissions junk, all the interior trim panels removed, etc

4) It was $600

 

[az_762_nato]

I was told my 76 had a part time kit when it really just had hubs and was driven in high lock, nothing electrical wise worked, until I removed 17 pounds (seriously!!) of added on wires from the truck, aaaaaaand to top it all off, it had a camaro sunroof split and grafted in since its not a full 'vert. I got it for a steal though, and got a spare (original) 350. The one in it has less than 1000 miles on it, same with the th350 that was redone by a local performance tranny shop. gotta love a lifted truck with 33s that you can still feel the hit when it grabs the next gear. Im sure THAT will help the 12 bolt live long.....

Oh yeah, the reason I have the new engine is he though it had a rod knocking on the original, turns out after the new engine went in it was only a lifter. Ive got a nice file folder of all the receipts and documents for the truck, from engine on down to light bulbs and fuses he purchased!

 

[lectric80]

"Four matched 33" tires, with an ancient 31" spare."that's how mine is right now, except my spare isn't ancient. and it was my doing. i don't think it's that big a deal, but i do have my eyes open for an inexpensive 33" spare.if they're so bad, why are you guys buying them? ha.

I bought it because it was the year I wanted, had the options I wanted (even if the dealer didn't know they were there or worked), and for 2500, it wasn't a bad price for a working 4x4. I love my truck, and won't be parting with it anytime soon. I would rather spend money making the truck the way I want it, then go buy a new truck and have a payment for years to come.

A 31" spare might work very short term on some vehicles, but with a gov-lock in the rear, and the problems it will cause with steering, it doesn't work for my truck. Currently saving my pennies to buy me a new set of 5 BFG M/T KM's.

 

[Cowboy_80]

I thought the story on my rig was bad... I feel pretty good about myself now guys. Thanks.

I bought my '80 from some college punk. No big deal. It was stock height, stock tires, nothing too awful bad on first check. A little bit of rust in the fender wells and underside of the door. Had plumbers tape holding an Autozone speaker box to the ceiling. It blew smoke on start-up, but nothing too serious, I had another motor waiting for it anyhow. I talk the guy down another few hundred bucks. paid 1500 for it. Not bad for a running rig. I get it home, drive it to/from work for the week. I head out to my Grandpa's to swap engines, it came with a 305, had a 400 (so I was told, turned out to be a 305 too) waiting to go in. 40 miles form the house and it started knocking. I knew the motor was weak, so I was only going 65 or so. I slow down to 55, quiet for a couple more miles. started knocking again, so I slowed to 50, got quiet. Then knock, knock, KNOCK, KNOCK, BOOM! I blew cylinder out both sides of the pan. Found a piece of it on the freeway. Open it up and the cylinder is gone and the connecting rod is twisted 90*. All well, life sucks. I drop the other motor into it and notice all sorts of cool stuff on the underside. Lots of diamond plate aluminum. Of course, it's not there as protection. Is all covering random rust holes. Okay, lazy man's repair job. Even worse. It's spray foamed in place, and the rust wasn't even cut out.

The wiring is a mess of course, but there's really not much else wrong with it. Can never be a show body, but I bought it for the trail. The spray foam is the biggest kicker. Straight up globbed it on and ass slapped the aluminum in place.

 

[vortec]

Little did he know i am an HVAC Tech. so when i was looking at the motor i happend to notice the condenser was missing along with all the refer lines. the look on his face was priceless. That cost him another few $$$ in the asking price.

i forgot about that on mine. almost the same situation. i was an hvac tech at the time and found two gaping holes in the condenser. it would have worked just fine...if freon was the same consistency as peanut butter.

 

[darkshadow]

I'd say wiring is the worst, hard enough to go through the stock stuff, don't need some dip **** messing it up even more.

 

[Craig Artzner]

I'd say wiring is the worst, hard enough to go through the stock stuff, don't need some dip **** messing it up even more.

That's why I avoid buying someone else's 'project'. I always go for all stock, as long as the search may take.

 

[darkshadow]

This current truck has some messed up wiring, seconed battery, (or they removed the stock one ) alarm non working etc. but hey I needed a beater, and for 615$(ebay) can't complain.

 

[k20]

Mine wasnt too bad when I bought it, but I pity the fool that buys my truck and tries to figure out the wiring.....Hey its too much of a PITA to keep different color wire around, so everything gets done in black, least it negates the need for wire loom lol.

Who am I kidding Ill end up buried in the thing.

 

[darkshadow]

my last truck was all black, but each end has wire numbers on it and I had a book that listed what each number did.