Should I buy it?

[Brown75K5]

One of the contractors that works with me has a work truck that he is selling. It is the one that his right hand man has used for the past 2 years, reason for getting rid of it is that it's the oldest in his fleet as he got his guy a crew cab F250. The contractor and I have become friends the past 4 years so I know he wouldn't sell me something he knew to be bad.
It's a 1994 C2500 regular cab long bed, TBi 5.7 liter, pretty sure 4l80e, 14bolt 6lug Semi Float, 190,000 miles.
Drove it around yesterday, starts and drives great, no transmission slip, no whining anywhere. It does need a new top hinge for the drivers door and a new coat of paint. I'm thinking I could drive it around for a while then swap the engine (or just TBI stuff), transmission, and rear axle into the K5 I'm slowly working on. Or I could slap on a new coat of paint, do some other modifications to it and try to have a "Low Budget Wheeler".
The hardest part to walk away from is that he would sell it for only $1,000.

 

[ChrisPerry]

Shouldn't a c2500 be 8 lug? If it is 6 lug I would think it's a 1/2 ton.

EDIT: for a grand I'd probably pick it up for the drive train. Sell off what you can in parts and scrap the rest. With a little effort, you could you could probably break close to even, and have the engine and trans for free.

 

[Brown75K5]

Shouldn't a c2500 be 8 lug? If it is 6 lug I would think it's a 1/2 ton.

EDIT: for a grand I'd probably pick it up for the drive train. Sell off what you can in parts and scrap the rest. With a little effort, you could you could probably break close to even, and have the engine and trans for free.

I was thinking the same thing about getting the stuff for almost free after selling off what I don't need. They made some of the 14 bolt SF in 6 lug, same internals and spline count, just 6 lug outers. Some refer to these as 3/4 ton "Light Duty" trucks. Below are a few pics I took yesterday.

 

[K85 Octane]

I'd pick it up and use it for what it is....a solid work truck. Down the road if it starts pissing you off with needing parts etc...you can pull the drivetrain out. I wouldn't even paint it unless Macco (sp?) is running a $300 paint job special.

 

[RollinKaos]

For 1k I would pick it up and drive it and use it as a truck. Its a reliable power plant.You could always strip it and sell off pieces later.

 

[Brown75K5]

I'd pick it up and use it for what it is....a solid work truck. Down the road if it starts pissing you off with needing parts etc...you can pull the drivetrain out. I wouldn't even paint it unless Macco (sp?) is running a $300 paint job special.

Really leaning more toward getting it, my roommates just look at me like I'm crazy when I said I was thinking of getting a cheap work truck, glad y'all are talking more sense than them. I would just paint it myself, the guy thats selling it has painted a few of his other trucks himself and said I can use his equipment and paint if I want to. So I would just be out my time in painting it, hard to beat that.

 

[Safari-K5]

for 1k i would go for it. Having a true beater truck you dont care about banging up a bit is invaluable for getting parts hauling crap and for thos times someone needs to "borrow" your truck, give them the beater.

EVERYONE needs a beater.

IF you do buy it. fix that rust on the top with some vinager. sand it down as much as you can then dilute 4 to 1 white vinager. once it turns black it wont come back. this also looks like the perfect candidate for the rustolium roller paint job.

 

[Deuling]

My buddies got almost the same truck. Its 6 lug, but yah 14sf and its classified as 3/4 ton, but id say its really a heavy half more than anything. Id go after it.

 

[cybrfire]

hard to go wrong for a grand on a good running truck.