pre-purchase inspection

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T

topherbecker

Joined
Nov 29, 2004
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Location
Keene Valley, NY
his story is that he just drove it back from buffalo this past week. he had a buyer for his acura mdx (?) who backed out on him, and now he is stuck with two cars and needs one gone now. claims he would lose too much much taking the mdx to carfax. sounds fishy, i know. the truck is all of a mile from my house, so no big deal to take a looksy.

this truck was on craigslist a few weeks ago and i spoke to the owner in buffalo. http://buffalo.craigslist.org/cto/1501315718.html i was interested and asked for more pictures, but they never came and i didn't follow up. he had the truck for 6 months or so if i remember correctly. said he enjoys buying driving for a bit, fixing up a bit, and selling - has owned upwards of 20 LCs. this sounded fishy too which is why i didn't make an effort to get those pictures.

thus my desire to have someone knowledgeable look at it for me.

-b
 
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Don't blame ya for being cautious. There are some 60-series folks here, but I don't know how often they check 'MUD. Good luck!
 
If you're going to put whitewalls on a Cruiser at least go with 24" rims and spinners.
 
His only posts on this forum are about selling this truck. I work over by the Pentagon and could check it out on Tuesday if you want.
 
If you are serious about buying, have a cruiser head check it out. but also, pay a mechanic 100$ or so to check it out fully... put it on the lift, review everything and give you a report of what it will need. It will be the best money you ever spent.

Also, a compression test might be helpful. you can buy a gauge at sears or any automotive place, or have the mechanic do it for a few more $$$.
 
I have a compression tester that I can bring, and have been accused of being a mech a couple times....
 
Thanks for the offer Dan. Saturday may be the earliest I can get the truck based on my conversation with the owner yesterday. Friday is a possibility though too, but i'll have to check with the him. if no one's around saturday, i will take it to a garage and have them look at it - will do that anyway based on your recommendations. in the mean time, here's some pictures of the undercarriage. There's also a shot of the one rust spot i could find on the body near the windshield. i also included a shot of the NY inspection sticker - if anyone knows what the sticker to the left of that means, i'd love to know.
Picasa Web Albums - topherbecker - Shirlington fj62

there is some rust underneath, and maybe a little more than the price would warrant, but whatever. Stumbaugh said in one of his posts that we all pay more than we should for our first cruiser, so fxxx it. by far the worst rust is by the exhaust on the frame. there is also some on the frame where the rear sway bar attaches.

comments from the peanut gallery are welcome. if anyone sees major problems, or minor too, please speak up.
thanks
chris
 
The rear of the frame and the rear cross member are prone to rust. Not easy or cheap to repair but you can always turn it into a truggy like Cam's.
 
76FJ40 said:
The rear of the frame and the rear cross member are prone to rust. Not easy or cheap to repair but you can always turn it into a truggy like Cam's.
Click to expand...

Not really interested in turning it into anything except a reliable driver. How "not easy or cheap" are we talking? Were you able to see the pictures? Any idea how much life is left in that part of the frame before needing a repair?
 
You find alot of these around here in various states. have you looked around? you can sometimes get them for a steal...
 
It doesn't look bad from what you can tell from the pics but the delamination in pic 31 is not good. Examine the frame closely, especially the rear section and tubular cross member for anything other than surface rust. If there's only surface rust you can treat it with Rust Bullet and get several more years out of the truck.
 
if you still need someone to check it out.... I live in arlington and could probably give it a once over tommorrow or thursday. I'm by no means a mechanic, but I've spent some time under the hood and can look for leaks, check the fluids, give it a good test drive and see how well it drives over some rocks and trees!!!! (ok, maybe no rocks and trees) but I'd be more than glad to look it over for ya! give it a good rust inspection too!

Let me know
 
It looks like either the rear output on the xfer case is leaking or there is a oil leak forward and it is blowing back onto the xfer case. The big flake rust Bob points out in pic 31 along with the rust around the windshield are not good; being from NY there is plenty more hiding. I would also pass unless you are willing to deal with the transmission; they are not known for their longevity. If you are willing to spend $6,500 on a 60/62, spend some time on craigslist or mud classifieds and find a West Coast rust free example and have it shipped or fly out and drive back. my .02.
 
John Smith said:
It looks like either the rear output on the xfer case is leaking or there is a oil leak forward and it is blowing back onto the xfer case. The big flake rust Bob points out in pic 31 along with the rust around the windshield are not good; being from NY there is plenty more hiding. I would also pass unless you are willing to deal with the transmission; they are not known for their longevity. If you are willing to spend $6,500 on a 60/62, spend some time on craigslist or mud classifieds and find a West Coast rust free example and have it shipped or fly out and drive back. my .02.
Click to expand...


I didnt look at the pics very close... but if thats the case, for that money you should be able to get a truely rust free mint 62.... if there is some in the pics, there is gonna be more elsewhere... I can agree with that from experience
 
fjman said:
if you still need someone to check it out.... I live in arlington and could probably give it a once over tommorrow or thursday.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer, but i'm still hemming and hawing a bit. Plus i'm sure i can't get access to it prior to Friday.

I've been looking pretty hard for 2 months now. Truthfully, I don't think the price is too far off for the mileage and condition based on ads i've seen. True, you never know what the sold price was from those ads, but i've seen trucks with much higher mileage, lots of rust, bodgy mods in the 4-4500 range.

The truck is from TX originally. I'm going to get a carfax to see if i can verify when it left. Based on my conversation with the previous owner, it's only been north for a couple years first in OH, and the last year in NY (heated garage). I looked hard for rust, and couldn't find anything. and i don't think that the paint job is brand new covering things up. It's probably a couple years old - something should be showing by now.

Yes, something's leaking underneath. A mechanic should be able to tell me how severe it is.

thanks for the input and offers for help.
-chris
 
Not bad,, just been up north a bit longer than you thought...
 
I agree with Andrew, not bad. I just wonder why there has been so much difficulty passing emissions tests. BTW, cars of that age will always end up at an auction somewhere if traded to a dealer or large car broker.
 
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