Bought a 98 Chevy 1500 5.7L 4WD

[Bob Kontak]

Text from dear pal's widow, Libby, last week with truck pic. "Help me sell this. It's been in my garage since last October." Owner paid $3500 but just wants $1000 for distress reasons. I'll spare you the long story but it has to do with a prison pen pal and his "deep-love" for the 70 year old woman with an O2 bottle (the owner). She is 5' tall and hid the truck in Libby's garage after the short post-prison romance. Took the gas cap flapper door off on her way in and a trim piece. Bedside depression near gas door.

So I drive to Oil City/Seneca PA from Akron this morning expecting who knows what. I find a very solid truck with regular (favorable) rust-belt rocker and door bottom rust but it has been repaired. Inner rockers are mint but I do see some weld beads near the back of the cab on the inner rockers. Not factory but not bad.

4WD buttons engage properly, couple of blinks then solid among the three choices. 4wd low and high and 2WD. AC works. Bed is immaculate including underside. Brake lines replaced. Drives straight with no real wandering or pulling, although I did this with no power steering fluid (see fluid on floor in pic - at least it ain't a main seal leak).

135k miles which was a big surprise.

I think the gas cap crunch freaked them out so much they just figured that devalued the truck by $2k or so.

Sold!

[vash]

You bought that for $1k?!

Wow. Just wow.

On a side note. That’s the garage? The one it was stored in? Pretty clean space.

[fastfredracing]

You were about an hour north of me. Nice simple old pickup truck to own. You already know the weak spots. Intake manifold gaskets, and fuel pumps . Id crank the t bars, and level it up !
Wat are your plans for it ?

[vash]

Transfer case to tranny fluid leak. That one got me bad.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by vash

On a side note. That’s the garage? The one it was stored in? Pretty clean space.

Bruce passed away Christmas 2017. Certified OCD and a collector. A great man.

Libby sold all his cars to one car nut who owns a shop in Oil City. Short Street Motor Cars.

Here we are pulling the engine on his Alfa 2000 about five years ago.

[nvr2mny]

Bob, sorry for the loss of your friend. You definitely SCORED on that truck tho!

[Scott Douglas]

Yeah, that's pretty nice for $1k.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

You were about an hour north of me. Nice simple old pickup truck to own. You already know the weak spots. Intake manifold gaskets, and fuel pumps . Id crank the t bars, and level it up !
Wat are your plans for it ?

Compared to that 03 Safari I posted about, I don't have to do any intake work through the dog house plus it's all right there without a bunch of noise on top of the engine. (Did replace FP on Safari - FWIW - just grunt work).

I don't know what they did to the suspension but I will be on that. I'm 62 for about one more minute. Not so big on the jacked up look. My alignment shop for customers never charges me on my cars so they will go easy to dial it in.

Plans? Probably drive it to my shop and back nine miles from my crib. My son is doing well in his recovery program and has held a real job for about four months now installing and configuring telecom systems. I will keep the RAV in my name but put him on my policy with the truck and RAV. He is on my policy now but walks the 1.5 miles home from his shop (who owns the Safari and they insure him on it) because "we" only have one car (RAV) and I drive it. He claims the walk is uphill both ways.

He can drive it now.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by nvr2mny

Bob, sorry for the loss of your friend. You definitely SCORED on that truck tho!

Thank you. 40+ years of friendship.

Started with Genny Cream Ale binges while reading Road and Track in his third floor apartment. He had a Z-Car and I had an Opel GT. In Franklin, PA, we were outcasts in 1975.

About when the Turbo Carrera came out and I was smitten. He never had the 911 bug but did enjoy driving my 81 SC. He bought a 78 Lotus Esprit S2 and helped me drive it through the twisties. Screamed "Keep it at 50 and don't touch the brakes".

RIP, Bruce.

[Bob Kontak]

That darned Command Unit sure did steal my thunder. Madcorgi's truck is sweet.

Mini update....

Owner with mentioned O2 bottle needs had a lung collapse. Almost two weeks in hospital. Transaction on ice.

Today title assigned to me and in the mail.

Finally got to talk to her today. Found the truck was a one owner West Virginia vehicle before she bought it last fall. WV is so much better than northern Ohio for rust. Not Seattle, but not caked in salt vs northern Ohio.

[Bob Kontak]

Drove the 100 miles to Seneca, PA with son and picked up the beast yesterday. Jumped battery with RAV 4 and left it running even when I put gas in. Return trip a non event. Thing tracks straight with just a smidgen of wandering.

AC was working but tepid with windows closed so arm on the window ledge at 70 mph, I was way up there. Helz yeah!

Anyhoo. Back home about 1:00PM. Shut down and restart for grins. Nuttin' but a little nudge of the starter. Both batteries tested weak. Pull-a-Part two used ones. A 78 and a 75. It's now into me for $60 more.

Pulls good vacuum and holds for AC system. 36 oz fill. That's two new Tayotas worth. $9 cost. Starts this morning no problem and AC is strong.

Here is the rub which will set me back a little coin. I have oversize tires on not bad looking wheels. Tires have tread but are tired. Rear offset is marginally ok with fat tires but fronts have spacers and look wonky. They are just way out there. Suspect the fronts rubbed and spacers were necessary. See pic below.

I am thinking remove front spacers and purchase a set of tires that are sensible with respect to the wheels all around. Then drop truck back down which I am not sure how to do properly but I'll figure that out.

Suspect none of this is really newsworthy but my entrance price of $1k makes it a little bit of a unicorn.

[wdfifteen]

$1 k gives you lots of wiggle room. Looks like fun - enjoy!

[RANDY P]

Chevy truck is about as essential as a hammer or a socket wrench.

Good one!

rjp