I'm seriously thinking about a truck near Cleveland, but it's four hours away. Is there anyone nearby that would be willing to check it out for me?
I'm seriously thinking about a truck near Cleveland, but it's four hours away. Is there anyone nearby that would be willing to check it out for me?
If I were searching 4 hours away to find a truck I can not think that I would search for it in the "lake effect snow belt" portion of Eastern Metro Cleveland (and a major rust belt.)
Of course I don't know the details of the truck. But, if it is has been a daily driven truck for the past, expect that it has a much rustier underside than you expect.
Also worth noting that Ohio has no annual vehicle inspection, unlike PA. As such, a lot of times when a PA dealer has a vehicle that won't pass PA inspection, the PA dealer sends it to auction and Eastern Ohio dealers are the ones who buy them.
Im about 1hr & 45 minutes from Eastlake and unfortunately it does not really fall on my travel pattern.
Tell/show us more on the truck and I'll be happy to give internet opinion.
My full advice would be to head toward rust free Wash DC (only 3 hrs away.) You may pay $1k more for the same truck but it is a bargain to rid yourself from a level of rust you have likely never experienced.
All that... Cleveland is where vehicles go, not where they come from. It is to used cars what New Guinea was to Japanese pilots in the early-mid 40s.
Supporting documentation:
You would be buying from the darkest color on this map.
I'm less than 2 hr away (due West and in the dark tan) but even I wont buy a car from the East Suburbs of Cleveland.
In reply to JohnRW1621:
And, unlike other parts of the country where this much snow happens, we're pretty far south, so we get these crazy daily freeze/thaw cycles that the cities lay down tons and tons of salt, and now this new liquid de-icer that stays in the asphalt so even cars that get sheltered in the winter will get a blasting of corrosive chemicals until the first few heavy rains scrub the roads clean.
I've bought clean, rust-free cars from central Michigan and Wisconsin, where they don't do any of that, they just grade the snow instead of scraping down to clear pavement and salting it so it doesn't freeze. For WAY WAY WAY less than what a similar car would sell for here.
I enjoy bringing pictures of stuff I work on down south to horrify my friends... "Here's a 12 year old Neon that split the subframe in half when he applied the brakes... Here's a 5 year old Altima with the carpet hanging through the floor... Here's a round-body JGC that ripped the front suspension mounting points off of the unibody..."
This is a fun and educational forum and I have no present interest in trucks or snow or rust.
In a Cleveland CL ad a picture like this would eaither say:
some rust
or
some rust showing through
You think I'm making this up. Here is a real ad and another
What kinda truck? Wish you posted earlier, i was up there working all week
Ooh, here's a ten year old Dodge van that never even got to see surface streets for most of its life - less than 30k.
That bolt on the top left is one of the steering box bolts. The steering box attaches to that plate, which is now mounted in single shear. The other end of that section of chassis rail would attach to the bumper if that wasn't rusted apart too.
While looking for that I found this - that Neon subframe I mentioned.
Swap in a new axle (exploded the old one when it let go) and a $400 Southern subframe, some other while-we're-in-theres like that torque mount that has a 200% failure rate, and keep on truckin'. "Why would anyone fix a $1500 beater?" Because that isn't a $1500 beater here.
In short, I would SERIOUSLY shy away from anything from here that looks cheap enough to drive four hours to get. There's a kind of 25%+ value bump on anything due to sheer demand.
Knurled wrote: I enjoy bringing pictures of stuff I work on down south to horrify my friends... "Here's a 12 year old Neon that split the subframe in half when he applied the brakes... Here's a 5 year old Altima with the carpet hanging through the floor... Here's a round-body JGC that ripped the front suspension mounting points off of the unibody..."
And down south in this case is 2 hours south...
The truck is a F-350 Centurion dually crew cab 460 with 96000 miles of towing a race car. It seems like just enough truck for my purposes (read: way more than I could ever need) and I can't pass up the price if it's not a pile.
JohnRW1621 wrote: My full advice would be to head toward rust free Wash DC (only 3 hrs away.)
You are joking, right?
Also, I'm not looking for a truck, as much as anyone's not looking for a truck. Sometimes, good trucks for good money slap you in the face, and you have to at least check them out.
Hal wrote:JohnRW1621 wrote: My full advice would be to head toward rust free Wash DC (only 3 hrs away.)You are joking, right?
In what sense?
Hal wrote:JohnRW1621 wrote: My full advice would be to head toward rust free Wash DC (only 3 hrs away.)You are joking, right?
I could be wrong but I think the buyer here lives in Altoona, PA according to his profile and I think 3 hours to DC is a good estimate.
One thing I know I'm not wrong about is DC aint gots no kinds of rust like they gots in East Cleveland!
In reply to Hal:
Just to be sure, I went on a fact finding mission.
First I opened CL in DC and searched the phrase "some rust"
That brought this example:
'94 Jeep Wrangler
When I zoom the picture I see rust at the side turn signal, the end of the front fair and the end of the rear flair.
I then when to Cleveland CL and just searched Jeep Wrangler (even if it had no mention of rust.)
I did not need to zoom the picture!!!!
'92 Jeep Wrangler
To be fair, that really rusty jeep has a plow attachment thingee on the front, so maybe it's not a fair comparison? At least, I hope for the sake of the folks that live up there that it's not (but, deep down, I suspect it doesn't matter).
Here's "some rust" from Cleveland:
Yikes.
JohnRW1621 wrote: In reply to Hal: Just to be sure, I went on a fact finding mission. First I opened CL in DC and searched the phrase "some rust" That brought this example: '94 Jeep Wrangler When I zoom the picture I see rust at the side turn signal, the end of the front fair and the end of the rear flair.
I had someone spend over $2k to do frame caps and a clutch and some other while-we're-in-theres on a Wrangler kinda like that bottom one. The transmission crossmember/skidplate thingus was only held in by two bolts on the passenger side 
Me, I'd have scrapped it, but I guess people who like Wranglers really like Wranglers.
I have pics of that one, too, but no good "before" shots. The fender was artfully repaired cosmetically by the application of colored duct tape and spray paint. It actually didn't look awful at a 40 foot glance.
If you zoom in on the white, Cleveland Jeep you can see that the entire windshield frame is duct tape.
In reply to JohnRW1621:
Hey, as long as it passes E-Check, it's worth $1800.
Well, I figured that I had to go look at the truck. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't a total rust bucket. The rad support was in very good shape, as were all the cab floors and corners, and the bed floors and sides. The frame was scaly but solid, and the stuff attached to the frame (spring hangers and such) were rusty as well, but no holes. There were exhaust manifold leaks, and the truck needed tires. It drove okay, but it did not have the Gear Vendors overdrive that was advertised. He said that his trans guy said that GVs were horrible for towing, and replaced it with an E40D. Upon hearing that, I decided that this wasn't the truck for me. Of course, I probably wouldn't have gotten it anyway, because he seemed like he was gonna be firm on the price, and I wouldn't have been able to give him four grand for a truck that needed me to take the manifolds off.
It was a totally wasted day, but at least now I can put the damn thing out of my mind.
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