Would you buy a 30 year old truck with 51 miles on it?

[Hay Dude]

An old trick, roll the odometer... One way to help tell is look at clutch/brake/gas pads. They should look brand new...

Here is the original floor mats and pedals they look unworn.
My local dealer said it was originally speced as a government or military truck. You can see it was painted white over the olive drab original paint in the lower door jamb area.

transmission hump and shifter look unscratched

Steering wheel still “rough”, not smoothed out.

It’s not exactly what I’m looking for, but it’s pretty close.
I will probably pass, but would make a perfect dump truck. Looking for a longer wheelbase and AC if possible. Also like the MT653 over the 643. The 653 came in later 90’s.
Roadworthiness of this truck would be suspect in first few years. Then it would probably be great. This series of trucks were pretty much bulletproof. Maybe participate in auction but set a predetermined budget on the low side.

 

[Tony H]

Like some of you, I‘m always looking for farm equipment, machinery vehicles and trailers. Whether to buy or just learn or fun when its raining, etc.
I have various websites I peruse and stumbled across a very nice mid 90’s IH 4900 tandem axle truck. I couldnt believe how nice the paint was. No rust. Showroom conditions. Its going up for auction in March to the highest bidder, regardless of price.
I spoke to the auctioneer a bit. He bought it from a company In Arkansas. The surviving owner was closing the business and explained he bought the truck in the mid 90’s and parked it in a shed. The odometer reads 51 miles. Thats right 51 miles. No hour meter to at least help somewhat verify the odometer. He started the truck and ran it with me on the phone. Claims it runs perfectly. He said the owner did start & run the truck periodically to keep it lubed.

So it got me to thinking, if any truck was bought new, then sat for 20-25 years, it has to have some damage and it does.

I am making a list of what could be wrong with it, adding up the costs of said issues and contemplating a bid. Heres what I’ve come up with:

1. All tires have 100% tread, but are dry rotted and thats been verified.
2. Valve guide seals in engine probably brittle?
3. Gaskets dried (valve cover, oil pan, transmission main seal and……..)
4. All fluids

What else is probably trashed on a truck that sat 20-25 years? Would it be worth a chance if it could be had cheap enough? I would think so, but what would it cost to fix all? THAT is the question(s)…..

Brake cylinders or calipers have rubber that may cause a brake fluid leak. Although I'm currently driving 23 and 33 year old vehicles that have over 200k miles on all kinds of temperatures and they have mostly original beak components. As well as starters and alternators.

 

[DK35vince]

Brake cylinders or calipers have rubber that may cause a brake fluid leak. Although I'm currently driving 23 and 33 year old vehicles that have over 200k miles on all kinds of temperatures and they have mostly original beak components. As well as starters and alternators.

its an air brake system.
If the air lines look OK and not brittle when you bend them its probably fine

 

[m7040]

I took part in preparing a ford coupe with rumble seat many years ago. It had been stored for 30 years in new condition and it had all the just out of the factory markings tags and such. It took very little effort to get back running

 

[GBB]

Like some of you, I‘m always looking for farm equipment, machinery vehicles and trailers. Whether to buy or just learn or fun when its raining, etc.
I have various websites I peruse and stumbled across a very nice mid 90’s IH 4900 tandem axle truck. I couldnt believe how nice the paint was. No rust. Showroom conditions. Its going up for auction in March to the highest bidder, regardless of price.
I spoke to the auctioneer a bit. He bought it from a company In Arkansas. The surviving owner was closing the business and explained he bought the truck in the mid 90’s and parked it in a shed. The odometer reads 51 miles. Thats right 51 miles. No hour meter to at least help somewhat verify the odometer. He started the truck and ran it with me on the phone. Claims it runs perfectly. He said the owner did start & run the truck periodically to keep it lubed.

So it got me to thinking, if any truck was bought new, then sat for 20-25 years, it has to have some damage and it does.

I am making a list of what could be wrong with it, adding up the costs of said issues and contemplating a bid. Heres what I’ve come up with:

1. All tires have 100% tread, but are dry rotted and thats been verified.
2. Valve guide seals in engine probably brittle?
3. Gaskets dried (valve cover, oil pan, transmission main seal and……..)
4. All fluids

What else is probably trashed on a truck that sat 20-25 years? Would it be worth a chance if it could be had cheap enough? I would think so, but what would it cost to fix all? THAT is the question(s)…..

So hard to say , for 25 year old truck my cut-off is 50 original miles, but if you like the color and paint finish - go for it!! What ya got to lose!

Remember, in the words of some famous person, you can’t take it with you, and s/he who dies with the most toys -Wins!

 

[George Mason]

Some people do and they pay a lot of money for them too. I have the exact same truck WITH a dump bed and only 43k miles so this one WITHOUT a bed (good luck on finding one) sold for $56,500.

Enjoy this site if you haven't seen it before, I just discovered it last month.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1989-dodge-ram-w350/

 

[GB540]

Expect to be replacing all the axle/hub seals.

Used to have these leak on trucks that only sat over a winter, much less 25 years.

Should be a solid truck if the money's right. Just plan on working the cobwebs out, esp. with anything rubber.

 

[Jstpssng]

My parents bought a new 1976 Chevy pickup in the fall of 1975. It was garage kept most of the time and only used occasionally. It would sit for months at a time. I learned to drive in it. In 2000 my dad gave it to me and I used it on and off and was mostly in my garage or barn. It had 70,000 miles and it was burning oil and blue smoke out the exhaust. We didn't have too many problems with it, rust here and there, same clutch, and I replaced the radiator before I sold it in 2016. My dad put a new carb in it in the late 90s. I wonder since it sat a lot without use, did it help wear engine parts (rust?) faster that caused it to burn oil before 50,000 miles?

I wish I had kept it, but I had no time to work on it at the time. Now my son is getting to driving age and it would have been a nice project we could have worked on and maybe kept it in the family another generation.

No, the problem was that it was a 1976 Chevy. Yet you could substitute Ford or Dodge for the brand. Those years were probably the worst years for Detroit reliability. Yet back then and until probably the late 1980s, a vehicle with 100,000 miles was considered rare as well as worn out.

 

[Hay Dude]

No, the problem was that it was a 1976 Chevy. Yet you could substitute Ford or Dodge for the brand. Those years were probably the worst years for Detroit reliability. Yet back then and until probably the late 1980s, a vehicle with 100,000 miles was considered rare as well as worn out.

Ford/Chevy/Dodge brand warfare? Seriously?

 

[Jstpssng]

Ford/Chevy/Dodge brand warfare? Seriously?

I was simply pointing out that none of them were very reliable back then. With a 12,000 mile warranty, they didn't have to be.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I would at least make a bid. Never know if you don't try. Set a limit, stop there. Back around 2000, I bought a ~70 IH dump that had sat outside awhile though it had about 50k on it. An old municipal truck, it had a 345/5sp/2sp rear/air brakes/10' plow/manual steering. Talk about a bear to steer with the plow on! Anyway, it started up to load onto my trailer to haul it home to my farm where I used it, never on the road. Only thing I had to do was to rebuild the carb. The air brakes were fine. Though I had plated it with farm tags, the only time I actually took it out on the road was to deliver it to the person I sold it to.

 

[Norm W]

I went to an auction to look at some old trucks they had. There was a '76 White Road Commander up for bid. It was dirty, with dust from storage. It had been kept in a warehouse and started only enough to move it around in different parts of the building. The owner had died, he was in the machine tool business and had purchased the truck to deliver the machines. It had a 6V92 Detroit idleing, that was blowing oil out the breather. I got it for scrap value. It had new batteries and 90 gallons of Diesel in the tanks. I checked it for brakes and steering. Put a dealer plate on it and drove it 50 miles home. By the time I got five miles the smoke had stopped. Made it home with no problems. With a complete check over, new fluids, new tires and a good cleaning, it has been running and doing what I've needed for the last eight years. The truck you are looking at is newer, with way less miles. Parts for class 8 vehicles are available and most would be maintenance items anyway. If you don't treat it like a rented mule it should be a good truck. If it is set up as a tractor, I would not convert it to a dump truck. Trailers allow you to haul equipment on flatbed, dirt etc. on dump trailers etc. Why limit what you can do?

 

[s219]

I recently bought a classic car and learned a lot shopping over a couple years. At some point age matters more than mileage (high or low). Low mileage is beneficial for some parts of the vehicle but detrimental to many mechanical systems. The things that suffer are widespread and can come back to haunt you and nickel and dime you to death. Think 10 cent seals that require tons of labor to replace. I had to pass up quite a few low mileage cars that were in nice cosmetic shape but had barely been driven in the last 10-20 years. Too risky.

Now, if it's a special concours car owned by a pro collector and they know how to run and maintain it to keep low mileage, then fine, but very few cars fall into this category. The rest of them are considered to be in a state of neglect. A vehicle with 51 miles in 28 years is risky in my opinion. It may be that an International 4900 is a little more robust than the typical classic car, but it's still got mechanical systems with belts, seals, bushings, bearings, etc. All that stuff doesn't take kindly to sitting around in a state of disuse or neglect.

Is the VIN 1HTSJPCR1PH509232 ? If so, that looks to be in great shape, but there are a lot of hidden things that could come back to haunt you. I might take a chance for local / non-commercial use where you can tolerate some risk. And definitely be realistic and budget $5-10K for repairs, refurbs, and deferred maintenance. It would be highly unlikely for this truck to be turnkey and trouble free.

 

[billypumper]

I own a 25 year old half ton Ford, keep up maintenance on it, but things still arise, 124,000 miles, if it has hydraulic brakes, the fluid back then is corrosive and probably has eaten through the steel brake lines and the rubber connectors from steel to steel are shot, the brake cylinder is probably done too, if it's gas the fuel tank is probably on the verge of rusting through too. Replacing all the brake lines will be costly, new fluid is synthetic, brake lines will be intact until you hit the brakes then pedal will drop to the floor, you will run into a lot of issues, some you might put off but some will need to be addressed immediately

 

[K Arno]

All the rubber bits have perished by now. How hard will it be to find parts for this? Willing to make what you can't buy? Fun project for someone with deep pockets.

 

[Hay Dude]

I recently bought a classic car and learned a lot shopping over a couple years. At some point age matters more than mileage (high or low). Low mileage is beneficial for some parts of the vehicle but detrimental to many mechanical systems. The things that suffer are widespread and can come back to haunt you and nickel and dime you to death. Think 10 cent seals that require tons of labor to replace. I had to pass up quite a few low mileage cars that were in nice cosmetic shape but had barely been driven in the last 10-20 years. Too risky.

Now, if it's a special concours car owned by a pro collector and they know how to run and maintain it to keep low mileage, then fine, but very few cars fall into this category. The rest of them are considered to be in a state of neglect. A vehicle with 51 miles in 28 years is risky in my opinion. It may be that an International 4900 is a little more robust than the typical classic car, but it's still got mechanical systems with belts, seals, bushings, bearings, etc. All that stuff doesn't take kindly to sitting around in a state of disuse or neglect.

Is the VIN 1HTSJPCR1PH509232 ? If so, that looks to be in great shape, but there are a lot of hidden things that could come back to haunt you. I might take a chance for local / non-commercial use where you can tolerate some risk. And definitely be realistic and budget $5-10K for repairs, refurbs, and deferred maintenance. It would be highly unlikely for this truck to be turnkey and trouble free.

It would definitely be used for commercial/farm work and would have to be road worthy. I keep thinking of some kind of big time failure down the road, so I will participate but will back off at 5 figures. As was said by Citydude, someone will be awed by the low miles, not realizing what all has been discussed here.
All 10 tires have 100% tread, but are all dry rotted and require replacement. That alone is $5,000-$6,000. Then we have to figure on changing all fluids from all reservoirs and their corresponding filters. Thats another $500+ doing the work myself. Then we get into the unknowns (seals, gaskets, belts, brake chambers, pads, etc).
If that truck were being sold with a “normal” range of miles, it would sell for about $25,000. Thats just a chassis. It has no bed/body on it.
If I subtract all the cost of tires, fluids and throw in another $2,000 for “incidentals”, we are pushing $10,000. I also have to ship it 750 miles or go get it with my truck & trailer. Also theres auctioneers fee.
So roughly $25,000-$10,000-$2,000-$1,000 is about $12,000.
I’d probably bid $8-10,000 and thats about it.
Its not configured exactly how I want, so I will drop out on the low side. It’ll probably end up someone elses truck.

 

[Hay Dude]

All the rubber bits have perished by now. How hard will it be to find parts for this? Willing to make what you can't buy? Fun project for someone with deep pockets.

I looked at the engine compartment and all the belts and hoses are fine. I listened to it run via phone/video and it sounds just like the DT466‘s Ive owned in the past, but theres probably some seals we cant see that are iffy.

 

[EONE]

Like I said we have a 30 year old truck....1993.... It's been used, but spends most of the time indoors sitting. Never had any issues. Hoses are original, Just changed a a quick release valve and a couple air hoses for the first time last year.....and we are in western ny with bad winters and salty roads..... I think the truck with 50 miles on it would be just fine..Whats the difference from a 30 yo truck running 17,000 miles and one that never got used. A lot would depend on the storage area's climate but I doudt it has real issues. Lots of trucks older than 25 years running all the time with few issues. 50 miles??.....I'd buy it. Run it and see what happens. I bet it's fine.

 

[Jstpssng]

I don’t understand why some of the items mentioned such as bushings would be in any worse shape than a 1997 truck which has been used all of those years. Sure, it might need some maintenance but if it’s been inside then the hard items should still be good.
We might have to all pitch in and ensure that the OP wins the bid, just so we can see how it turns out.

 

[Fielding]

Other than the old truck being a rolling oil leak from dried up seals, lets say all the rest worked.

It will eat more fuel than two new ones. At current fuel prices the operational cost difference could be put towards a newer one. Also just like tractors the newer trucks are generally much more productive at the tasks.

If you can get it cheap enough it may make sense.

The funny part is a 30year old truck is a 93’