Well, Fu-udge.

Noiseydiesel

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So there I was Playing with Facebook marketplace. A dangerous place for a mentally challenged person such as I. There I was looking for a dump trailer and ran across a '93 F350 dually with the 7.3 for $1,000

I contacted the owner who didn't quite speak the best English. (He was Samoan) He sent me a phone number, we spoke. Turbo?, I asked and that got an indefinite answer. "It doesn't start" in broken english and a few other things. I offered him $500. He balked and said he had all kinds of people calling him for the $1,000. I said, "Why are you wasting your time with me?" He said okay and then requested I pay him through Zelle up front. "I need the money!"
I figured he must as he dropped the price in 1/2.

Well, I have been shafted before and $500 just might pan out.
Bing Maps showed the truck in his back yard and naturally I looked AFTER I paid him. Not smart, but oh well.

One way, 2.5 hour road trip later I got to his house, went out, pooped the hood and all this shiny metal showed up. Shiny tall intake, two rubber hoses, that 7.3 disappeared and was replaced with a 7.5, uh. . .No Turbo.

I scrubbed off the emissions sticker and the Serp belt diagram showing the 7.5 on both stickers.
He laughed, I cussed, and then I took a hard look at a hyd dump trailer next to the truck.
No way to tow it with my mini-van and the truck was destined for a AAA tow from the beginning.


I said I would Like to have my money back. "I spent it", he said. Like I didn't already know that.
Okay, then I will take the ($7K) Dump trailer, just to annoy him and he said he had "Just bought it and not made the first payment yet." I was polite in my response. "Not My Problem."

He offered to refund $200.

A CC Dually with an 8x12 steel flatbed, 90% on all 6 tires. . . he claimed it ran and drove fine.
The tires would recoup that if all else failed. . . $300?

I reluctantly agreed and called AAA for the trip home, 154 miles roughly. I hung up on them and he is busy cleaning up the yard, (which is what i need to do also) there sat a lumber rack for a standard bed truck. "He asked if I would like to have the rack and still acting a bit put out, I had to respond, "For free and you load it. . . "

He said he had some buddies coming over and they would help load it. (That rack is worth $300)
Not long after, his 4 other Samoan buddies showed up and it was done.

AAA showed up and looked at this Steel flatbed truck and said it weighed too much for him to handle. However, a 153 mile tow across state lines was too good a deal to pass up. He decided to do it and I gave him another $50 as I was not going to be home when he dropped it. So now the question becomes one of, "Is it wrong to have 6 trucks?" The other one is parked elsewhere. Oh! Tomorrow is a 90 minute trip south to pick up an $800 flat bed frame, hoist and pump. Might as well turn this into a dump bed.
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Noiseydiesel

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Ah yes, It needs a few things, The rad is very low and colored like red clay/rust and the engine runs rough. I got the battery charged and the already new, and replaced the internally broken starter solenoid (It rattled) and it now starts with just the key. Maybe a head gasket in the future but time will tell soon enough on that one.
 

WrenchWhore

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You remind me of my dad with all these Ford trucks in his yard lol. Is it absolutely American? YES! Is it practical? NO! but it sure is fun! Great buy IMO. 460s aren't terrible when they have an OD. Great buy! Get it running and who knows you could flip it or add to your collection!
 
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Cubey

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Yep, don't pay by Zelle unless you're there with the vehicle etc.

When I was buying my Baja bug, i had to call my credit union to get them to approve it because it was the first zelle transaction. They were reluctant to approve it at first.

CU: "Are you SURE? this is a common scam, there is no getting the money back once it's sent"
me: I'm standing here looking at the car, so yes, it's legit"
CU: "Oh ok, that's good, so many people send money ahead of time and end up getting no vehicle"
 

Nero

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So does that mean I can borrow your ladder truck? I'll return it with a full tank ;)
I definitely have to agree pay on site, but it's a life lesson, and you have a very nice looking OBS now!
 

Jesus Freak

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I feel for you. I spent a lot more than that to get the new KITT. Dude said he was driving the car 3mths ago as a daily....... yeah right. The tranny was toast and the tires were desentigrating, I got the price down a bit but I wasn't leaving Atlanta without a hard top firebird. It's a really solid car, it really has 57K on the clock, and I'm glad I got it.........but it still wasn't "AS ADVERTISED".

And I have a good Samoan friend that lives in Vegas, he giggles when he's telling a whopper like you said your guy was.
 

Noiseydiesel

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The ladder truck is for sale. Fires right up runs and drives. The son bought it because he was "going to" convert it into some kind of "Service/Towing" rig.
It needs an electrical genny to run the ladder apparatus and it didn't have one when the kid got the truck. With my money. Here it sits and it needs to go.
Hoiw much is the kid into me? $7K. He bought the truck, I believe, for $4500.
I am entertaining Any / ALL offers.

I flushed the cooling system yesterday and the heater core is 100% plugged. I even pulled the hoses and ran the hose nozzle on "Jet" and got nothing.
A few other items all suggesting a blown head gasket and I will probably look at that again Tomorrow. Today is a very busy day and at 6:45AM its about time to bust out the door. Retirement is easy? 6 trucks, a Chrysler mini-van, 1,2,3,4,5,6 ? Tractors, 3 trailers that need selling to get maybe one actual decent one.
We won't talk about everything else.
 

Noiseydiesel

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Oh Happy Joy! Considering the truck is basically free if I sell the lumber rack for $300, I came across a scissor hoist for $500. I am in the process of cuting that out of an old frame it was in, and adding it to the F350 to make it a dump bed.
Speaking of the F350, the stater is currently stuck and Amazon is delivering a gear reduction starter this Friday. So maybe some time next week it will start and move under it's own power with a bit less problem. Then we can look at the head gasket and more. Oh joy.
 

Noiseydiesel

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Bamboozled!!

So I have been playing with the 7.5 gasser and found a common man made fault.
The starter solenoid was physically internally broken and I stuffed on a Motorcraft unit. The starter that was in there had been recently replaced but was dragging when the engine started. The spinning engine would finally kick it out. Examination revealed it got dropped on the nose cone at some time.
I put in another stater from Amazon and still nothing happened. "Click" ,and the engine would look at me.Battery cables look good and the pos one is new.
Breaker bar on the crank and yes, it turns.
"Click" At some time, someone stuffed a rebuilt engine into this toy.
Grab a pair of jumper cables and make a second ground cable. Now it cranks with no silliness. I got lazy and instead of tearing up my hand trying to get the OEM ground cable and cleaning up the painted ground, I added a second cable going to the water pump. Some body changed the clamps over to "Marine" style and adding that second cable was far easier than playing with the original one.
Now the gasser "7.3" cranks and starts just fine.
Tomorrow will be check the fuel level and looking at a lot of the rest of it.
So, next time it doesn't start, check the ground.
 
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