Potential truck advice

so my 96 is in the shop because I either cracked a head or blew a head gasket. In the meantime the mechanic tells me he has a truck that he got from his brother-in-law that he was gonna fix.

The truck is a 2001 TRD doublecab with a bad transmission that he got for free from said BIL and is taking up space. His BIL blew one of the hoses from the radiator to the transmission and blew the transmission. He said he has $2100 in a spare motor and transmission that he was going to swap into the truck and keep for himself but hasn't had the time to get to yet. The truck is dirty inside and 6/10 outside but still books for 5.8K$ despite having 316k miles.

He implied that he would be willing to sell the truck to me for $2100. What would you do? I could tangibly do the transmission swap on my own.

 

How is the frame?

 

that's a good question, I didn't even think to check

 

I'd buy it an do whatever I had to to fix it. That's a steal of a deal.

 

if your 96 is in better condition then stick with it and fix it or go get a low mileage salvage yard engine for it, that will run you about $1000 and another few hundred to have it installed by someone if you cant do it yourself but if you can swap tranny yourself then you can swap engines too. look for a 4runner engine, they are easier to find with usually a lot less miles on them then trucks.

the problem with the 01 is its got 316k miles so that engine is near the end of its life and on average, it will soon need rebuilding. add to that the body is so so and the interior is trashed so its not even clean enough to be a good parts truck.

he is asking "fair" value for it but its not a "great" deal by far and something I wouldn't trust to last.

 

you must have missed the part where he said it needs a tranny and the engine has over 316k miles (average engine life expectancy already reached) or that the body is not in great shape? granted its a fair price but a looooong way from ever being a steal of a deal in my opinion when you add a $2500 tranny rebuild to the price he is asking.

the guy is a mechanic so he knows it needs an engine and a tranny that's why he got it for free and that's why he wants to sell it rather then put that much money into a beat up truck

 

No, I didn't miss anything. I don't know where you spend $2500 on a trans, but you're getting ripped off. $2100 is a steal for a DC. I don't know Wulf, but he said he could swap the trans out. Engines aren't much more difficult. I say, buy the truck, work on it when you have time and then keep it or sell it. A new engine, trans, and all the stuff to install, can be had for $2500. So that's $4600 for a DC with fresh drive train. Even if he doesn't want the DC truck, SELL THE DAMN THING FOR $8K or more! That's $3400+ profit. It's not rocket surgery there Karl, and even a blind man would see that's a good deal on a DC.

 

Is he selling you the Truck and spare motor/trans for $2100?

 

you can have the tranny rebuilt NEW for $2500 im not talking about getting a used one for that price.

he is not going to be getting $8k for a beat up truck with trashed interior and beat up body with 316k miles on it, even from an idiot buyer. that's just wishful thinking.

add to that he has a perfectly good 98 with nothing wrong with it except "maybe" needing the head replaced or reworked that's all im sayin

 

My truck's not exactly in great shape, but I don't think I can afford to fix my truck and gamble on another

 

I think fixing yours is the best route to take.

hopefully is just a blown head gasket but if you need a replacement head then you can get a used one here if you cant find one local http://www.car-part.com/index.htm

 

Be best to fix the 96 if I was you. Sounds like the 01 died from the pink milkshake of death.