I am looking at a 1994 2500 4x4 reg cab long bed ram with a 12v cummins diesel. The truck has 312,000 miles and the engine supposedly has 120,000.

The truck shifts into all the gears until it warms up then it shifts into overdrive to soon and somtimes will bog the engine down and kill the truck. The engine is a 12 valve, it has 355 horse ddp injectors, 191 delivery valves, banks high ram intake, he 351 holset turbo, 24 valve exhaust manifold, injection pump has been turned all the way up #0 fuel plate, afc housing has been guted, had 18 degrees of timing done on the pump, put a mac rac plug in, bd waste gate runs about 35 pounds of boost, 5 inch exhaust 7 inch miter cut stack, silerncer ring removed from turbo and 4 thousand rpm governor spring.

The truck has a single 7" stack and towing mirrors. The rockers and fenders are pretty rusty.

The truck is in good condition except for the transmission and rust.
I got him down to 3,500. He was asking 5k

 

I'm on my phone so I can't tell what state you're in. If your state has inspections make sure it'll pass before you buy it. If it needs a lot to pass inspection it's probably not worth it. Plus all the labor hours to get it where it needs to be. If you can get away without inspection and just run it the way it sits without putting any more money into it it's a deal. How are the tires? Ball joints? Brakes? Brake lines? Don't forget about that stuff. At that point you'd be better off spending a couple grand more for a nice truck.

 

And oh yeah, it sounds like it needs trans work too. Cheap to do if you can do it yourself for the most part but expensive if you have to take it somewhere. Plus motors got a few mods so you're looking at performance internals vs cheap stuff.

 

I'm from Ohio and there are no inspections here. The rest of the truck is good besides the transmission. The engine runs great and the body isn't that big of deal because I do body work. He said the trans problem might just be the converter and If it's just that then I can fix it. If it's the transmission then I will take it out of the truck and take it somewhere to get fixed. I am looking for something that needs a little work. Do you think 3500 is a good price, should I make a lower offer or I keep looking?

 

i paid 3500 for a 2000 ecsb cummins 5 speed. they are out there mine had under 300k and the motor had under 6k when i got it. but ultimetly its up to you, if its what you are looking for go for it! i would probably see if he will take 3k even for it and go from there.

 

If I can get it for 3k do you think I should take it?

 

3k is a good price. That gives you some breathing room. Considering you're in ohio its probably a deal. Even though you don't have to get it inspected, I would still give everything a once over to make sure nothing is gonna break on you at 80mph. See, I don't really agree with states not having inspection. You see too many motorcyclists running over pieces of exhaust and stuff at night and getting killed. Just my 2 cents

 

2500 is better

 

I did this in korea, there is no set price, they haggle everything....have $3k in your pocket ($500 in one pocket and $2500 in hand)...Offer him $2500 cash in hand...he sees that wad of cash and drools he may bite, but you have the other $500 just in case he waffles., short answer $3k aint too bad but you do have some maint to do.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think the trans issue you're describing sounds like a torque converter issue. Also, with a truck like that it was probably ridden hard and put away wet. Just something to think about. Also, I'm not familiar with the "355 horse ddp injectors." The highest they sell with a rating like that are the 140 hp injectors. Everything larger than that is custom.