Things to look for on low mileage trucks

[stormking]

Doing a little maintenance on a '66 custom camper. I bought this from the original owner and it shows 66k miles on the odometer. But when you buy an old vehicle people always think the mileage on the OD is correct. I got to thinking it's probably better to look at some wear parts to get a real picture of mileage. Ball joints being factory riveted and the truck driving OK would tell you something. Upholstery wear would be another. Are there any others (not easily faked) that would be a tell to mileage?


DSCN2074 by slick710, on Flickr

[TJ's Chevy]

Brakes...engine where and tear....see..a low mileage truck can be in worse shape then a high mileage truck...and vice versa...it mainly depends on where the truck is and where it sat and how long.

[Sharps40]

Worn brake clutch rubber foot pads. Deep groove in back of gas pedal

[66Submarine]

Originally Posted by Sharps40

...Deep groove in back of gas pedal

Or (like my stuff) a deep groove in the front of it!

BTW, IME most of these trucks still have the original ball joints. They seem to drive fine even when the front ends are real sloppy as long as they have new/good tires, so I wouldn't really use that as an indicator.

[66Submarine]

BTW, my favorite indicators are things in the interior--like the paint on the steering wheel and the seat cover, and the previously mentioned pedal covers.

IMO, 66,000 original miles should be pretty close to new mechanically, and the interior will probably still be real nice, too; 166,000 would still be low mileage.

[63burban4x4]

door hinges and latches, weatherstripping

[sodly]

Originally Posted by stormking

Doing a little maintenance on a '66 custom camper. I bought this from the original owner and it shows 66k miles on the odometer. But when you buy an old vehicle people always think the mileage on the OD is correct. I got to thinking it's probably better to look at some wear parts to get a real picture of mileage. Ball joints being factory riveted and the truck driving OK would tell you something. Upholstery wear would be another. Are there any others (not easily faked) that would be a tell to mileage?


DSCN2074 by slick710, on Flickr

Sounds interesting. Care to show us?

[oem4me]

In addition to the previously mentioned pedal pads, steering wheel paint, floor mat heel wear, etc., I keep an eye for signs of being well taken care of and lack of goofy mods. Radio and speaker cut-outs are killers. Tricky fans and accessories screwed to the dash are maddening. Any traces of lamp cord wiring and I hardly need to look any further. Things that are long gone on the average truck which show up only on the pampered ones are: orig gas caps, intact tank covers, nice SPID stickers, build sheets, jack instructions under the seat, ALL jack parts, solid bed wood with some black paint left, orig chain covers, and the list goes on. Interestingly, I've seen quite a few really NICE original seat covers in trucks whose odometers have turned over.

[1963c-10]

The Lambrecht trucks fall great in this conversation. All low mileage trucks that were left out to rot in a field.......Still had plenty of wear and tear just from sitting 50 years, but little to no mileage on the speedometers.

[schpeen]

I had 135k on my F-250 and I put every mile on the truck. The brake pedal was just starting to show wear on the corner. When I see the pedals worn down to the metal with under 100k on the clock, I can't help but think they have plenty of experience they are not sharing!

[Clyde65]

IMO These trucks were not designed to go 100k miles, back in the day, a 50K mile vehicle was basic junk, worn out and useless. No one rebuilt them much because you could buy a new one cheap enough. I know, there were exceptions but that was the mentality back then and it was the same through the late 80's. I worked for a dealer and when they would take a trade with 50-70k miles on it, send it to the auction unless it was absolutely flawlessly clean, which was very rare!

anyway, thats my opinion and it means nothing to anyone but me!

[66Submarine]

That's certainly not my experience. My father's '66 has at least 250,000 or so on the chassis (we guess it had probably only rolled over once when he got it) and is still very nice. 100,000 or so on the rebuilt 350 in the same truck, and it's also still great.

I'm sure the truck I'm driving now has rolled the odometer over several times, and the junkyard 250 in it probably has 100,000 on it, too. No doubt my other trucks have had several odometer resets through the years.

Personally, I find it extremely hard to believe something was

basic junk, worn out and useless

with only 50,000 miles! Not to say people didn't buy new cars a lot.

Also, I recently had two people (I think--unless I'm getting mixed up) tell me they bought new cars with 283's that they drove over 300,000 miles before they sold them (as driving cars). Another guy around here bought an 80's C10 with a 305 (IIRC) as a work truck that went almost 500,000 miles before the timing chain fell off. Same stories with the old inline sixes.

So, I still think a truck with <100,000 is going to be REALLY nice (based on my experience). YMMV