Yeah, the truck was last registered in New York so rust is front of mind for me. Unfortunately, it's for sale by a dealer who took it on on trade (according to them) so they can't really tell me anything about its history. It looks like there's two types of undercoating. The main truck frame and all the running gear is coated with a thicker black paint like substance. The underside of the dump bed and it's subframe have the more typical fluidfilm/woolwax goop on it. The engine sounds fine (well, for a diesel) no obvious bottom end knocking or other strange noises. The turbo seems to spool up just fine. I'm not sure how the transmission is supposed to feel... I can shift into all the gears but the pattern feels vague. By that I mean the H pattern wasn't intuitive by feel. The center/neutral area that is normally pretty floppy side to side on "regular" vehicles was stiffer. Hard to describe without feeling it. Same with the clutch, it seems to have a very long engagement. But you can't really feel it grab like on a smaller vehicle. I didn't notice any slipping and had no issues driving it... How robust are the clutches on these?
Problem Areas/What to look for on 2007 FG (US Market)
- Thread starter armstrom
- Start date
soaringpotato
Member
So I bought a 2000 FG639 with only 73k miles on it..from Maryland. I ended up replacing the entire frame and pretty much all the little bits from waist level to below. Anything bigger was grinded and repainted properly.
At a glance, this truck doesn't look no where near as bad, even with the paint. If the paint texture looks really rough, then it's hiding bad rust. Check the brake backing plates and the brake line connections. If the truck has been neglected it'll be obvious since those would just be a glob of rust at this point. Check the small brackets, the things that hold the lines and other pieces to the truck. Those will be the first to go.
Check the front frame, just before it humps down lower. The frame here consists of multiple layers of metal. Any bad rust will show as severe swelling.
Finally, double check if this thing had a plow. It places an enormous amount of pressure on the front frame that if weakened by rust will crack it. When I finally removed the plow mount on my truck, it was cracked in two places...
As for ride, when empty my truck suuuuucked to ride in. After putting in a composite box, new shocks (basic monroe), and timbren bump stops in the front, it's night and day.
At a glance, this truck doesn't look no where near as bad, even with the paint. If the paint texture looks really rough, then it's hiding bad rust. Check the brake backing plates and the brake line connections. If the truck has been neglected it'll be obvious since those would just be a glob of rust at this point. Check the small brackets, the things that hold the lines and other pieces to the truck. Those will be the first to go.
Check the front frame, just before it humps down lower. The frame here consists of multiple layers of metal. Any bad rust will show as severe swelling.
Finally, double check if this thing had a plow. It places an enormous amount of pressure on the front frame that if weakened by rust will crack it. When I finally removed the plow mount on my truck, it was cracked in two places...
As for ride, when empty my truck suuuuucked to ride in. After putting in a composite box, new shocks (basic monroe), and timbren bump stops in the front, it's night and day.
Ferjablito
Active member
From above it looks pretty good, it is important to look underneath where the rust may be present.
You might use an awl and a hammer while checking the frame - tapping with a hammer can tell you a bit - if it rings that's good, if it sounds mushy that's bad. Any place that looks suspect poke it with the awl. If the awl penetrates or the material flakes there's serious rust.
If the seller doesn't want you tapping the frame with a hammer I'd be suspicious.
Howard Snell
If the seller doesn't want you tapping the frame with a hammer I'd be suspicious.
Howard Snell