I'm currently looking at two used F-350s single wheel and need help in deciding which in peoples opinion is a "good deal" or a "bomb"

The First Truck is a 2002 4X4 Crew Cab Long Bed Lariat Edition loaded with power everything including heated seats dual ranch hand bumbers, running boards, sprayed in liner, retractable gooseneck, adjustable pedals, fender lips sliding rear window. The body is straight with not one dent or ding. The leather interior is in good repair. Tires are fair. Engine does not appear to have any leaks. The truck does however seem to crank for an inordinate amount of time before turning over following the proper procedure of waiting for the glow plug light to go out. Also when driving it pulls to the right causing a considerable amount of left input to keep it straight. 32K miles Price $31,200

The next is a 2000 4X4 Crew Cab Long Bed Lariat Edition with the usual Lariat Package nothing more. The body is also in great shape, no dings or dents. Sprayed in liner and a retractable gooseneck. It has running boards, Dual Ranch hand bumpers. No detectable leaks, tires fair.
It drives and starts like it should or in my opinion. 94K miles Price $23,900

I would like to know your thoughts in order to make a decision to buy or pass. Thanks for your help.

Well if you are serious about either one of these trucks, make them take them to a Ford dealer and have them checked out. If you are buying from an individual a dealership will usually do the checkup fairly cheap and if buying from a dealer they will pay for it. But make them take somewhere else other then their own garage people. The pulling to the left in the first truck might be nothing more than tires or alignment. Miles seem to be ok on both maybe a little high for the 2000 but still ok. You have to decide on which one to buy. Just remember, it is a Ford and with high miles come more problems. IMO...

Yeah taking it to a dealer would be good.


Frankly vibrations and pulls have been some of the most difficult things to fix on my vehicles, to the point that it is right up there on my checklist together with engine and transmission. On my bronco I had to get all new wheels and tires, alignment, even replace one of the axles and a front hub. You wonder what the guy did to it. It seemed to never end. But now finally it drives nice.


I would get the 2000 truck, if everything works right you won't have to spend an unknown amount of time and money fixing it, plus, it is considerably cheaper as well. Also the 2000 has the 7.3 liter engine, which I would prefer over the 6.0 ...

In my opinion I would probably pass on the 02 truck. It strikes me as odd why a computer controlled engine would be a pain to start with only 32k on it. It's hard to say what people do to machines before they decide to leave it for the next guy to figure out. I doubt the 02 truck has the 6.0 in it, that didn't come out until mid 03. But again, I'd pass on it if it did since they had leaking injector problems on the first model year engines that made the engine oil thin, that consequently took motors out.


More miles does mean that you'll probably see things go bad sooner than the other truck, but this is true with any make, and that's not opinion, that's fact!

The 2002 has the sh*tty engine with the powdered metal rods, I would go for neither since miles are high on the 2000.