97 F250 LD. To buy or not
 

Hi all. New to this forum. I’m considering the purchase of a 97 F250XLT LD Supercab. The truck is one that could truly be classified as “super clean”. It is a 5.4 auto of course. The interior is spotless and other than some scratches on the top of the tailgate the body is damage free, not even a door ding. It has trailer brakes and a goose neck ball in the bed. The owner is an elderly man who pulled a 3 horse trailer occasionally. I have a small farm and plan on pulling a 2 horse trailer and possibly a boat. The kicker is that the truck has only 82k miles. Give me your thoughts please.

Go for it.

Just remember it's not a Super Duty. It's a F150 with a high payload package.

I've pulled horse trailers with my truck (F150) and it ain't nice when just a single horse gets a little anxious going down the highway, let alone two. I've also used F250 and F350 to pull horse trailers. 1-2 horses get a F250, anything bigger look at a F350-450.

Horse trailers are good for SuperDutys. Get a nice F250 SD with the 5.4l auto. The suspension is made for it and it's got OK get up and go.

I forgot to mention that it’s a 4x4. I have a 94 F150 with a bulletproof 4.9. I know the 5.4 is nothing close to that, but will it reach 250k miles with reasonable maintenance?

I don't see why not - there's a guy who had a 5.4 in a 97 E250 van that got 1.3 million miles out of it.

Note that 5th wheel/gooseneck tow rating on that truck is only about 7500#. Conventional tow isn't much more. It's still only a 1/2 ton truck.

Yeah I get that. I’m guessing that it must be just a little more than a 1/2 ton. The low mileage makes it hard to pass up.

Well, by today's standards it's a bit less than a 1/2 ton truck. I would not hesitate to buy it, just keep the limitations in mind.

Today's 1/2 tons properly equipped are rated to tow over 10k.

glc has a very valid point. Today's F150 is built like yester-years F250. Go do some research on some of the popular auto websites that can do manufacturers comparisons. I like using MSN Autos, because you can add quite a few standard builds to a compare list. You can see it in black and white.

From all the years I drove a '99 F150 in almost the same configuration as my '07 F150, I can tell you, that hands down my '07 is much better built than the older series F150. I don't think that my '99 would've continued to take the abuse my '07 has throughout it's lifetime. Ford makes one heck of a truck.

With that being said, you could get the same payload capacity from a newer truck for about the same amount of money if you look carefully/wait.

I've learned from many mistakes in my lifetime, that when buying vehicles, wait -- you don't need it now -- especially if you've got other means of transportation.

Usually some of those so-called great deals are in fact issues being put into your hands. I'm very leery at anything used and even new these days.

Now don't get me wrong, some people like to buy problem ridden vehicles only to tinker with -- that's a whole different story.

Here's the question not answered yet - how much $$$ does this person want for the truck?

The truck is for sale for $8500. I’ve decided that even if it’s only a heavy 1/2 ton, given the condition and the mileage it surely must be worth that. The best price that I could find on a super duty in reasonable condition and less than 125k miles was around $18,000. I just didn’t want to spend that kind of money to haul hay bales and pull a horse trailer a few times a year. I think it’s worth a shot.

Private party book on that truck is only about 6 grand.

Oh well.