Almost bought a thing: Update - Even more almost!

Kinja'd!!! "jminer" (jminer)
05/18/2019 at 21:15 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!11 Kinja'd!!! 29

So I’ve been hunting for a little pickup for a little while focusing on old Japanese trucks. We do a lot of work around the house and while the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is awesome it isn’t quite a substitute for a truck.

After scrounging on CL for a while I finally found something that looked like it fit the bill - a 90 B2600i 4x4 extended cab. The perfect little beater truck I’d been after.

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It’s even this awesome blue-green color. I talked with the guy on the phone and set up a meet on Saturday. He’s apparently a service adviser at a local Mazda dealer group. I met him there on Saturday took it for a drive, remarkably solid except for soft brakes.

I liked the truck overall and mentioned the brakes - he offered to have it inspected for me and get the brakes looked at. I accepted as this is an uncharacteristically awesome offer from a CL seller. We agreed on a price and him bringing it to me on Monday as we’re about 45 minutes away from each other here. I even offered to give him some cash as a deposit and he declined.

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I got a bit more nervous as today went along as I hadn’t heard from him. I figured I’d gotten blown off by another craigslist seller even though the vibes were awesome this time.

Well he called about 30 minutes ago and the shop didn’t have time to look at the brakes but it passed inspection. They’re going to purge the brakes tomorrow and he’ll bring it down after he gets off work.

So while I don’t have it yet, things look very good for an awesome little pickup to be entering my stable soon. I’ll probably be selling the Scout this summer as I need the truck more than it and vehicles are starting to pile up around here...

If all goes well - prepare for a deluge of mini-truck content in the coming weeks!

**UPDATE**

So I got a text from the guy on Thursday mid-day saying it’s in the shop and then nothing else util this morning. He texted saying they found the problem but he didn’t want to put the parts in to fix it and would knock another couple hundred off the price if I still wanted it.

The problem is (according to him) a stuck bleeder on one of the front calipers and air in the lines. They got the rear bled, and the pedal firmed up some but couldn’t bleed the fronts .

I’m supposed to be meeting him tomorrow morning to finalize the transaction and exchange cash for truck. I’m excited and can definitely handle the fix of either unsticking and replacing the bleeders or replacing a caliper (or two) as necessary.

Wish me luck Oppo!


DISCUSSION (29)


Kinja'd!!! someassemblyrequired > jminer
05/13/2019 at 19:53

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Great little trucks- hope everything works out


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > jminer
05/13/2019 at 19:56

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Good luck!


Kinja'd!!! Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > jminer
05/13/2019 at 20:03

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My dad had an ‘87 4x4 2600i, in brown. That thing could drive up a mountain, at incredibly slow speeds. Engine finally lost compression at 277k miles. RIP.


Kinja'd!!! jminer > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
05/13/2019 at 20:06

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Yeah, it doesn’t have a lot of grunt, but has a proper transfer case which is awesome.  It also had a rebuilt head put on it 50k miles ago.  It has ~220k on the frame and has some rust but is solid.  


Kinja'd!!! jminer > shop-teacher
05/13/2019 at 20:07

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Thanks - I’m still optimistic but have been blown off by a lot of folks on CL so I’m not out of the woods yet.


Kinja'd!!! jminer > someassemblyrequired
05/13/2019 at 20:07

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Me too


Kinja'd!!! HammerheadFistpunch > jminer
05/13/2019 at 20:18

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keep an eye on that t case, it's a known weak point


Kinja'd!!! jminer > HammerheadFistpunch
05/13/2019 at 20:25

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Good to know - I’m not super familiar with Mazda drive trains. I did find out that the electronic lock/unlock of the center diff has some oddities/fail points . It seemed to function like it was supposed to in my testing but also seems to be easy to engineer fixes for when not.

It seems to have been well cared for, but it has been a farm truck for the last year of it’s life so most of the truck will be getting fresh fluids once I get it.


Kinja'd!!! dogisbadob > jminer
05/13/2019 at 20:39

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Those trucks are awesome! I love the Japanese small trucks


Kinja'd!!! jminer > dogisbadob
05/13/2019 at 20:42

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Me too - this one will be the first I’ve owned if it all goes through. I’ve owned several Rangers and an S-10 which were OK , but looking forward to having one of these though.


Kinja'd!!! vicali > jminer
05/13/2019 at 21:03

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Love that colour!

A friend had a B series truck when I was growing up, it treated him well.

Looking forward reading your thoughts on it.


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > jminer
05/13/2019 at 21:19

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Yep, I know the feeling both as a buyer and seller.


Kinja'd!!! TheRealBicycleBuck > jminer
05/13/2019 at 21:28

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My first truck was a B2000. My second truck was a B3000. Take care of them and they will last a long time. The second one made it over 269,000 miles. 


Kinja'd!!! jminer > vicali
05/13/2019 at 21:48

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Me too - I’m way to excited for a 30 year old truck.  It appears to have been cared for so I’ll share thoughts and quirks as I come across them!


Kinja'd!!! jminer > shop-teacher
05/13/2019 at 21:49

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Yeah, this is why my wife hates CL.  She’ll get excited about something I show her then it falls through.  I’ve gotten used to it and have bought and sold a ton of things on CL over the years.


Kinja'd!!! jminer > TheRealBicycleBuck
05/13/2019 at 21:52

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This one has been taken care of so far. It has ~220k on the clock but got a new top end 50k miles ago and a stack of receipts for other work. Not many people that would put that kind of money into a vehicle this old.

It won’t have a pampered life with me, but I’ll care for it.  It will regularly have wood, lumber, bike parts, camping gear and all sort of other thing in it but we will enjoy out time together!


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > jminer
05/13/2019 at 22:15

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Same here.

I get a lot more action on FB Marketplace these days, but the buyers and sellers there pull the same BS.


Kinja'd!!! HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > jminer
05/13/2019 at 23:33

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What a great looking truck. Love those three spoke wheels! 


Kinja'd!!! jminer > shop-teacher
05/13/2019 at 23:42

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I’v e bought just a couple things on FB and gotten better results. I've listed a couple things this week on FB so we'll see how that goes...


Kinja'd!!! jminer > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
05/13/2019 at 23:43

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I’m mixed on them. They don’t look bad on the truck but I think I'll swap them out for steelies.


Kinja'd!!! XJDano > jminer
05/14/2019 at 05:03

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Looks good. I had seen it, but it’s still out of my price range, and my equinox is still going. I can’t buy any more cars, or my wife gets an animal.


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > jminer
05/14/2019 at 07:21

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I still prefer CL myself, but I get way more action selling on FB. At least around here, the market (pun intended) has spoken.


Kinja'd!!! jminer > shop-teacher
05/14/2019 at 14:17

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Same, I hate the search on FB. I’m both limited to a radius of 100 miles and it will filter out items it thinks I don’t want to see. Stop thinking for me and just return a search like I want!

On the other hand once CL started charging for a listing in cars and trucks there are a lot less to choose from.


Kinja'd!!! shop-teacher > jminer
05/14/2019 at 15:49

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FB search algorithms are ... bizarre. I hate that just because I click on something I’m curious about, now FB thinks I want to see tons of just that!

I’m in a big enough market that CL still has a LOT of cars for sale. The $5 charge seems to just filt er out those who aren’t very serious about selling.


Kinja'd!!! jminer > shop-teacher
05/14/2019 at 16:29

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I will say that, the listing left are better but there’s like half what there was before. Maybe it’ll adju st back up after everyone gets used to it.

Im in a decent sized market(St Louis) so I hope it'll rebound.


Kinja'd!!! BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > jminer
05/18/2019 at 21:20

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It really is pretty. I loved those era Rangers (and not-Rangers) and they’re dead reliable. AND THOSE WHEELS!


Kinja'd!!! jminer > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
05/18/2019 at 21:26

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Yeah, I’ve been looking for a little truck for a few months and this one seems perfect.

I’m not sold on those wheels, but you’re not the first person to express their desire for them here - They’ll probably grow on me.


Kinja'd!!! daender > jminer
05/19/2019 at 07:50

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That’s a very cool truck!  I’m not sure I’m digging the Infinity Pathfinder wheels but it suits the era somewhat.


Kinja'd!!! jminer > daender
05/19/2019 at 12:05

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Same, I don't really like the wheels. I think it'd look better with some black steelies.