Thank you to everyone who took the time to reply to my questions. Really appreciate it. I was not and still not dead set on an LMTV. I don't prefer them actually. But, the truck I had my eye on was "low-hanging" fruit so to speak. It was an LMTV less than 2 hrs away, a 1995 with 26k miles on it and he only wanted 12k for it, which as everyone knows here, that is on the low end. From the photos it appeared to be in good shape, so I was interested. It would serve my purposes, although not a top choice. However, I am not buying that truck. With the advice I received here and the fact that the seller was a jerk, I walked away. Of course, I was skeptical of the low price, but I figured it had to do with the lack of a title and no way to recover the original. Once I visited the owner's farm, I quickly realized that the truck wasn't cheap enough. It wasn't in terrible shape, just a few things like no relay box cover, missing driver side door handle, etc. There was pig crap on the passenger seat, which sucked because that's where I had to ride. Yup, that's right, he wouldn't let me drive the truck! He said he didn't want his fields tore up. As a farmer myself, I understand that. But, he wouldn't let me drive it on the road either. He told me I could put it in forward and reverse in his driveway but that's it. He had no idea as to anything with the vehicle. He told me that I knew more about it than he did. That's true that I knew more about LMTVs than he did (based on lots of research), but I didn't know jack and squat about that particular truck. Neither did he. He didn't know if the signals worked, brake lights, horn, high beams, etc. All the things required for me to drive it home and title it. I asked him if he could make a video of all that stuff working, he told me he didn't have time. So, I asked him if I could sit in the front driver seat and play with everything to determine their servicability. He said, "take 15 minutes and then go." The signals didn't work, but the hazards did. I couldn't determine the brake lights because he refused to help me when I pressed the brakes. He actually said to me that he could see all the questions and the big deal I was making if this was a $500k deal, but not for 12k. He admitted that the reason why its still for sale after over 4 months is because he isn't a good seller. I was able to get him down to 10k, but without ever driving and oh, he wouldn't let me inspect the fluids either. In my mind the truck isn't even worth $10k.
But, maybe he gets desperate and drops the price more, so if anyone wants to try to snatch it up, its in Lenoir City, TN, on the south side of Knoxville. Its an M0178. I'm staying away because I am not paying $10k for a truck i don't drive until he hands me the bill of sale. Not, for a truck that never made it out of 3rd gear due to the speed we drove in his fields. But, I had no intention of hauling it out, I needed to drive it home. Anyway, the truck already had 2 strikes against it based on the advice I received here, but then his attitude and the price of $10k killed any chance I had of buying it. On to the next one.
Thanks again for all the help!
