www.ColoradoClassicBroncos.com

With all of the people looking for Broncos, why don't we make a checklist that people can use be sure they've covered the essentials when they go to look.

Post your suggestions in this thread, then I or any of the mods can incorporate those suggestions into the checklist. I'm going to start it as a sequence starting with opening the hood, then walking counter clockwise around the vehicle.

Front of the vehicle

• Front bumper type and condition
  
• Winch, yes or no, condition
  
• Grill Condition
  
• Headlights condition
  
• Front body and paint
  
• Hood latch working or hood pins
  
• Hood lifts ok and fits right

Engine compartment

• Rust, Wheel wells, underside of hood, around air intakes
  
• Battery, terminals, cables, grounds, solenoid, starter
  
• Oil leaks by heads, intake, distributor, valve covers, check oil level
  
• Coolant leaks, water or oil pooled on water pump, damage to radiator, hose conditions, check coolant level and color, overflow bottle
  
• Exhaust manifold or headers
  
• Ignition, duraspark etc, plug wires
  
• Carbuerator, air filter, signs of rubbin on hood
  
• Steering, power brakes, manual, cracks in frame near steering box
  
• Brakes, power, hydroboost, master cylinder, brake hoses, brake fluid color

Drivers Side Front Quarter Panel

• Rust inside wheel wells
• Brake type, drum or disk
• Front end type, D30 has 4 nuts around pivot, D44 has one big nut
• Brake line condition
• Tire and wheel condition

Drivers Door and Interior

• Rust on rockers. Tap them to look for hidden rust under bondo and paint
• Rust on door and bottom
• Rust, Front and rear door posts, very important
• Weather striping around door
• Smooth operation of door latch inside and out. Solid locking
• Window, crank
• rust around the bottom of the door
• rust on the interior kick panel (beside the emergency brake)
• Rust and patches to the floor, maybe look up from underneath if carpeted
• Shifter on column or floor, smooth operation. Transfer case shifter operation
• Lights work, blinkers work, wipers work
• Engine cranks and runs
• Seatbelts
• Seat slides forward/back, folds forward for rear access, condition

Drivers Side Rear Quarter Panel

• Rust inside wheel wells
• Brake type, drum or disk
• Brake line condition
• Tire and wheel condition

Tail gate

• Bumper type and condition
• trailer hitch? Boat anchor? Exit angle?
• Spare tire carrier, OEM latch condition, can tire come loose easily
• Rust on the bottom of the tailgate or inside
• With tailgate closed, look down the inside and check weather strip fit
• Tailgate open and close easily and securely
• Tail lights all work, left, right, brake, reverse, running
• Rear seat, seatbelts, condition
• Rust inside the corners and floors
• Crawl under and check exhaust & hangers

Passengers Side Rear Quarter Panel

• Rust inside wheel wells
• Brake type, drum or disk
• Brake line condition
• Tire and wheel condition

Passengers Door and Interior

• Rust on rockers. Tap them to look for hidden rust under bondo and paint
• Rust on door and bottom
• Rust, Front and rear door posts, very important
• Weather striping around door
• Smooth operation of door latch inside and out. Solid locking
• Window, crank
• rust around the bottom of the door
• rust on the interior kick panel (beside heater feed)
• Rust and patches to the floor, maybe look up from underneath if carpeted

Passengers Side Front Quarter Panel

• Rust inside wheel wells
• Brake type, drum or disk
• Front end type, D30 has 4 nuts around pivot, D44 has one big nut
• Brake line condition
• Tire and wheel condition

Very comprehensive list - looks great. Pictures are a great .

I may have missed it ithe list,but a small magnet and a thin peice of cloth(to keep from scratching paint)will give you some how much plastic filler your dealing with.Beware the hack bodyman!They drive me crazy.

JGZ wrote:Beware the hack bodyman!They drive me crazy.

What? Who? Me?

Also, Gear ratios and limited slip/lockers.
Usually if there is a locker of somekind ARB etc the owner will know and it would be obvious with switches.
Or id they tell you there is one you can verify.

Jack up rear of vehicle rotate tire forward. if opposite side turn same direction there is some sort of a lim slip device.
If that is the case count the number of driveshaft revolutions per one tire revolution to find gear ratio.
a little over 4 driveshaft turns to 1 tire = 4.10
3.5 to one tire = 3.55 etc etc

Now if the opposite tire turns a diff direction of the one you are turning then you have an open diff.
at this point you will need someone to push (dont drive it and get run over) the truck as you lay under and slide on the ground to count driveshaft revolutions. dirty but this is the best way to make sure the tires are turning the same amount.

this can be usefull when you buy one and are considering lifting and adding bigger tires or in my casse my truck came with 33" tires and has 4.10 gears. If it were 3>55 then I would have bargained the price more knowing i would need the proper gearing in the future.

or as with a limited slip claim you can verify gearing claims.

also I found that spinning tires with the truck off the ground and engine off you might hear things like dragging brakes, bad wheel bearings, ujoints etc that you would hear with the truck running and driving under its own power.

Mods: Feel free to clean up what I wrote if need be.

Core support at the reinforcement points. The orange and white Bronco we looked at in the Springs a few weeks ago with Dan had cracks in the core support at these points. Possibly an indication of front end damage.

VIN tag. Take note off all tag information and verify it against seller's stated description of the vehicle. Gear ratio changes and other modifications can be asked about when dealing with the seller to determine what has been changed and whether it was done in a professional shop versus in someone's garage. Not that people don't lack the skills, but always good to double check someone's work.

Frame VIN number, if possible. If you are dealing with a FrankenBronco whose body/glovebox has been swapped on to another frame, you could run in to issues with liens against your new purchase when you go to register it. There is an active thread on CB.com about this issue right now. Better to find out before hand by querying your local DMV about liens on a VIN than to bring your new ride home and find out someone else is laying claim. (Okay. Tape technique failed. I think I cleaned the frame TOO much, if that's possible. Turns out the easiest way I could find was this: take a rag and give it two quick sprays of your favorite lubricating/penetrating oil. WD-40 might work too. Reach inside the passenger side wheel well, to the rear of the tire. Starting from the vertical line of where the transmission and engine block meet, wipe the top of the frame rail, towards the rear of the truck, approximately 6-8 inches. Open the hood, if not already open, and peer down through the engine compartment at the frame rail. The VIN should be stamped in 1/2" tall letters with the last character approximately 3" short of the vertical line referenced before. If the VIN is unreadable, apply loose white chalk to the frame top and rub it in. Recheck the VIN. Mine was completely readable this evening without the chalk.)

Casting numbers from engine block and transmission. My '69 came with an '88 302 block. Would have been nice to know before purchase. A mismatched block then leads to questions about rebuilds and documentation of the build. Additionally, you're off to a great start when you go to swap out that fried clutch, instead of making 3 trips to the parts store before you can get everything right.

Wiring. Wiring. Wiring. Not only "does everything work", but does it look like a frigging rat's nest under the dash? Did the seller use 6 boxes of connectors and splices to make it all work? Does it look as though he gave a damn about the wiring or does it look as though he "made crap work"? A seller/PO who takes the time to ensure the wiring is done right and is for the most part clean, is a seller/PO who cared about the truck. If it's an ungodly mess under there, odds are you are dealing with a guy who takes a lot of shortcuts, not just with wiring.

Body mounting points. Apply upward pressure on all of the points where the body mounts to the frame. Any seperation between the sheetmetal, frame points, and the body mounts themselves is usually an indicator that you will need to replace that hardware. Some give is okay, but anything you can slide the blade of a knife between, non-cutting side first, is going to need to be replaced.