Hello, picked up a 98 with 287k miles, 4.0, a little rough, but generally solid, nearly no rust at all. I wanted a rough work truck, not worry about scratching hauling block or rock & stuff. Replaced the radiator, water pump, hoses, serpentine belt, plugs/wires, rear main seal was drippy - paid a shop to replace; some brighter headlamps, dashlamp LEDs, just went through the "tighten/loctite the shifter bolts by the steering column for the wandering shift indicator"; today was A/C work, 2 lbs of R134a, 1/2 can of oil (compressor seems heavy to turn by hand, but not noisy yet), removed the washer behind the a/c clutch to tighten up the gap - the clutch was intermittent, but always had good voltage (when it didn't clamp, barely bump it with a finger & it would clamp right away... yeah, don't use your finger hehe...).
Drives well, no smoke, needs driver door hinge pin bushings replaced, hood paint peeling will have to wait for warmer weather, turn signal wires in tilt column cause intermittent response = buzzing relay occasionally; I think it is good for a long term infrequent work truck. I'm happy.

Thank you to many of you who I have found assistance browsing questions in the forums as a lurker, but now wanted to join in. I find good help, lots of genuine brainstorming without the judgmental "Let Me Google That For You" kind of responses.

 

Welcome to the forum

Well your first post anyway