I have the opportunity to trade an old truck of mine this week for an '88 350 Foreman. I was only going to sell the truck for $1,500.00, but the trade will be even if I go through with it. I should be excited about it, but I have some concerns.

The owner of the Foreman says the machine is in good condition with the following exceptions:

1) A front wheel bearing is bad.

2) All brakes apparently need to be replaced.

3) The motor burns "just a little bit" of oil.

4) The motor has been bored .030 over and the piston has been
replaced.

5) It has no exhaust pipe whatsoever.

6) It has just two cracks in the plastic.

I am very concerned about the motor work and the oil burning. The owner says that this is normal of a machine this age, but I am not quite so sure.

What kind of reliability or maintenance nightmare is this machine going to be if I trade? What is the approximate cost of brake repair and a replacement exhaust pipe?

Does this sound like a motor on its last legs?

I would appreciate any and all advice you could give me and I would appreciate it fast!

 

Please, if at all possible, I need some answers fast! Thanks!

 

Personally I would sell the truck, save up some more cash and buy a mid 90's model quad. $1500 for the quad + $100 brakes + $10 bearing + $150 exhaust = not a bad price. But then you need to think about the motor, how much longer will it last? Why do you think he wants to trade it? You can do better with a little more money. I would PASS.

 

MALOCHALA I would PASS on this one like bbertram said, You can do alot better than that, You might not pay anything in the beggining since you are selling your truck but once you add the Exhaust Pipe,Bearings,Brakes and then possible engine work you can really rack up the Dollars really quick, If it is burning a little bit of oil it probably will get worse, It could be Piston,Piston Rings,Valve guides and/or seals, It could be alot of stuff, Let me tell you this I bought a 1991 Honda XR250R Dirt Bike last summer and I rode it at the guys house and it ran great,Sounded great, I got the bike home and rode it for about a week and I was out riding it started making this AWEFUL sound from the engine and then it died, So I started trying to start it and I would push the Kickstarter down really slow trying to find TDC(Top Dead Center) but i couldn't and It would not start, in other words it was like it had no Compression, So I pushed it home and I just thought about pulling the Spark plug out and when I did the end of it was bent and beaten to hell, So I pulled the cylinder head off and to my suprise it was destroyed, Turned out the be the OIL PUMP quit working, so I paid $950 for the bike which was a good deal, Now I have put about $1,500 into it after that, The dealer looked over the engine and discovered the timing was way off, They took the Cam out and there were seize marks on it and the buckets where it sits, They said that the Cam siezed up and then they think the Cam Chain Slipped and threw the timing off and then the Piston hit one of the valves, and indeed one of the tappets on the valve was GONE, The pison was in PICIES(Spelling), Just think about the other optiong you have. Matt

 

Thanks for your help and advice. It confirmed the already existent bad feeling I had about this deal and made it much easier to turn the guy down.

Thanks again for your responses.