I've realized that part of doing business is accepting whats available. Such as the nearly impossible 2nd gen 5 spd Trans on a fair priced truck. I found a very clean 2nd gen one ton dually, nearly perfect, it is priced right but, has the automatic trans.
My question is... do the one tons come with a better built trans? More reliable? It has 177 K miles.
It's a 1996.... are the front end problems the same as the 2002 trucks with trac bar and tie rods and BJs'?
I might add, it was a power company truck so it was regularly maintained and will check fluids, and how she runs in the morning.