Prospective VX owner looking for a little advice & direction

[TheGanzman]

My advice - Buy THE best, THE most rust-free example you can find Stateside, no matter WHERE it is! Shipping a vehicle is cheap - your best bet is to find an original Southwest VX, that has been here its whole life. Also, the least mods, the better, IMHO - once they've been lifted, the "service life" of many of the driveline parts is usually significantly compromised...

Some (probably unappreciated by MOST) advice from an old guy, who has bought over 30 vehicles in the last 41 years - worth exactly what you paid for it!

[Roody650i]

My advice - Buy THE best, THE most rust-free example you can find Stateside, no matter WHERE it is! Shipping a vehicle is cheap - your best bet is to find an original Southwest VX, that has been here its whole life. Also, the least mods, the better, IMHO - once they've been lifted, the "service life" of many of the driveline parts is usually significantly compromised...

Some (probably unappreciated by MOST) advice from an old guy, who has bought over 30 vehicles in the last 41 years - worth exactly what you paid for it!

Thanks for the advice! Honestly I didn't have enough time & patience to get a great look at the thing in the downpour, but from my brief glance it seemed to be in good shape rust-wise. U-joints were definitely in need of a little loving but those shouldn't be too expensive to replace. Little-to-no body rust, minimum rust on the under-carriage from what I could see. Really only got to look quickly but my first thought was about how much worse the underside of my 6-year-newer Avalanche is...

Any way to hunt down VX's for sale other than Autotrader, Cars.com, and Craigslist? Really tough to buy something if I haven't seen it in person...this '99 by me is bone-stock, and I don't mind putting in some time to get rid of surface rust and re-spraying the frame if it means getting a good deal.

Thanks again!

[tom4bren]

It looks like a good deal to me. It'd be nice though to get the service records. There's significant maintenance due at 90K. If that wasn't done then you're probably looking at several hundred dollars worth of parts for timing belt, tensioner, water pump, serp, etc. That price will climb quickly if you can't do it yourself.

Take that puppy for a test drive. On road, listen for rattles & vibrations. Off road, watch the TOD lights to make sure you're getting power to the front wheels.

Check the CV boots. If they're cracked or split, then the CV's will probably need to be replaced ASAP.

If you do get it (I hope you do), make sure to add this site to your favorites. The folks here can help save mucho dinero on troubleshooting and repairs.

[Roody650i]

It looks like a good deal to me. It'd be nice though to get the service records. There's significant maintenance due at 90K. If that wasn't done then you're probably looking at several hundred dollars worth of parts for timing belt, tensioner, water pump, serp, etc. That price will climb quickly if you can't do it yourself.

Take that puppy for a test drive. On road, listen for rattles & vibrations. Off road, watch the TOD lights to make sure you're getting power to the front wheels.

Check the CV boots. If they're cracked or split, then the CV's will probably need to be replaced ASAP.

If you do get it (I hope you do), make sure to add this site to your favorites. The folks here can help save mucho dinero on troubleshooting and repairs.

The dealer said he has the service records - whether that's true or not we'll have to see when I go back later this week. Problem is I work in CT until 430, dealer is an hour away and he closes at 5...if he's trying to really make a sale he should stay a little late so I can come give this thing a good run-through. Any common NVH problem spots?

Doubt I'll be able to take it off-road but we have the potential to get a huge snowstorm so hopefully that will be a good indicator of the 4WD system working or not. As for a forum helping out with saving money...let's just say if it weren't for the Avalanche forum and for the forum the guys I ride ATVs with are on, I'd be ***** out of a lot more money than those 2 have already cost me!

If you can pick it up for around $4500 that really sounds like a deal. Definitely take it on a long test ride including highway, bumps, and tight turns. Check the oil before and after although that probably won't tell you anything. Check the trans for slippage, hopefully you can run it from a cold startup. Even if it has a few problems you've got some room to put a little money into it. I wouldn't be too concerned about the u-joints. My concerns would be transmission, TOD, rust, oil consumption, and CV joints. Problems with those things would not cause me to decide against buying it, just give me pause as to the repair costs. I bought my VX for pretty cheap but it was very neglected and needed quite a bit of love and a little bit of money to get it where I wanted it. I don't regret it a bit.
Good Luck!
Scott

How do you know if TOD is fully functional or not? For $4500 this thing could really be a deal, and it would be great to be able to let the Avy get some down time (put ~500 miles a week on the truck on an easy week, 130/day when it gets used daily).

Thanks!

[MSHardeman]

If the TOD system is working as it should at a stop there should be no power going to the front wheels (I know, DUH!). When you start to move there should be no power to the front wheels until about 10-15 mph. At that point you should see the first light on the front wheels light up on the TOD display. There really isn't any way to tell if there is actually power going to the front wheels though. I can never feel the shift in power during normal dry driving. The only way to make sure that the TOD works is to get the rear wheels to slip a little (maybe that snow storm you were talking about). Find a patch of ice/mud/slick road and step on the gas. If the TOD is working correctly you should see all three of the lights on the front wheels of the TOD display light up and you should feel the front end grab. You might also hear the transfer case whine a little. The power shift should only last a split second unless the rear wheels start to slip again, at which point the TOD will throw power to the front wheels again.

When I first got my VX I thought that as the rear wheels started to slip that the TOD would throw power to the front wheels and leave it there. That isn't the case. It sends power forward in short bursts. Just enough to stop the rear wheels from slipping and then it pulls the power back. I live in Colorado and I love the TOD in the winter. As others slip and slide as they take off from a light I can just stomp on it and the TOD takes care of the rest; pulsing power to the front wheels as it's needed.

To be safe, I would also shift the VX into 4 wheel low to make sure that everything works with that too. That won't tell you if the TOD system works, but it will tell you if the four wheel drive system works and that the transfer case is working.

Good luck and keep asking as many questions as you need to.

[bartmanS4]

If you can pick it up for around $4500 that really sounds like a deal. Definitely take it on a long test ride including highway, bumps, and tight turns. Check the oil before and after although that probably won't tell you anything. Check the trans for slippage, hopefully you can run it from a cold startup. Even if it has a few problems you've got some room to put a little money into it. I wouldn't be too concerned about the u-joints. My concerns would be transmission, TOD, rust, oil consumption, and CV joints. Problems with those things would not cause me to decide against buying it, just give me pause as to the repair costs. I bought my VX for pretty cheap but it was very neglected and needed quite a bit of love and a little bit of money to get it where I wanted it. I don't regret it a bit.
Good Luck!
Scott