I lot of the trucks I have looked at and bid on have non working horns and heaters. In fact, my truck has both of the problems. I pay attention to the oil pressure, if it is below 25 psi then I don't want that truck. I don't mind if the heater and horn don't work. Once I fix mine, I will post here how I did it.
I also don't want a truck that has a flat tire. I know some people will say "Oh, you can use the CTIS to help with that" but I do not want to mess with it in their yard. Some GP places are nice and some are not. I buy a fair amount of stuff from the Utah GP and now I know them and they know me so I can do things that I should not. BUT the first time I was there they did not want me to enter their yard, they said they would bring it to me and that I should wait outside the fence. I see they do that to other people too. But now I can go inside.
So I am not sure what they will allow me to do when I go to pick up my truck. They may say I have 5 minutes to get it out of there. Or they may let me have the 2 hours I need to go over everything before I drive it. I don't know so I am erroring on the side of "You have 5 minutes to get it out of here." So I want a truck that is driveable.
I also do not want a truck that is leaking. There are a lot of trucks being sold so don't fall in love with one that is leaking.
For the reason listed above, I want a truck that they started and it ran. I don't think they will give me time to repair the truck if it will not start.
I am a little bit fearful of the engine blow by if it is a lot. I think mine was listed as "minor" blow by. I also have an additive that may fix the blowby so I am not too worried about minor blow by.
I think my seats were a little bit ripped but this to me is another thing that is easy to fix.
Mine has the broken radiator overflow jug but I see many like that and I think it is an easy fix once I get the truck.
I was going to purchase a m934, hence my screen name, but after some research I found out that these trucks are newer but also a LOT MORE RELIABLE.
My business partner in this truck is active military and is a Sergeant. He gave me advice about all the military trucks plus I have read a lot. I believe these these MK23 trucks are much more reliable than the older trucks. He is in South Korea now and driving (riding because of his rank) Oshkosh vehicles there. It looks like an MRAP but I don't think it is.
One feature that I really like about these 7 Tons is that they have the OBDII connector so you can see what is going on with the truck. It is the same thing you have in your car or truck that they use when your check engine light come on. They will use a code reader to read the code that then tells you what is wrong. The MTVR trucks have the same connector. I do not have my truck yet, but I think a standard code reader will be able to read some of the common codes. The trucks may have some "special" or "secret" codes that will not come up or will just display a number and then you have to look up the code manually. BUT at least you will be able to get a code to tell you what is wrong.
So I think that many of the 7 Tons being sold by GP are good trucks. Most do not leak, most have little blow by, most have good tires, most will start, run, and can be driven.
The prices at the time of this post are from $10,000 to $20,000 and I think the new price to the military was around $250,000 for the non-armored ones.
Feel free to ask me anything else.
Jon