Need advice on a bad vehicle purchase

Wow this sounds eerily similar to what happened to me. First off, I really feel for ya. I rushed in and got boned.

Now, you won’t get your 2K back unless you part it out and you already said that wasn’t an option.

Put it up whole as a parts truck would be my suggestion. I got $900 for my 99 Silverado when the frame went bad and the shackle rusted through, and the guy just wanted the engine. If you’re lucky, you might get half of your investment back.

Good luck, man, you’ll be back up and running soon

Put a CL ad up and be honest with its flaws. Put say $1000 bucks on it.
Someone may want it for a mud-toy, donor vehicle or farm truck.

You may just nab back some of your cash.

If full sale fails.. set it on there for Part-out. Line up someone with a truck and trailer or you'll probably get flooded with guys on your initial ad on CL offering to buy it lowball (off the $1K) SAVE THEIR PHONE NUMBERS.. if and when you need them.. call them back- starting with the highest offer and work down the chain.

Or look at the yard while your there unloading for a piece of sheet tin to pop rivet down and make your "new" floorboard. I had a vehicle once that was done like that and had been tarred or undercoated on the bottom real heavy so it wouldn't rust right back out.
Had a car the owner had filled a big rust hole with spray foam insulation and when it dried, he smoothed it out and overcoated it with a layer of bondo, then repainted. Lasted for years, went thru a couple of owners.

I always figure any truck with 4x4 and runs is worth at least 1k. That being said I don't know about any inspections or DEQ stuff you guys have to go through, but any decent backyard welder should be able to fix up the floor and exhaust fairly quick and easy. Or like others have said rivet on some tin and call it good. If your only concern is not accidentally pulling a Fred Flintstone you could even use wood or plastic.

Jiffy I hope you can either fix it so its workable for scrapping or sell it at not such a huge loss. Money isn't something fun to lose especially when its so hard earned and can't afford to lose it.

Maybe you could tighten the bed up with some welded pieces of metal and the floor boards too if you know anyone who welds?

I know I'm the new guy here, but I'll share my input nonetheless.

#1) No jerry rigging. Trust me. It's 1 thing to rig something together, and "Make it work" on the farm, but something on the highway that might get you or someone else potentially harmed or killed just isn't worth it.

#2) Did you actually look this truck over prior to buying it? I mean...Wow. Anyways, it's your baby now. So just make the best of it and move on.

#3) As for the floor pans; Some old road signs (Won't rust) installed would be ok, but just having someone weld in a set of floor pans would be a better option. 2-3 hours with a MIG welder and it's DONE.

As for the bed rottened out issue: Why not flat bed it?

You could build a cheap wooden or metal/wooden hybrid and make even money per load, because of not being "Restricted" to a 4'x 6' or 8' bed floor.

Either way, I'd personally just fix it to a point it isn't a rolling accident waiting to happen, make a few scrap runs to recoup some cash, and then sell it. At least that way, you wouldn't be hurt too bad, and take this as a lesson for future vehicle buys.

Best of luck!

If it runs well , consider its just a work truck . I would sure up all that you can with some exterior ply wood on floor board areas
screws - construction adhesive - great stuff foam , Undercoat . are some of the products to jimmy rig fix .
Then just go make money with truck till it's dead . You will get more time out of truck then you realize
and that truck can pay for itself

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Should add this , I've seen with any vehicle I used for scrap and most of all the consistent look of scrapper autos .
6 months in to real work , come on now .
It's the loading thing first you try to be dainty about it like my gosh I don't want to ruin it . Well that passes fast when your alone and by any means possible that fridge is going in . Or that 14 foot long pipe , oops gotta use the roof ahh crap a dent ahh frig it wheres the money hand it over .
All in All a beat up truck that works is the way to go .

This is unfortunately a very common problem on the 97-2003 generation Ford trucks. The floor pans are the easy part- Cab mounts, cross members and frame rail rust are what sends most of these trucks to the junkyard. I don't know what it is about the Fords that they rust in the worst places. A Dodge or Chevy/GMC will rust as well, but at least they're usually fixable.

If you can't sell it for a good enough price, the part-out option would probably do OK for you. These trucks are very common, so there's always a good demand for parts. Every F-150 I've ever parted out has gotten picked clean and made me good money. Plus, these trucks have about $200 worth of converters on them- It's a 4-cat setup, usually with two high-grade pre cats and two standard domestics. So, just chopping the cats and scrapping the rest would get you more than the $500 the yard offered.

Good luck. Making a bad buy sucks, but we've all done it at one time or another. Many owners of these trucks are shocked to find out how bad the rust damage can be, so it's entirely possible the seller didn't realize how bad it was.