Asking for a friend.

Has the opportunity to buy a very clean 1 owner bone stock 2005 Lariat F350 Crew Cab 4X4 w/97,000 miles. No deletes, no bulletproofing, never hot rodded. And all maintenance items have either been replaced or serviced. No squeaks as it goes down the road so bushings are good. Always parked under a cover.

Or should he just walk away?

Does he intend on having it bulletproofed? If so, then go for it. If not, i would walk away.

No bulletproof = no deal
don't remind me how I know

Depends on price! If its cheap enough, drive it till it needs repair... Roll the dice!

Like playing Russian Roulette.... with only 1 empty hole.

If he hasn't had any issues there should not be any fear of taking the project on yourself. I've got an excursion I sold that I know now has 225k care free miles on it but I did delete it when I got it at 116k miles. It needed new glow plugs at 200k and will need new injectors at 250k.

Once you pull the EGR you can see how close you were to having it go bad. It is like a bad sink drain - it just gets plugged up over time and eventually it will clog.

I would put a big pass on it .

It's an expensive gamble imo with better choices out there.

If you like the truck and the price is good enough for you to have it bulletproofed then go for it.

Depends on the asking price. I bought a 2006 F-250 with the 6.0 in 2010 because the price was good and it only had 43000 on it. Drove it for nearly 10 years before I finally had an issue and blew a head gasket. Spent some $$$ and got it bullet proofed and still have it. Costs a lot less to keep it going than it does to buy a new one for $60K. Hell, I can buy a 6.7 from Ford and have it put in the truck and still be money ahead compared to a new truck.

2000 is all I’d pay drive it till it pukes then scrap yard.