1996 300tdi defender advice

Hi all.....looked at a defender 90 today which seemed overall in pretty good condition with loads of paper work upto 3 years ago when the current owner bought it.
In the last 3 years the car has been off roaded though it has had new prop shafts,radiator,been polybushed,recon transfer box and some wheel bearings.
My worry with the vehicle is that it has play in the steering and clutch last changed about 80,000 miles ago..car now has 130,000 miles on it.
Though the guy is a mechanic I also had to point out it hadn't been serviced for 16 months though only done 6000 miles.
What do you guys think,take a chance or run.

How well do you know Defenders? For a lot of us is the value really depends on the state of rot.

Clutches can last virtually indefinitely, so I wouldn't worry about that if there's no sign of slip.

Steering. There are so many joints, bearings and bushes that a tiny bit of wear in all of them gives a lot of play. You might be lucky and have a lot of wear in one bit. A non-Landy driver might not appreciate that high profile tyres have to flex to a limit before the car starts to turn, so expecting crisp steering is going to lead to disappointment!

As far as servicing goes, I wouldn't have done a full service in that time period, but I would have done an engine oil change, and probably gearboxes if any miles had been hard ones. Greasing the propshafts might have happened too. I would, however, have been checking all the levels though.

Got a Landy-owning mate who'd check it over? Or are you near one of us that might turn out for a slice of cake?

Thanks for the reply....am not expecting crisp steering from a Landy but there is play and the owner said it was the steering box.My other concern was that the owner wasn't very forthcoming with any of the faults and I had to prize them out of him.
The servicing he seemed to dismiss and said it just needs an oil change even though the car is mainly off-roaded.
The Landy looks to novice like me to be in good con but the owner didn't instill confidence lol.

So hard to say without being there.

The picture you paint is of someone who mends things when they're broken enough. That's not necessarily a bad way to run an old car, but does mean that it may be you that's catching up with the preventative maintenance. If you're ready for that, fine.

How was it for rust in the usual places?

Where is it, roughly? Put your location into your profile, just local town is probably enough

Someone on here might have a look at it for you and at least give another idea of true condition.

Hey Boguing...you are bang on about the present owner...he did seem a nice enough bloke but like you say my concern is catching up with the preventative maintenance.
I am based in Devizes,Wiltshire.....perfect location for fun on the Plain.

Mines on 166+K on the original clutch (got all the history from about 20K so doubt it would have had a clutch before that)

Already said it has had a new clutch...seen the paper work.

Have you crawled underneath and wobbled everything? I'd be looking for where the play in the steering actually was, and trying to see if any of the ball joints was loose or the steering swivels were worn. All of this stuff can be replaced, and isn't beyond the scope of an enthusiastic amateur. The main thing is to give yourself a sense of how many jobs there are and how big they are and think about it in terms of how much time you're prepared to commit. Things like chassis replacements and bulkhead replacements are big jobs, but the odd ball joint or wheel bearing isn't usually too onerous.

To answer with one of the two choices you offered.
Run!
If you are not sure what you are looking at, then it is a big gamble. How hard has it been off roaded for 3 years? Has the chassis and every corner been packed with wet mud over that time? As a few have already said, if you can get someone off here nearby to have a look for you that would be great.
A steering box is expensive. As Brown said, ball joints, wheel bearings etc are easy to sort out. Hidden rot in chassis or bulkhead can mean big money.

The car has been extensively off roaded on Salisbury plain but he has offered to put it up on a ramp for inspection.did say it gets jet washed after every trip and that the underneath is solid.Front floor panels are solid.
I don't feel confident myself to know what I am looking at so may have to give this Landy a miss.