Need small doodling around truck info

Another vote for Toyota.
Mine has been a great doodler! It's an 88 model with over 200k miles and just keeps doodling on.

Older Toyotas were just about bulletproof. So are new ones, but much more costly. Mazdas are good too, but parts can be more pricey.

Unless you have a real special truck-shaped need, you might get a better deal on an ex-delivery van (commercial, post-office, maybe ambulance). For some reason, they turn over at a discount. Probably high-mileage, but that just means it wasn't run cold for many of those miles - transmission and suspension may have taken a beating, but they weren't as hard on the engine.

Also consider old hearses. Station-wagon style, but long bed.

And particularly consider box-trailers. It may be that you can turn any vehicle you have into a pick-up truck at need, with a tow-bar and a trailer (box trailer, stake or weld-mesh sides).

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ô¿ô Don Armstrong,Terra Australis

Grandad, tell us a story about the olden days, when you were young and men could walk on the moon.

Yep, overall, my vote would be for Toyotas. They have had problems with rust here and there, more so than some other trucks, but they weren't exactly PLAGUED with them, and you can run 'em into the ground.

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"I pursue my faith with a lack of remorse; I stand resolute to embrace the cause." -- Project 86

If you want a full size that still gets some kind of mileage, think about an older 70's or 80's Dodge short bed with slant six and manual tranny. Preferably an overdrive if you can find it for mileage. If not then a truck 4spd with super low first gear (handy out on the farm). These trucks are ugly, cheap to buy, and will last forever. Very roomy cab. The slant six was bulletproof until its end, although I liked older versions better.

Really though for small truck look to older Datsun/Nissan with carb, manual tranny, and before computer. The "L" engine is getting more rare in junk yards. The '80's "Z" engine is plentiful and still made today. If you ever need a "Z" engine, at least some later versions can be retrofitted back to carb and vacuum advance distributor. And a "z" can go into a 620 without much trouble, just easiest to also put in a later 5spd tranny (old 4spds were buzzy on hiway anyhows).

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Toyota is my choice...If you get a good one, the higher price should be paid back through fewer repairs and less hassle. I've got a new 4X4 4Runner on the boat headed into port of Houston right now....Glen

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The more a man travels, acquires wisdom and learns about life, the more likely he is to marry a Country Girl.

We had a little mazda truck for years and it was great. I loved it cause it was low enough to the ground that I could jump in and out from my wheelchair without the use of a cargo derrick. Jon convinced me to sell it and buy a car and we sold it to this kid in town. I bet that was 10 years ago and I saw that kid the other day at the store and he was still driving that lil Mazda truck. looking a little rough but she was still going. They are just the thing if you arent a heavy duty homesteader.

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FolioMark

Mus uni non fidit antro. ~ A mouse does not rely on just one hole.----Plautus

don't know your location but winter salt takes it's toll on small pickups here...actually on everything.
My vote goes to a Ford F-150 with the 4.9 litre inline 6. I think the six was available up thru 1996 or so.
Even my old carbureted 1985 F-150 had a computer tho'. Fuel injection started in 1987 and works great for winter starting.
New and used parts are available everywhere for these trucks including complete body panels and patch panels.

I agree with Don Armstrong on the usefullness of a trailer. I have a small 4'x8' box trailer which I use for lots of odd loads to avoid taking the cap off the pickup.
cheers,

LOVE THE Z ENGINE!!

But I will take what I can get.

I have yet to see a Datsun/Nissan truck for sale around here, IOW. Oh maybe in used car lots but I ain't going there!

In any case, I'm compiling a list. I'm doing my shopping from the roadside while i drive back and forth from work (60-80 miles each way, depending on the day). Saw a promising old Dodge today and some kind of horrible looking blue and white ancient thing which looks like you'd have to bulldoze it to kill it. :haha:

Lots of good ideas here! Keep them coming!

Keep an eye on local free shopper papers. 80miles might take in more than one. Our local shopper now puts all current car ads on the internet.

Also check out your region on ebay. Never know what will show up. You can even set up a 6 month search where they email you anytime something you are looking for shows up for auction.

Also let people know you are looking. Somebody may have old Betsy parked behind shed somewhere and just never got around to advertising it. I got a really good 6 cyl Nova for $100 that way once when I lived in northern MI. It was middle of winter and I had to dig it out of 3 foot of snow.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

Well, I just did some moseying around on eBay.

Which, like most shopping for me, was a shocker.

People out there are paying more for cars and trucks than I paid for my whole place here! Shoot, for the amount of money people are putting into cars and trucks, I could have me two-three places to wear me out.

In any case, I found some really nice possibilities. From the looks of it there, most of the trucks I'm seeing for sale --- that is, those I would consider buying --- are 60's and 70's models.

So I have it narrowed down to these possibilities right now:

A nice old Nissan
A Toyota or Mazda
An old American model

Toyota. I have an 84 toyota 4X4 with a 4-cylinder engine. The box is rusty, but it still holds anything that isn't liquid. I just took it up to the bush today and picked up some rocks. It's run well since I bought it and I've only had to replace little things like the fuel filter. It has a small oil leak, but I know where it's coming from...I just have to find the time to change the gasket between the distributor and the engine. I got it for $2500 (in Canada), but I'm sure you can find a better deal than that if you take your time and keep looking. Happy hunting!

Peanut, that's just an o-ring, no gasket. Before you pull it out stuff a rag under it to catch the oil puddle and scratch mark the joint between the dist. and cyl. head, and also mark where the rotor is pointing. Then when you put it back together you won't have to find TDC and all that.

Countrygrrl, one thing I'd say is that a pushrod style engine will be a bit more reliable than a camshaft belt or chain in a true doodler truck. When it comes time to replace the timing chain(not if, when) it's not a cheap job. A pushrod engine will run longer without having this expense. Also a pushrod engine pretty much says by design it's an older vehichle which won't have computer or emissions problems to deal with. I'd steer towards pre-mid '80's and probably 70's for this reason. Maybe your wanting something better($$) than what I'm reading into it too. :>) The mid 70's import trucks are really tough to beat for this kind of duty. The domestics are really reliable too but you'll buy 2 &1/2 tomes the fuel. Stay with the 6 cyl. or small V8 in the domestics if you end up there. Loren

Thanks, Loren. And actually, truth be known, unless I can find an old Nissan with a z-engine (LOVE THE Z-ENGINE!!!), looks like I'll be going with an older domestic with a simple engine --- no bells, buzzers and whistles. :no: No way am I paying more for a truck than i did for my little five acres of heaven!! :no: Besides, what better doodler than an old domestic?

Nice specs, too. I'm adding them to my little list!

Just my two cents here... I would try to go with an old Toyota..(datsun/nissan)... My brother had an old late 70's model... I worked with him for years up until the early 80's... at that time it had well over 350,000 miles on it... and we are talking hard tough work truck miles... well Mike (my brother) died... and that truck sat out in his driveway for years up on blocks with no wheels... basically a rust bucket... The sister-in-law decided to get remarried so we went out and dropped a battery under the hood and that sucker cranked right up ( I was standing outside the door and just reached in through the window to turn the key)... we put wheels on it and gave it to one of the nephews... last I heard it had over a half million miles on it without ever haveing any major mechanical breakdowns... a water pump here, an alternator there that type of thing... I know we had a Toyota half ton at work that I drove for 6 years and I personally put about 150,000 miles on that one... You don't think you see all of those old Toyota's and Nissan's driving around in third world countries for nothing do ya...(when watching Discovery channel) suckers are build like tanks... straight 6 engines... minimal comfort goodies.. worked on the KISS principle...(keep it simple stupid)... I know that here in the Texas they sell at the wholesale auctions for 400 to 500 bucks for the early 80 models... try to stay away from the electronic fuel injection and get one of the old carburated models...

Just my opinion...but they do last...

Dave

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English Philosopher- Edmund Burke

The only car/truck engines without timing chains that I am aware of are old Willys Jeep134 and 226, Volvo B20/B30, Pontiac 2.5 and seems like Ford 240/300 and one of the old Chevy straight sixes (think it was the 230/250/292 and if it was guess the 153 4cyl with same design). Was there a Ford V6 with gears instead of chain? (memory getting weaker as years pass) All came standard with fiber gear on camshaft which will eventually go bad except the VolvoB30. The Volvo B30 had all steel timing gears which last forever. They will bolt on the B20 but are noisier than the fiber version. So in fact the VolvoB30 is only engine straight from factory that you would never have to worry about timing chain/belt/gears.

Old pushrod domestic engines that use a timing chain and sprockets will need them replaced around 100k to 120k miles. They can be relatively easy or real pain in rear if you have to remove bunch stuff to get to them. The Jap engines had timing chain or timing belt. The timing chains were very expensive and pain in rear to change [for example the Mitsubishi 2.6 which uses 2 (or 3?) chains to also drive balance shafts and oil pump]. Belts are usually easy to change, but some like late model Ranger or old Escort were real hassle because they were so buried.

Only 2 small pickups used pushrod 4 cyl engines. The old Datsun 520 from the '60s used the "A" engine as base engine with L16 OHC engine as option. This A engine was also used in the later B210 and 210 cars and one year in the 310 car. This is great and very durable engine with super fuel economy, but only 1.2l to 1.4l and really underpowered for a pickup. Then the Chev S10 used the Pontiac2.5, the Chevy 2.0 with cast iron head, and the Chevy 2.2 with aluminum head. I had a Cavalier with all cast iron 2.0 and thought it was pretty good engine. Design simular to old VolvoB20. Think it only was used in S10 for one year or so. Have never used 2.2 aluminum head version although block is basically same as the 2.0. The 2.5 is not great engine, but is very cheap to rebuild so may be worthwhile. They certainly made zillions of them over its production life. Oops, there was a third and 4th small pickup with pushrod engine. AMC JEEP devision made Jeep Scrambler pickup based on CJ7 and offered Pontiac 2.5 in it and later they offered a small pickup with their own pushrod 2.5 based on small Wagoneer for couple years until Chrysler bought them out and discontinued it. Scramblers are rare and pricey and apparently collectable. That Wagoneer jeep pickup offered a straight six optional engine. Wouldnt mind getting hold of one cheap with bad engine as it should have room for a Dodge slant six. All other modern era small pickups have too short of an engine compartment for a straight six.

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"What would you do with a brain if you had one?" -Dorothy

"Well, then ignore what I have to say and go with what works for you." -Eliot Coleman

My first choice for reliability would be a Toyota, second a Nissan. I've also owned a couple of Isuzu P'ups. Great little trucks if you don't mind ugly!

Ok, I'm a rebel in this bunch I think.
I have an old 87 Dodge Dakota that I paid 500 for 2 years ago.
I put in an alternator at one point and a timing belt, both easy repairs.
The biggest thing I like about it for a small pickup is the fullsize feel to the cab. I had a toyota once that was a great little outfit, but awful tight in the cab.
My biggest complaint about the Dodge is it's under powered, but still has plenty of pull power.
I rarely drive it anymore, but I still keep it around for a spare.

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Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain
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Enforced tolerance is oppression

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Well ...

I've spotted an older Nissan with a camper top even. I think it's been sitting there for a while but I just didn't notice it til today.

However ... it appears the air conditioner here has broken. :waa: So ... so I may have hit a delay. :waa: Which is predictable.

Don't get a Ranger! I had one, and they suck. Oh it was a pretty little truck alright (I had it all pimped out ) but they handle TERRIBLY ... they're high and narrow, and tend to SKITTER all over the road. I'm not talking just in snow ... even on wet pavement. Of course, it was my first experience owning/driving a truck, so what do I know? Maybe they're all like that!

I don't think enough sometimes(?!) and expected you to know that I was talking about camshaft chains on OVERHEAD cam engines. I prefer Toyotas as first pick but also have seen the most failures/repairs on their cam chains. The chains don't seem to be as much as a problem as the guides, being plastic they tend to break easy. RPM seems to be the biggest culprit here. The late 70's I believe were a hard rubber over a steel base and did VERY well for service life. Get well into the 80's and I replaced a ton of them. The book says to pull the head to do a 20R and 22R timing job but if you're very careful you can loosen the oil pan, pull the timing cover and put the right sealant in the right places and slde the cover back on. You can break things and it WILL leak if you're not right. But, saves about 50% or better on labor costs. The domestics with cam chains will be more reliable though as far as that's concerned.
Sorry for the confusion. Loren