Need small doodling around truck info

MHO... I had an 82 Datsun/Nisan 720 Great truck I loved it! 4Cyl, 5 speed, 2x4
The engines are solid, the only problem is the transmission. The Nissian 5 speed has small bearings in the rear (it's really a car trans) and I went through two transmissons and two rebuilds because I had an overhead camper that was right at the weight limit of the truck. If you don't stress the 720's they are great little trucks. Just don't load them up too much.
Today I have a 1994 Ford Ranger AKA (Madza B2000) 2.3 L, 4 cyl, 5 speed with over 200,000 on the odo and I just had to replace the water pump (original from 94) This is the only engine work that has been done to the truck since I have owned it, (purchased used at 70,000)
I have worked this truck much harder then the 82 Datsun was ever worked, and this truck holds up well.

I would vote 1982+ Toyota (R22 motor!) 1990+ Ford Ranger or Madza or a 80+Nissan. Any of those would serve you well.

Andrew

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Not really a homesteader yet, just a poor computer geek living in the country...

I am quite happy with my 88 4 cyl Ranger -- 202,000 miles on it and getting 28mi to the gal. My friend down the road has an 89 Ranger XLT (extended cab and 6 cyl.) Doesn't get near the mileage mine does, and is not as spry as mine. Handles fine -- Willow girl must've had a sour one. So unless you plan to do major hauling (in which case, you really need a bigger truck than a doodler), go for 4 cylinders. I have had to replace the transmission and the fuel pump, but that's all the major work in 6 years. I have also had early 80's Datsun/Nissan, and they were alright, too -- certainly the cab was roomier than the Toyotas I looked at, or for that matter, my little Ranger.

Have an '86 Toyota with nearly 600,000 miles. I needed a truck as well as something to commute in that would give me decent gas mileage and reliable service. We found it in this vehicle on all counts! It was rated at 28 M P G highway but gave me 31 M P G. On the road it would give me legal speeds or a ticket if I got caught doing more. It was used here on the farm all the time when needed. With use of string to help secure the load, I would regularly deliver 25 square bales of hay to a customer halfway across the county or a roof high load of firewood to the city to deliver after work. It had a light footprint when driven off of the pavement. It gave me many years of reliable service. Since I retired from city work it has been taken off the road but is still here on the farm. Just can't make up my mind as wether or not to sell her.

another cheap way to go operation-wise is the old vw rabbit diesel pickup - of course, you'll never find one - another idea is to find an old, high mpg type, honda civic and torch the rear end off and install a flatbed - with oversize front tires this unit would probably give higher mpg than a cushman

I was at one auction once where they had a whole fleet of old Rabbit diesel pickups that some guy had collected. Claimed they all ran. Went cheap as they didnt even try to start more than a couple of them. As someone who used to own a Rabbit gasoline car, and a Volvo with 6cyl version of VW diesel engine, I'd say probably pass on such unless mileage is your sole quest in a vehicle. As to cutting a unit body car to make it into a pickup, that also isnt smartest move. Really difficult to make it strong and front drive in truck meant to haul anything isnt great idea either. Now if you had a car with a full separate frame, then that has possibilities. I remember seeing where some guy got an early 70's full size stationwagon, removed the body and then bolted on early 50's pickup cab and box. Got himself a cheap hotrod with big engine, light weight and front disk brakes.

VW suggestion brings up an interesting question. Anybody out there ever own a small diesel pickup that was worth a ----? Toyota, Nissan, Izusu, Mitsubishi, and Ford used to sell diesel versions of small truck (anybody even ever see a diesel Ranger, manual says they exist), but dont remember hearing of any of them being particularly great to drive or durable. You might get 40mpg for while but seems when something breaks and its a diesel only part, you lost all your hard earned fuel savings and then some. Remember a cousin with Nissan diesel whose tranny went. He spent lot time searching for replacement then junkyard that sold it really gouged him on it.

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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

believe at one time you could get a chevy luv diesel - think it was an isuzu engine - one local tinkerer put together a diesel toyota, dually, stick shift, 4wd, dump flat-bed - tooled around with it for about a year, never heard how successful it was or whatever happened to it

Two guesses what I saw last week.

At this point, I have a small fleet of people keeping an eye out for me. Which is good.

And my list of specifications and possibilities is getting nicely refined.

The biggest problems now?
1. There's something wrong with the air conditioner here - given how many days a year it's over 100 here, I have to attend to this. :waa:
2. There's something funny going on with my ancient Kenmore dryer. Something funny enough to have me seeing $$$$$ signs every time I try to use it. :waa:

So, I'm guessing my little doodler pickup truck fund may have just gotten wiped out, at least for a while. :waa:

Chevy Luvs were just a rebadged Isuzu pickup. But now that you mention it, I did at one time have a penpal who just loved her Chevette with Isuzu diesel engine. Said it got 50mpg and gave absolutely no problems. Isuzu specialized in diesels so may be true. Isnt current diesel used in full sized Chevy an Isuzu design?

Mostly those light diesels they used were just that, "light duty", and wouldnt hold up. If some company had took time to put heavy duty 50hp diesel (like used in a tractor) in small pickup, then it would have been something worth having.

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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

Not a problem. Just go down to the local wal-mart and buy a cheap, small air conditioner. Put it in the passenger side window.

Then by a cheap generator and put it in the back of the truck to provide power for the air conditioner. :-)

Okay. Who's the wiseguy!!??? :yeeha:

Actually, if it was a car air conditioner, I wouldn't even give it a second thought. Come summer, I refuse to drive! I've had tires blow because it was too hot out, STG!

No, this is the central air conditioner. I have a window unit and just got a fab stand fan that's so sturdy, it will outlast me.

I've had concerns about the central air con here for a while, though. :waa: And I think the time has finally come to make a decision about it. :waa:

What year?

I have a 2001 Chevy S10 that has 105K miles on it, a substantial percentage of that on washboarded dirt roads and the rest doing 80mph down the highway. It gets run in freezing weather and in 120 degree weather and after every rain, in mud up to the axles. In the last 3+ years I've replaced the battery and a headlight and done routine maintenance. Period. (I'm about ready to take bets on this sucker as to when it's going to break down first.)

The reason even the newer ones is cheap -- and the price on this thing used would be around $3500-4000 if I were lucky -- is that it gets stuck in three inches of sand (quite literally, alas and that's with upgraded tires), handles like a pig on ice, the brake system is entirely inadequate, it's seriously underpowered (I've literally been passed by a VW bus going up a hill), the "climate control" system is terrible; you can't entirely turn off the AC or the heat so you're constantly fiddling with it; everything inside is plastic; hit a good bump with the tailgate open and it bounces loose and hits the pavement with resulting damage to said tailgate, and, oh, the survivability in a crash is questionable.

But it runs like the Energizer Bunny. And if I wasn't upside down on my payments on the sucker, I'd trade it in on a real truck.

Leva

those "light-duty" diesels in older jap trucks were surely a darn sight better than the v8 diesels gm stuck in their larger autos long ago

I drove an olds with that 350 diesel once. Nose heavy and I could have out accelerated it on a bicycle. Non-turbo diesels coupled with an automatic are horrible. I had an old volvo at one point with 6cyl VW diesel and an automatic. I really hated that thing. Head gasket blew and when they wanted $100 just for the gasket, I pulled the engine and replaced it with a slant six gas engine and 3spd I had around. Made for a lot better car and mileage wasnt whole lot different.

Cant find it anymore, but did once run across a website explaining this 350 Olds diesel engine. Their stance was that GM got it on market way before it was fully developed. They said toward end of production life, it had been made fairly reliable and that worst thing was the really cheap injector pump they used. However its bad reputation by that time was unrecoverable. I talked to diesel guy once over a Ford 7.3 injector pump. He pointed out that a real heavy duty pump same size would last many hundred thousand miles. The cheap pump on the Ford engine would be lucky to get 200,000 and usually less. The price of that heavy duty pump was however some outrageous amount in thousands. Ford pump rebuilt I think was around $400 so not exactly cheap but lot cheaper than the quality pump.

Doing little looking on internet, most say of small diesels, the Mercedes was the best. Isuzu small diesels seem to have good rep also but were only available in 80's.

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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