Which truck/jeep to buy

[bonesZ33]

Looking for a truck or jeep/suv to be able to transport my quad around, It needs to be attainable for under 1000, fit the blaster inside of it ( don't mind taking off the wheels if needed), and get decent gas milage, ( NO v8s)..

was looking at some nissan or toyota pickups, ford ranger.. also the grand cherokees are cheap, wonder if the blaster would fit if i took the wheels off

So need some ideas.

any other good trucks?.. if you own one please state reliablity, avg.mpg, etc.

 

[sicivicdude]

You're probably going to be looking for a domestic small truck to get in under 1K.

You might be able to find an older ford ranger, or perhaps a 4 cyl dakota. You might be able to find a nissan D21 hardbody for a fair price but a lot of the "minitruck" guys have snatched them up.

Most of the small trucks will fit a stock width blaster but with extra width stuff on it only a full size pickup will fit it in there.

 

[Surfrjag]

good luck finding a truck for 1k you will be lucky to find one thats not a peice of crap. craigslist is your friend...

 

[sicivicdude]

I know a guy that bought a late 80's ranger with funky colored body panels for $500 that runs great. If you can deal with some defects you can get them KIND OF reasonable...

 

[Luni]

Stay far away from Grand Cherokees. The regular Cherokees are tanks. The Grand Cherokees are POS with all sorts of electrical faults and gremlins.

And for 1k you are gonna be hard pressed to find much thats good. Especially in the realm of Nissans and Toyotas (the 2 best small trucks)

 

[NEONNIGHT34609]

s-10 there every where

 

[theblasterboy]

I would try finding an earlier ford ranger or f150 remember cl is your friend

 

[acezeesawtooth]

s-10 or older style inline six f-150 or ranger. the old toyota t-100's are decent trucks that run forever, same with the old nissans

 

[bonesZ33]

good luck finding a truck for 1k you will be lucky to find one thats not a peice of crap. craigslist is your friend...

Yea thats where i've been looking, just trying to figure out WHICH is the best to buy. I'm a mechanic so i don't mind buying something that needs work, I just want it cheap as possible but also a reliable ride.

Stay far away from Grand Cherokees. The regular Cherokees are tanks. The Grand Cherokees are POS with all sorts of electrical faults and gremlins.

And for 1k you are gonna be hard pressed to find much thats good. Especially in the realm of Nissans and Toyotas (the 2 best small trucks)

yea i noticed the toyotas are a little more expensive, but the nissans can go for 5-800 depending on year and condition

s-10 or older style inline six f-150 or ranger. the old toyota t-100's are decent trucks that run forever, same with the old nissans

s-10, ranger, nissan, toyota.. that seems the be the best small trucks i should be looking at.

 

[xKroniK13x]

Just a question, no offense wanted. How can you afford a Z but only a 1000 dollar truck?

S10s are cheap and my dad's has 180,000 miles and runs good.

 

[piezzi]

Stay far away from Grand Cherokees. The regular Cherokees are tanks. The Grand Cherokees are POS with all sorts of electrical faults and gremlins.

I'm going to have to disagree with this generalization about Jeep GC's. I have a 2003 with 175k miles that's been as reliabable as any car I've ever owned and I put 25k miles a year on my baby. It also has a ton of room inside, but unfortunately a quad will not fit inside.......but a couch and a refrigerator will!

In the 7 years I've owned this vehichle, I've replaced a throttle position sensor for $35 bucks and a window regulator for $40....and that's it. No "gremlins and faults" experienced by me.

If you get a Jeep GC, get one with the straight six cylinder 4 liter (same engine used in many other cars including the 280Zs). These motors are bullet proof, parts are easy to find, i get 19 mpg on average and 22-23 mpg on road trips, and this motor has a ton of torque for pulling or offroading.

Good luck!

 

[bonesZ33]

Just a question, no offense wanted. How can you afford a Z but only a 1000 dollar truck?

S10s are cheap and my dad's has 180,000 miles and runs good.

none taken, its not that i can't afford one, i just don't want to pay more than 1000 for a truck, because i honestly hate trucks, i hate working on them, i hate driving big vehicles, and im only going to use it for working purposes only, not to drive around and show off, thats why i can only justify getting one if its under 1000 dollars and not care what happens to it.. if that makes any sense... ya i'll check out some s10 what year and gas milage does he get.

I'm going to have to disagree with this generalization about Jeep GC's. I have a 2003 with 175k miles that's been as reliabable as any car I've ever owned and I put 25k miles a year on my baby. It also has a ton of room inside, but unfortunately a quad will not fit inside.......but a couch and a refrigerator will!

In the 7 years I've owned this vehichle, I've replaced a throttle position sensor for $35 bucks and a window regulator for $40....and that's it. No "gremlins and faults" experienced by me.

If you get a Jeep GC, get one with the straight six cylinder 4 liter (same engine used in many other cars including the 280Zs). These motors are bullet proof, parts are easy to find, i get 19 mpg on average and 22-23 mpg on road trips, and this motor has a ton of torque for pulling or offroading.

Good luck!

yea i had one in work today and measured it,... only 31 inch in height! and i think the blaster is 33 without wheels.. so i guess jeeps are out of the question... which sucks because i kind of want a 4 door/ 4 seater because i have a baby....

PS check your rear brake calipers, they leak all the time on the inside, and also the transmission pan leaks and the transfer case seal as well.. other than that they are pretty nice vehicles.. thanks for your imput friend.

 

[xKroniK13x]

none taken, its not that i can't afford one, i just don't want to pay more than 1000 for a truck, because i honestly hate trucks, i hate working on them, i hate driving big vehicles, and im only going to use it for working purposes only, not to drive around and show off, thats why i can only justify getting one if its under 1000 dollars and not care what happens to it.. if that makes any sense... ya i'll check out some s10 what year and gas milage does he get.

I understand completely.
I believe it is a 2002. I will ask him for gas mileage tomorrow. I want to say around 25mpg.

 

[Luni]

I'm going to have to disagree with this generalization about Jeep GC's. I have a 2003 with 175k miles that's been as reliabable as any car I've ever owned and I put 25k miles a year on my baby. It also has a ton of room inside, but unfortunately a quad will not fit inside.......but a couch and a refrigerator will!

In the 7 years I've owned this vehichle, I've replaced a throttle position sensor for $35 bucks and a window regulator for $40....and that's it. No "gremlins and faults" experienced by me.

If you get a Jeep GC, get one with the straight six cylinder 4 liter (same engine used in many other cars including the 280Zs). These motors are bullet proof, parts are easy to find, i get 19 mpg on average and 22-23 mpg on road trips, and this motor has a ton of torque for pulling or offroading.

Good luck!

Ever GC Ive seen has been a V8, so if they make them in the straight 6 then hell yeah, the 4.0 I6 is a great engine.

Id stay far away from a GC V8 tho.

 

[piezzi]

Ever GC Ive seen has been a V8, so if they make them in the straight 6 then hell yeah, the 4.0 I6 is a great engine.

Id stay far away from a GC V8 tho.

They stopped making the straight 6 models in 2003. Reason being is Chrysler had 3 motors going (straight 6, new V6 & the V8).

 

[piezzi]

none taken, its not that i can't afford one, i just don't want to pay more than 1000 for a truck, because i honestly hate trucks, i hate working on them, i hate driving big vehicles, and im only going to use it for working purposes only, not to drive around and show off, thats why i can only justify getting one if its under 1000 dollars and not care what happens to it.. if that makes any sense... ya i'll check out some s10 what year and gas milage does he get.

yea i had one in work today and measured it,... only 31 inch in height! and i think the blaster is 33 without wheels.. so i guess jeeps are out of the question... which sucks because i kind of want a 4 door/ 4 seater because i have a baby....

PS check your rear brake calipers, they leak all the time on the inside, and also the transmission pan leaks and the transfer case seal as well.. other than that they are pretty nice vehicles.. thanks for your imput friend.

Have you thought about getting the Jeep GC and then finding a cheap utility trailer to pull behind? That's how I'm currently getting my quad to the nearest riding areas.

Now I will agree that the breaks are the week link on the Jeep GC and fortunately I haven't experienced the leaking calipers. Also my tranny pan and transfer case seal are not leaking.

One other oddity, there's a braket in the way of the tranny pan that doesn't allow me to completely remove the pan to replace the filter....which kinda sucks.

 

[trble]

i have a 95 gc the blaster fits with the wheels off and sometimes you need to angle the handle bars down a hair

just an fyi

 

[revin-it02]

Find an older Nissan hardbody, best trucks on 4 wheels, you can't kill those 3.0s and 3.3s. Such a simple and reliable engine. I have a frontier and I love that truck (nearly the same as a hardbody).

 

[Braaaptor]

Not trying to make a sales pitch here, but I'll hook a Blaster Bro up if you want a bit of a project. I'm in NC, too.

I've got a '93 Mitsubishi Mighty Max truck that I really don't need. It's not pretty but it runs. I'd let it go for $ 600.00 as it sits. It needs a little front end work and a new bench seat before you can drive it far, but It does run and drive as-is. If you're interested, shoot me a PM and I'll give you more details and send you some pics. Truck's got the 2.4 (fuel-injected) 4-cylinder and a 5-speed manual trans. It has a new battery and radiator. I'm waiting on the title to come back, but its clear and I won't sell the truck without a clear title in my name.

If the Mitsu truck isn't your cup of tea, you might be able to score an older S-10 in decent shape for around a Grand. I gave $ 1,000 cash for my wife's '94 4x4 Blazer and drove it home...

 

[Braaaptor]

BTW, both my wife's Blazer and my Silverado 1500 have 4.3 V-6 engines in them, and we average anywhere from 20-25MPG, depending on how we drive and what we tow. I generally get better gas mileage since I drive a manual trans and have the last-gen, sequential-multiport fuel injection system (put on the 4.3's from 1996-on). Best so far is 26MPG in mixed driving.

Oh, I've got a buddy with the 2.8 V-6 in his S-10 and his gas mileage is about the same as my wife's...20-22 on a good day.