Help me pick a light duty truck

[Restoman]

Chevy anyone? The Silverado's are good trucks, reasonably priced, and last a very long time.

[MrBurgundy]

I recommend a chevy too.

They're sooooooo easy to work on, if you even have to.

[superj]

and since it will be just for hauling parts or towing every once in a while, the horrible gas mileage won't bother you.

Silverado is a comfortable truck though. I just sold my 94 extended cab Silverado for 2500 with 200k on it. it ran great and everything worked in it. and I bought it for 2k, a few years before so you are really going to be ok in a chevy, as much as I hate to admit I owned one and said it was a good truck

[Stanley Rockafella]

I also wouldn't recommend a Jeep Comanche.
Mostly because of the trouble this guy had with trying to locate one.

http://www.emailsfromanasshole.dontevenreply.com/view.php?post=107

[flyboyx]

I also wouldn't recommend a Jeep Comanche.
Mostly because of the trouble this guy had with trying to locate one.

http://www.emailsfromanasshole.donte...w.php?post=107

lol. at least its a good story.

[TheRob]

A Chevy pick up would be a great choice, the 88 - 95 pre-vortec especially. Those TBI engines will never die and are cheap as shit to maintain. I have a coworker who has a 2500 with 250k miles on it, a lot of miles were spent towing various boats too, original engine, trans and rear end. Also, you can pick them up pretty cheap these days. Nothing wrong with the Vortec engines, just a little more to go wrong, the weird fuel injection set up on them has some minor issues with the poppet valves in the fuel metering assembly sticking on higher mileage engines.

[wworm]

Okay, nix the commanche.

Leaning towards a hardbody. 50% because its called a hardbody, 50% because it'll be efficient and plenty capable enough for what I'll need it to do. Theyre also damn cheap

[varg]

Good luck finding a hardbody that isn't 30% rust.

Seconding old Chevy trucks. A 2WD V8 1500 in the squarebody or GMT400 generation is a solid bet, they're super cheap to fix and much easier to find in decent shape than a hardbody.

[rturbo 930]

Are mid 2000s Rangers any good? My dad's car is on its death bed, and he wants a truck. Won't put many miles on it since he's retired, and will see pretty light use.

[slammin.e28]

Good luck finding a hardbody that isn't 30% rust.

Seconding old Chevy trucks. A 2WD V8 1500 in the squarebody or GMT400 generation is a solid bet, they're super cheap to fix and much easier to find in decent shape than a hardbody.

Meh, HBs hold up better than Toyotas.

But I have always wanted to bob one and make it a nice little flatbed...

[wworm]

Are mid 2000s Rangers any good? My dad's car is on its death bed, and he wants a truck. Won't put many miles on it since he's retired, and will see pretty light use.

I talked to my old boss about this and he said they're pretty reliable. I think the v6's are the ones to avoid if your only concern is reliability but I may be wrong about that.

Good luck finding a hardbody that isn't 30% rust.

I live in no rust land so I think it should be okay as long as it's been kind of taken care of. Anyone know any specific areas to check for rust?

[roguetoaster]

3.0 Vulcan Rangers generally are bad, 4.0 is okayish.

Technically any engine in a Ranger can tow a bit, just not much.

[chadthestampede]

obs f150

[varg]

I live in no rust land so I think it should be okay as long as it's been kind of taken care of. Anyone know any specific areas to check for rust?

That only works if the truck has lived its entire life in no rust land. As for where, everywhere? This is an 80s/early 90s nissan we're talking about, they are practically biodegradable. All of the hardbody trucks I've ever looked at had extensive rocker panel and floor rust, and supposedly frame rust is also a known issue, but I never got that far because I walked away at the sight of the body rust.

3.0 Vulcan Rangers generally are bad

4cyl power, v6 fuel economy. Trash. And AFAIK the 4L rangers never came with a 5 speed, shame! But even then, the OHV 4L cylinder heads love to crack. The 4L OHV 5 speed explorer I had suffered from this issue so the coolant looked like sewage, and it would foul a couple of plugs so consistently that I went a few heat ranges higher to stop it. Cold AC though.

My search for a good light truck years ago was frustrating. The nissans were rusty, the Toyotas overpriced, and the S10s and rangers were all either auto or 4 cylinders. Dodges were so uncommon that they're not really worth mentioning, and the only Comanche I got to see was stolen.

[rturbo 930]

Are the newer Nissans any good? I'm now looking at mid 2000s Frontiers and Chevy/GMC Colorados/Canyons.

I'm hoping to find something stick shift, probably V6, 6' bed, ideally with 4' between the wheel wells, 4WD, regular cab, under 10k for a good one, not some POS, probably around 10 years old. Oh, and it needs to fit in the garage, which means it need to be fairly short. Full size trucks are pretty much out.