deciding on a truck - Page 2

been there b4 .... 1 ton in the bed and 1 and half tons on the trailer in an 89 dakota ... brakes were on fire .. .could barely stop that load

I will definitely be getting city mpg no matter what I drive, but I don't want to just use the truck for scrapping which is why something like an s10 would do me so well. and I don't see myself driving through neighborhoods just yet searching for stuff and I could get both trucks which eventually I probably will but I have to many vehicles for my age haha and don't need more stuff sitting around just yet, I might end up selling the bronco I have for a truck but not sure yet

Originally Posted by scrapGAME

been there b4 .... 1 ton in the bed and 1 and half tons on the trailer in an 89 dakota ... brakes were on fire .. .could barely stop that load

you put that much weight on a dakota! thats a dedicated scrapper right there

I'm not sure how well an 84 bronco will do, picked it up for free and still need to finish up on it. It's kind of going to be a toy haha

i've had a few nissan hardbodies (87-94) and was getting 24mpg with the automatic. with the rack and trailer the most i ever had in one load was 7000. on the farm we ran early 80's datsun desiels and they would get 30-35mpg but they were a real slug if you tried to put a trailer behind them.

currently i am driving a 06 jeep liberty w or w/o a two axle box trailer and i have a 77 chev 3/4 set up with a 5th wheel/gooseneck which i normally avoid driving unless i need to pull a larger trailer. it has the stock 350 so gets the 10-12 mpg and dosn't have the gobs of hp that everybody thinks you need to tow. it just takes alot longer to accelerate. but it is old enough when i was scrapping boats i could burn the old gas in there for free.

i'd look for a late 90's nissan if i was going to buy another scrap hauller. or go drop the 50k on a new dodge megacab diesel.

get the best you can afford, a dakota will be fine, that was my first truck in 92 and i pulled a kubota tractor all over the the hills in northern ar, just be sensible driving and leave plenty of room. we have a dakota now to do a motor swap on and we are going to use it to run errands and trips to the parts store, plenty of bed space and can tow a car on occasion if need be.
i will go a step farther and add a little to what liberty said about going backwards, these are my personal preferences and by no means fact just my opinion
1. if you ever drive a 3/4 ton you won't want to go back to a 1/2 ton
2. if you ever drive a 1 ton you wont want to go back to a 3/4 ton
3. and if you ever drive a 4x4 you won't want to go back to a 2wd
4. personal preferences on the above and for sure on this one, but after driving a diesel i would hate to go back to gas for hauling bigger loads
5. after having a flat bed i also wouldn't want a regular bed

bottom line, get what you want, we all have our favorites, but you won't be totally happy unless you get what you want. im done with major purchases for A WHILE as i have bought 3 trucks for keepers in the last few months, but that doesnt mean i don't eyeball those dodge 5500s

theres a yellow one here i see every now and then, i think it belongs to one of the landscape services here, i remember an article i read about them a few years back, i think the title was something like MAKE THOSE LITTLE 3/4 TONS TREMBLE IN FEAR or something to that effect. lol

This baby right here is the way to go! And, ondareal...when things get slow, you can just saw a few of the accessories off, for curb-shoppin-gas-cash

Talk about "stealth"! nobody would ever know if you were out shoppin at curbco, or just out for a sunday gotameetin drive

the way I am looking at it now is I only have so much to spend so all the trucks I am looking at are around the same price so I might as well get the bigger truck, after talking with some friends I'm keeping my eye out for a decent F-250.

and as for everyone saying it's hard to go backwards I frequently switch from a 1/2 ton gas to a 3/4 diesel depending on what I am doing but I guess I can't say that much because the 1/2 doesn't have a hitch so I've never pulled with it haha

If you dont intend to do any towing I think a compact pickup with a 4 cylinder would be good. (Ford Ranger, Chevy S10. Mazda B Series, Toyota and Nissan Pickups). Another option to consider is a full size pickup with a 6 cylinder engine, such as the F-150. Sadly you really do have to choose performance or mpg you can't really have both unless you are willing to shell out big bucks for a new hybrid pickup.

I drive a 5sp, v6 rwd Dakota right now that my boss is loaningto me and it's a big gas hog for a small truck. I figure if i'm going to be spending that much on gas anyway I might as well get a full size with a v6 and enjoy the extra room in the bed and towing power.

I'm leaning towards an F-150 with a straight six right now.

Originally Posted by scrapGAME

1979 - 1996 ford f150 or f250 straight six motor ..... indestructible ... engine ... and good fuel mileage with a 4 speed or 5 speed stick ... i just sold my 1985 f150 like a month ago ... thing could pull a house and still get like 12 mpg ... empty with no trailer i averaged like 20 per gallon free way driving was a lil less cause i had a carb leak at high speeds but city driving that truck did everything i asked ....

I absolutely love my Ol' 96 F-150. Straight six 5 speed with an 8 foot bed. I don't pull a trailer, but i have no problems taking 800 pound loads in. About 20 mpg on a bulletproof motor that's pretty cheap to repair. I do wish it was 4x, but so far I have'nt gotten it stuck... I did however just discover a broken leaf spring shackle, so my bed is resting on the springs. No more heavy loads for me until that gets fixed!

in response to your response, I mainly specialize in steel and non ferrous... Most of my load consists of metal or electronic parts or internals..

liberty I ended up getting a chevy 2500 hd ex. cab 8 ft bed, only had it for about two weeks and it has been amazing