Man, I Need a Real Truck!!

[Flatbedford]

I fear that you are gonna break Subie. Maybe start looking for a cheap old truck.

 

[clemsonfor]

You will be surprised what it takes to make a "real truck". I was in the market a little over a year ago for a new-ish truck under 20k. Knowing that I was someday going to be hauling wood I decided on a Toyota Tacoma crew cab based on value, mpg, payload, etc. I quickly found out that it was NOT a real truck. The rear springs are useless!

Even with four adults and a couple suitcases in the back I would hit the bump stops on anything but the most minor bump. I found the hard way that I was going to have to dish out $$$ to beef up the rear suspension and found the bed size to be impractical for hauling a lot of wood. A trailer would have to be my next purchase which would be even more $$$.

In light of the upcoming $20/gallon gas hike I made a decision that I am going to trade the Tacoma in for a 40mpg compact car. Between gas savings and the slightly lower car payment I will be saving $250 per month.

I have a line on a late 80's Chevrolet K30 dually dumptruck that has a rotted dump body and needs new front fenders and a rocker panel. My old man owns an auto repair shop so we will weld up a new dump body and have some fun fixing it up. Overall it will cost the same as it would by beefing up the Tacoma and buying a used trailer. Except now I'll be saving $250 per month and getting 40mpg! And I'll have a mean dumptruck that will tow/haul anything whenever I want!

I dont have a TACO but i think something was seriously wrong with that one if 4 adults and some suitcases bottomed out your rear suspention, unless they were 4, 300lb adults in the bed with the suitcases!!

And yes the TACO is not a "real" truck in our terms. Its one hell of an offroad capable truck and gets decent mileage but a hauler, no more so than a ranger or s10.

I would to get a car and an old wood hauler or either get a trailer for the BAJA. I have an 80 k10 that was used as a wood hauler but as a short bed and older spings it cant hold tons and tons of green wood. The high fuel cost and that it only gets 10mpg have me using my 90 ranger and a 4x8 trailer. I can haul as much or more than i could ever get in the k10 and still get 16-18mpg in the ranger. My springs in the ranger are weak and old too i can only hold half or 2/3 the weight for the same sag as a truck thats about 8 yrs newer than mine.

 

[brian89gp]

Definately get a cheap truck, you are only going to tear up your nice Baja by doing that.

I got a 93 GMC 1 ton diesel SRW. Bought it for $2000 and spent $1000 more getting it road worthy. 17mpg no matter what I do, and it hauls 4000lbs in the bed without a problem.

 

[JrCRXHF]

I told the wife how cool it would be to have a 2500 diesel. she came home with this.

It hauls wood really well but it is a pain in the butt putting it in the back of a lifted truck.

 

[jrendfrey]

dont be scared load her up when i get loads of wood with my s10 the mud flaps are dragging ground nothing happened yet 5 yrs strong

 

[lcb5981]

Here's my wood hauler. 1985 F250 ex cab longbed 6.9 diesel. Best truck I ever had, Does everything I've asked of it.

With a small load of oak.

 

[osagebow]

+2 on the old s-10's (with the 4.3 vortec engine). I like the other old trucks too, but once overloaded a buddy's s10 with aircraft tools and moved him from PA to Seattle in December. Have been beatin' on my own '94 4x4 for 10 years, love 'em.

 

[eclecticcottage]

She'll hold 800-1000 lbs pretty well and thing over 1000 and your hurting her if the springs are the same(04 changed the ride height not sure how ) king makes a hd spring for our trucks

By the way she is saging I'd say you have 1300 in there

Could be, it was a lot of wood. I shant beat on her like that again. Can't afford the damage!

Damn, I remember that pic fellow scoobytruck member (yellowblaze there)!!

Ralph, that was WAY too much weight for that!! Please don't do that again!! The Baja can haul for sure, but it does have it's limits. And post more pics, I miss my yellow!

Requsite Baja pic, this was our old yellow...

 

[billb3]

You will be surprised what it takes to make a "real truck". I was in the market a little over a year ago for a new-ish truck under 20k. Knowing that I was someday going to be hauling wood I decided on a Toyota Tacoma crew cab based on value, mpg, payload, etc. I quickly found out that it was NOT a real truck. The rear springs are useless!

Even with four adults and a couple suitcases in the back I would hit the bump stops on anything but the most minor bump. I found the hard way that I was going to have to dish out $$$ to beef up the rear suspension and found the bed size to be impractical for hauling a lot of wood. A trailer would have to be my next purchase which would be even more $$$.

In light of the upcoming $20/gallon gas hike I made a decision that I am going to trade the Tacoma in for a 40mpg compact car. Between gas savings and the slightly lower car payment I will be saving $250 per month.

I have a line on a late 80's Chevrolet K30 dually dumptruck that has a rotted dump body and needs new front fenders and a rocker panel. My old man owns an auto repair shop so we will weld up a new dump body and have some fun fixing it up. Overall it will cost the same as it would by beefing up the Tacoma and buying a used trailer. Except now I'll be saving $250 per month and getting 40mpg! And I'll have a mean dumptruck that will tow/haul anything whenever I want!

If it had the TRD suspension and Bilsteins it wasn't made for hauling wood, it was made for climbing rocks.
Also can climb out of Providence pot holes where other trucks and cars disappear forever.

 

[MasterMech]

I kinda like my one-two truck combo. My '05 GMC Canyon gets 18-20 MPG depending on season/usage and will bring home 1/3 cord in the bed. That's usually stacked level with the rails. It's been known to tow 5000lbs at times without much difficulty as well. But for when I need to really move stuff, my '89 GMC C3500 7.4L (454 cu in) laughs at a full cord stacked in the bed and tows around 8-9K lb tractors with extreme ease. 6 MPG means it stays parked 90% of the time tho!

 

[BurnIt13]

You will be surprised what it takes to make a "real truck". I was in the market a little over a year ago for a new-ish truck under 20k. Knowing that I was someday going to be hauling wood I decided on a Toyota Tacoma crew cab based on value, mpg, payload, etc. I quickly found out that it was NOT a real truck. The rear springs are useless!

Even with four adults and a couple suitcases in the back I would hit the bump stops on anything but the most minor bump. I found the hard way that I was going to have to dish out $$$ to beef up the rear suspension and found the bed size to be impractical for hauling a lot of wood. A trailer would have to be my next purchase which would be even more $$$.

In light of the upcoming $20/gallon gas hike I made a decision that I am going to trade the Tacoma in for a 40mpg compact car. Between gas savings and the slightly lower car payment I will be saving $250 per month.

I have a line on a late 80's Chevrolet K30 dually dumptruck that has a rotted dump body and needs new front fenders and a rocker panel. My old man owns an auto repair shop so we will weld up a new dump body and have some fun fixing it up. Overall it will cost the same as it would by beefing up the Tacoma and buying a used trailer. Except now I'll be saving $250 per month and getting 40mpg! And I'll have a mean dumptruck that will tow/haul anything whenever I want!

If it had the TRD suspension and Bilsteins it wasn't made for hauling wood, it was made for climbing rocks.
Also can climb out of Providence pot holes where other trucks and cars disappear forever.

It turns out that the Tacoma is just not a truck when it comes to payload. I don't have the TRD package but it turns out Toyota has a TSB out for trucks under warranty. If your under warranty and complain enough they will give you new springs for the rear end, basically the same spring with a built-in helper. It just doesn't hold weight....period.

Just last weekend I had myself, my wife, and our son in the truck. I'm a little husky at 5'8 and 200lbs, and she weighs way less than me. Our son is only 5 months and weights in at a mighty 16lbs! Anyways we had an overnight bag and the diaper bag in the cab, and a used cheapy Walmart gas grill plus three bags of trash in the bed.......and it was squatting On some good bumps on the highway you could feel it bottoming out.

Unfortunately with the way they make trucks these days, unless you buy a full size 1/2+ ton truck....its not a truck. The 80's/90's Tacoma's, S-10's, etc are way heavier dutier than todays "mid-size" pickup trucks.

 

[MofoG23]

Get yourself an old hauler from the 70's (or early 80's) - any from the big 3 will fill your need easily. Cheap, easy to repair, built like a brick sh*thouse and pretty damn cool to drive IMO.

My MPG is not that bad actually....fully loaded or unloaded I get up to 12 MPG highway....11 around town. Very low gears which is why MPG is fairly constant. Can't complain too much about that as I only put on 2000-2500 miles a year (mostly fully loaded with wood or other stuff).

 

[clemsonfor]

Get yourself an old hauler from the 70's (or early 80's) - any from the big 3 will fill your need easily. Cheap, easy to repair, built like a brick sh*thouse and pretty damn cool to drive IMO.

My MPG is not that bad actually....fully loaded or unloaded I get up to 12 MPG highway....11 around town. Very low gears which is why MPG is fairly constant. Can't complain too much about that as I only put on 2000-2500 miles a year (mostly fully loaded with wood or other stuff).

Love those old trucks. My 80 k10 shortbed has tired springs and will sag quite a bit when i load it with wet oak. Im wondering should i replace my springs as i think i will get more capacity, or just let it ride?

My 90 ranger i know has tired springs. It about sits level with nothing but a toolbox in the bed and will sag with way less weight than some 5 yr newer trucks

 

[Flatbedford]

I bought my '70 F350for $700 6 years ago. It doesn't take much to keep it running and it will handle about 5000 lbs OK as long as I don't have to stop without time to plan ahead. At about 8 mpg, I don't drive it much, about 700 miles last year. The other nice thing about having a dedicated wood hauler is that I don't have to unload after a day of cutting. I have left wood in it for a month until I had time to split as I unload.

(broken image removed)

 

[clemsonfor]

That must of been a buddy sale of something? I dont see how you guys find deals like that. Unless you put a ton of work into that truck it would bring $1500 or $2000 easy around here i think. The think would easily bring $600 at the scrapyard today if you drove it in. The flatbed is worth $500 id say?

 

[Flatbedford]

Not from a buddy. It was on the side of my road with a for sale sign for a couple months. People have very little appreciation of old stuff where I live, even the immigrant landscapers drive much newer trucks around here. I scrapped one just like it, but very rusted and beyond repair for $600 a couple years ago after I took what I needed from it. I have put some work into it, but nothing really huge. Brakes, battery, fluids. hoses. the biggest e1 expense was rebuilding the drive shaft. It has some rust issues now, but still runs like a top. Even after sitting for a month or more. Being as simple as it is, there isn't much that can go wrong with it, and most parts are still readily available and cheap.

 

[BurnIt13]

That must of been a buddy sale of something? I dont see how you guys find deals like that. Unless you put a ton of work into that truck it would bring $1500 or $2000 easy around here i think. The think would easily bring $600 at the scrapyard today if you drove it in. The flatbed is worth $500 id say?

Bingo. I got my K30 dumptruck for more or less free. The frame and hydraulics are good but the cab has rotted through and is loose from the frame. The dump bed is gone too, as are the fenders. But the hood is okay! Some people don't know the value of scrap and are happy if you take their junk away without costing them anything.

We then bought a K20 with a home-made dump body (that was made very well) for $700. The cab, fenders, and dump body are good but the frame is rotten, the tires are dry-rotted so bad that they wont hold air, and the gas/brake lines are shot. It would cost the guy $800 easy just to make it road worthy. He was happy to get the $700.

Since my old man owns an auto repair shop its peanuts for us to make a good one out of the two. With plenty of sweat and beer we'll have a mint K30 dump truck worth $4k that will cost us about $1,500 in parts/vehicles.

 

[lukem]

But for when I need to really move stuff, my '89 GMC C3500 7.4L (454 cu in) laughs at a full cord stacked in the bed and tows around 8-9K lb tractors with extreme ease. 6 MPG means it stays parked 90% of the time tho!

We had an old 3500 with a 454, granny 4-speed, and what felt like 4.60 gears on a farm is used to help out on. It would pull out tree stumps in 3rd gear, topped out at about 62MPH, and used more fuel than a jumbo jet at takeoff. Good memories of that truck.

 

[smokinj]

I went back to the “well†today for more free wood. I just had to show you the load my little beast toted home.(’03 Subaru Baja) Filled the bed and the back seat this time. I think I had about 3†of ground clearance after I got her loaded. Now I know for you pros with the 1 ton dually, pulling a goose neck with a dozen or more 12 footers, this ain’t nothing more than sawdust, but it sure made people point! :lol:

Some Honey Locust and some…. Well I’m not sure what it is. It’s heavy, but then it’s green, dense and splits easy. Red Oak…Maple??? I dunno… you tell me

4x8 trailer!

 

[clemsonfor]

Yea i love the old stuff. The old american stuff is tough simple and will last. I love my k10 even
though MPG sucks litteraly. Even up into the 90's the parts are cheap for american stuff
and in that era they go 300K if maintained. I want an old 60s or 70s dump or k30-50 size so bad i can taste it sometimes. Why?
Just cause.

 

[Flatbedford]

The old stuff is nice but my 2000 F250 has 100 more hp and 100 more lbft torque, AC, air bags. antilock disc brakes, shoulder belts, etc. and gets 50% better fuel mileage, will cruise at 80 mph, and is much more comfortable than the '70 F350.

 

[clemsonfor]

The old stuff is nice but my 2000 F250 has 100 more hp and 100 more lbft torque, AC, air bags. antilock disc brakes, shoulder belts, etc. and gets 50% better fuel mileage, will cruise at 80 mph, and is much more comfortable than the '70 F350.

You are correct, but that truck today even with 170K miles on it will still cost you $13k from what i have seen! ALso i didnt say that i wanted to drive a 1970 c30 everyday to work. If feul wasnt so high i would love to drive the old chevy k10 every day. Best it gets is 10mpg maybe 11? If i fixed the air on it it would have that as well (i can do AC work, i just dont want the money in parts in it), it also has power windows and locks (well one actuater is bad and im to cheap to fix it so the driver door is manual and the passenger is electric) and a shoulder belt. HP well its better than my 1990 ranger!!

 

[RORY12553]

The old stuff is nice but my 2000 F250 has 100 more hp and 100 more lbft torque, AC, air bags. antilock disc brakes, shoulder belts, etc. and gets 50% better fuel mileage, will cruise at 80 mph, and is much more comfortable than the '70 F350.

You are correct, but that truck today even with 170K miles on it will still cost you $13k from what i have seen! ALso i didnt say that i wanted to drive a 1970 c30 everyday to work. If feul wasnt so high i would love to drive the old chevy k10 every day. Best it gets is 10mpg maybe 11? If i fixed the air on it it would have that as well (i can do AC work, i just dont want the money in parts in it), it also has power windows and locks (well one actuater is bad and im to cheap to fix it so the driver door is manual and the passenger is electric) and a shoulder belt. HP well its better than my 1990 ranger!!

I have been looking for a truck and not looking to spend alot on something that i'm going to throw logs into. As stated I have seen a simple F 150 with 125k on it for 10k. A lot for a truck just to pick up wood in.

 

[Flatbedford]

Rory,
You should be able to get what you need for around $2000. Keep an eye on Craig's List. I see trucks all the time in the Hudson Valley page. You would be better off moving up to a 3/4 or 1 ton truck for wood hauling. Bigger, stronger suspension, axles, drivetrain, brakes, wheels, and tires.
Here's a few...
(broken link removed to http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/cto/2857947761.html)
(broken link removed to http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/cto/2886616847.html)
(broken link removed to http://hudsonvalley.craigslist.org/cto/2884187084.html)

 

[MasterMech]

But for when I need to really move stuff, my '89 GMC C3500 7.4L (454 cu in) laughs at a full cord stacked in the bed and tows around 8-9K lb tractors with extreme ease. 6 MPG means it stays parked 90% of the time tho!

We had an old 3500 with a 454, granny 4-speed, and what felt like 4.60 gears on a farm is used to help out on. It would pull out tree stumps in 3rd gear, topped out at about 62MPH, and used more fuel than a jumbo jet at takeoff. Good memories of that truck.

That truck very well could've had a NV4500 trans and 4.56:1 gears behind that big-block! Mine has the Turbo 400 and 4:10's so it's a bit better on the highway but it doesn't seem to help the MPG at all. I'm working on the TBI, just need to get the injectors cleaned out good and hopefully it will do much better. As a kid, we had a K3500 Ext. Cab that got 13-15MPG on the highway depending on what tires it had on it. Other than 4x4, the drivetrain was the same so I hope my C3500 Reg Cab will get similar MPG, one day... lol.