Things to watchout for buying Used Fuso/NPR etc

[mog]

My 2 cents (well again)
I agree with snowcat above. Go with a domestic crewcab.
The cabovers have the benefit of shorter overall length compared when mounted with the same length camper, but at the expense of cost, ride, and front end crash protect. With your two boys, I would go with a crewcab over having them ride in a camper. They will be safer, they will only be getting bigger/older and the ‘fun' of riding in back will wear off, and most importantly, as you travel this is the time you get to enjoy the sights as a family, talking about them, and talking of other things. Isolated in the camper, you will minimize these conversations.

Cost and speed. While I see your wife's point about will a ‘conversion' get done, so mounting a trailer on the back is a safer bet for completion. Well mounting the camper is not like the English like to put in their repair manuals “offer up and place in situ”.

First there is removing the tongue and suspension, not that hard, but now how do you move the trailer when that is gone. How are you going to ‘lift' the trailer (3-7,000 lbs) onto the truck. What about mounting. The trailer frame can be used, but who is fabricating and welding the adapter brackets that have to be very heavy duty. Or are you going to ‘roll' the trailer onto the frame with ramps/winch, etc, and then remove the suspension.

If you start with a cargo box that is already factory mounted to your truck, you are good to go that weekend to travel and camp. Heck some air beds or cots, an ice chest, a Coleman stove, and a portable toilet and your ‘camper' is ready to rock. Also the money that would have been spent on a trailer, mounting, adapting, etc, can be spent on a better truck.

Then build the box into your camper as you go, not only when funds become available, but you can tailor your design to your family. Do the boys want bunk beds, or one on either side of the camper. How much kitchen counter and storage do you really need. Do you want the master bed, inline or across the camper. With your own build you get to decide. With a used camper, you are locked in, and will be doing more repairs then upgrades. Also a big flaw I see in so many designs, it too much stuff is put into to little space, giving no sense of room. I think an open floor plan, with options to move and change items is a better design. That is not going to happen with on old pre-built camper.
Your mileage may vary….

 

[Ford Prefect]

We have pondered the domestic crew.

I really do not like them. I drove an FE for over a year, set up as a dump truck with a short wheel base, so I am fully aware of the capabilities this has over the ford/dodge toyota debocle. And I would rather ride a pig than drive a chevy. Ergo... I know these vehicles are trustworthy, strong, and parts are plentiful world wide. (Unlike a domestic pickup.) I also am fully aware of the ride the provide, and I personally do not think it is very bad at all. Mind I live in a city that has a LOT of cement roads, so they are very bouncy on those roads, but hey so was my jeep.

Going with a bigger topkick or the like is not an option for me either. I know I can find them out there for the price I am willing to pay, but again you are looking at a chevy or ford, and the reliability, longevity, and strength are just not there, or they cost you a lot in weight. Furthermore they get no where near the mileage that the smaller trucks get.

I started a new thread on the topic, but I am considering trying to put a seat that will fit four in the front of a fuso style truck. If I can do that, then I can mount a nice little pop up tent trailer on the deck of any fuso and have a super set up with a nice deck even... I obviously do not know if it is possible, but having looked pretty hard at the regular cab trucks I think it might be possible, so I await feedback from people with experience with the crew.

Cheers

 

[4671 Hybrid]

I also posted in the new thread but maybe a double post will catch somebody's eye that isn't looking in the other thread.

Anyway, my question in the other thread was about a bench seat...is there a hump in the Fuso that prevents you from using a bench seat?

Next question is have you thought about the Uhaul option. A 26' diesel Uhaul (you're looking for an 1988/1989 International, 7.3L)can be bought for $2400-$2700 and that's with a book full of service records. In most cases, if you look hard enough, you'll find one with a rebuilt tranny, engine, and sometimes rear end too all within the last 25K miles. Mine has just about everything rebuilt, I don't expect to spend much on repairs for at least another 150-175K.

But anyway, if you have any fab experience, you could pull the Uhaul box, sell it to recoup a bit of money, mount your pop up/5th wheel and you're ready to roll. Those trucks have ALOT of overhang which you could quickly rectify with a cutting torch and rehanging of the tail lights. MPG wise, you'll probably be in the 12-15 range and the 7.3 IDI also has a reputation of being a multi-fuel engine.

If you wanted to keep a box like in your original idea, I'm 100% sure that you could trade your 26' box for a 14'-17' box off another Uhaul since you were looking at something shorter. Wheelwells might be an issue but that would be an easy fix and could be done in a weekend. With a 17' box and all your gear, it would be nearly impossible to overload the truck...even with 8K lbs worth of equipment you still wouldn't be over the max.

You're probably thinking, "Didn't that guy hear me when I said I needed room for my 2 boys?". Well, the Uhaul bench seat can EASILY hold 4 normal sized adults, and 2 adults and 2 kids would be a COMPLETELY comfortable ride. I hate it when people type in caps but I want to emphasize that you won't have any problems with 4 folks up front. Additional seat belts would be easy to add and the mounting isn't hard at all to figure out and/or fabricate.

Since you're only looking for 2WD and don't need 4WD, I thought this might be an option for you. Dollar for dollar, I can't think of any other truck on the market that give you the load capacity, proven components, strength, and ease of service as the UHauls, all at a sub $3k price.

As I said in my own thread, I've had and used one for awhile now and it flat out works. All the components are heavy duty, parts aren't expensive and easy to get (International 1654 is the model), and I've never had a problem. There are a few people running the platform and all seem to have similar experiences, that the ex-Uhaul is ALOT of truck for the money.

What I really liked when I bought mine was that I went to a local (at the time anyway) lot and was able to crawl over/in/through every truck they had on the lot and look through all their service records. There were no pushy salespeople, no pressure, and I literally spent about 3.5 hours just walking around the lot, climbing in and out of everthing, flipping hoods, and reading through service records. Anyway, just another idea from the peanut gallery.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I thought about the U-haul truck as a possible, but I have three concerns witht that, perhaps three.


age
driveability
size


First, age, I am looking at trucks that are ten to twelve years old, and you are talking about a truck that is 25+ With that age I would wrench too much for my desires.

Driveability. A) My wife is not too confident when it comes to driving large vehicles, and I think that the Fuso is about as big as she is going to want to go right now. In time perhaps we can get bigger, but I need to break her in slowly. B) I want something that I can use as a second vehicle. IE park in the store parking lots without effort, and be able to get around town with realative ease.

Size, I really have a nice size drive way, I think I would easily be able to put six cars in my drive way if I park on an angle. However with a truck like that I would have to park it straight in, and it would take up most if not all of the room in my drive way. Furthermore a large truck like that would likely attract attention from those who would not want me to have it in the neighborhood. That would mean that I would suddenly have to pay just to park my own truck someplace else, and that really will not work for me right now.

So yeah, I like the U-haul trucks, and if I could buy a near new one that would do the job I might be interested, but I just can not do it right now and for the negatives I see. SO I will start small and move up in time.

 

[4671 Hybrid]

To address your concerns and relay my own experiences:

Age: This is really a non-issue. If you find a truck with a good service history (not hard), you'll find that the majority of the components have been replaced within the last 25K miles. On my truck, it's an 1989 but when I bought it most of the major components had been replaced within the last 10K miles. In my own thread I think I misstated the mileage but after looking at the log books again, I see that 10K miles was the oldest of the three major components on my truck. Uhaul repairs very little, often they replaced parts that probably could have been overhauled. So yes, the truck itself is from 1989 but most of the major components are from 2007/2008. Other than the body, nearly everything else has been replaced. Hoses, brake lines, radiators, engines, transmissions, rear ends, bushings...everything.

Driveability: The 26' truck is not that bad. I'd consider myself an above average driver and have experience driving larger vehicles, pulling 30ft + trailers, etc., BUT I also realize that thousands of people have jumped into these trucks, overloaded them to the hilt, and drove them through multiple states or sometimes cross country. The wheelbase is only 236" so if you were to remove the box and lop off the overhang, you'd have a package shorter than some of the domestic 3500/4500 series trucks. Considering that Expeditions/Suburbans are @ 225-230" total length, you'll also only be about 1.5-2ft longer than those. As for parking lots, the 26' version takes 2 spaces but I DD'd this truck for a few weeks and drove it everywhere without hesitation. I never found a parking lot too small or a space I couldn't manuever and can only imagine how easy it'd be if I had a shorter box with little to no overhang.

Size: When I helped my parents move, their driveway also fits 6 car (three per side). With the Uhaul in place while we were loading, they had no problem fitting 3 cars on one side and the Uhaul on the other. If you remove the 26' box and either put on something smaller or mount a 5th, you'll be far shorter and would probably take up a space and a half. Then, your driveway would still fit 4 cars and the Uhaul.

I have two of these trucks, a 1988 and 1989. I bought the 1988 on Ebay thinking it was a 1989 (seller error) but it ran so good that I bought it anyway. The 1989 was purchased directly from Uhaul and came with all the service records. I eventually found info on the 1988 and found it was in great shape too. The heaviest maintenace I've done on the trucks over about the last 15k miles is putting on new rear brakes (caliper and pads were $90 total) and tightening the injector lines. Everything else has been good to go and as long as it's above 50 degrees (need to replace the glow plugs), they both start up right away and purr. I couldn't be happier with the purchases and love the versatility that the platform offers.

Here's a build thread to give you an idea of what they look like when they're shortened up and have a flatbed, people are doing all kinds of things with them.

I know it's not for everyone but still thought I'd put it out there, hopefully this has helped clear up some misconceptions about the truck, it's reliability, usefulness, etc.

I think of it like this...if you bought the truck for $2500, removed the box, shortened it up, put on the camper, and HATED it, you could remove your camper and sell the truck for everything you have in it and probably more to a 5th wheel or car hauler. With my trucks, I have standing offers on both that would turn a profit.

 

[mog]

Next question is have you thought about the Uhaul option.........

Wow, that is a lot of good information there. I did not know the whole Uhaul truck thing was such a good deal. It sounds like a great option for even just a regular 'hauler'. I've got real spoiled have a 14' enclosed box on my Fuso, compaired to a 6'6" open bed on my F-250. It sure is nice being able to haul 3 ATVs at once. Thanks for all the info.

 

[Ford Prefect]

. It sure is nice being able to haul 3 ATVs at once. Thanks for all the info.

Now that is what that curtain side truck would be great for! You could load them on there easily, and even put three people in the truck...

Ah well, for now I will just keep looking, and perhaps that perfect truck will walk through my world...

Oh and I did read the threads about the U-haul truck conversions, pretty cool. One of the ones you pointed me to sent me to this one, also on pirate,

The paint job he did on that truck is really cool as well!

I think if I could do paint like that once the truck was completed, that would be really a nice looking end product, and ultimately it would feel a lot nicer just having the truck painted up to look like a professionally finished product.

 

[haven]

Be very careful to meet your state's rules regarding proper restraint of passengers in the camper section of the truck. The rules do vary from state to state.

While not directly applicable to your situation, here's a web page that talks about different rules by state for carrying passengers in the cargo area of light trucks http://www.iihs.org/laws/cargoareas.aspx

 

[haven]

Have you considered a school bus conversion? Search this forum for "short bus" and you'll find several examples.

 

[Quill]

I have heard good things from contractors about the Mitsos. and Izuzus. In fact they are used for roll back tow trucks. As to the U-haul, I am not found of their maintenance. I have moved several times. U-haul trucks have given me trouble. My last move I used Penske. I believe it was an International or whatever the trucks are called today. Penske doesn't keep their trucks long so they are not so beat up. These are just my experiences. Personally I would like a forward control style truck. It's sad we don't see more of them in the US.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Thanks Haven.

I figured on putting in a seat with seatbelts and everything, so I think it should work just fine for the safety folks.

As for the bus... Yes, I have given a lot of thought to it. There are a lot of possibilities with that concept, and I have read some really great conversions, though it is not for me.

I do not care for the relatively poor fuel mileage on those, nor the fact that either you can not have a person sit up front with you, or you have to go to a lot of effort to make it possible for them to sit with you. I also do not care for the loss of space nor construction irregularities that have to be accounted for when dealing with the curve of the roof. Lastly I feel as though the fuso/fg can go a lot more places off the traditional road than can a bus. They simply have the higher ground clearance overall, while maintaining a lower COG.

Quill,

Yes I agree with your estimate of U-haul as a company. They are just so ubiquitous that no one realizes that they are better options. Penske treated me beyond well and gave me excellent working equipment. Where as U-haul has always been wanting in the customer service department, and will rent the biggest piece of crap to you. Now it must be said that some of their stuff is nice and new and works well, but it is really like buying a Ford truck, you just never know if you are buying a lemon or a peach, and you run about a 50% chance on either.