Thinking about moving to a full-size

[metzlar@gmail.com]

Hello everyone!

I am a new long-time lurker this is my second post

I am considering acquiring a full size truck for my second project. My first was a 1993 Mazda MPV 3L 4WD ALL.

Hope to get some advice here. My budget is limited (around 2K 'naked' purchase). I hope to do some wilderness camping and backroads exploring in summer and I want to 'camp' in ski resorts parking lots in the winter. My thoughts:

- Extended cab; I sometimes need to haul up to 4 people.
- Long bed; I want to be able to sleep in the back with a topper/canopy.

Platform:

- Pre 1996 Ford truck with a 4.9 straight six; seem hard to find with the above requirements.
- Post 1999 Ford truck with a 4.2 v6; seem 'less' affordable.
- Pre 1996 GM Chevy with a 350; poor mileage, needs front axle swap?

Future upgrades:

- Propane furnace for cab & bed with an under the frame tank (requires insulation of bed and cabin?)
- Drinking water tank (how to keep it from freezing?)
- Some sort of tent-pop-up maybe a used/diy Wildernest for the summer?
- Small suspension lift with slightly larger off-and-on-road all season tires.
- A winch with custom bumper.
- Aux driving lights and battery.
- Solar panels for the summer.

I don't mind getting my hands dirty but I do not have a garage or large power tools. What do you seasoned explorers think? Should I stick to my little Japanese mini van? How does the 4.2 V6 from Ford perform when your truck is loaded with gear and accessories? My mini van loaded with all my gear gets poor <10 MPG mileage and is unsuitable for B.C. backroads in the winter.

Cheers,

Ivan

 

[AFBronco235]

For the price range you stated, the phrase "beggars can't be choosers" comes to mind. You won't find a pre 96' crewcab ford with a 4.9L. Simply put, that's too much truck for not enough engine since only the F250/350 lines had the crew cab. If you're dead set on the 4.9L, which is an excellent engine when it comes to durability btw, you'll have to go with an F150.

For your budget, don't expect much, or any really, comfort options, especially when camping in winter. You're looking at a cheap camper shell, insulated by yourself, with an insulated bed, also done yourself, a small propane heater, a cot and all your gear. You'll need to make sure the heater is vented properly, to prevent CO and CO2 poisoning.

Since you seem to want to do ski resorts, I assume you'll want 4WD. That just adds to the price of the truck.

You may want to look into either modifying what you have to better suit your needs, or look into a better van for yourself. I'm sure there are largish 4WD cargo vans out there that can be made for work for what you want within your budget.

 

[jaxyaks]

If you want to find a crew cab in that price range I would be looking at older dodge rams. You can find one that has the extended cab if you look around. They do have their issues but their engines are not one of them. Most of the issues except for the tranny can be done in your driveway with a lot of cussing and a big hammer (front end work) once that is done you would have a solid front axle exploration machine for under 5 k (allowing for repair parts with the 2 k buy in) you can probably get by the way it is if you find one that has already had the tranny rebuilt.

I have had a tough time finding fords and chevy extended cabs for your price range

 

[calicamper]

Given your budget I'd say your pocket book isn't really big enough to support being a taxi driver for others. Having said that you might want to start cruising through the local retirement communities near you looking for cars parked out on the street being sold off line at non competitive prices. You have a better chance of snagging a grandpa owned low mileage clean pickup in that price range taking the retirement community scouting route vs any sort of online search.

 

[ripperj]

I would think you would be better off saving more money, at that price you will spend most of your time working on it and not camping

Sent from my Passport using Tapatalk 2

 

[402xjeeper]

He said extended cab, 5.0l f150 like that are common enough, although I used to camp out of and even offroad a 2nd rear drive Mazda mpv, the ad version would work pretty well.

 

[metzlar@gmail.com]

Hey everyone, thanks for the tips. I believe there are plenty trucks in my price range for sale. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned a budget but instead say older-reliable?

I didn't know the 4.9 only came in regular cab 1/2 tons, no wonder I couldn't find any crew/extended haha

I'm going to look into older dodge trucks. I was advised I should get a diesel but those seem more heavily priced (and I don't know anything about diesels .. mechanically) What year + trim + engine Dodge combo is the best?

Cheers,

Ivan

 

[metzlar@gmail.com]

He said extended cab, 5.0l f150 like that are common enough, although I used to camp out of and even offroad a 2nd rear drive Mazda mpv, the ad version would work pretty well.

Yes 402xjeeper my MPV is very capable just a little too small for the amount of gas it consumes.

 

[Sock Puppet]

If I were in your shoes I'd be looking for a Chevy Astro AWD. I'm dead serious.

 

[L_Kilkenny]

I've been a long time lurker with very few posts myself and you can take this for what it's worth....... You need to drop some requirements and focus on minimal rust, 4 square corners and reliable. When I say drop requirements that may even include 4x4. Definitely drop ideas of SAS swaps. Probably drop the idea of ext cab with 8 foot bed. Drop the idea of lifts and bigger tires. Honestly, bone stock trucks and Suburbans, both 2WD and 4, having been getting it done all over the country for a long long time. Suburban sounds like what you need.

You may not like the ideas above but there you have it.

 

[jaxyaks]

For your budget 98-01 rear doors open leather or cloth would be ok depending on taste, don't worry too much on the broken dashes you will find, you can cap them for a couple of hundred bucks. 5.9 has more torque (360). 5.2 (318) both are proven and reliable. The plenum sometimes can be a problem but it's more of a pain to fix than expensive. Higher mileage examples probably already have the fix anyway.

I would also look at full size SUV's. You can get expeditions and tahoes pretty cheap and they hold up pretty well to high mileage

 

[402xjeeper]

Fords are better when old/worn. They have less moving parts in the suspension than both ifs Gm trucks, and solid axle dodges. How tall are you? My ford superduty shorted is 6'9", and I sleep in it and I am 6'4", I think the obstacles is longer than 6'.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Does it have to be a pickup? From my observation, when comparing pickups to SUVs, I've noticed two things:
.
1. A pickup of the same year/miles is almost always more thrashed/damaged/used/in need of repair than an SUV of the same year and miles, and
.
2. Despite the above, the pickup almost always costs more.
.
If I was you, with your budget, I'd consider a full sized SUV like an Expedition, Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, etc.
.
Two nice perks of an SUV: First, with a pickup you have separate passenger area (the cab) and sleeping area (the bed), which means that a vehicle that is big enough to carry both passengers AND to sleep in is extremely long, but with an SUV, the interior cabin can be used for both. And second, the entire interior cabin of the SUV is insulated and heated/cooled.
.
Final point, at your budget, "reliable" is going to be a very "relative" term. IOW expect to have to do a lot of minor repairs and possibly some major ones, too. Now FWIW I see a LOT of GMT-400 Tahoe's and Suburbans in the $1500 - $3000 price range here in CO. Most of them have over 200k (miles) on the clock and often have a lot of little things wrong with them. But they're out there and they're fixable. I believe the same is true of the 97-02 Expeditions (the only Expedition that had the solid rear axle.) There are going to be more Tahoes, Suburbans and Yukons out there just because they were made for a longer period of time (circa 1992 - 2000 for the GMT-400 models.)

 

[underdrive]

IMHO you should be looking for two very different vehicles, and get whichever you run into first:

1) an OBS or older supercab 4x4 F250 with a manual transmission and whatever fuel-injected gas engine you can get that is in good shape - the frame is very strong, the rear axle is the same beast as you'll find under a 1-ton F350 but rides a bit nicer cause of the lower-GVW springs, the front axle is a leaf-sprung D44HD or D50 which for your needs is plenty strong (especially the D50) but since it eats tires for breakfast when its bushings wear out people hate it and tend to sell their trucks for cheap, the engines are all quite simple and reliable and require very little in ways of maintenance and unless you get the big-block they will provide you with reasonable fuel economy as well. Beware of automatic transmissions and diesels - older 3-speed autos are strong but suck on fuel, newer 4-speeds can be good but neglect fluid changes and they will die a very expensive death, and diesels are way too easy to abuse cause people drive them like idiots and the engines just take it like the good slaves they are but then when you end up with one that's been run hard and put away wet you'll eventually need to spend quite a bit of change to bring it back up to sniff. Why not a halfton - what I just said about diesel engines applies to the entire halfton Ford truck, the stuff we've seen stupid/ignorant people put them thru can be impressive on multiple levels. Why not a 1-ton - bluntly put you can't afford it unless you find the deal of the month, people know what they have (just the front axle can easily sell for over $1000 in some places) and what it can handle and don't wanna let it go for chump change, plus a 1-ton may also cost you more to register and insure. 3/4-tons are generally the happy medium.

2) a 4x4 Suburban with a 350 TBI engine - holds up to abuse reasonably well yet not having an actual truck bed seems to save them from mule duties for the most part, replacement parts (including sheetmetal) are cheap and easy to obtain, the engine is extremely reliable and tends to be quite fuel-efficient, opportunities for gradual upgrades are pretty much endless. Beware of automatic transmissions and halfton axles - the autos are actually reasonably reliable but in their stock form they don't like towing heavy loads much, and the axles are quite easy to overload and wear out by running oversized tires (plus there is the issue of the G80 differential). Ideal Sub would be a 3/4-ton model with a manual transmission, even if it's older, but you'll have to look long and hard for a deal on one of those as they make excellent family vehicles especially with the expo-style vacations getting seemingly more and more popular.

Personally for what you want I'd avoid anything made by Ford that is within your price range and newer than '96, way too much electronic BS that can go wrong. Subs are all good tho, get whatever you can get your hands on that is in good shape. Dodges, well their engines are reliable and strong but they chug fuel at ungodly rates, auto transmissions are so-so but the manual NVs tend to be pretty good. Forget about a Cummins-powered Dodge, not happening for what you're looking to spend unless you find the deal of the year.