Toughest and best all round truck or suv

Hootowl

Observer
Ok I am thinking I may have to sell my rubicon. If I do I would like to know what you guys think is the toughest ( Ie biggest stock axles and diff) requiring the least modification to run at least 35's (power, axles, and diff) best clearance and breakover/ approach/ departure angels . and with a great supply of after market parts. that can be used as a daily driver. please include old iron as well. but don't count things that are way too expensive.

Ie don't count things like 50's dodge power wagon tough but not really a daily driver, sportsmobile ( How I wish too expensive) unimogs too slow and not really a daily driver.

this is for my own Knowledge . Keep in mind i have owned toyotas both landcruisers, fj100 and tacomas, 78, and 82 pick up and 85 fourrunner, jeeps, broncos, and blazers, suburbans and tahoes. I want to camp out of it but want it to be a good daily driver, something realatively stout and not easily broken.

is a good pick up the answer or something else want to keep things as inexpensive as possible . thoughts ? please no arguments just thoughts and opinions.. thanks

Well, if that's a nice shotgun splatter on the barn wall kind of truck list if ever I have seen one. Surprised you don't have an idea of where to head at for your goals.

Goals, think about these first. Do you need a back seat for people hauling or not? Do you want to always have your gear with you at all times or would a trailer to base camp out of work? Do you need a pickup for utility hauling or not?

Lots of examples kicked out so this will add to the list a couple of things not already put out there. Plus, my favorites of the existing ideas so far are a 70's or 80's ford Bronco, expecially the 70's since these were not cluttered up with the modern things that complicate the mechanicals and electricals.

1. Your Rubicon is the best out-of-the-box offroader in North America, at least until you get way high in $$$ such as a Defender. Your best bet I believe is to keep the Jeep and get a trailer. You can save $$$ on this by getting a military surplus trailer to haul your camping gear and thus lighten up the truck.

2. Probably the best Nissan truck available in North America for offroading was the 1990's WD21 Pathfinder in the SE trim so you can have its real functional limited slip differential. You can do a poor man's suspension lift for a couple of hundred bucks by putting junk yard sourced F-100 or F-150 front coil springs in the rear matched with a crank on the front torsion bars to lift the front some then pay for the realignment that is necessary. For a few more $$$, a 2" body lift is not complicated. Now, you're setup for 33" tires and a strong little truck equipped with a very rugged VG30 V6.

Subsitute a W21 Hardbody for what I said about the Pathfinder above in all respects except it has rear leaf springs instead of coils.

3. Keep away from tires greater than 33 inches unless you go with a full size truck. They are going to kill MPG plus your going to get into mandiatory regearing of any midsize or small truck.
 

UK4X4

Expedition Leader
I know I want one..................

not sure you have renault dealers in the US

Renault sherpa

DSC_3928.jpg


economy-large tires-huge difs- factory standard, built to order

60deg departure both ends 800nm of torque- 630mm of ground clearance 6 speed auto

:drool:
 

mesha

Observer
I loved my 4 door wrangler. It was a great car, but I love my 4 door cummins better. I should say better for back country adventure. For crawling the wrangler was better.
 

elmo_4_vt

Explorer
I second the old or new Full Size Broncos. 35's will fit stock with sheet metal clearance and a set of fender flares and will hold up to a lot of abuse, 33's are even easier. Plus you can SAS any 1980+ pretty easy if you get the need for more off-road capability and rock crawling.

But I'm biased:

pose3.jpg


img_3227.jpg
 

LukeH

Adventurer
I'm surprised nobody's put this up yet.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ_XfiGeGSU"]YouTube - Top Gear - Killing a Toyota part 1 - 3[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc4Ksz3nHM"]YouTube - Top Gear - killing a Toyota Pt 2 - BBC[/ame]
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZDtC9kjVk"]YouTube - Top Gear - killing a Toyota Pt 3 - BBC[/ame]

It's in English, butthe images do a lot of talking.







Sorry I couldn't resist that ;b
 

Youngunner

Adventurer
The entire rest of the world (excluding the United States for most likely political reasons) uses LandCruisers for EVERYTHING. My all time favorite:

mactrack-90925338-54c5-4781-8499-298759a517fa-0-400x267.gif


I rest my case...
 

zidaro

Explorer
15K and reliable-- get a toyota

Maybe can find a 100seriesLC, an '04ish4runner, or a 1st gen tacoma 4door for that $$, mild lift and gearing and you are running 35's for the next 200K mi.
 

AYIAPhoto

Adventurer
35's and high teen MPG? That's diesel territory. Unfortunately diesels usually only come in LWB pickups in the U.S.. 35's on an F250 wouldn't have too bad of a breakover angle, but not as good as a Scout/Bronco/K5. My fathers old 5.0/5speed bronco got about 18MPG highway on 32/11.5's(and by highway I mean 5th gear for several hundred miles, not running to work on a local highway).
Do you really need 35's? a shorter wheelbase will provide the same breakover angle with smaller tires. Skinny 33's on a 4Runner/Xterra/1stGen explorer will get you a lot of places.
If you really want beefy axles to handle 35's, good fuel mileage, and breakover angle find a 4x4 F350 rack body(shorter wheelbase available than the typical diesel F series) with a 7.3 PowerStroke. Ditch the duallies for super singles and cut down a junkyard bed to fit.
 

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