help choose a beater truck!

Well you guys haven't let me down yet. So I came here for help. I'm looking for a beater truck and need some input...

Looking for a beater under 4,000.

My ideas as of right now. Nissan hardbody S10

Truck must be manual trans.

Any other ideas? Personal preferences? Most reliable?

How much do you need to haul/tow?

my vote for small truck is a S-10 w/ 2.8 v6. Nothing wrong with the 4.3 but its a gas hog for what you get. Might as well get a full size at that point.

No regular towing or hauling... Maybe the occasional few bags of mulch or furniture. slight chance a two wheel toy every now and again.

Ranger or S10, you wont get any good Japanese trucks under $4k.

98-04 2.5L/5spd Dakota. Better looking inside and out than the S10, better built, similar gas mileage, better torque, bigger bed, still has decent suspension/brake options if you want to do something along those lines. SUPER easy to work on. 24mpg @75 mph for an extended cab with 235/75/15s. A single cab with smaller tires might do better.

Not big on the dodge products. But I will look into them as well just heard horror stories.

If I had gone the s10 route would I be better off with the early 90's square body or the mid to late 90's?

I've got a Nissan hardbody king cab with about 400k miles on it. I'm a believer. Mines a 4 cyl and gets 23-24mpg

In reply to Flip06gt:

If you're looking at 4cyl S10s, I'd take the later 2200 over the 2.5 iron duke. Only thing about the 2200 is it tends to need timing chain around 140k miles, this is an easy job (maybe $100 parts and an afternoon) and they'll clatter like an old diesel at idle and have no power long before they fail.

In reply to Kenny_McCormic:

I'm having trouble finding an affordable 94+ with The 2200 and 5 speed. Seems like my most favorable option.

i love my 98 s10 for reliability but its 2.2 auto and boring too drive. Had good luck with a 95 dakota 2.5/5 speed truck but finding one that isnt rusted or beat too death is difficult. 4k should be able to buy a really nice s10. i have roughly 800 in mine.

In reply to dropstep:

I've considered the 4.3 s10's but don't really needed the added go go juice. Only downside with the 2200's are the weaker 5 speed transmissions and rear ends.

I would recommend the 4.3 S10. S10's are cheap cheap cheap and plentiful in the wreckers. Besides, with more go go juice, you can drive it slower; but a 2.2 cannot be driven faster.

I really enjoyed the Nissan Hardbody that I had, but SOOOOOO slow and gutless.

I vote for either the hard body or a Mazda b series (but the Mazda vote is biased). Get a hard body with a ka24. Ka's are nice and strong motor, they descend from the Nissan l and z series 4 cyls (plenty of Frankennissan options then) Gearboxes are pretty robust as are the difs. You can also make hardbodys handle pretty well, there used to be a hard body race series and they were pretty quick for what they were.

1996 F150, 4.9 300ci I6, 5spd.

If looking for s10 make sure you add GMC Sonoma your search terms.

The hardbody is super reliable, and super efficient, if a bit slow. I drove one for a year and the oil filter was really hard to get off...

Also I think maybe I broke a piece of interior trim.

But yeah, depending on what I wanted this truck to do a 300 I6 Ford could be a better bet but you'll lose 10 mpg.

Having owned Dakota, ranger, and s10, buy a v6 5 speed Dakota extended cab. 300k between two of them. ~20mpg beating the piss outta them, no oddball failure other than cats, belly pan gasket, and the v6 needed a timing chain at 180k.

Ranger. They sell fairly cheaply used, get 20mpg+/-, get around pretty well in bad weather with LSD, and hold up as well as anything I've seen in their class. Or the Mazda series which was made on the same assembly lines.

The only negative I ever had was the manual shifter. Ford and Mazda want to make sure you know you're a "trucker." So the gearshift has a hugely long pattern. The ball probably travels 10" or more from 1st to 2nd gear. But you're not really looking for an autocross ride anyway.

FYI the hardbody I had was routinely at 30 mpg

Tuna ^^^^^ For the longest time I've been wondering...this that a bong???

spitfirebill wrote: Tuna ^^^^^ For the longest time I've been wondering...this that a bong???

No, I have never even seen a bong.

It is an air intake I build for our old Lemons car. It bolted onto the dual SUs and enabled us to run a dryer duct or something to the headlight hole I think. I was flow testing it.

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/vernon/1973-mazda-b-series-pickups-pickup-truck/1059719416?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

Just around $2100 with the exchange rate right now, and you will not see yourself going the other way ever. Also saw a early 70's Toyota for sale on JNC with a modern 80's fuel injected 22RE in it for sale in New Mexico just recently. Very cool looking trucklette.

tuna55 wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: Tuna ^^^^^ For the longest time I've been wondering...this that a bong???

No, I have never even seen a bong. It is an air intake I build for our old Lemons car. It bolted onto the dual SUs and enabled us to run a dryer duct or something to the headlight hole I think. I was flow testing it.

I thought it was a really big sub or a hoagie or cheesesteak or burritoish...

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/4949635173.html