David Nettleton
Veteran Member
A little advice please. I need a good older 4wd pickup for this winter. What is the best most reliable older pickup brand to look for?
My Granny has an old Chevy truck 1/2 ton except it is a 1972 with a column shift. Except for the carbeurator falling off once that old truck is still awesome.Hi David. I am sure you are not expecting to hear from 63 year old ladies, but..... I ordered myself a new truck in 1984....Chevy 1/2 ton, short box, small 6 engine, standard tranny on the floor, with a low truckers gear added. I also had them gear it so I could get good mileage....get 24 mpg. That old truck and I have been through a lot together.....lots of miles, lots of mountains and trips, lots of winters in no. mn., including the hills of Duluth, lots of crawling around in the woods hauling wood, hence the low truckers gear......lots of camping, lots of hauling building supplies.... etc, etc, etc..... It has close to 200,000 miles on it. I have never had any major engine or tranny probs with it. And I can work on it myself. In the winter I add sand bags in the box over the axel and can get around anywhere. And......it has always, yes, I said always started.......It can sit for 2 - 3 months in the winter, buried under feet of snow or not...temps can be down to 35-40 below....and that wonderful truck will start whenever I need it....no plug-ins, no engine heater. Needless to say, I LOVE MY TRUCK!
hummer
My Granny has an old Chevy truck 1/2 ton except it is a 1972 with a column shift. Except for the carbeurator falling off once that old truck is still awesome.
Took me awhile to get used to a column shift...but I figured it out and have driven it to the dump once or twice loaded with stuff as full as we could get it.
+1 on the toyota with the 22re 4 cyl motor. Absolutely indestructable. Amazingly so. Seriously! They crashed this one through a house, hit it with a demolition ball, dropped a house-trailer on it, set it on fire, left it underwater in the ocean for a day, blew it up on top of a building that was being demolished, dropping it 240 Feet and IT STILL DROVE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc4Ksz3nHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfZDtC9kjVk
Amazing.
Thanks for those incredible vids
"STERLING, Alaska — A pickup pulled from the bottom of the Kenai River still runs despite being submerged for four months.
Larry Hansen, 66, of Sterling bought a new truck in the meantime, so he's giving the 1984 Toyota — which needs a bit of cleaning — to his grandson.
Hansen parked the pickup in late June on Huske Lane, which resembles a boat launch and leads to the river, to go fishing. He thought for sure he had engaged the parking brake.
After hiking a short distance to fish, he heard a vehicle moving behind him. Hansen turned to see the pickup going into the water.
Emergency responders weren't able to secure a line to the truck, and it was last seen going completely underwater about a mile down river.
On Oct. 23, Hansen was surprised by a phone call from a Kenai River State Park ranger reporting the roof of his truck had been spotted in the river.
The water level of the river started to recede, and the top of his truck was sticking out about 1.5 miles down from Huske Lane.
He decided to let the water go down a little more, and on Oct. 30 a recovery effort was launched. With the help of sons-in-law Lonnie McMilin and Terry Corsen, and family friend Joel Smith, they pulled the soggy truck out of the river.
The truck's gas tank, crankcase and radiator were drained and flushed. New fluids were put in, and the truck was started.
The pickup is now going to become the project of Hansen's soon-to-be-16 grandson, Teagun Corsen, who will have to clean the ever-present silt throughout the truck.
One of the first things Hansen checked when the truck came ashore was the emergency brake. It was still set; it just didn't hold, McMilin said."