who hauls w/ a 4 cyl pickup?

[Zodiac45]

I've used this old 86" Ranger 4x4 2.3l 4 banger too haul my personal firewood for the last 20 years. Still runs pretty well but is rotting out from under. This will be it's last year I guess. It served well.

 

[woodbooga]

I'm a Ranger guy, too. Nine years and 170k. It's my primary traveling vehicle (when traveling light - no wife/kids) and it brings wood home and trash from home to dump.

In her younger days, she sagged under the weight of wood and stone. Her M.O. nowadays is smaller loads, more frequent trips. I tell her a load can't be too heavy since there's only 16 oz to the pound. But these days, she's less compliant. Esp. on the hills.

Can't beat 27mpg for a truck that transports me to where I wanna go - and gets wood, scrap metal, etc. from here to there.

 

[Richard_]

I don't know about Toyota - but the shock mounts on my Chevy S10 are not designed for carrying any loads from weight and don't appear to be strong enough to carry much additional load.

shock mounts aren't meant to carry a load !

 

[Gizzard]

I've used two different trucks with 4cyl engines for firewood hauling. A 1987 4x4 toyota with 22r engine and 5 sp until the frame broke behind cab. Sold engine and took truck to scrap yard when metal was high. This truck had right at 300,000 miles on it. That truck loved the gas, its best would be about 16 mile per gallon. At present use a 2005 Chevy Colorado 4x4 with 2.8L 4 cylinder. Plenty of power and much better gas mileage. Don't like the sag in springs though. It looks like hauling weight when empty. I'm going to look into ideas mentioned here to remedy or assist with this.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

We had a Chevy 1/2 ton pickup at work that was sagging from the weight of our survey equipment. We took it to Dent Spring Company and they installed and extra leaf or 2. The truck works fine and they did all the work and it was less than $ 200. That was in 1999 and the truck has been working fine ever since.

 

[audible fart]

4 cylinder pickup bump.

 

[havenodog]

those 22re engines on those older yotas were indestructable. I've got one with 215 thousand miles on it, used hard and still going strong. Body is still in pretty good shape to. They must have done something by that time that kept them from rusting out so badly. Its an 89 and sure gets around the back yard without a problem. In the woods to. Yea gas mileage isnt the greatest but can still tool down the highway with the utmost confidence at 75mph and it doesnt even use a quart between oil changes. Love that truck. My daughter wants it when she gets her liscense. Probably wont see it again for another year or so. Oh well. It will get her anywhere she wants to go.

 

[sunfish]

Old thread but I'll play.

My firewood and go just about anywhere truck is a 94 Toyota 4x4, 22R 4cyl. Gets 20 mpg, has 265,000 and is in great shape, really too nice for a wood truck, but it's the one I want to drive

 

[WetGunPowder]

Old thread but I'll play.

My firewood and go just about anywhere truck is a 94 Toyota 4x4, 22R 4cyl. Gets 20 mpg, has 265,000 and is in great shape, really too nice for a wood truck, but it's the one I want to drive

+1 Sounds like you have a mate to my truck

 

[sunfish]

+1 Sounds like you have a mate to my truck

They are good trucks!

I'm still on the original clutch and back brakes. And no rust

 

[banshee67]

a 4cylinder truck will pull anything, epsiecally if ti's a manual.

i stopped reading after that

 

[Brushwacker]

My 89 2.6 4cl Isuzu quit on me this spring,think it had a timing belt malfunction and wrecked the valves. I hear that is very common for that engine . I understand that is the only engine that will work with my transmission (up to 91)so thats what I am looking for since the frame is excellant on this truck + I have extra parts from another.
Bought an gmc sonoma 96 2wd 6cyl 5speed short bed thinking of using it for wood but I'm having 2nd thoughts. Probably gonna replace the clutch in my 87 Toyota and keep looking for a reasonably priced Isuzu 2.6 engine. The Toyota longbed has been my favorite as long as the 4wd isn't needed but I'd like to have the 4wd Isuzu going this winter to.
The v6 Sonoma really scoots in comparison to the 4's and gas milage mostly between 22&26mpg mostly hwy is almost as good as the Toyota.
I'd like to eventually find an utility bed to fit it and turn it into a work truck. It wasn't exactly what I wanted ( No long bed,club cab or 4wd )but for me it was low mileage (88,000) in comparison to the pick ups I've been driving for the last 10 years and I could afford it.

 

[Somesawguy]

Pirate members are everywhere. Nice classic Toyota there.

 

[some zilch]

i use my '08 taco 4cyl, 5spd, 4x4 to do all kinds of hauling. granted, the rear springs arent all that great, and i am seriously considering airbags to level the truck when it is loaded. the truck now has e-rated stock size tires, and they help alot with the "squishi-ness" of the truck when loaded. the truck will pull my 6'x12' landscape trailer with 2 atvs just fine, little slow on the hills. i think it does good for what it is, and is much better at doing it than my last '03 dakota 6 cyl

 

[sunfish]

Seems like the pre-taco (95 and older) 4x4 Toyotas' had heavier springs. I have no complaints about the springs on my 94.

 

[trailmaker]

My 1990 chevy 1/2 ton finally wore out. Ended up getting a 4 cylinder 2004 toyota tacoma reg cab 4x4. Man those things have weak stock leaf springs. I had to install hellwig helper springs right off the bat. I've been beating the hell out of it hauling lately. Just wondered how many of you folks haul firewood with your 4 cylinder trucks? I guess i'm trying to do more with less truck wise.

I've also got an 04 regular cab 4x4 manual 4 cylinder that I use to haul wood. It's a great truck for my situation. My property is tight steep woods where a big truck won't work. I'm all over the place anyway checking springs, water lines etc. so I just throw light loads of wood in while I'm at it.

Speaking of little trucks, Mahindra is supposed to be importing a little compact diesel rated to haul 2700lbs. I'm not so sure about Mahindra but a little diesel truck with that kind of hauling capacity would be good. Add a dump bed and it would be real good.

 

[Bret4207]

I only read the first page, but I hauled a tandem axle trailer loaded with about 2 tons of hay 120 miles every 2 weeks for years with a '91 Toy 4wd with the 22R 4cyl, standard 5 speed. Never had a bit of trouble. Just finally sent it to the junk yard monday with 385K on it. Cancer got it. Yeah, you didn't go 65 mph but I lived in the mountains anyway so that wasn't gonna happen. Now I have a '97 F150. I'd rather have the Toy back.

I also hauled a half ton of grain with the truck on a regular basis, again, no issues. Toyota made some great trucks.

 

[audible fart]

I only read the first page, but I hauled a tandem axle trailer loaded with about 2 tons of hay 120 miles every 2 weeks for years with a '91 Toy 4wd with the 22R 4cyl, standard 5 speed. Never had a bit of trouble. Just finally sent it to the junk yard monday with 385K on it. Cancer got it. Yeah, you didn't go 65 mph but I lived in the mountains anyway so that wasn't gonna happen. Now I have a '97 F150. I'd rather have the Toy back.

I also hauled a half ton of grain with the truck on a regular basis, again, no issues. Toyota made some great trucks.

My father had a 22R 4 cyl in his 1985 toyota 2wd longbed. It was tractor like.

 

[KiwiBro]

I've also got an 04 regular cab 4x4 manual 4 cylinder that I use to haul wood. It's a great truck for my situation. My property is tight steep woods where a big truck won't work. I'm all over the place anyway checking springs, water lines etc. so I just throw light loads of wood in while I'm at it.

Speaking of little trucks, Mahindra is supposed to be importing a little compact diesel rated to haul 2700lbs. I'm not so sure about Mahindra but a little diesel truck with that kind of hauling capacity would be good. Add a dump bed and it would be real good.

That's a coincidence. I was just looking at their diesel compact loadking tipper (capacity over 5000Lbs) online yesterday . Not available here down under I don't think but interesting all the same. they have quite a range of cars/trucks etc. I only just heard of them when looking at tractors.

 

[Locust Cutter]

I used to have a '92 S-10 S/B, 2.5/5sp truck when I was a teenager,... It hauled dirt, wood, bricks, whatever I could throw at it. Was just as slow as a tractor, but was a damn solid little truck. I have a '92 Toy Hi-lux now, 22re/5sp/2wd. I would love to have a 4x4, but this has probably been the best little go-cart/motorized wheelbarrow that I've ever owned. It gets about 24-25 down the road, (used to do better, but the the General Grabber tires that I mounted up have a lot more inertia and rolling resistance to overcome than standard car tires do,...). Bought it for about $750.00 w/118Kmi on it and it has about 150K now. As mentioned by everyone else, it doesn't do a load in the bed near as well as my old S-10, (Hellwigs coming soon), but, it will go about anywhere, is stone reliable, gets good mileage and will fit in places that my C/C, long-bed F-350 S.D. will not. I drive it to work and back daily (about 50mi) and use it to haul the saws out to wherever I am cutting, cut all day then head home. I use the F-350 when I'm done cutting and have a substantial pile of bucked wood ready to go, hitch it up to a trailer and haul it back. This makes a lot more efficient use of my time and I burn a lot less fuel, as the 1-ton doesn't roll until there's a commensurately sized pile of wood ready to justify it's mileage. Cummins coming soon,...:msp_w00t: