Looking at toyota pickups again

[airmanwilliams]

So my wife and I are tired of pulling the tent trailer with our Sidekick after a few months and want to look at an early extended cab toyota pickup. I really dont know alot on these and wondered what you all think would be a good setup to look for in a pickup? I dont wheel much but want the 4x4 option so I really dont need something really built. We would also like to be able to pull our trailer to Oregon, Idaho, and Arizona this next year so it would need to be able to get over the mountains well. I got an offer yesterday from a guy selling an 86 with 4" lift, sas, 4.10 diffs, 35" tires and locker rear for around $3000 but I really dont think I would want the locker or 35" tires on something that barely gets taking out to wheel and I am not sure on the 22re motor pulling around to those different states and over the mountains.


What do you guys think would be a good ol toyota pickup setup? Cant afford the newer pickups and we like these older extended cab pickups alot.

 

[Kevin B.]

Neither the 22re or 3vze are good tent trailer pulling motors, they're both pretty wimpy. I think you'd need to step into a 3rd gen 4Runner or 1st gen Tacoma to get a Toyota with enough grunt that towing a tent trailer wouldn't bring the suck.

Don't tell anybody I said this, but check out a late 90's Cherokee with the four liter straight six. Lots of room for cargo, power enough to pull a light load, go anywhere you'd want without needing to mod, and very easy on the budget.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

I had a 94 4runner with the 3.0 and that thing was a turd. I love Toyotas but would never buy one to tow anything.

I also had a supercharged 2002 Tacoma I used to tow Harley Davidson I bought from Cedar city back to Salt Lake. With the supercharger it had power but still wouldn't hold overdrive stayed in boost and only averaged 10 miles per gallon.

Honestly I think buying a Toyota with the intent to use it as a tow vehicle is a horrible idea.


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[Deleted member 12904]

Another thing worth thinking about is how well will a first GEN extended cab Toyota work for a family? I'm not even sure it's legal to have kids in the jumpseat if they require a booster. And even if it is making anyone ride in a jumpseat to Oregon is cruel punishment IMO


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[Spork]

I'd be looking for a Tacoma if you're going the pickup route. However if you decide to stick with a zuk I would check out something like a XL-7, the prices are quite a bit cheaper if you don't need a bed. Decent interior room, decent power. It's a pain to get a kid in a car seat in the 3rd row but if the kid is able to buckle themselves up it could work if you were planning on keeping it past kid 2. The extra space is nice vs the regular Vitara if you don't need people in the 3rd row.

 

[jmaxj]

How bout a quad cab Dakota? V8 good gas mileage 4wd and still rides good.....a much better setup than a Toyota for towing IMO

 

[airmanwilliams]

Thank you for the input guys, I didn't know most of this. Some other reasons why I was thinking of the early toyota is that I have always wanted a pickup to haul stuff instead of borrowing my fathers truck, amount of cheap aftermarket and used parts available for them, and it's about what I could get if I sold my sidekick.

Vitara would be great since our neon will be dying soon I'm sure. We are unable to have anymore kids past our current 5 year old so I am not worried about getting a real big vehicle.

Anyone know much about the mid 90s f150's(where they went to the newer rounder body)?

 

[TRD270]

97 is when they went to a new body. 4.6L V8 or 5.4L V8. Pretty good motors, by no means power houses. Almost impossible to kill, plenty of power for your needs. Expect 12-16 mpg

 

[sawtooth4x4]

I owned a Sequoia that I tried to use to tow a few times. It sucked. Even my Land Rover had more pulling power then that pile of garbage.

 

[KWight]

I once purchased a 85 Toyota 4x4 truck and used it to tow a 81 Toyota 4x4 long bed over 2500 miles. It was able to do it but I could not safely exceed 55 mph making for a long trip.

I owned a Cherokee to pull my small tent trailer several years ago. I had open intake, exhaust, 4:10 gears and 33x10.50 tires on it. It worked hard to pull the trailer at 65 and I was flushing the tranny fluid every year. It was also very light which made it scary to tow my trailer at 65mph.

I upgraded to a 95 Toyota T100 Xcab with the 3.4 litre engine. It towed much better but I could still tell it was hard on the drivetrain to do it. When we got a bigger pop up I was worried I would kill the transmission if I continued to tow. I purchased a Suburban for towing duties and eventually upgraded to my F250 diesel, which surprisingly gets the same or better mileage towing or empty.

I would recommend you avoid the compact and mid sized vehicles if you intend to tow anything over 2000 pounds. You will be much more comfortable and happy if you get something bigger.

 

[gorillaxj]

The f150's are a great economical option. I tow my 4runner with my 5.4l 03 f150, it's no diesel but it pulls my 5800 lb setup pretty well IMO. I bought it as a step in the right direction with plans to go diesel later but since it's my DD also I am liking the setup how it is... They are a great option for what your looking for. You could also get the 95? + revamped square body in a 4 door which would give you everything you want and keep the cost down a bit. Just an idea.

I would say I agree with everyone else also. If you go Toyota you could also do a 1st gen tundra and get the access cab (half doors in back) with the v8 as it would pull better and have more family space then a tacoma/ext cab truck....

With your wants of pulling I wouldn't get a 22re or 3.0 lifted or not....

 

[Kevin B.]

Anyone know much about the mid 90s f150's(where they went to the newer rounder body)?

I had a hard time finding a pre-'97 Ford four door in good shape. Lots of them have the 7.5l V8, which is my favorite Ford motor. If your kids are in boosters now you could probably get away with an extended cab, but I needed the four door to have room for the car seat.

If you're thinking full-size truck, check the classifieds here on the board. I don't know he's still selling it, but there was an early 90s extended cab F250 with the 7.5l and manual trans for sale a couple months ago that was right in your budget.

 

[Kevin B.]

The f150's are a great economical option. I tow my 4runner with my 5.4l 03 f150, it's no diesel but it pulls my 5800 lb setup pretty well IMO.

That's good to hear, I have an '01 with the 5.4l and have been looking at trailers so I have the option of towing my 4Runner. Are you geared? Running a tune?

 

[Gravy]

Towing with early Toyotas makes me want to trade to anything passing me. Which is everything

 

[airmanwilliams]

Thanks for the info guys. It looks like I may be able to use my fathers 03 tundra to pull our little trailer if we go out of state for a couple days a year so I would like to still look at the early 90's pickups. I have about $3000 to borrow from a relative until I sell my sidekick and can pay them back. I have looked at a couple clean looking pickups on ksl for around $1000 and figured I could use the other $2000 for motor work but need to call around for engine work in the next couple days to get a price range to work from on that.

 

[mesha]

a 98 chevy with a 454 is a great option

 

[KWight]

Towing with early Toyotas makes me want to trade to anything passing me. Which is everything

I passed two people on my 2500 mile trip. One was a person who was merging on the on ramp, the other was a grandma driving a Cadillac.

 

[Kevin B.]

Coming back from Moab this weekend I passed a convoy of early Toyotas flat-towing early Toyotas, going south on US6. It was kinda weird, and I found myself wondering how on earth they'd made it up to Soldier Summit in the first place.

 

[Kevin B.]

^ Truth.

 

[KWight]

Coming back from Moab this weekend I passed a convoy of early Toyotas flat-towing early Toyotas, going south on US6. It was kinda weird, and I found myself wondering how on earth they'd made it up to Soldier Summit in the first place.

They call them Transmigrants and they are taking them to Central America. That is what I did on my 2500 mile trip to see Guatemala.