Help me brainstorm the perfect truck

[EcoCactus]

Many trucks with good fuel economy are long out of production. Toyota's 1984 diesel truck 4wd supposedly got 30+ mpg. Many sources give you a different fuel economy for it. It probably could be found priced between $1k and $4k. The pickup model of the Volkswagen Rabbit diesel gets 45 mpg. There should be some sold under $4000, but it only has 2wd. The chevy luv 4x4 runs on diesel and gets an estimated mpg of 22city/30hwy. It may be hard to find one cheap though. The subaru brat 4x4 runs on regular gasoline gets as high as 30 mpg. Its prices may vary.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

So a decades old truck sagged more under comparable load to a truck with fresh springs? That's not much of a damning indictment of the old one.

I have seen much newer S10s/colorados/sonoma and rangers squatting pretty bad under rather unimpressive loads.
Going into this I expected the tacoma to be compairable to s10 and ranger but they are not.

[Frank Lee]

Tacos must have a higher load rating...

[mikeyjd]

Sorry for the delayed follow up for those who posted before. After looking at all the advice given here, combined with local availability I finally settled on a truck.

It is a 1991.5 2wd 5.9L Cummins Turbo Diesel Dodge Ram v250 Sweptline (1ton Suspension).



I drove this 159 miles to get home and got exactly 24.5mpg (with 30psi tire in the pooring rain with a contractors topper sticking a foot above the cab+ a ladder rack on top of that) I feel with some minor mods and careful driving 40mpg is a realistic goal and the 400lbft of torque should be overkill for my purposes. I guess the thing now is to start a new thread to track my journey to 40mpg! http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...sel-25658.html

[slowmover]

An Aerolid will be perfect. Partial grille block and partial bellypan (body edge to frame rail) also. Use block heater. Rotella T6 5W-40 and synthetics elsewhere. No open air cleaner, etc.

And highly recommend you take the time over on Turbo Diesel Register (pay to join) for tech help.

www.cumminsforum.com is also good.

As old as that truck is expect to go through front end and all suspension plus body bushings. See Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel Parts and Accessories - Geno's Garage

Electrical viability a big concern, too.

.

[mikeyjd]

Originally Posted by slowmover

An Aerolid will be perfect. Partial grille block and partial bellypan (body edge to frame rail) also. Use block heater. Rotella T6 5W-40 and synthetics elsewhere. No open air cleaner, etc.

And highly recommend you take the time over on Turbo Diesel Register (pay to join) for tech help.

Dodge Cummins Diesel Forum is also good.

As old as that truck is expect to go through front end and all suspension plus body bushings. See Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel Parts and Accessories - Geno's Garage

Electrical viability a big concern, too.

.

Big thanks.

[freebeard]

Well, I'm late to the thread, but let me tell you about my perfect truck. 1961 VW Type II panel van. 3/4 ton rear axle, stock brakes and torsion bars. Over the years I have:

• With a fresh 1600cc engine with Kadron carbs and extractor exhaust, during break-in (the only time it went 55mph) through the coast range: exactly 60 miles with exactly 2 gallons of gas.
• Top speed of 85 (it would top the coast range (empty) at 75mph, but it lifted the inside rear wheel because there is a left turn at the summit. I had my mechanic decamber the rear end so it would keep all 4 tires on the ground).
• I could back up uphill on wet leaves. I yarded a dead horse out of a barn, uphill.
• A friend had a 1950 Ford pickup with a load of stuff in the bed broken down at the bottom of a freeway overpass. Uphill from a dead stop--the only problem I had was at a traffic light downtown, there was a Mustang in the other lane. I forgot what I had on the back and when I side-stepped the clutch it snapped the tow rope.
• 2/3 cord of firewood (the drop on the suspension looked better).

But diesel would be a problem [Vanagon]; and a $4K Type II would be a basket case. When I got to page 3 I was going to suggest the Dodge Rampage instead of the Caddy (2-door doors instead of 4-door doors, and Dodge used the same VW engine, but with cylinder bores spread out for larger displacement). Both are unibody, no frame.

All that said, I respect your decision.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Well, I'm late to the thread, but let me tell you about my perfect truck. 1961 VW Type II panel van. 3/4 ton rear axle, stock brakes and torsion bars.

I'm also an enthusiast of the old Volkswagens. I've already seen some folks retrofitting water-cooled EA-827 engines on them, but a hatch to access the valve cover from the inside is required. The radiator can be side-mounted like in the original Austin Mini. I'm considering to get a Kombi, and eventually I'll get a water-cooled engine if I didn't find an air-cooled Diesel with a decent power-to-weight ratio.