used 4x4 extended cab pickups - help w/choice

Lota stuff here, feel free to read/reply to as little or much as ya want. Any help at all is appreciated. CC email if you can (see sig) cuz I gotta decide in like 2 days!

I'm going to buy a 4x4, extended cab, V6 pickup for under $6000. I've got it down to Nissan Kingcabs, Ford Ranger Supercabs, and Toyota Xtracabs. However, I don't know whether to go automatic or 5spd. What do people think is better for towing, and more importantly offroading - nothing serious, mostly just exploring around. I'd like to be able to tow another car on rare occasions, maybe put an big overcab camper on sometimes for trips. I get conflicting info on it. Some say the 5spd will pull more and is better for offroad, others say the opposite. I don't know what to think. I'm also wondering where transmission coolers come in. Do they allow you to pull more, or just keep the trans from overheating and/or being damaged on grades and such. My other car weighs between 3900 and 4200lbs, depending on what I'm supposed to look at - GVW or GVA (or something like that, stamped on the doorjamb).

Another quandary is that I drove a 89 Nissan automatic yesterday and noticed it was gutless. It was a V6, 2.9L. I dunno if they're all like that, or if something was wrong with it. Reason I wonder is because I've also test driven Ford Ranger V6's, and they were ok. Didn't matter whether they were 5spd or auto, they seemed about the same power. Does Nissan make suck automatics? Hows Toyota? Didn't drive a truck yet, but my dad's 90-something Camry had a HORRID automatic. Had terrible shift points and was always shifting back and forth between 3rd and 4th on even a slight grade, and was totally guttless.

Last, maybe most important, I found out on Edmunds that they didn't start the side-impact door beams, at least on Rangers, till 94. Saw a heinous special way back on just how screwed you are if you get hit on the driver side without them. However, I've had a couple people say that even though years before that didn't have a tubular beam per-se, they still were reinforced and can be just as good. Anybody know if there's any truth to that, and/or which years models it's true for?

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I have a 5-speed Tacoma 4x4 I like to use for just 'exploring around' like yourself. Takes abit to get use to but no problems. Its my first truck, second standard vehicle. I find in 4-low I don't need to play with the clutch as often. Go 5-speed.

Reply to
Brad

Toyotas rule for offroading, but I wouldn't tow anything large with one. The only thing potentially better than a Toy for offroading would be a Jeep. But you really have a huge difference in reliabilty between the two.

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Reply to
Jason

snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com.invalid wrote: [snip]

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One word of advice: DON'T. You need a BIG pickup to carry even a SMALL overcab slide-in! Large campers can easily go 3000 to 4000 pounds, and will squash a little pickup. Buy yourself a nice tent, and save yourself the money and the trouble.

-- frosty

Reply to
frosty

Auto? Your choice. I like mine, 90 xcab sr5 4x4

pull anything? no. too slow, unsafe, expensive transmission rebuild.

ps, please don't cross post

Reply to
Kevin

I own a '95 Ranger 4x4 XLT and I take it on dirt roads with a slide in camper. If you have any intentions of towing or offroading you should consider the automatic. The automatic is rated for a larger towing capacity. If you will be driving off road you want to be able to keep both hands on the steering wheel. Mine is a manual, which I prefer for driving around town, but in retrospect I would go for the automatic.

My owners manual says that I should not use a slide in camper because of the higher center of gravity in a 4x4 pickup and the risk of rollover. I have a lightweight popup camper. It only weighs 500 lbs and has a 36" center of gravity. It is however a cab over and sleeps my wife and I as well as our two young daughters. It has a 10 gallon water tank, three burner stove, and propane forced air heater. Mine is equipped with an icebox but would accept a three way refigerator. I only paid $700 for the camper used, it is an '84 Sunlight "Hawk". I shopped around for about six months before a local RV dealer found this one for me.

My truck is the 2.9l v6 and I had visions of using my camper and towing a small boat. Once again the automatic and 4 litre engine would have been a better choice. And if you don't care about mileage a bigger truck would alleviate a lot of hassles. After all my Ranger only gets about 18 mpg at best anyway.

Robin in Bremerton

Reply to
Robin Henderson

gotta agree with frosty, get a full pickup with a v8, and its way cheaper to replace or repair a manual transmission than an automatic, this a real concern when we dont know what the truck has been put through before. besides, someday u may wanna bring home a full sheet of plywood, happy hunting...

Reply to
wally archibald

On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 13:29:12 -0500, "Jason" spewed:

Ya, would never buy a Jeep. Plus, they ride like shit.

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On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 12:21:41 -0700, "frosty" spewed:

Wound up buying a 94 Nissan Kingcab 4x4, 5spd. It's SUPPOSED to be able to carry 3500. Heard 5000 for automatic, but seems like that should be the opposite. Maybe I could get a smaller slide in deal. All I really want is a bed and a sink.

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On 11 Jul 2003 14:48:12 GMT, "Robin Henderson" spewed:

Thanks for the info. Sounds like a great deal you got on the camper. I too wish I could have found an automatic, but after 3mo's of looking I couldn't find anything in decent condition, with everything I wanted, and in an auto. So, broke down and took the 5spd. Truck is in great mechanical and interior shape though. Better than anything else I'd seen. I wonder if there's anything you can do to get more tow out of it, like gearing, heavy duty clutch, or something.

BTW, I took it for a good spin offroad already and found I did kind of like the 5spd for controlling what gear I'm in. I raced it around about as much as I'm likely, and I could handle steering one-handed fine. It's a pretty good little truck. Horrible tires though, gonna have to dump those. I can't believe the guy had Firestones on it. I'm not even talking about all the blow-out fuss, they just plain suck. Worst grip on pavement I've EVER seen, and they still have plenty of tread.

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Yawning and snoring while reading snipped-for-privacy@nowhere.com.invalid's post:

Hmmm,

I beg to differ a bit.

I have an 82 Toyota 4x4 LB and a 01 Jeep TJ. Both are manual transmission and both have 31" tires. The Jeep rides about 10 times smoother than the Toyota. As for off-roading the Jeep is better at the rocks and the Toy is better in the sand and mud.

Reliability is about even with the 2 vehicles, The Jeep since new has never been in the shop, the toyota is just getting broken in at

210,000 Km.

Both vehicles are decent but the Jeep's coil suspension just stomps on the Toy's Leafs.

We love them both ;-)

Reply to
Peter Schroeder

Good information. Can you report back when the Jeep is 21 years old and let us know how it's going??? :>))

Tom - Vista, CA

Reply to
TOM

Yawning and snoring while reading TOM 's post:

I have a 30 year old CJ and it's doing about as well as the Yota :) The ride is worse than the TJ. At least the TJ has a galvanized body so if the old YJ's are any indicator it should hast 25 years + I hope :-)

Peter

Reply to
Peter Schroeder

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