Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Small pickup to work around the place

96 or later Ranger. Simple. If you really want to burn some fuel an 8 cylinder Dakota is your huckleberry!

For a lot of years I did everything that I needed to maintenance wise with a Buick, trailer hitch and an aluminum 5x8 utility trailer. Years back I sold my V8 '89 F-150 cab and a half 4x4 manual with less than 100,000 on it for $1,000. Those deals are around if you can find them.

Nissan Frontier.

Older [90's-2005] Frontier/Nissan
Can be had for half of a Taco and just as good a truck.

What kind of place? What kind of work?

Trucks are like boats ime. Need more than 1

I’m using a F-150 for hauling boat and snowmachine trailers these days after many years of using 3/4 ton truck for that purpose.

So far, so good.


But when I want the young chicks to take notice I go rolling in the ‘99 taco. 120k miles and it looks like one of my claw hammers, that’s been well used.

Can’t let my sons or sil drive it, they have stuff to do and can’t be bothered w young hotties swooning over them

Nothing says sexy like an old man in an old truck 👍🏻

I don't know how it is in the rest of the country but around here older small Ford Ranger and Toyota pickup trucks still in decent, serviceable condition with less than 200k miles are extremely rare and if/when you can find one they aren't cheap relative to what you are getting.

Could be your best shot at finding a still decent condition, serviceable pickup that would probably suit your purpose at a reasonable price might be an older base model Ford or Chevy 'Work Truck', former fleet vehicle turn-in.

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Courier's and Ram 50's

Beasts of the road!

My BIL had two Ford Rangers, between the two truck he put more 500K miles on them. Since '011 he's had a Tundra, uses it for work , drives it cross country, hunts and fishes with it probably 250K+ miles on it and still going strong.

Nissan square body. They go forever.

New Mid-Sized
There are no small/compact body-on-frame pickups being made. Smallest you can get are mid-sized: Toyo Taco, Nissan Fronty, Chevy Colorado, Ford Ranger.

Mid-sized pickups will cost less than a full-sized half-ton, about 2/3 the cost all else kept constant. Fuel economy for mid-sized pickups and full-sized half ton pickups will be about the same. The auto makers have invested a lot of money in half ton V-8 engines & trannies.

I own a basic 2013 Nissan Frontier, 4-door, 4.0 V6, 2WD, auto trans. Have 140k miles on it. Done basic maint as well as beefed up the front & rear springs a bit. Only thing I don't like about it is that I was in such a tight spot, I could not find one with a manual transmission when buying. The Nissan Fronty is the oldest (debut 2005) mid-sized pickup being built and generally you can get it for much less than the competition. Bang/buck winner.

The Toyota Tacomoa is the standard by which all mid-sized trucks are judged. Period.

Don;t know or care about the Chevy or Ford mid-sized. I always thought the Chevy small & mid sized pickups were rolling POS and the Rangers not much better. Maybe that has changed.

New Full-Sized
Full sized trucks have bloated over the years. Wheelbase is not much different, but it is like they were allergic to bees and got stung all over and are puffed out in every direction. Makes it harder to use them. Things like grabbing up items in the front of the truck bed, you gotta be an NBA forward with orangutan arms to reach over the newer full-sized trucks. The regular cab short beds are the smallest of them.

F-150 is the standard. Nissan & Toyo still don't know how to get it right, or as right as Ford. Chevy is iffy and Dodge is a joke. Except for the Cummins. A 3/4-1ton Dodge with a Cummins is a diamond set in a pot metal ring.

Older Small Pickups
Ford kept the Ranger in production longer then other small pickup truck makers. But they are Ford Rangers and their longevity makes them rarer or in worse condition than small Toyos and Nissans.

Again, Nissan is the best bang for the buck. Their last small pickup was built from 1985 1/2 to 2003 or 2004. Up to 1997 it was the Hard Body sheet metal. Nissans lose out to Toyo small pickups in interior quality and resale. Meaning, you can pick them up much more cheaply and lose nothing in the realm of basic pickup functionality. I owned the last Hard Body, built in 1997. Extended cab, 4-cy, 5sp manual. What a great little pickup. Drove it 185k miles until an old lady ran into me and totaled the 14YO workhorse.

Again, Toyo is the standard.

Transmissions
Manuals are the most trouble-free. Toyota has strong automatics, but the rest all leave something to be desired.

Looks like I'm doing ok for once. Have both a 98 Ranger with manual transmission and only 110K miles. Have a 15 Tacoma 4x4 with manual transmission. Love them both for different reasons.

I saw an ad for a John Deere UTV with heat AND A/C it was like $18,000

I have to ask - why in the world would you buy that for $18K when you could get a truck that would do everything it does and take you to the grocery store

Gates and ground. I've a few smaller gates that a truck won't fit through. Could go the long way around and open more gates but there's a reason I put the small gates in the locations I did for quick access. Several spots a truck will sink to the axle but an atv doesn't spin a tire. This is all for farm work and I use an atv rather than a utv...and cost is the main factor there so I understand not wanting to spend $18K.

$2200. Put a wagon behind it.

https://www.motobuys.com/jet-moto-c...28-ej5QIVax-tBh0HFw36EAQYASABEgI18fD_BwE

Damnit Briostoe now I want one of those things!

I've owned five Nissans over the years, and am quite fond of them. I really, REALLY liked the old 2.4l 4 banger, it was all but bulletproof, but they quit that motor when they came out with the current Frontiers. The 4.0l V-6 is a pretty good motor with lousy mileage, but it's pretty strong, and a good motor. I've had sterling service out of the Nissans.

No, they aren't a full-sized truck, but they seem to get the job done, regardless.

You could load it up in your 18 wheeler and then ride it around the Walmart’s you stop to shop at on the road! 😜