Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mini truck for hunting

Gentlemen, Recent post on a Japanese mini truck got me to thinking. Look like they would be good to use around the farm/ranch through the year and then be great for hunting too. Light weight means they would not rut up the roads near as much as our standard pickups, which is a big concern. Looking for any information from folks that have used them. Are they reliable? Can you get parts in a timely manner? How do they handle in slick mud? Normally not that deep but slicker than owl [bleep]. What problems have you had with one? What do you like best about them? Your help, as always is appreciated.

Little background. We hunt 2800 acres in Middle South Tennessee. Rolling hills, some of which can be fairly steep but most are not. A little paved road but not much. Most is yoiur standard farm road/track. Lots of potholes, etc. though none are super big.

Ever thought about a mule or a ranger side by side

Look into a Suzuki Samurai.

this

Kubota, mule , side by side

Roxor jeeps are street legal but you could by a real Jeep for the price

Should you decide on a small truck, they come with small engines. If you lift the truck, oversized tires, enhance it in other ways you really change the performance of the power plant and not for the better. I learned this by trial.
If it’s going to stay at the property and used for little else it probably doesn’t matter.
For the cost of a sxs anymore a guy might get a decent Jeep and a trailer to tow?

Osky

I will be moving up there in about 2 years. If you need any more members in your club, shoot me a PM.

I got farm use tags on the mule have gotten it up over 50mph and still had room to go the dump bed is handy.If you go the side by side route don’t do the smaller 400cc there glorified golf carts and get stuck on wet leaves😉

I looked at it, but IMHO, it was too heavy for what I'd use it for.

My Mule works much better, and is light enough to not sink and get stuck as easy due to much lower weight.

Got like 900 hours on my Trans4110 4x4 Mule. Love it.

The advantage I see is heat, maybe AC and weather protection. Don't know about parts though. SxS are so expensive now. Some construction guys on my base ride around in a mini truck hauling crap. Seems to work fine but they arn't off road.

Roxors can be made street legal and you can make them fast enough to travel on the interstate if you uncork their 2.5 liter turbocharged diesel.

I briefly considered getting one when they first showed up. But for the money one would need to put in them, they're not worth it, to me.

I purchased a canam hd7 defender for 14000 last year, well built machine, goes anywhere, tight turning radius, 1000 lb bed capacity, 1000 tow capacity, sits three across front, and was brand new. The mini trucks I see are 8000ish grand, and Ive always worried about getting parts.

Here's a 1986 with 72,000 miles for 8K.





Pretty cool little trucks for a hunting lease.

Side-by-side‘s are out of my price range. Plus, trailering then is an extra expense.

Regarding the previous suggestion of a Suzuki samurai, last year I bought a Chevy tracker which is very similar for $4000. It has 136,000 on it and runs great. It is parked outside next to our 96 Geo tracker. They’re very dependable vehicles and have a great four-wheel-drive. (Plus they are great for the kids to learn on.)

I know it sounds silly, but we lay the seats in the back down put a tarp in there and some totes. We have taking elk out with no problem before. Many times with our light weight we Half past larger trucks because we can stay on top of ruts better with our small wheelbase.

Your buddies may make fun of you, but for what you describe it may be a more affordable option.

For 10 years I ran a GM intermediate truck with 4WD. It hauled quite a few moose home for 1,000miles
plus gear. I never had to use 4WD for more than a few minutes at a time to get clear of bogs, etc. I hated to get rid of it but my wife had quit driving and I had no need for two vehicles any more.

For me it was a great compromise, decent mileage, comfortable ride, adequate bed capacity for my needs. Not made for construction work, but a good truck for someone living in the city and wanting a
multi use vehicle.

Jim

TM - I had a Diahatsu super cab for several years. I bought it from a friend of a friend and it was stock with mud tires. They never had any issues with it. When I got it I needed more than traction and clearance for muddy River bottom areas so I lifted it 3” and put better shocks, Dana 44’s and larger mud tires on it. That’s where the problems started…. It began breaking CV joints every other week. We modified that to a fix. It did pretty well and the real cab was great with a great heater. It would haul whatever we put in it - 1000# corn - no problem. When we moved to another lease - much more gumbo mud, it stayed stuck due to on clearance . Get in a rut? Break out the winch.

I decided to buy a sxs and gave it to my youngest son (who builds rock crawlers). He wanted power and lift. Put a Honda engine in it and an auto transmission. It needed the bugs worked out and he tired of it.

My advice is get a Dihatsu or Honda. Common Parts are fairly available from several sites. My biggest advice is keep it stock and realize clearance issues will be there. No one but you will probably work on it, so that’s a consideration of your mechanical talent. Driving a standard from the right side was no issue for us. I also hunt a huge 40,000 ac ranch in central Texas and their ranch hands drive them. Fairly rocky terrain so little mud and they keep on rolling.

Don’t expect it to go anywhere near where a decent sxs will go. Hope this helps. - Txwildman

Mini-trucks have an infinite utility that few can understand.

But they will not do anything magical in the off road department.

I doubt they want a member who is afflicted with anal warts.