I think it's only the us where the CVT is the only option. CVT is the most pushed elsewhere, but we can still have them in mental
Doesn’t exist anymore. The 3.0r spec.B was the last one I think. The EZ30 was an awesome engine. I miss it.
Don't you hate it when the motor was designed on a table and just thrown in the vehicle? I.E having to take all the plastics off to get to the spark plug
Depending on how my financial situation evolves over the winter and next summer I might be planning to expand my fleet to three vehicles. Once I have the Sunbird rebuilt and can start really tearing into the Escort, I may be in the market for a pickup truck. Preferably something small and maneuverable, but still tunable, and preferably 4WD. Something I can use for landfill runs while building it into a dirt racer. So far just watching some truck-racing videos on YouTube I've seen two S10s have their rear axles come apart and take the wheels off with them, and heard that they have no travel in the front, so I'm not in too much of a hurry to have one of those. Everyone and their ancestors uses the Jeep Cherokee, but the Comanche variant can be really hard to find these days. So, does anyone have suggestions?
Depending on whether you actually want a pickup or just a general off roader, hairdresser jokes aside, the Jimmy is about as small as you can get, and is quite tunable. Might lack in straight line stability a bit though. If time in the workshop is a priority, get a defender, since you will get to enjoy plenty of quality time in the workshop with one of those. Plus they meet all of your requirements. However, afaik they are quite expensive in the US? Otherwise, you really are at the mercy of the chicken tax.
It absolutely has to be a pickup. Using a closed-cargo-area vehicle for taking trash to the dump is one of the most annoying things ever. You always run out of room, even if you put a tarp in the back of it the filth-water somehow manages to get through onto the carpet, and the smell lingers for a week or more, plus there's the issue of having to run with the windows down in cold weather just to keep said smell from overpowering you on the way there. Defenders are indeed very expensive here, and more than that, almost impossible to find, even here in Alaska (I think I may have seen one in person my entire life). I know someone who has two of the early-1990s Toyota pickups, one I4 and one V6, and loves them, so that's a possibility. S10s are cheap and everywhere, tunable and can take just about any engine, so I might be interested in one but for the questionable rear axle. New trucks just plain aren't in the picture here; all are too large, too complicated, and too expensive.
If s10's are cheap and plentiful, you could try and find one with minimal rust around the rear axle. If it does break, spares will be cheap, or buy another one? Perhaps a workshop familiar with them will be able to upgrade (or fabricate) some parts or add extra metal around areas know to have issues? I guess the issue being that if you do reinforce the parts known to fail, what will be next in line to absorb the impact? And will that also fail immediately if it is required to take the additional force.
Personally I would choose a S10 or the S10 Blazer but if you are worried about the rear axle I would suggest buying a Dodge Dakota or a Ranger. I dont suggest the Ranger for long commutes because the high gearing they have makes them drink gas. I dont know much about the Dakota but it is a light duty truck. Of coarse if you are ok with imports you could probably get a Hilux or old Tundra because they have alot of custom parts available
I'd say either a Toyota or Dakota. Toyota because reliability and tunability, you can turn most Toyota trucks into anything from a rock crawler to a lowrider street truck. I don't know how Dakotas' reliability reputation is but one of my teachers in high school had one and seemed to like it, the only thing that ever went bad on him was a leaky exhaust manifold. And the Dakotas pretty commonly have at least a 4.7L V8 and possibly a manual like this one.
Having had an S10 myself (well... an S15) I'd say to go for one of those. I really miss mine, even if if it was just a 2WD truck. Couple of sand bags and it was highly capable in the barren tundra that Ohio turns into in the winter months.
I'd recommend an early midsize (83-92)ranger since they are good for hauling and off road idk how tuning is though I do know that a manual 4x4 with a 6 and upgraded springs will easily carry as much as an f150 and they have plenty of ground clearance and locking hubs so so it should be fine off road. Higher mileage ones should have the transmission rebuilt though that was the weak link in them
For more information on the S10 rear axle failures: Start at 10:36 and you can see two S10s in a row have the failure I'm talking about. That doesn't look like the axle coming off so much as the shafts themselves coming adrift and taking the wheels with them, and to be perfectly honest I'm not sure what's happening to cause that or why. What really worries me is the possibility of taking it out to someplace like the trails leading to Matanuska Glacier (extreme surface undulation, many river crossings, have been there before on an ATV and will probably be taking this truck there at some point), unknowingly weakening the axle, and then later, on the way home, having a wheel come off at an inconvenient time. Or while I'm actually out there, leaving me stranded alone miles from civilization with no way to get myself or my truck home.
I'd call a tough truck a little more extreme than a trail, personally. I think the rear axles are held in with lighter keys that break under ultra extreme circumstances.
if you're that worried about durability try putting in a ford 9 inch or an axle designed for heavy duty use
Here's an article on how to solid axle swap a Dakota: http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/t...703-solid-axle-swap-on-a-dodge-dakota-pickup/ I guess they're pretty much a fullsize truck chassis tucked under a midsize body so durability shouldn't be an issue, that also means that you could throw in a Dana 80 rear from a 2500/3500 with very little work.
More crossover hate: How are they getting 30+ MPG out of those shits? The best I can do in Automation is ~25, even with all the "tecknawlojee!!!1!11!" I can get my hands on. Either Automation is unrealistic, or the EPA's getting cheated left and right. (I suspect it's a combination of both.)
