I need a firewood hauler for collecting wood in NW Montana and I’m on the fence about an 86 pickup with 400k on the clock. It’s an SR5 regular cab, manual transmission.
I’ve got a 97 FZJ80 and a 13 Taco with a campershell that stays on permanently. Neither of those are candidates for wood hauling. I’m capable of any work that needs to be done short of machine shop access, but I also don’t want to buy something I can’t get cheap parts for. No intentions of a SAS or anything crazy. If the suspension is shot, maybe a little lift with heavy rear springs. And maybe build a flatbed for it for better hauling capacity.
So I guess my question is, what are the pitfalls of a 400k truck? If the engine is toast, how easy are parts to come by? Same question for trans/t-case? Any typical rust locations I should look at to determine if it’s a basket case? (From a distance it looks pretty straight and solid) Any other key points I should look for as make or break items?
I’ve got a 97 FZJ80 and a 13 Taco with a campershell that stays on permanently. Neither of those are candidates for wood hauling. I’m capable of any work that needs to be done short of machine shop access, but I also don’t want to buy something I can’t get cheap parts for. No intentions of a SAS or anything crazy. If the suspension is shot, maybe a little lift with heavy rear springs. And maybe build a flatbed for it for better hauling capacity.
So I guess my question is, what are the pitfalls of a 400k truck? If the engine is toast, how easy are parts to come by? Same question for trans/t-case? Any typical rust locations I should look at to determine if it’s a basket case? (From a distance it looks pretty straight and solid) Any other key points I should look for as make or break items?