First 4wd

[viking]

Hi all,

After many years of enjoying a coupe sports car, its time to change. Having a lifestyle block now means its time for a 4WD for the weather and practicality. I'm quite liking something along the lines of a 40 series cruiser, diesel ute. Though they are getting a bit long in the tooth age wise, whats parts availability like? Are there common cheap engine/gearbox transplants that give better economy that make parts issues easier?

[Kampfer]

From what I know the Toyota diesels are pretty built proof provided they have been regularly Serviced. Even so they are getting to the stage where seals and bearing are getting past there used by date. As with any old vehicle you just need to fix any problems when the come up. Parts are easy to get hold of the only thing I've ever had problem's with is glass. Toyota Still stocks parts for them, I get most of mine from http://www.terraintamer.com/.

The real killer with these is rust. once again as long as you keep on top of it, it shouldn't be a problem.

They can be a lot of work but are worth it if you can put the time and money in them.

[tomsoffroad]

Excellent taste in 4wds
Pretty much everything available aftermarket.

[derk]

there are still a fair few cruiser trucks around but not so many warrantable ones if you want it to use on the road as well and if you get a warrantable one its a lot of work to keep them warrantable and legal they are all 30-40 years old now and the body's are rust traps and fall apart. If you find a warrantable one and want to keep it legal you'll be wasting your time if you haven't got a shed to park it in they go down hill pretty quick when they are left outside in the paddock to suffer the elements. Don't really see much advantage in diesel over petrol for a lifestyle block runabout the low km's you'd be doing wouldn't make much in the way of fuel savings and the petrol motors have plenty of low down torque, personally for your application I'd be looking for a truck in good condition with a good rust free body as opposed to specifically looking for a diesel powered one. Mechanically there is no problem getting parts for those things, if you need body parts you can get everything in fibreglass replicas but the fibreglass parts are never quite as good as the originals, they work well for what they are but are never fit as good as the steel panels

[viking]

Thanks for the feedback. Its good to know that parts aren't much of an issue. It would be used as around the property as a go anywhere with stuff workhorse (have a few boggy areas) but ideally would love to use it as a every other day work commuter (80km round trip) and also feed/coal/trade me purchase hauler. I don't think ride comfort would be an issue since after all you get to look at it when you get in and out and they are a damn nice looking vehicle.

[zukmeista]

This one looks pretty good, that deck is massive!
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/toyota/auction-707215571.htm