Trucks

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I need to see If anybody out there WORKS with smaller trucks.  My old Chevy finally crapped out and I've been doing more shop work. So in the last year, with gas prices etc, I bought a used tacoma. It's a 4cyl.  Well, I just got an opportunity to do a ton of fence/gate work. I'm thinkin about mounting my bobcat on a small trailer and use this toyota as my main work truck.  Does anybody on here use a small tuck with a trailer? Besides the obvious, what are the set backs? Will one of these little 4 bangers do the trick?  I've got another guy haulin stock, so I'm not worried about that.  LET me know!
Reply:I now have a 1 ton service truck, and my helpers use a trailer and pull it with a 1/2 ton truck.  In the years past I have done that very thing you are talking about.  My business is mainly repair oriented so I do not haul alot of material, and I spend alot of time driving from job to job in a day so fuel consumption really hits hard on me.  I have a bobcat on a small trailer with a torch, vise, storage boxes for grinders/tools, and over head rack for a ladder or 10' lengths of material.  I pulled it with a 4WD, 4cyl, ford ranger.  It served me well for many years.  I still have the trailer mounted set up, and am actually building another one, and looking for a couple small trucks right now so that we can leave the big trucks at the shop unless they are actually needed.  I do alot of logging repair, and the little 4WD went everywhere my 1/2 ton 4WD goes and uses about half the fuel.I'm a Lover, Fighter, Wild horse Rider, and a pretty good welding man......
Reply:Cool. th \e drawback with this tacoma is it doesn't have 4wd, but, I've already lifted it and slapped some bigger tires on, I figure I can use my come along if things get to bad. IT'S PAID FOR!  So I'm gonna run it into the ground. My main worries are rocks and cactus and GAS!  I figure in Europe and the far east they've been using little trucks for ever. That's good to hear though, you using a 4 cyl. daily.
Reply:The whole reason why my rig is one a tiny little trailer is so I can tow it with a tacoma.  I am getting rid of my 2wd F-150 come spring.  I am replacing it with an older tacoma 4x4 trd offroad V6.  I also have a complete fisher snow plow for this same tacoma.  So when its snowing we can still make money.  My diesel F-250 is to damn expensive to drive.  My F-150 will get stuck anywhere.  And my diesel F-350 dump truck, all it does now is sit and plow snow.  There is a guy in Texas call justmowing.  His entire fleet of truck is 4 cylinder trucks with custom landscape beds.  Each holds a 3 21" push mowers, and related tools.  He never has any problems. His fleet is 23 mini trucks.Lincoln 300 Vantage 2008300 Commander 1999SA250 1999SA200 1968Miller Syncrowave 200XMT350MPA/S-52E/xr-15Xtreme 12vs Millermatic 251 w/30A  Millermatic 251 Dialarc 250 Hypertherm 1250 GEKA & Bantom Ironwokers
Reply:I drove a 4cyl ford ranger for work for 5yrs.  I put a zena under hood welder on it.  Minimize pulling a trailer.  Engine no problems-- clutch always an issue especially when loaded and climbing long hills (like driveways).I put a flat bed on it to eliminate weight.  The thing ended up  weighing the same as with the bed.  You can make it work.
Reply:I can't recall ever seeing a tiny truck while I was in Europe (Germany). All the pickups were owned by Americans. Work trucks were mostly vans and I never once saw a welding rig. It's a different world over there. There were very few American big rigs on the road either (they all belonged to AAFEES or the miltary) even though Euro truckers loved them. The next time you think about buying a German vehicle kep in mind that American isn't allowed there. Free trade is great as long as all participants play fairly, otherwise we get screwed (think Ford and GM right about now). I'll get off my soapbox now. I never dragged a welding trailer around with that old V6 S10, but the others I pulled with it proved it could do it. Guadalupe Pass is a hard pull for big trucks headed east and it did fine.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:I used an F150 6 banger, 4 speed till I broke a springand the transmission took a dump and .  I was towing an 1800 lb home made trailer (600 of that was trailer).  It did eat brakes.I think the machine ON the truck is better, ranger 250 weighs 600 lbs.  You won't get stuck as much either.What is the load capacity of the truck?DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:I have a Nissan Frontier, you'd call it, 2002 with 150,000 miles turbo diesel. It's an equivalent to the Tacoma, and I don't think you'd go wrong with the Tacoma. The Hi-Lux (Tacoma - US) is the most popular ute here but the difference is that the vast majority would be diesel here. Our Nissan is rated for a load of 970kg and as it's 4WD, is rated to tow 3 tons. I've been very happy with it."One of the things we have to be thankful for is that we don't get as much government as we pay for." (Charles Kettering)Mitch 180 (NZ)Lincoln SAM-400-220 + ?-400 Fordson Major + 2 x Tractapac Humber 80 + Procut 40 PlasmaMiller Spectrum 375