Good Hunting Vehicle

Sedlak

New member
I'm looking to spend a couple grand on a used vehicle to make for hunting it needs to bee 4 wheel drive that's really my only criteria any suggestions would be appreciated and or pics of your rig.
 
Get a older Toyota . Parts are cheap ,there quiet, great gas mileage, and there a absolutely a beast off road..I have 3 of them and I have never put them in 4 low ...I usually run everywhere in 2wd ....the only draw back is storing all your gear in a small truck ...I am in the process of camo wrapping it and putting a headache rack with ATV winch mounted on it to winch up big game...
 
How do you plan on using. Will you have a chair in the back or do you plan just to use it to get you there and back. If its just to get you there i like a suv more room for your stuff. If your going to have a chair in the back you need a pickup something with extended cab. I like a ranger or a toyota both are good trucks ranger most likely going to be cheaper. I use a expedition mainly for the room were not allowed to hunt from vehicles here in va.
 
I have 95' Z71 pickup tha I bought new. Horrible gas mileage, but it goes allmost any where.

I need to camo it to make it stand out less, than the Red does.

What I really would like, is an old Army Jeep. Most of my coyote hunting is within 3 miles of the house, so no long trips any way.

Shayne
 
No doubt Toyotas make for a great trail rig; look for an X-tra cab. I recently traded off my 93 chevy reg cab for a `02 Avalanche Z71, very roomy and versatile truck but fuel thirsty and more than $2k
The older Toyotas had a bad issue with the box rusting away, but a flat bed x-tra cab might be a option.
 
Love my 4runner, its a '97 and does pretty good in just about any terrain. I pull about 19 down the interstate this time of year and summer I can sometimes get 21. Just turned over 144k miles and the most expensive fix we have done was the rack and pinion on the front end, the factory ones are cheaply made but other than that its been a great car.

My only complaints are
#1, on the rear end there are these little rubber boots, I'm not sure exactly what they do but me and my dad have to replace them ever 6 or so years.

#2, the rear end rides a little low, sometimes my hitch will drag or hit ground when crossing a wash out in the road. I want to get a leveling kit and a 2-4 inch lift to help solve this.
 
Originally Posted By: yotebuster10Get a older Toyota . Parts are cheap ,there quiet, great gas mileage, and there a absolutely a beast off road..I have 3 of them
I've got three of them also. The 22re motor can't be beat. Around 85-86 they went to Independent front suspension, some of the 85-86 had both solid front axle and the fuel injected motor. In around 88 they changed body styles and introduced the 3.0 v-6, good motor but not Toyota's best. Around 95 came the Tacoma and the 2.7 and 3.4 motors. I have a 86 4runner and the motor went and I am now putting the 2.7 in it, better milage and 50 more horse. [img:center]http://
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[/img] [img:right]http://
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[/img] I also have an 84 extended cab built up for 4 wheelin, I had put a fuel injected motor in it. This truck has front and rear lockers, I rolled it a time or two and put another cab on it, just haven't had time to give it a new camo job!
[img:left]http://
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[/img] [img:center]http://
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[/img] I also have a 98 4runner with the 3.4 v6, this truck is so nice, 4doors, factory rear locker in the rear.
[img:left]http://
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[/img] Get a Toyota and don't look back, easy to find parts, easy to work on.
 
Originally Posted By: the noobie

#2, the rear end rides a little low, sometimes my hitch will drag or hit ground when crossing a wash out in the road. I want to get a leveling kit and a 2-4 inch lift to help solve this.


Noobie, I put Tundra coils in the rear and Ole Man Emu coils in the front, I am a little higher in the rear, but with trailer or a hitch hauler full of deer it rides good!
 
Thanks for all responses I have concluded Im going to get a 4runner any suggestions on year model ect? Also Manual or Automatic?
 
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Check Consumer Reports for info on model year/reliability ratings.Given the choice I'd always opt for the manual tranny.I just like them better but Toyota' auto hasn't had any issues I'm aware of.
 
I'd go with the manual. They're better for slowly crawling around, and a new clutch is WAY cheaper than anything that might break on an auto trans(not that the auto has any issues). I've had 5 different Yotas, I keep em till I get to about 300k then sell em. An 85 (solid front axel)Xcab with a Calmini flatbed will go anywhere and do anything! Get the 22re motor, the 6cyl is nice but the extra power isn't worth the milage difference. Downy racing has a ton of aftermarket yota upgrades if you don't like the power of the stock 4banger. Exaust header and intake bumps em up to about 130hp (ish) which is enough to turn 33inch rubber.
 
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My vote goes to a good ole jeep cherokee. They vary rarely break but if they do its a cheap fix you can do with tools you already have. Im not a fan of foriegn vehicles due to the need for special tools most of the time. But the cherokee gets ok fuel mileage stock and the 4.0 has all the power you could possibly need. They have plenty of room for gear and you can pick em up well under a couple grand. And like the yotas the 4.0 runs for forever. I had two of these with over 230000 on them and beat the crap out of em and was never let down...
 
Originally Posted By: Big95xjMy vote goes to a good ole jeep cherokee. They vary rarely break but if they do its a cheap fix you can do with tools you already have. Im not a fan of foriegn vehicles due to the need for special tools most of the time. But the cherokee gets ok fuel mileage stock and the 4.0 has all the power you could possibly need. They have plenty of room for gear and you can pick em up well under a couple grand. And like the yotas the 4.0 runs for forever. I had two of these with over 230000 on them and beat the crap out of em and was never let down...

I had an '88 4runner that was helpless on wet grass, snow, mud or anything slippery. Try to find something with limited slip in the rear if you can. Don't overlook an older Mitsubishi Montero either. I had the old two door one before I got the 4runner and that thing would go anywhere or climb anything! It went places in 2wd I couldn't go in 4wd in the Yota. "Course it had limited slip and the Yota didn't. I used to go rockhounding out in the Mojave Desert in Ca and was always finding vehicles stuck in the sand. I would hook up to them and tell the driver "honk when you want me to stop"! Sure embarrassed the owners of shiny new rigs to get pulled out by a beat up old Montero
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I'll cast my vote for a Toyota. I currently have '99 4runner with 213k miles and very little repair cost. My next rig will likely be a Tacoma. I want to be able to haul a ATV or something dead without worrying about the carpet. Years ago, Dad and I did all of our hunting and fishing out of 2wd Toyota pickups. People were always amazed as to where those little pickups could go with just 2wd.
 
Here's a little sleeper that some people might laugh about, but most won't have a clue that they even exist

An Infinity QX4 off road package option that was made for just a couple of years, I have a 1999 and they stopped making it either that year or in 2000/2001.

It has a 2 wheel drive mode, an all wheel electronic regular mode that's the same as the normal QX4's, and a full lock that fully locks side to side on both axles and front to back, and a low range mode that can be used either all wheel or full locked mode. This thing will pull out of the slickest mud or snow as long as one wheel has any traction.

According to the dealer when I got this new in 1999 there were only 4% of the QX4's made with this option. Sticker was over $40k for it. There was an off road magazine that did a shoot out with these against all the best like Range Rover, Land Cruiser, Pathfinder, etc. and these were the off road top of the pack.

It's got heated leather seats, nice stereo, 5000lb towing rating with the optional towing package. I used it to launch a fairly heavy 16ft Lowe fishing boat into the side of a lake where there is no launch ramp, just the steep side of the lake, a 4x4 truck would not get enough traction to do this.

These can be had with lower miles for $5000+/-, they make a heck of a nice hunting vehicle that will not let you down in nasty conditions, I pulled a lot of supposedly top ranked 4x4's out of bad mud and snow through the years. It embarrasses the heck out of guys with $50k SUV's to get pulled out by an Infinity.
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