Jap 4x4 Trucks - Dyna,Canter, Atlas etc

[Tentman]

Hello Guys

 

I'm looking for "next vehicle", it has to be able to tow 3.5 tonnes (2.5 tonne digger on the trailer) and be "capable" enough to get a load of posts across a wet field (I'm a fencer). Mostly everyone here runs either a Land-Cruiser which are fearsomly expensive or a Ranger but they are not ideal doing heavy work everyday.

 

I was wondering if any of you run these trucks with 4wd at about the 8-9000 kg CGM (combined gross mass) size and how you find them, both on the road and off?

 

Costs over a standard 2wd version?

 

Thanks

[littlerob]

the 2wd models are **** will spin the wheels on damp grass let alone any rain or mud

[littlerob]

sorry for swearing and losing the brown digested food word

[Matthew Storrs]

I use a Landrover defender 110 hi cap pickup for exactly the same application. I can carry a 2.8t digger on trailer plus have a load of tools/digger attachments or whatever in the pickup bed too. The pickup bed takes upto 200 meters of fencing materials- posts wire etc.

 

I've been using this setup like this for 8 years now and Landy has had suprisingly few breaksdowns despite towing that kind of weight regularly, and the hills round here are dreadful!

 

I'd quite like a land cruiser simply for the 4.2l engine but £££ and defender parts are easy to get hold of over here and easy to fix.

[Tentman]

Gidday Matthew

 

That might be a plan except that later model 110's are practically non-existent down here, and the ones that are available are a horrendous price, probably a bit more than an equivalent Landcruiser - now I may be crazy but I'm not stupid (enough) to pay more for a Landy than a Toyota (yet). Somehow Landrover dropped the ball here and there were very few sold for a period of 10 years or more.

 

Flaming tow vehicles are a vexed question everywhere!

[Joel77]

In NZ it's got to be crusier or patrol surly ?

[Tentman]

I'm currently running a Safari ( same as a GQ Patrol) but they are getting long in the tooth and most of the late model ones are petrol - unbelievable.

 

I have two fencing acquaintances with late model Landcruiser trucks and both have cost a lot of money (to both owner and agency) . . . if I got one that shat itself I doubt I could afford to fix it!

[Timbermcpherson]

If you think Landcruisers are expensive, wait until you start dealing with 4wd trucks. With the manuka honey market booming, the bee keepers have been pushing up the prices of 4wd trucks.

 

First, most of the older ones at LEAST up until 1999 dont have LSD, BUT you can get an LSD diff head for a Isuzu NPS250 for about $2500. Without LSD, they are not very helpful off road. You might find an ex spray or fert truck that has an LSD and the wheels and tires to do the work.

 

Cost of running tends to be higher, between say an npr and nps your adding another 300-400 kgs and the resistance of that extra diff. Otherwise your costs are not much different.

 

But, these trucks are over engineered. Knowing they were going to be abused they were made very tough. I read the nps300's rear ends are made to handle 6600kgs, way more than there legal payload.

 

It boils down to how much you have to spend really

[Joel77]

Are there any ex army trucks available in NZ might be worth a look, I Spose it would be agg bringing a motor over from Oz

 

The Oz army run heavy duty landrover defenders some are 6x6

[Timbermcpherson]

We did have alot of Landrovers here, including a heap that the NZ army off loaded.

 

But nobody aside from land rover hobbiests are going to pick them as a work vehicle when they have been so outclassed by the japanese vehicles. They seem to be a UK niche, part of the culture.