Pickups

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...seeing as the U.S. and Australian way of doing things...and country size are similar I have always wondered why the Americans have the love affair with styleside pickups.

For a work truck a (say) 4x4 F250 would appear to be as useless as t*ts on a bull. It's high and every thing has to go on through the tailgate. Over here most everything workwise is trayback drop sides.

Any comments?

I asked on another thread but I am curious as to the cost in the U.S. of a three litre turbo diesel 4x4 one tonner with an aluminium tray.

 

[Dusty Roads]

Over here most everything workwise is trayback drop sides. Any pics what does the truck look like??

 

[capt_met]

the only thing we have here close to a 3 liter turbo diesel in one ton would the along the lines of an isuzu cabover. great work trucks. the smaller pick up style are not available with the smaller diesels yet. we can hope they will be one day. it wouldn't bother me to be able to have a work truck that got good fuel milage

 

[Steve Frazier]

The majority of pickups aren't sold as work trucks here. They're used as daily drivers and status symbols. The manufacturers are in a horsepower war to sell their trucks, in America more power means more testosterone. I bought a pickup chassis /cab and put an aluminum flatbed on it for my business. It works better for what I do.

 

[mitch504]

Dang it Steve, please quit saying what I'm gonna say before I say it! Most of the "work" done by heavy-duty pickups in the US could be done by an Escort station wagon. The main "heavy duty work truck" selling points seem to be:
1. a bed smaller than the trunk of my '68 oldsmobile
2. an engine with more horsepower than my Macks
3. styling to make it look like it can drive over cars
4. a soft ride
5. a luxury car's interior

I would love to have one of the practical trucks (or utes) sold in other countries by the same makers that sell puffed up fluff here.

I bet I am now a pariah here

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...thanks fellers. I kind of thought that may be the case but it's refreshing that you would actualy come out and actualy say it.

A few of the big rigs get over here of course but they're pretty scarce...you can drive on the highway all day and never see one. Most times they are under a fifth-wheeler...an ideal application.

Talking to a bloke with a Cummins powered Ram and he said it had cost him about a hundred and twenty grand. Dont have any pictures I can post Dusty Roads but if you Google "Landcruiser ute images" you will see the truck that the Australian outback runs on.

They used to be about a four litre six but for some inexplicable reason are now only available with a five(ish) litre V8.

They pretty much are seen as top of the class with the Nissan Patrol (now 3 litre, down from 4.2). Most everything else is three litre or smaller. Common rail/turbo/aftercooled of course and run at under ten litres per hundred kilometers.

 

[Dusty Roads]

Pretty tough looking trucks,I like it.:cool2

 

[digger242j]

Dont have any pictures I can post Dusty Roads but if you Google "Landcruiser ute images" you will see the truck that the Australian outback runs on.

Let me Google that for you.

 

[willie59]

Let me Google that for you.

OMG!

I clicked on that link...and digger was controlling my computer!

Now that's scary.

 

[qball]

digger, that should have come with a warning. i am far too drunk for that.

 

[OCR]

Pickups:

I clicked on that link...and digger was controlling my computer!

yEAH... so it would seem... sure makes it easy... :thumbsup
↑ ↑ ↑... Ya' neglected to turn my caps. lock off, though... :cool2



OCR... lol

 

[Dozerboy]

I don't know from the pics I saw on that google search those tinker toy wouldn't haul my lunch box let alone the stuff I have piled in a full size truck.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...why you need all that stuff Dozerboy? Work conditions here much the same as 'States side, the mines are just as big...a Cat. eleven is the same rig over here. We manage.

Those Tojo's and most of the four cylinder diesels are rated to tow 3000kg or there abouts. If you need some thing bigger you get a "propper" truck...generaly that means Japanese or European.

Intill you get into the heavy rigs I'm afraid the American stuff just won't cut it in the rough.

 

[mitch504]

I'm leaving aside the freakout of digger controlling my computer:bash

This is a quote from the very first site on digger's search; they were comparing a landcruiser ute and an f-350 that was jacked up and customized to the point of being unusable for any kind of work. I just thought this comment was interesting in light of our present conversation:

"That little toyota that was posted would go anywhere and probably places that huge Penis Extension Ford could not."


:salute

 

[Dusty Roads]

Let me Google that for you.

I don't know how you did that but you definitely have techy skills:notworthy Kinda scary
Here is my truck thats why I said the utes look tough,guess I could put some add ons on mine like the snorkelbut it never rains here:Banghead Gets me where I need to go:drinkup

 

[mikesheldon]

Looks like gulf country truck but looks preety cool.By the way who is the manufacturer of this truck and model and make year of this truck.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...still can't get my head around this one. An outsider looking in sees that you have 250 to 300hp vehicles that are called "one tonners"...and are rated to tow six or seven tons?

When does a pickup become a truck...that is to say is an F250 a pickup when it has a style side body and then turn into a "truck" if its fitted with a flatdeck?

Interesting to hear the different opinions.

Picture of my new ride. This ones a Mazda BT50, you can buy the same thing at the Ford shop badged as a "Ranger". All the manufacturers offer similar rigs. They come in single cab extra cab and dual cab and have the usual grades and options.

These days even the bottom of the range cheapseats such as mine come with air, electric glass and mirrors, crash bags and a decent enough sound system. They come in at about thirty grand with the three litre diesel (118Kw).

You can option up a twin cab to well over forty thousand if you are that way inclined. As I mentioned they are legal to around 3000Kg with a braked trailer.

Standard tray size for a single cab is 6x8 feet.

 

[AusDave]

Yair...still can't get my head around this one. An outsider looking in sees that you have 250 to 300hp vehicles that are called "one tonners"...and are rated to tow six or seven tons?

When does a pickup become a truck...that is to say is an F250 a pickup when it has a style side body and then turn into a "truck" if its fitted with a flatdeck?

Interesting to hear the different opinions.

Yeah, I have the same problem getting my head around US descriptions of so called trucks. In Australia one tonne means a payload of one tonne and 2-3 tonne towing.
And the cost!! Man I see a truck as a means to an end, carting something from A to B and not just me.
You can see in the pic below my secondhand Daihatsu tipper & s/h trailer with home built crusher, my s/h JCB backhoe and my s/h Toyota Echo just to move my arse around cheaply. All this plant and vehicles, which can earn me reasonable dollars, would cost less than the equivalent of one new US style so called "truck", which here we would call a large pickup for a man with small pen!s.


Now I may have more confidence in my manhood than many of my US compatriots, but on economic grounds how can you afford these so called trucks? Especially as daily drivers! In Australia we have a big range of Japanese cabover trucks and some Euro ones too which seem to be way more reliable and durable than the output from Ford, GM and co. And way more economical as well.

And go metric. I don't want to have to keep figuring out what 10,000 pounds is in kilos

AusDave

 

[PSDF350]

A 1 ton has a legal payload of around 1 ton can tow 12,000+ odd pounds. I use mine (F350) for everything from driving myself, my kids, plowing, hualing gravel or firewood, and just about anything else you can think of. I had a ranger it was a fine truck off road but there is no room in back to hual much of anything it is considerd a 1/4 ton truck not much payload. I have come off the scales at the pit with my 1 ton grossing 13 thousand pounds with the airbags I added at 100psi. Wouldn't recomend it though No need to do that anymore though now I have a 550. As for truck size equating to penis size one has nothing to do with the other. And getting kinda sick of hearing you aussies.:usa

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair...Ausdave. The cost. That was the original point of this thread. I think you'll be surprised. C'mon fellers, what does (say) a basic 4x4 diesel F150 cost down at the Ford shop?

Not intending to upset anyone...just pointing out there is a different way of doing things in different places.

As far as equipment (particularly second hand equipment) goes you blokes in the 'States are laughing. An equivalent track-hoe or little dozer can be double the price here and from what I see on some threads on this board our hourly rates are much the same as yours...and dieso pretty much is double.