2007 July | Trucks and Trailers

Toyota Tacoma

July 31st, 2007 by shenron

The Toyota Tacoma is a compact pickup that ain’t. What I mean by this is that it started in 1995 as Toyota’s compact pickup truck, but with the recent update in 2005 they upped it to a mid-sized, which is the trend with all trucks except for the Ford Ranger - the only compact still in production. Well, on the basics, since 1995 the Toyota Tacoma has been in full production and so far it is the final originator from the much beloved and ancient Toyota Hilux, and can be traced all the way back to 1935. This is the descendant of the Toyota Truck manufacturing legacy, culminating in more than seventy years along the exact same line of trucks. Well, the Tacoma comes in either two or four door front engine rear wheel or all wheel drive and has itself a four speed automatic or a five speed manual transmission, and along with that it came with three different engines over its life span until 2004, being the 2.4L four cylinder 142 horse engine, the 2.7 four cylinder 150 horse, and finally the much improved 3.4 V6 with 190 horses. The first era underwent a change in 2000, but it was minor and mostly cosmetic.

In 2005 Toyota rolled its new Mid-sized Tacoma off the line and let it be known that compact trucks were dead to them. They included eighteen configuration options along with extended cabs, bigger beds, and a whole bunch of other goodies to choose from. Of course they updated the transmission and engines too, and there have even been after market kits released by third parties that can make the horsepower 50% higher on some of the engines. The current engine lineups are the 2.7L four stroke 159 horse, and the 4.0L V6 at 236 horses, transmissions include a four speed and five speed auto, along with a five speed and six speed manual, also, depending on the engine you can have either a 17 gallon or a 21 gallon tank.

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Toyota Tundra

July 29th, 2007 by shenron

Toyota’s full sized pickup truck is the Toyota Tundra and is the current successor to the Toyota T100, a previous model that was the base for Toyota’s full sized pickup trucks. The current Tundra was launched in 200 and underwent a revision in 2006, making the 2007 model year the beginning of a new era for the vehicle. The Tundra is a basic and normal truck design with the front engine mount and rear or full wheel drive. The T100 had always been criticized as being too small, and such was the fate of its successor, with folks here and there saying it wasn’t fit to be considered a full-sized truck, however sales had nearly doubled that of the T100 by the second year. This first era of truck featured three engines, and one of them underwent improvements midway through its run, in addition to having several transmissions. The Truck had a 3.4L V6 engine to choose, which gave it 190 horses, then there was the 4.0L engine at 236 horses, and finally the 4.7 which had an initial V8 pull of 245 horses, but was bumped up to 271. Transmissions included a four speed auto, a five speed auto and manual, and finally a six speed auto.

With the update Toyota introduced to the world its second era truck in 2006, and began selling in 2007, and this truck was much larger. What Toyota decided to do was create a truck that would directly challenge the Dodge, Ford, and Chevy Empire with a truck that could haul 10,000 pounds and have a payload of 2,000, along with new engines and transmissions and much better gear ratios. The truck has no less than thirty configurations it can be bought with and also has many bed sizes to choose from. One of the best improvements so far is its massive 27 gallon fuel tank and the much better engines, for example, it now has the options of a 4.0L V6 that pumps out 236 horses, a 4.7 V8 that rocks out 271 horses, and finally a 5.7 V8 that has a whopping 381 horses and thus gives it the capacity to not only haul 10,000 pounds or more, but to do so with ease.

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Datsun 720

July 26th, 2007 by shenron

The Datsun 720 was Nissan Datsun’s truck from 1980 to 1986, and was considered to be one of their better models with a sleek design for the time and a reliable vehicle overall. The Datsun 720 came with the regular two door cab or the King Cab four door cab, and also was in the classic model of a front engine mount two wheel rear drive and also a four wheel front engine mounted style. The 720 was powered by the 2.0L carbureted L20B engine initially and that maintained the efficiency they wanted, however soon after it was replaced. There were many engines available for the little truck, and they were all sufficient at the time. One of the nice things about the Datsun 720 is that it proved to be quite mod-able into having fuel injected engines with its very standard mounting, and many folks have taken do adding fuel injected engines and improving the overall power of the vehicles.

Today an assortment of repair kits can be found for the 720, as it has proven to be a popular collector vehicle and cheap at that. The basic kits have all the gaskets you need along with needle valves and fuel filters along with other kits for bearings and power valves for the carburetor. This model spawned many others including the Nissan Hardbody and the Nissan Frontier. Overall the 720 Datsun was a competent truck capable of hauling small to medium loads, and adept at being very fuel friendly and economical for those who could not afford the much larger mid sized and full sized pickups that ranged from a few thousand to ten thousand or more dollars. In the end it was a successful truck that will soon be more of a collector’s item than anything else because of how desirable it was at the time.

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Nissan Hardbody Truck

July 26th, 2007 by shenron

The Nissan Hardbody Truck was Nissans compact pickup truck between 1986 and 1997, and it was also called the Nissan Hustler. It became the truck of choice after the Datsun 720 had completed its run and it was made for eleven years in all, with its direct competitor being Toyota and their line of super compact pickup trucks. The Nissan Hardbody had the common design of being a front engine mounted truck with either a two door cab or a four door king cab and also included five different transmission and four engines to chose from, although they were really just the same two engines, updated midway through the eleven year production run. The Nissan Hardbody Truck was actually the Datsun 720, renamed, and can be seen as such with the very first ones made in 1986 just being re-badged, however midway through 1986 they got a makeover and a new body style that made them distinct enough to compare with their first mini generation.

The Nissan Hardbody was a low cost and very dependable truck that did not suffer many mechanical problems when compared to other trucks of the time, and are still seen today on roads and off, and are very well known for their good construction. They have endured and are still reliable today even though the trucks seen today range from being twenty years old to ten years old. The engines included with the first half of the run are the 2.4L four cylinder 106 horse engine and the 3.0L 145 horse V6 engine, which were both very adequate for the Nissan Hardbody’s smaller stature. In 1991 the engines were overhauled, giving the 2.4 L four cylinder a total of 134 horses, which is a 28 horse gain, and the 3.0l V6 and update to 153 horses, an eight horse gain. The transmissions offered either the four speed auto or the four speed manual, along with the five speed manual transmission.

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The Nissan Frontier

July 26th, 2007 by shenron

The Nissan Frontier is the direct descendant of the Nissan Hardbody Truck, and has been in production since 1998. The Nissan Frontier is a compact pickup truck with either a two door or four door design and has a classic front engine rear wheel drive combo, of the front engine four wheel drive. In 1998 the Frontier was introduced and replaced the Hardbody Truck that had been a fixture for a decade before. The truck came with just one normal two door design in the beginning but the King Cab was added on later to give it the four doors so many people liked about the compact pickup truck. The first gen of Nissan Frontier Trucks came with a variety of engines, and also three transmissions to choose from, being the either the four speed auto or four speed manual, and also a five speed manual. The engines ranged in size and started off with the 2.4L 143 horse four stroke, up to the 3.3 and 3.4 170 HP engines - although different sized they maintained the same speed, and finally the updated 3.3L that gave it a whopping 40 horse upgrade to 210 horses. In 2004 this era completed its run and lead into the 2005 year, dropping the label “Compact Pickup Truck”.

That’s right, 2005 rolled in with a new Nissan Frontier that was bigger, meatier, and had a new classification: Mid-sized pickup truck. The Nissan Frontier truck was completely redesigned with a slicker feel to the body and the addition of better engines along with bigger wheels and a towing capacity of 6.5 thousand pounds. The engines bestowed upon the truck started with the 4.0L VQ V6 that is the standard engine and lends to it a full 265 horses, along with the other engine which is just a four cylinder that gives up 154 horses. With this model both the normal all wheel and rear wheel drive are there along with traction control and decent control making it stable whilst hauling a heavy load up or down a hill.

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