STALKING THE USED PICKUP

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So much for a quick check of the maintenance potential of the vehicle you're considering. Another area that's extremely important in a farm pickup is is hauling capacity . . . a subject which covers a very wide range of non-standard characteristics. If you're buying your first utility vehicle, chances are you're not familiar with these characteristics and you'll only notice them when you don't want to. That is, when they get in the way or when you need them and they're not there.

First off, pickups come under two tonnage designations: 1/2-ton and 3/4-ton. These quick-and-easy tag names used by Detroit tell you only that the second is larger than the smaller. That's all the names mean. Trucks in both categories—properly outfitted—are capable of hauling immeasurably more than three-quarters of a ton. Other pickups—again, in both categories—are often unsafe carrying a load half that size. The difference depends, in large part, on the tires and springs with which the truck is equipped.

But tires are tires, right? Wrong! In fact, there is such an incredibly diffuse selection of tires—made from different materials, in different sizes, different plys and different ply "equivalents"—now on the market that this piece could easily turn into a book about tires. Let me over-simplify, then, and say only that you'll be wise to make certain your pickup is mounted on truck—not automobile—tires that are rated for the largest total gross weight at which you ever expect your vehicle to tip the scales . . . plus a generous margin for error, wear, etc. In general, too, the bigger in diameter the wheels and tires are, the better they'll be for lugging around heavy loads . . . assuming, of course, the truck's springs will take those loads.

I favor 16" wheels because they offer more ground clearance than fifteen inchers. And, since the 16" tires range from six to sixteen ply, the body of one of the heavier tires will have a longer life than the tread and can be safely recapped almost forever. As a second choice, there are some very good trucktype fifteen inch wheels and tires. They don't come as standard equipment on 1/2-ton trucks but they are available and they're worth every extra penny you pay for them. You might also consider buying only mud-grip or snow tires for the back country. They don't hold up as well at highway speeds but they can't be beat for getting away from it all.

Today's "standard" half-ton pickup is a second cousin to the family car but a 3/4-ton is half-brother to real, no-nonsense, hauling trucks. From the outside, it's hard for some first-timebuyers to tell one from the other. The difference, however, is worthy of note . . . even if—as is generally the case—that difference happens to lie in out-of-sight places.

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