STALKING THE USED PICKUP

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Not so out-of-sight are the noticeably larger and heavier-duty engine, transmission and rear end on the 3/4-ton machine. Also obvious are the standard 16" truck tires (the half-ton comes equipped with automobile-type fifteen inchers). The springs are hardier and heavier on the 3/4-ton, too. Miss America wouldn't like the rougher ride that results but you'll appreciate the greater hauling capability those springs give you.

Spring capacity is one of those not-so-obvious things that represents an important consideration no matter what size pickup you buy. Much of a truck's utility depends on this capacity, so always try to get the heaviest springs available (without necessarily going to "overloads" unless you know you'll be doing a lot of extremely heavy hauling). The bigger and heavier the springs, the longer it'll be before they sag . . . and, in the meantime, they'll give you a great deal of protection on heavy jobs.

By the way, coil springs are another one of Detroit's inventions that are better left off a truck. They sure enough give you a soft automobile-like ride . . . but they aren't as strong or as durable as good leaf springs.

Another point to consider when you're figuring the hauling capacity of a truck is the machine's wheel base: the distance between the front and rear wheels. There are strong arguments in favor of both the long and short wheel base. Forget those arguments and let the specific use you have in mind for your truck make the decision for you.

Trucks with a long wheel base generally ride more smoothly on the road and—having a longer bed—have a larger load capacity than those trucks with a short wheel base. The long-legged vehicles are less maneuverable, however . . . the longer distance between the sets of wheels gives the machine a larger turning radius and tends to make it more susceptible to "high centering", or dragging its belly, in rough country.

Short wheel base trucks are easy to park and generally get around better in both traffic and the boondocks than do their spaced-out counterparts. The shorties are also better for jobs like pulling stumps because they generally have more weight over the rear wheels. But the bed on these sawed-off pickups is—understandably—a couple of feet shorter too and, if you put a tool box behind the cab, you'll find the space left over hardly bigger than a car trunk.

A small bed on a pickup can be the largest single factor in determining the truck's hauling capacity since a well-sprung and wellmounted vehicle can haul a lot more of most things than anyone could ever cram into even a long bed.

Pickup beds come in two basic sizes: wide and narrow. Each has a specific purpose and each is available in 1/2 or 3/4-ton, short or long wheel base.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print