sea2summit
Elite Member
Say what?Nobody wants that. Toyota is offering a limited run of retro trucks this year.
Say what?Nobody wants that. Toyota is offering a limited run of retro trucks this year.
Your version of "Much of anything" is different than mine. If I was hauling lumber all of the time I wouldn't have an 8 foot bed; rather, it would be a 9 foot rack body or bigger, depending on what I was doing. Or have the lumber delivered. Just because something doesn't work for you doesn't mean that yours is the only solution. I have contractors who routinely haul 30' culverts on those short bed pickups which you don't like. They need their pickups for different reasons than you and set them up accordingly. Heck, I legally hauled (2) 20 foot long 3x10" tamarack planks on my old Ranger. Not both at once, I put one on the rack each time and put a bunch of 8-10 foot boards in the bed. The hardest part about those planks was getting them onto the racks; those babies were HEAVY!.Stick it in my 8' bed and hang a red flag on it. You can't do that in a short bed. Or really haul much of anything. Unfortunately, my old 89F150 died and there are no used "work" trucks out there in my price rang ($15,000). Had to buy a short bead and making do with it but it is a headache. I currently have a 6 cord order of firwood to deliver. That's going to take aa couple extra loads in addtion to the labor of having to stack every piece in order to get the maximum on each load. Loading now takes 2-3 hours vice the 1-2 it used to take.
Since they took the granny gear out of trucks, the only way to get a heavy load started is with an automatic transmission. I burned the clutch out of a fooking 5-speed by backing a travel trailer up a steep incline. But hey, it would red line at 30 mph in first gear.In 1969 the mine where my dad worked was headed away from clutched trucks and equipment.
I am talking about "work trucks" with electric seats, electric mirrors, leather seats, carpeting, blue tooth anything, lights under the hood, cameras everywhere, $2000 tailgates. Nor is 4 x 4 a need for most people. I do not need any of that and there is more I am sure could be added to the list.
The ads that push these false "needs" have worked well. Somehow what was a luxury item years ago are now requirements. I have no need for 15 cameras or a 6 way tailgate.
A/C, auto transmission and cruise control are the things that I "need" in a work truck. And I drive over 80,000 miles a year for 12 plus years.
A friend still won't use first gear... even at times when I would have been in granny gear. Taking off on a hill with two snowsleds on a trailer, he'd still shift into second and just slip the clutch. I used to run back and forth between Maine and New York in my '91 Toyota, with an ATV in back . There is one hill in Vermont where I would stop at the stop sign, shift into low range, and get up onto flat ground where I would pull over and shift back into 2WD.Since they took the granny gear out of trucks, the only way to get a heavy load started is with an automatic transmission. I burned the clutch out of a fooking 5-speed by backing a travel trailer up a steep incline. But hey, it would red line at 30 mph in first gear.
My Dodge/Cummins dually is a manual and is 4wd. I rarely use the 4wd (leave the hubs unlocked) but I use low range in the transfer case all the time just for that reason.Since they took the granny gear out of trucks, the only way to get a heavy load started is with an automatic transmission. I burned the clutch out of a fooking 5-speed by backing a travel trailer up a steep incline. But hey, it would red line at 30 mph in first gear.