Mini trucks for hunting

I have an 07 vitara.
gets me where ever i need to go anyways.
pretty good but the paint is very soft.
the generation before was almost scratch resistant.
someday it will look like my aviator hopefully LOL
 
Is this what you're talking about? I like that they're diesel.

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That is exactly what I was talking about. All I would need is a vehicle that i could use within a 50 mile radius of the house. I want something dependable and cheap to keep running( No bells and whistles needed). A heater would be nice at -40 though:D
 
I have considered one myself. I checked some auction sites in Japan and the going rate was around $1200 to $1500. I'm not sure what freight and import papers would cost but I think people must be turning a good profit on them.
 
My very low mileage [ 60,000 Km ] near mint 92 Hijet sold for $ 1134 Canadian dollars at auction in Japan [ I saw the original documents ]. Depending on how you ship one individual vehicle to Canuckistan [ RO/RO, on deck, or into a 40' container ] budget about another $ 800 - 1000 for shipping. If you buy seven at a time [ which is how many of these you can fit into a 40' container ] you can save on the per vehicle/container shipping.

Then budget about another $ 1000 to bring your Japanese Domestic vehicle up to Canuck standards aka "COMPLIANCE" [ lights mostly, also tires, maybe windows, etc ] .

Then add in about $ 500 - $ 1000 for your trusted local mechanic to go all through the vehicle, to fix all the things that can go wrong when something sits unused for approximately TEN years [ the Japenaes usually take their vehicles off the road after about five years, and we Canucks can't buy them till they are FIFTEEN years old ]. Think seals, wiring, ALL fluids, maybe some seized brakes, etc.

So for approximately $ 3500 - $ 4000, you too can be driving one of these beauties.

OOPS ...
wait a minute ...
did I mention that if a dealer buys seven of these vehicles as a batch, then he will usually get one near perfect unit, one totally useless writeoff, and a mixed bag of good, bad and maybe very good/bad units.

So if you are a dealer, budget even MORE for the writeoffs and the inevitable repairs that show up on the LOCAL inspection.

And if you are a dealer, in it for the long haul, you better be providing some spare parts and service, to justify your profit margin.

Right now, locally, here on Fantasy Island, we have about a dozen dealers selling these units. Local "dealer" prices are almost all around $ 6000 to $ 7000. You can find good used "one owner" units, where someboidy bought one and found out they didn't really like it after all, for possibly a thousand less.

I love my little Hijet, which has already proven itself in the sonw, on the very steep roads accessing our hilltop acreage, and in crossing 2' deep mudholes ... and this was with the stock 12" tires. This Winter, it is getting 13" wheels, and a decent set of 13" Mud and snow tires.

The only downside to my Hijet, is that on the weekends, the spousal equivalent unit thinks it belongs to her, and that it is her personal garden tractor/powered wheel barrow. Going in, it gets loaded up with hay, for the hay burner, and then coming out, it's loaded with the end product of the hay burner.

Since I have HAY FEVER, this makes for some exciting conversations Monday morning when I want to take her truck to work ... and I can't 'cause the cab is all full of blindingly messy/toxically allergenic hay particles.

I guess the only good solution is TWO Minitrucks ...
one for her, and one for me.
[;{)
LAZ 1
 
and?

Lazerus2000 said:
My very low mileage [ 60,000 Km ] near mint 92 Hijet sold for $ 1134 Canadian dollars at auction in Japan [ I saw the original documents ]. Depending on how you ship one individual vehicle to Canuckistan [ RO/RO, on deck, or into a 40' container ] budget about another $ 800 - 1000 for shipping. If you buy seven at a time [ which is how many of these you can fit into a 40' container ] you can save on the per vehicle/container shipping.

Then budget about another $ 1000 to bring your Japanese Domestic vehicle up to Canuck standards aka "COMPLIANCE" [ lights mostly, also tires, maybe windows, etc ] .

Then add in about $ 500 - $ 1000 for your trusted local mechanic to go all through the vehicle, to fix all the things that can go wrong when something sits unused for approximately TEN years [ the Japenaes usually take their vehicles off the road after about five years, and we Canucks can't buy them till they are FIFTEEN years old ]. Think seals, wiring, ALL fluids, maybe some seized brakes, etc.

So for approximately $ 3500 - $ 4000, you too can be driving one of these beauties.

OOPS ...
wait a minute ...
did I mention that if a dealer buys seven of these vehicles as a batch, then he will usually get one near perfect unit, one totally useless writeoff, and a mixed bag of good, bad and maybe very good/bad units.

So if you are a dealer, budget even MORE for the writeoffs and the inevitable repairs that show up on the LOCAL inspection.

And if you are a dealer, in it for the long haul, you better be providing some spare parts and service, to justify your profit margin.

Right now, locally, here on Fantasy Island, we have about a dozen dealers selling these units. Local "dealer" prices are almost all around $ 6000 to $ 7000. You can find good used "one owner" units, where someboidy bought one and found out they didn't really like it after all, for possibly a thousand less.

I love my little Hijet, which has already proven itself in the sonw, on the very steep roads accessing our hilltop acreage, and in crossing 2' deep mudholes ... and this was with the stock 12" tires. This Winter, it is getting 13" wheels, and a decent set of 13" Mud and snow tires.

The only downside to my Hijet, is that on the weekends, the spousal equivalent unit thinks it belongs to her, and that it is her personal garden tractor/powered wheel barrow. Going in, it gets loaded up with hay, for the hay burner, and then coming out, it's loaded with the end product of the hay burner.

Since I have HAY FEVER, this makes for some exciting conversations Monday morning when I want to take her truck to work ... and I can't 'cause the cab is all full of blindingly messy/toxically allergenic hay particles.

I guess the only good solution is TWO Minitrucks ...
one for her, and one for me.
[;{)
LAZ 1
Click to expand...

...this is a problem? at that price, and that size, why not three?
 
I would love to give one of these units a try on my run at work just to see how they hold up and if they can even make it down the roads out here.

I bet ball joints would last about 5 days...if the rim didn't fold like a taco first.
 
www.minitrucktalk.com/index.php
You would lose that bet ...
do an internet search on Mini trucks, and you'll see many SERIOUS off road riders are getting rid of their BIG ATVs and getting into the mini trucks. The Kei trucks can go anywhere one of the BIG ATVs can go ... and the "K's" have a heater, a windshield, and a 6' 6" deck that takes almost 1000 lbs.

If you want to optimise for OFF road, bolt on some alloy ATV rims and BIG/Soft ATV tires, but then you lose the Street Legal option.

However, I do admit that my HiJet has needed a CV boot. This is NOt usually an issue ...
but,
if you lift the trucks too much, and change the angle of the front axles/driveshafts, then you WILL get CV joint failure a lot faster.

Haven't heard of any ball joints breaking.
LAZ 1
 
There is a big difference between casual on/off road use with plenty of down time for tinkering vrs a company truck that you have to use every day. This spring/ summer in the mud I blew 1 motor, busted one transfer case, snapped 2 axles and punctured 4 tires and wore out a few sets of ball joints on a brand new company owned truck. That is not abusing it, just driving to all my wells.

I started my own company 1 and a half months ago and have already gone through a set of ball joints on each side, snapped the ebrake cable, punched out the slave and master clutch cylinder, lost all my mud flaps, one fender flare and punctured 1 tire.


I have had some opportunity to look at these 'Mini" trucks in Vietnam, my father in law rents one from time to time to transport silk and the street he lives on has auto repair shops on it so I have seen them apart. I have driven and rode around in them.

They are light duty, not meant for 400lbs of clay stuck to everything on the underside, or pounding through pit run all day every day at speed. I would still like to try one for work just for ####s and giggles. I spend about $17,000 a year on fuel. If I could cut that in half it would pay for the truck. But it would probably be a rolling bucket of bolts in less than a month...
 
dannymat said:
anyone know of any mini truck dealers in southern ontario/GTA?

Thanks
Click to expand...

There is a guy in Kitchener selling them, as well as many other kei-cars...
Got to ww w.kei-cars.com for the info.
There is also a small place just on the east end of London with a few for sale. The company is located on Dundas St. East out towards Thamesford.
 
Curse you CGNers
As if you haven't filled my Christmas wish list with enough guns and other goodies, now you've gotten me hook on the idea of one of these Japanese mini trucks.
Thanks.......... Thanks, thanks a lot!

That kei-cars.com seemed to have some cool stuff, anyone else know any southern Ontario dealer?
 
Spent a fair amount of my summer driving one of the kei trucks on logging roads and lease sites. Only problems I ran into was with the low clearance and overloading it, the underside would drag going through some of the deeper mud puddles, two people and some effort would always get it out. We have another with quad tires and a roll cage bolted on and I'm told it actually does quite well on quad trails and grazing pastures. 5 gallons of gas would last most of the week averaging 100k a day.
 
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