New old truck? to cube or not to cube?

[70 marlin]

I've been checking out used diesel cab over cube truck as a new bike hauler. what I've looked at has been a chevy small flat nose cab over with a turbo diesel 4 banger five speed M/S trans. it has a 8' or so X 14' X 8' tall surpreme cube on it. It's a jap truck"imported" any of you fine people ever deal with this kindfa truck? I drove it it did'nt seem to peppy., but the owner said it got great fuel MPG? little help please. :confused:

[Toolman]

70marlin My brother had one of there several years ago and found that the automatic trans was an expensive weak link in these trucks. If you need any hard parts to rebuild one of these the only way to get them is to buy a reman trans for around 3,000. Figure on about 2,000 for a blown headgasket. Brakes are also pricey. If you find one with the gas motor it is a 350 chevy v-8 with a gm trans behind it. At least you can get it fixed reasonably. He was truthful telling you it gets great fuel milage, they do but at the expense of "pep". I think I would look elsewhere for a good bike hauler.

Goodluck
Toolman

[70 marlin]

thanks toolman! great name by the way. was the brother's truck the 4cyl. or the 6cyl? I'd be doing all the repairs my self, as I have a ton of experience with diesel truck repair. cut my teeth on H/D trucking maintenance. I'd only buy somthing that had a manual shift trans too. I thought about doing a gasser, there's so much you can do to a 350 chevy! plus there a dime a dozen. I'd just think that a small diesel will save me a ton on fuel? but ten miles per gallon is ten miles per gallon it dose'nt matter if your burning gas or diesel or if the motor is a v-8 or a 6 banger? still totaly confussed!

[HiG4s]

I believe the truck you are talking about is an Isuzu. My neighbor, ex Ford diesel mechnic, has one for his small engine/equipment repair business that has over 350,000 miles with no major breakdowns.

But you will get better gas mileage with a more modern full size vehicle. The last 5 years or so the trucks and vans have started benefiting from the high proformance EFI systems that have been in cars since about 93.

My other neighbor has a 99 Ford 250 full size van he was using for his marine electronics installation business that gets 18 mpg hwy.

I haul my bikes in a new full size Chevy 1500 pickup V8 with a 5-speed manual and I get 20mpg loaded on the highway.