doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com "Huntin' Truck"

Well, there it is, FCF. Ditch all that crap and go minimalist, and your troubles will be gone.

Seriously, I took the spare off of the rear door when I bought the Jeep and it hasn't ridden with me since. That's been a long time, and never had a flat. I will admit that I'm not in a rocky environment, though.

Thanks, Stan, for helping me start thinking straight. Now I understand why I got such terrible gas mileage on the old Land Rovers. I always carried 4 20Liter jerrycans of petrol. 🤣

You've got to run anything to flat empty a few times before you can know just how far one will go after the gauge hand hits "E". No kidding. I ran the old 2011 F250 empty again last week and had to call for help on the roadside. My son was riding with me and said "Well, I guess you're out of gas .............again".

When I die I 'spect there won't be a fortune in paid up gasoline left in the vehicles ..................

Hey Stan, I've gotten stranded twice in spots with zero cell service, on paved roads. One time I hit a deer and the truck dumped most of its fluids, the other, lost an alternator, not a good feeling. One of the times, no one drove by for nearly three hours, luckily things were getting figured out by them.

I never pushed the fuel limit, just start getting the mindset that there are some places with few options. My boy and I got stuck in a white out on a mountain pass. A four hour chip shot turned into over seven hours, and six of those hours, not a hint of a gas stop. The temperature dropped from the mid fifties to the low single digits, and no bars on the phone for way over half the time. It was a duck hunting trip. I told my boy we just got shut down, but he insisted we go out the next morning. The knee deep flats, we waded two days earlier, were solid walkable ice. I told my son not to test it out, but I was half hoping he would break through, because of how great he used to listen sometimes.

I know things like that can happen, craig. My comments, tho' true, were a bit tongue-in-cheek. When I'm way off from home I don't roll the dice with the gas gauge. But, just in case the unexpected happens and I find myself low on fuel with no stations around, my 2013 F250 will go 37 miles (at 55 mph) after it says "0 MILES TO EMPTY". I've proven that a couple times. Everyone should run their vehicle out once so they will know just how far it will go on empty. Good stuff to know. It, and the 2011, have 35 gallon gas tanks. I've driven to a gas station and put 35.2 gallons in them more than once. That's pretty much runnin' on vapors.

My son and I have several little engines on nurse tank pumps and such to keep gas in so we try to keep a 2 gal. jug of gas in the back of the truck all the time. It's gotten me out of a tight spot many times. That Jeep Wrangler has a gas gauge that plays fast and loose with the truth. Once it stranded me on the side of the road, with my wife riding, and the hand still said 1/4 full. That's one reason she won't ride in it with me anymore. She thought it was terribly embarrassing. Anymore, I just reset the trip odometer to 0 when I fill it up. When she hits 120 miles I start looking for a gas pump.

On a side note, I once found myself stranded miles from home while checking predator traps. A driveshaft universal joint had broken, letting the back end of the driveshaft fall from the differential onto the road. I had zero tools with me, save for a pair of pliers. I found a piece of heavy trapping wire, somewhere in the back of the truck, and looped it a few times around a crossmember, above and near the rear end of the driveshaft, making a hanger of sorts for the driveshaft that would allow it to turn slowly while hanging. I got in the truck, put it in 4WD and drove it real slow back home, letting the front axle pull the truck. As long as I drove slow the driveshaft would just spin in the wire loop, but if I got too fast it would start jumping around bad. More good stuff to "tattoo on your brain, Vern", as Ernest P. Worrell used to say.

We followed my father’s casket to the cemetery in “Old Blue” his ‘64 International pickup (short bed, step side), that I drove for years, and then sold back to him for the restoration. 152 slant 4, single barrel carb. 3 speed, non synchro.
Exactly like this one:


I still have it in the barn.

Moved up to a 66 4wd Scout,
Just like this one.
[img]https://0.cdn.autotraderspecialty.c...613-def1b09f37e97fcd9b69fcf2cbd4350a.jpg[img]

They were junk. Sold it with the plow to a guy who promptly scrapped it.
I still have a bunch of parts for them in the barn.

Then a 2wd model, that was a great unit. Twin tanks. Drove it for years.

Then an 84 Bronco ll, still have it. Locking hubs, 2.6l v-6. Got around very well in the Spring mud for turkeys. Gas tank rotted out, motor tired.
It’s going to the scrap yard soon.

Then, in May 2001, we were doing the plant conversion in Toledo for Jeep. Marking the end of the Jeep Cherokee sport like John has.
I bought an “Upland Special” (factory lifted) through vendor relations, and walked it down the line, from paint, through General Assembly.
Still have it. Never have gotten stuck. Even in mud up to the door sills.
Head cracked. Now it sits.
The serial number shows it’s one of the last ever made.
We stopped the line At 10pm, and my Jeep was completed mid afternoon that day.

Moved on to a Silverado pickup for long distance comfort.

Then tried a Subaru Forester, 5 speed.
With good tires, the best compromise of them all.
The reason is, if you were going to go hunting from September until the end of January, your fuel budget becomes a nuisance.

All those vehicles with the heavy duty off-road suspensions are gas hogs.

The Subaru, at 28 miles per gallon loaded, allows you to drive all over the middle state shooting at critters, while sipping fuel in a comfortable vehicle.
I hate dropping a 50 every couple days for only a bird or two each time.

A Range Rover is quite plush, well equipped, and capable, but the cashmere carpets are out of place for me.

My Kawasaki mule, towed by the Silverado gets the call most the time now.
Cab, heated, gun racks, satellite radio, dual winches, enclosed bed, and fun to drive.
Mine is White
Highly recommended for aging hunters.

Thanks GLS. Yes I had no luck finding a Toyota winch either. LCs are notoriously overbuilt, but wish they would have made the winches out of rust proof steel. Definitely do not want an outside-mounted spare or put one of those large heavy tires in a top rack. I'll keep searching for a winch a bit before I have my machinist fabricate something. Thinking of a pulley system with a miniature gun tackle and cable going out the same hole in the rear bumper that the old winch used for the three-piece crank.

Good luck, Hal. I have an old buddy who has a late 80s early 90s FJ80 as his daily driver. It has that ox of a 6 cylinder engine in it. A week doesn't go by without someone sticking a business card on the windshield asking if he wants to sell it. Gil

Realize now the huge number of cable winches out there; the single chain-type listed was used and for a Nissan Pathfinder. New winches sell for less than $100, so thinking of buying one listed for early Tundras and rigging it up. But friend Steve looked underneath my '95 LC this morning said he could just cut one out of an old pickup at the junkyard. Can make an operating rod easily regardless of what winch I get.

Most of my Hunting Trucks have been full size Fords or Chevys with 8 ft. beds. The last two were Fords, and they seem to last longer and take more abuse before rusting out or requiring costly and frequent repairs. Little trucks like Rangers, S-10's etc. always seemed like a nice idea, but I don't enjoy being a contortionist trying to get my knees under the steering wheel. I wish they would build one for people over 6 ft. tall. Good tires on a hunting vehicle are a must, and I always run 4 studded snow tires in the winter months. In addition, I always have a couple come-a-longs, jacks, tow straps, chains, and tire chains to get myself out of trouble when I am in places that AAA can't help you. A Thread on getting stuck, and getting unstuck might be a fun and interesting off-topic subject.

Those hoist/hanger mechanisms that stow the spare tire under the vehicle are a very poor idea for anyone who lives in snow country, where the roads get salted. I was lucky enough to be at home some years ago when I came out to find my truck had a flat. Naturally, my hoist mechanism was rusted and corroded, and I had to get out the oxy-acetylene burning torch to get my spare down. The steel rim looked like the surface of the moon from several years of collecting dirt, salt, and road grit. I've heard of some that rust so badly that the spare loses air or becomes unsafe to use. I torched the remains of the hoist off the frame, and never considered replacing it. Since then, I promptly relocate the spare on any truck I buy. I can just imagine how much fun it would be to have that happen out in the boonies where I didn't have access to a torch or tools to cut my spare down.

I have certainly run out of fuel several time in my life, but the motors of the electric fuel pumps inside the gas tank will fail prematurely if frequently run dry or very low. The fuel helps to cool the motor windings. I have had several experiences with the engine dying from lack of fuel when the gas gauge said I had plenty of gas. My last Ford truck would run out just under half a tank, and my car got progressively worse over time, and finally quit with nearly a full tank. The gas gauges were not lying. Both were caused by a bad electric fuel pump putting out insufficient pressure. A squirt of starting fluid into the air intake quickly tells you whether your engine died due to lack of fuel, or an ignition problem. It was no fun to lower the nearly full gas tank, but I was not able to siphon the gas out due to something blocking my siphon hose in the filler tube.

I also agree with what Clapper Zapper said about a fuel efficient hunting vehicle for frequent day trips. My favorite hunting car was my 1986 Ford Tempo that had a 2.0 liter Mazda/Mercedes diesel engine. It got 40 MPG no matter how hard you drove it. The non-turbo engine only made 60 HP, but it had typical great diesel low end torque. And whoever designed the 5 speed manual transmission was a genius who knew how to utilize that 60 HP perfectly, from low range to 90 MPH. It had a pretty good ground clearance, and a nice clean bottom with exhaust system and lines all tucked up where they wouldn't get caught on rocks and such. I did put a big crease in the fuel tank when I bottomed out on a rock while crossing a small creek. It also had great leg room, a comfortable interior, and a roomy trunk that did just fine for hauling dead deer when lined with a sheet of plastic. I took that car into some God-awful places that left guys with their 4WD's shaking their heads. One caveat... it is not as much fun to run out of fuel with a diesel engine as with a gas engine.