so I got a free nissan hardbody today

my uncle's 95 nissan pickup died 100 miles from home. He's just going to go get a new crv. He said I could have the truck. It's a 4 cylinder 2wd, ext-cab, 5sp, with 220k. he told me he put a new alt. on it recently, but the light came on and it died and had no electricity after that. Actually he siad that the speedo stopped working, and then it wouldn't let him shift into 5th gear, and THEN it died. I'm hoping to find a bad slave cylinder & crappy reman alternator. Anybody else think of just One thing it could be?

Battery ground strap failed and somehow magical electrons found a route home through the clutch assembly, welding everything together right before the end?

Probably going to be both of the things you mentioned and some other deferred maintenance items.

Probably just the dead battery that went with the dead alternator. Replace battery and go. I'm sure the clutch is fine. These trucks are stupendously hard to kill and easy to fix.

I think you have pretty well covered it. Except for this:

You lucky dog.

is that an electronic speedo or mechanical?

If you were local, I'd offer you $250 and a case of beer for it. I miss my hardbody.

Sounds good as long as the frame hasn't rotted away. I had a Pathfinder once...

Free is good!

I had a lot of fun with a hardbody worktruck... great little trucks

I've had my 86.5 from new and have about 343k miles on it. It's been so good I can't make myself get rid of it.

welp, overall I'd say it's useable.

rusty over the rear wheels and along the top of the windshield. Otherwise fair. Interior is okay. 12 valve KA motor runs like a watch. Clutch is healthy. There is a problem in the master/slave hydralic assembly somewhere. It's not low on fluid nor wet anywhere that I noticed. I priced out replacing both cylinders and they're CHEAP. Electrically I don't know what's going on. It's an old battery out of a ford and the terminals are bent and look like poo. We'll see. It drove shockingly tight for a 220k mile rig.

Granny has a nissan hardbody, good little truck but it seems to need more work than my toyota.

The 12V engine is pretty peppy though compared to the 22re in my toyota.

Sounds like you got a great deal!

These trucks are damn near indestructable. My friend got one of these years ago when his older sister bought a house. It was sitting in the driveway, title on the seat, keys in the ignition, and had a note saying "it comes with the house". She didn't want the "eyesore", so my friend snagged it! It ran great!

It was a '87-88, had that KA motor, and had north of 250K miles. It had a 4-speed manual (I think) and no options. He did absolutely ZERO maintenance to it over the course of about 5 years and beat the bag out of it every day. It blew the heater core and he didn't feel like fixing it because the truck was so rusty, so he junked it.

The Achilles Heel with these is rust. They LOVE to rust out, so keep that under control, fix the stuff that's wrong with it, and drive it for another 200K miles. I'd take a free one any day.

SCORE! Good pickups are hard to find for free.

I really miss my HB. Such a great little bulletproof truck.

I bought a '94 SWB 4x4 brand spanking-new, intending to keep it forever.

The tinworm took it from me after only 14 years. My heart was broken.

A free one would console me....

I really wanna keep it, but the bed isn't a ton bigger than the trunk of my P71, it gets about the same mileage, and has less power.

I haven't decided for sure what I'm gonna do. Seems like I could probably get $1000 for it or so.

I say lower it. Just because.

I just finished doing full 2-1/2" exhaust on mine, front to back. Nice exhaust note now.

www.gwellwood.com/project-cars/the-hideous-hardbody

pics or it didn't happen...

so - is there a such thing as a nissan softbody? or are the ones left just called hardbodies because years ago the rest of them went soft with rust and fell apart?

The Datsun 720, the Hardbody's daddy, came pre-rusted. Unfortunately it was hereditary.

Nissan Crunchybody?

You bastard. Because of this thread I am now trying to justify, to my pregnant wife, spending $3,500 on a nice Frontier that I found on CL.

I FOUND MY SPECIAL PURPOSE!!!!

here's how I can justify it; jack up the torsion bars as high as they go, put some air shocks in the back, find some narly tires, and.... WINTER CAR.

if rusty truck gets rustier it's no big deal. P71 stays shiny and rust free.

Reference the Doodlebug thread for ideas