Mini Trucks

Haoleguy · Nov 14, 2006

The used mini truck(Daihatsus, Subarus, Hondas, Mitsubishis, etc.) option seems very appealing to me as you can get significant functionality at a decent price. What importers/dealers are there in the eastern US that provide quality vehicles, modifications, & possibly delivery. For those of you who own these what are the pros & cons? Are parts available?

shvl73 · Nov 14, 2006

Try a search for TBN member DarinRay

Haoleguy · Nov 17, 2006

I have tried to reach DarinRay by private message and am not getting a return. I was trying to confirm that he is still in business. Anyone know if he is?

BeeFarmer · Nov 17, 2006

I purchased one from someone down south and had hit delivered. I drove it for about 12 months. I sold it about a month ago and have mixed feelings about selling it...

Haoleguy · Nov 17, 2006

BeeFarmer - Why did you sell and have mixed feelings about it?

Slacker · Nov 18, 2006

Haoleguy said:
Are parts available?

+1. Same question I have.

BeeFarmer · Nov 20, 2006

Reasons why I like the truck and reasons why not.

I liked:

FUN to drive
55 miles per hour
Could haul a lot of beehives or anything else ...
Heating
Radio
Great headlights
Did I say FUN TO DRIVE!
6 foot 1inch I fit well...

Didn't Like:

Hard to get parts
Couldn't get insured
Did get stuck a few times where my Ranger would not.
Wasn't as good on fuel as they say... of course I was doing 55 most of the time not 25.

Comments

I realize in many cases they sell them as NO TITLE. The distributor I got mine from said he would get me a title as he had some connections. Never happend. But thats another story. All in all I was always afraid something was going to break and I could get the parts. My engine was smoking and the oil light would come on when idleing.... I had replaced the tires, battery, spark plug wires, winshield wipers, as they had issues when I first bought it. The body was in very good shape and the other issue were expected except for the sparkplug wires. Filters were found but took some looking.

Found myself on the road doing 55 too much and if I ever got into a wreck... I would of really been had.

I asked several people who sold these units about parts and they didn't seemed to want to sell parts unless you both a unit from them.

If you want one of these units my suggestion would be to find a seller who has been selling a long time and has parts and easy access and quick to respond.

I know have a NEW Polaris Ranger and like it but haven't ridin in it as it has been getting cold around here. I can tell you that I have looked at every utility vehicle for a LONG time and decide to get the mini truck for 5000.00 dollars as it was a good price for all the features... Too bad they don't make a utv that is local in US and is half the vehicle as the mini truck is.......

If I had an extra 5000 and a dealer I knew I could rely on.... LOCALLY .... I would have another.. it was so much fun and turned a lot of heads... I do miss it but I don't... It sold really quick...

buppy69 · Nov 20, 2006

Ferguson Equipment in Virginia sells them. They are a large dealer and been in business for some time.

Eugene

Haoleguy · Nov 20, 2006

BeeFarmer - Thank you for answering the questions and giving me guidance on how to approach this market. Sooner or later I will locate someone in the northeast that is in the mini truck business. It sounds that your suggestion would be to get some form of title.

Haoleguy · Nov 20, 2006

Buppy69 - Thanks for the dealer suggestion. Do you know if they have a website?....

YanmarFever · Nov 21, 2006

one of the largest dealers in the US. is Used compact tractors, tractor parts, front end loaders, backhoe attachments, containers, tractor manuals from Best Used Tractors,mini excavators, bull dozers, heavy equipment

tractor127 · Dec 7, 2006

Wow they sell a lot of generic equipment. I bet it's all cheap junk.

But on the mini trucks they look pretty cool and a lot better price then a UTV. How much are they new anyways?

Scozz · Dec 9, 2006

I just purchased one last week. Won it on Ebay .. a Diahatsu dump body.
Got it for 3950.00 and it cost me 700 to have it shipped from OK to my home in NY. Supposed to arrive tomorrow or Monday. Looking forward to putting her to the test. If its half as good as my old Japanese Yanmar it will be great! ... Scozz

Haoleguy · Dec 10, 2006

Scozz - Thanks for the message. I'm currently on the fence on going after a mini truck. Primarily they are grey market vehicles with an unknown part supply. I am looking for a dealer in the northeast who sells and supports their product. I have been very tempted by ebay as the cost is significantly less than retail. You probably saw the California camo dump mini a few weeks back. By the way who did you go with for the transport?..Enjoy your mini.

Scozz · Dec 10, 2006

Haoleguy the truck arrived at 8:00 this morning and IT IS GREAT! I just put about three miles on it. Half on the road and half off road. It gets around really well both on and off road. Even with the street tires that are on it it never got even close to stuck even on some nasty mud. I'm gonna pick up some ATV tires for it and like I said in the other post camo it. The dump on it is really impressive. In short ... I LOVE IT! To get it here I went on line and filled out a form for shipping and had about 15 shippers call within an hour. What they do is charge a fee (150.00 in my case) and just post your haul on a board. When a carrier needs a haul thay can accept the load. I paid $700.00 for door to door Ok to NY. They were willing to post it for any price I wanted, but, the less offered the less likely a trucker would take the haul. I posted the truck with them Wed 12/6 and got it this morning (12/10) !!!!
As for service .. these things are amazingly simple ... not anything on it that anyone a little savy can't repair. Heck, I found US rebuilt engines online for 1200.00 delivered if the worst happened. I realize I was quite blessed with this deal, could have been very different buying a sight unseen vehicle. I'm gonna go clean it up and create some work to put i to use now! Good luck if you buy one .. I'm considering getting a container of these in the future for resale but it would not be the very near future. Good luck ... Scozz

Kays Supply · Dec 15, 2006

Haoleguy said:
BeeFarmer - Thank you for answering the questions and giving me guidance on how to approach this market. Sooner or later I will locate someone in the northeast that is in the mini truck business. It sounds that your suggestion would be to get some form of title.

I have some experience with these. Forget a title that will allow it to be driven on the road. Most are coming in as ATVs now. I had an importer loose a whole container load because they were still titled as trucks. They seized them and cut them all in half. grimports.com has a page that might interest you.

4sarge · Mar 15, 2007

Haoleguy said:
The used mini truck(Daihatsus, Subaru's, Honda's, Mitsubishi's, etc.) option seems very appealing to me as you can get significant functionality at a decent price. What importers/dealers are there in the eastern US that provide quality vehicles, modifications, & possibly delivery. For those of you who own these what are the pros & cons? Are parts available?

I'm also looking to buy one this year. EBay has had the best prices and selection but I was looking for someone locally or at least in a 500 mile radius. I still like to test drive before buying sight unseen

Problem is that they are popping up lots of places but most of them have looked ridden hard and put away wet, if you know what I mean. Doesn't necessarily have to be yuppified but decent would be nice

Dealer in Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Texas that have fairly large inventory. They advertise quantity discount so I'm In

CATMAN · Mar 15, 2007

I read a thread on these about 2 months ago, on the net. One owner said he was sold air filters for his that really looked like they fit properly, but in reality they didn't quite fit the air cleaner correctly and he "dusted" the engine. Now, it smokes and uses lots of oil. This person mentioned he couldn't seem to find an american-made air filter that was a proper fit(after the fact). He said DON'T trust those cross-reference charts at auto stores, either. I just thought this info may be helpful. They do look like fun.