Thinking About Buying A Truck, And A Truck Camper

Hi all,

I'm thinking about buying a truck, and a truck camper, to do some traveling around the US, and maybe Canada. I'm also probably going to buy a recumbent trike, although I suppose even something like a station wagon would work for hauling that around.

I've never owned a truck before. Would a Toyota Tacoma provide the most bang for the buck? Are they considered the most reliable smaller sized trucks, given that they're made by Toyota?

I think I'd like to have 4WD, since the owner of XP Camper told me I will want to go off road if I get a truck camper. Any thoughts on that? And I think it would need to be automatic, due to the fact that I have a spinal cord injury and I'd like to keep it simple.

I'd like to keep the price of the truck to $5,000 max, if possible. Anybody know about how many miles an average Tacoma will hit before it needs to be retired?

What do I need to keep in mind when purchasing a truck with the intention of pairing it with a truck camper? I understand there are 2 standard bed sizes. Then there's also the camper's weight to consider, correct?

For those of you with experience, is it pretty easy to attach and detach the truck camper? And what's involved with storing and protecting the truck camper?

I think that's all that comes to mind for now, thanks.

 

Wow. Lots of questions. Might be hard to get a decent Tacoma for Under $5k but maybe. The engines in these trucks will rack up a lot of miles but they are machines and all machines need periodic maintenance. I think most would agree they are considered the most reliable small trucks. As far as off road or 4x4, just be aware that is more moving parts and more eventual maintenance. 4X2 is keeping it simple. For an older Tacoma, #1 look for frame rust. Lots of great info on this site. Just start doing searches.

And welcome to TW

 

Thanks for the reply, and for the welcome!

I read in a post that with regular maintenance, you can get 500,000 miles out of a Tacoma. Is that really true, or would you be lucky to get that many miles out of one?

How much more would 4x4 add to the price? And how much more maintenance would it require? I was thinking it would be nice to have an extra cab, 4x4, and cruise control, but I'll probably have to compromise due to the price.

I can spend more if I have to, but of course I'd like to keep my costs down as much as possible. How much would be realistic, let's say for just a regular Tacoma in excellent condition, 4x2, automatic, and with cruise control?

And thanks for the tip on frame rust. I'll make sure to avoid that when purchasing.

 

They started making Tacomas in 1995.5 so there are a lot of them out there.


A late 90's tacoma standard cab 6' bed with north of 200k miles would be around 5k or slightly less. Might even find one with a camper already.

Best bet is to start searching Craigslist. And search and search for months if you have the time.

You'll get a good feel for what is out there.

And if you're lucky you'll find that unicorn, granny owned immaculate Tacoma for a song. Or at the very least you'll feel comfortable with what you're buying.

The truck you want is out there if you're willing to put the time in. Otherwise "time is money" you can buy anything and make it into what you want.

Good luck and welcome to TW.

Also there is a buy/sell section on this forum. Which is a good place to start!

 

Thanks, I was browsing the buy/sell forum, and I was looking at Craigslist the other day. Any other places that would be good to look for a Tacoma, aside from here and Craigslist?

 

You're local classifieds? Or Facebook maybe.

I've found them to be sufficient.