- All right guys.
Today we're gonna be doing something a little bit different.
So I don't know if you guys are like me at all
but I feel like I have to be extremely cheap nowadays
and it could just be I just don't make
a lot of money doing this,
which is fine but it makes me get a little bit creative
if I wanna do certain recreational activities
like off-roading.
Well, today I wanna go through with you guys,
how to find a halfway decent four wheel drive
in today's economy, which is a little bit over inflated
and find something that's halfway decent,
has some aftermarket support and isn't gonna break the bank,
if you wanna go out and hit the trails.
So we're gonna go through Marketplace
just because that seems to be one of the most popular
and extensive places to find vehicles for sale,
even though I absolutely hate buying stuff
or even selling stuff on Marketplace.
It seems like everybody just tries to low ball you
and you're getting more and more frustrated
because people don't show up
when they say they're gonna show up
or they show up and they don't have the money
or whatever the case may be, you guys know the drill.
All right, so first things first guys,
there's a couple of different platforms
that make really good vehicles to build trail rigs out of.
These are gonna be vehicles like
your Toyota 4Runner, Toyota Tacoma,
new and older generations.
We're gonna look at vehicles like the Jeep Wranglers
and even older Jeep Wranglers, even into the '90's
where they still had the square headlights,
and maybe even some that predate,
even the '90s for Jeeps.
We're gonna look at those types of vehicles first.
Now, chances are really good
that we're not gonna find something
that is going to be a good deal.
I mean, it's probably a good vehicle,
it's probably built up nice and everything else
but it's probably gonna come with a hefty price take too.
So, what we wanna do is we wanna look
at some of those alternatives
as far as four wheel drive vehicles.
Maybe they're not
the most desired four wheel drive vehicles,
but really in today's video our purpose
is to find something super inexpensive that we can build up.
So even though it might not be the most desirable vehicle
you still might get a heck of a deal on it.
So then besides those more popular off-roading vehicles
like the Toyotas and Jeeps, what do we wanna look for?
Well, here's the thing,
we're probably gonna end up finding something
that's gonna be a bit older,
it may not be in the best of condition.
One thing you definitely wanna stay away from
is a vehicle that has a lot of rust on it,
especially frame damage.
Like for example some of the mid '80s to early '90s,
Jeep Wranglers with the square headlights
they had a lot of issues with the frame rusting in the back
like behind the rear axle where the spring mounts are,
so just one thing to look out there for.
But you definitely wanna stay away from a lot of rust
which for a lot of you guys
that are below the salt belt line,
that's not really an issue.
So other things that we're gonna take a quick peek at
is reliability on some of these mass produced vehicles.
We wanna look at things that do have a good drive train
in them good engine, good transmission, good transfer case
and just altogether, a good drive line.
Again good aftermarket support,
so you can find those parts availability,
out there on the market that you can fix 'em up
relatively easily and cheaply.
So some other ones that stand out right away to me
are like, maybe a Nissan Pathfinder or even an older Xterra,
or even like a Mitsubishi Montero, although there's not
a whole lot of aftermarket support for those.
GMC Canyons or the SM Blazers
or even the older Grand Cherokee, the ZJs and the WJs,
some of those have some really good aftermarket support
that you can still find relatively cheaply,
because the market was so saturated with them.
So, with that said, when I jump on Marketplace
and I'm looking for vehicles.
As you guys know, I just recently
within the last few months picked up that '89 Jeep Cherokee.
Now that one I didn't find on Marketplace,
so that is totally irrelevant to this video.
But I did a lot of searching, a lot of looking around
and I got the feel for the entire market
to figure out where pricing is, how inflated it is?
And that gave me a really good idea
as to what price range I wanted to look in
for a halfway decent four wheel drive.
So when I'm looking at Marketplace,
I expand my search out about a few hundred miles
or so, depending on the area.
And then I wanna look for obviously the vehicles
with four wheel drive,
so I just punch in, four by four
in the search criteria here.
And then basically I'm gonna search down
and I'm gonna look for those types of vehicles
that have a good price, that's the number one thing.
Like, for example as I'm talking
to you guys, there's this 2002 Dodge, transmission issues,
I get it, but it does have a gas engine,
which is a little bit more economical
obviously than a diesel engine.
It does have four wheel drive,
it's a regular cab, doesn't have a lift on it
but it does have wheels and tires on it.
Tires look halfway decent.
So 2002 Dodge Ram 1500, it's a long bed.
So, not necessarily preferable
for out in the trails, for my personal likings
but a lot of guys like the long beds.
Anyways four wheel drive has only 138,000 miles on it,
just over 138,000 miles on it, automatic transmission.
The guy's only asking five grand.
Now, to me that's a heck of a good deal.
You get a good running four wheel drive vehicle.
Yeah, there might be some issues,
maybe there's transmission issues
where you find out those types of things
as you can jump
on different vehicle background check websites,
like Carfax obviously is one of 'em
and there's several others out there
that you can pay for a certain amount
of background checks on these vehicles
for relatively inexpensive.
I think the last one I paid for
I got eight different searches for,
I think it was like $22 or $25, something like.
But it gave me that availability to punch
in the VIN number
and do a background check on the vehicle,
just to see if it was in any in the accidents
or what kind of service records it had to it.
So it makes sense to pay that little bit of money
to save a lot of money in the long run
for some of those vehicle history reports.
Like this vehicle here, yeah,
it's tore up a little bit in the interior
of the driver's seat,
but everything else looks pretty decent
and it does have a manual transfer case too
which I'd prefer to see that
over an electronic shifting transfer case
because then obviously you're gonna have less issues
with the electronics going out or some servers going out
in the front axle and the list goes on.
So manual transfer case is really good.
Does have a bit of a description here
that does include some newer upgrades
and some parts replacements, which is nice.
You can tell when somebody takes care of their vehicles,
when they have things on here,
like it's got a new water pump, new timing cover seal
which that is a little bit concerning
because what happened
that he had to remove the timing cover?
Was it just leaking?
So those are questions that you can ask
when you contact these people.
Really for $5,000 you're getting,
obviously pending an inspection in person,
a physical inspection in person
a test drive and all those different things.
Once you check it out, try it out
try out the four wheel drive,
make sure everything works halfway decent for five grand,
that's not too bad of a deal.
That could be one of the vehicles
that you just happen to come across on Marketplace.
Here's here's one, that's a 2005 GMC Canyon.
It looks like it's a two door, six foot bed, 4,500 bucks
a 102,000 miles, not bad.
Automatic transmission,
which I don't know or have ever heard
of too many issues with these Canyons
as far as the transmissions.
I don't know, personally maybe you guys know, but I don't.
Just never really heard of any issues with them.
So let's look at the description here, right?
So runs and drives great, brand new tires, fresh oil change,
four by four, just went out the door.
Well, this vehicle just went out the door too.
So we're gonna keep looking 'cause
I don't wanna go through a bunch of issues,
trying to diagnose why the four wheel drive
might not be working.
Here's a '97 Toyota 4Runner.
Now this one does have 300,000 miles on it,
which personally I wouldn't be afraid of
as long as the vehicle looks in halfway decent condition.
So this one does have the 3.4 liter, tires look like crap,
but that's okay,
we're gonna wanna put new tires
and wheels on it anyway from trailbuilt off-roads.
So, cares about the tires, the interior's halfway decent.
So it says, let's look at the description here.
It says excellent condition.
Everything works in this truck.
It has eight almost, new timing belt
spark plugs, cables, tie rods, sway bar links,
AC and heat good.
Sun roof, good tires, no light on panel.
Almost intact since there's no rust.
Well, that doesn't make a bit of sense.
How can it be almost intact with no rust?
Anyways, put a Toyota 4Runner for 3,700 bucks
with 300,000 miles to go out
and hit the trails with that's not a bad deal.
I would do that all day long.
All right.
So here's a thousand bucks for a Ford F-150.
It's a '95 automatic transmission, 161,000 miles.
So '95 Ford F-150 two door eight foot box, five liter,
good engine three owners of the title runs
and drives pretty rusty
but motor and drivetrain are good.
Power locks, windows, doors, four by four
and radio work good, that's good.
Brand new ignition coil, distributor cab and rotor,
ignition control model's been in place,
module as of 2020 new brake lines all the way back.
That's a really good thing.
Rims are in good shape and are almost brand new.
Stopped driving due
to front leaf spring brackets rotting out.
So she's squatting now, bam done.
I'm not gonna look any further into that
because that sounds like a project
that I just wouldn't want to deal with, right?
So continuing down the list here, what else do we got?
So here's a 2003 GMC Sierra.
Now this isn't a bad pickup truck.
A lot of these vehicles that we're gonna find
are gonna have the independent front suspension on them
which again, we're just looking
for a four wheel drive toy to hit the trails with,
oh, she's ugly.
The cap's gotta go.
This thing's got a light blue cap on a dark blue truck.
Definitely need some wheels and tires.
Interior's not too bad,
it's got some tears in the seats
but it doesn't look too horrible.
149 on the clock, almost 150 on the clock,
which that isn't bad.
And it probably has the 5.3, yeah, it's a 2003,
so I'm guessing it's probably like a gen 2.53 liter.
Automatic transmission which
if it's well taken care of 150,000 miles on a GMC
really isn't that bad at all.
And here's another one with an eight foot box,
I don't know why all of these are showing up
with eight foot boxes, but anyways tires probably
have less than 10,000 miles on 'em and are still new.
I never trust that.
I always wait upon my own personal inspection
to actually check the tires out
and the rest of the vehicle for that matter.
No lights on the dash.
Everything works as it should, has four wheel drive.
So might be a decent one to check out 2003
for 4,800 bucks, that's not too bad.
So, that may be another one,
we can put it on the list there.
So SR5 is the base model Tacoma
but here's a nine oh no, this is a 4Runner SR5.
So yeah, who here's a '99 Toyota 4Runner SR5
which is just like the base model
the SR5, sport utility four door, 5,200 miles
or 5,200 bucks and 234,000 miles.
So again, not too bad,
it actually has about 65,000 miles less
than that other one that other 4Runner
we were looking at know and that one was 3,700.
So, for another, I don't know, 1800 bucks 1600 bucks or so
you're getting 65,000 less miles
and this one's a '99, so you're going up what?
Four or five years or six years, whatever the other one was.
I don't remember, but '99 and let's see here,
it says clean title, which is good,
was my father's unfortunately just putting him in nursing.
Spent a lot of money on this 4Runner.
If that's the case, let's see some receipts, right?
Vehicles spent its whole life in Arizona
and was brought up to Wisconsin
on a car transporter, never seen salt,
lots of features rear power window tow package
after market backup hammer,
and more kept in storage unit covered
as much as I want to keep it already have two vehicles.
Will not answer, is this still available,
yeah, that default response, is this available?
Is this available?
Guys just hit 'em up, just be like,
"Hey, I'm interested in your vehicle,
I want to take a look at it,
when can we schedule a time?"
If it's still there, chances are it's available, right?
So again, another halfway decent vehicle
that you can find just searching Marketplace.
If you're looking for something a little bit cheaper,
but first things first, you gotta determine
what your budget is, right?
You gotta have a certain amount that you wanna spend.
And then from there it's just really just good
and out there, and checking out these vehicles
and then looking for those certain things
that disqualify it right away.
Like there was a couple in here
the one, FI 50 was squatting because the spring perch
or spring bracket went into the frame.
So that's no good.
So just those things that really turn you off
just stay away from those, other than that, guys
if you are looking for new tires for your new vehicle,
when you do get it definitely make sure
and hit us up at "Trail Built"
or by clicking the link in the description below.
And guys as always, we appreciate all of you
for watching and all of your support.
I'm Joshua Trailbolt
and we'll see you guys out on the trails.
(upbeat music)