Yeah they are super simple to work on and the parts are cheap. I really just needed a small pickup to go on dump and home depot runs, and put a dirtbike in the back. There's a lot of utility packed into these for the price.
If the bed is rotted too far out the bottom, just replace it. If it's just the sides. Trim off the rot, diamond plate fab up a sort of step side. Make sure to have a peek at the time chain and water pump. Replace the valve cover gasket, grease the U-joints, ball joints, between the leaves of the rear springs. That last one sounds odd but if you've ever had squeaky load springs you'll know what I mean. Also bushings.
I was thinking of maybe fabbing up a flat bed for it when I get the time. Ball joints and other steering parts are going to get replaced with new parts down the line as all boots are cracked and torn. I did install new tension rod bushings as the old ones were completely worn through. Didn't know about greasing between the leafs, I'll have to look into that.
I had a 1997 Nissan Hardbody, 2wd, i rebuilt the engine when i was 14, swapped in a bigger rear axle with a locker, lifted it, truck looked badass! Got me through high school and college before i wrecked it in Colorado last December
I had one of those and I loved it. I put 240k miles on it. Please check the 4 bolts that hold the front controll arms to make sure they are not sheared off. If they haven’t been tapped to a larger bolt, I highly recommend you do it before off roading. The hard body line of Nissan trucks were some of the best they ever made
I had an ‘88 hardbody towed to my place. 240,000 miles with a failed water pump. EVERYTHING on the truck was worn out from the wheels up. Engine itself 3.0 was the best part. Many new, many junkyard parts, did all the work except windshield installation and mounting tires myself. Grand total was under $4000 for a great, safe, basic (no A/C or power anything) daily driver.
We also have an 88 WD21 pathfinder with the vg30i. It was completely worn out as well, and we used it as a fishing adventure truck. We definitely abused it offroad and put it away wet, which wore everything out again. Unfortunately, there are some rust issues in the body, but the frame is still solid.
My man here not only went over the basics, but also made it actually safe, most of my stuff is just will it kinda stop and will it go, props to ya brother, that ol hard body will last forever u det your care
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garage and don't worry about that rust, I've got a Chevy Luv that's rusted to heck, the doors are falling off but she keeps on tickin, you take care of them old trucks, and theyll take care of you
I have a 96' & 97' one black 1 green both 2WD but are both ext cabs and manuals. 96 has 390,000 97 has 130,000 miles. I never change the oil hardly do anything to the 96 motor trying to blow it up. Just keeps running strong as ever. Ppl ask me all the time are they forsale? Always a NOPE!!
These 80s and 90s Nissan engines are over built brick shithouses. I have a VG30ET in my 300ZX turbo that got boosted to the moon and ran hard as a drift car and never had a problem. Biggest issue is timing belts and wrecking valves and on these KAs stretched chains and brittle guides but it's not that hard of a fix compared to anything more modern.
It’s good for another 200k! I have a 94, 2WD though. I have restored/touched almost everything on it. Just finished up a full front end rebuild, new brakes, restored calipers, new KYB shocks as well! And new brake lines.
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garageanother great thing about trucks this old is that everything is serviceable by a customer. Easy to troubleshoot with a little experience. I love my '87 B2600. If it gets gas and fire, it will run!!! Easy to work on and maintain.
I was thinking about getting headers for this. In reality, I'd really like to go all-out with a high response KA-T setup. I'm looking to do the timing chain before I put too many more miles on it.
@Dan_And_Daves_Garage my Tacoma has got thru mud holes and thru 3ft of snow in northern Michigan and some rock crawling Nissan is good but not that good
I've also had mixed luck with them previously. I've rebuilt calipers with new seals and cylinders before on other cars, but the calipers for this were so cheap that I'd rather save the time than mess around with rebuild kits
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garage ahh that is true I had forgotten about the front 4wd. I have never did one myself. But I had a friend that mini trucked some Nissans and Toyota's. Cheers mate.
"a little bit of rust" *shows plastic trim levitating in mid air*
Came like that from the factory
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garage mustve been the top trim, 1 of 50? im jealous 😩
Hard Body with a manual 5 speed is a real gem truly beautiful and with care will run forever
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed
These are my favorite Nissan's hands down they're little go getters and absolutely great looking trucks.
Yeah they are super simple to work on and the parts are cheap. I really just needed a small pickup to go on dump and home depot runs, and put a dirtbike in the back. There's a lot of utility packed into these for the price.
If the bed is rotted too far out the bottom, just replace it. If it's just the sides. Trim off the rot, diamond plate fab up a sort of step side. Make sure to have a peek at the time chain and water pump. Replace the valve cover gasket, grease the U-joints, ball joints, between the leaves of the rear springs. That last one sounds odd but if you've ever had squeaky load springs you'll know what I mean. Also bushings.
I was thinking of maybe fabbing up a flat bed for it when I get the time. Ball joints and other steering parts are going to get replaced with new parts down the line as all boots are cracked and torn. I did install new tension rod bushings as the old ones were completely worn through. Didn't know about greasing between the leafs, I'll have to look into that.
I had a 1997 Nissan Hardbody, 2wd, i rebuilt the engine when i was 14, swapped in a bigger rear axle with a locker, lifted it, truck looked badass! Got me through high school and college before i wrecked it in Colorado last December
KYB shocks are so cheap yet so reliable. It's our go to shocks here in Southeast Asia or Asia in general. Good on you man
Thanks a lot. I know they are an OE supplier of suspension parts, so I feel like I can't go wrong using them.
I had one of those and I loved it. I put 240k miles on it. Please check the 4 bolts that hold the front controll arms to make sure they are not sheared off. If they haven’t been tapped to a larger bolt, I highly recommend you do it before off roading. The hard body line of Nissan trucks were some of the best they ever made
I will definitely check. Thanks a lot for the tip
I had an ‘88 hardbody towed to my place. 240,000 miles with a failed water pump. EVERYTHING on the truck was worn out from the wheels up. Engine itself 3.0 was the best part. Many new, many junkyard parts, did all the work except windshield installation and mounting tires myself. Grand total was under $4000 for a great, safe, basic (no A/C or power anything) daily driver.
We also have an 88 WD21 pathfinder with the vg30i. It was completely worn out as well, and we used it as a fishing adventure truck. We definitely abused it offroad and put it away wet, which wore everything out again. Unfortunately, there are some rust issues in the body, but the frame is still solid.
My man here not only went over the basics, but also made it actually safe, most of my stuff is just will it kinda stop and will it go, props to ya brother, that ol hard body will last forever u det your care
Thanks a lot! For better or for worse they literally don't make them like they used to, so I'm going to try and keep this going as long as I can
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garage and don't worry about that rust, I've got a Chevy Luv that's rusted to heck, the doors are falling off but she keeps on tickin, you take care of them old trucks, and theyll take care of you
I have a 96' & 97' one black 1 green both 2WD but are both ext cabs and manuals. 96 has 390,000 97 has 130,000 miles. I never change the oil hardly do anything to the 96 motor trying to blow it up. Just keeps running strong as ever. Ppl ask me all the time are they forsale? Always a NOPE!!
These 80s and 90s Nissan engines are over built brick shithouses. I have a VG30ET in my 300ZX turbo that got boosted to the moon and ran hard as a drift car and never had a problem. Biggest issue is timing belts and wrecking valves and on these KAs stretched chains and brittle guides but it's not that hard of a fix compared to anything more modern.
It’s good for another 200k!
I have a 94, 2WD though. I have restored/touched almost everything on it. Just finished up a full front end rebuild, new brakes, restored calipers, new KYB shocks as well! And new brake lines.
I actually sold the truck so the buyer just gets to drive it and not worry about anything
These little trucks from this era are just fun and reliable. The manual transmission is a bonus!!!
The manual was a must, I can't imagine driving this thing with a slushbox and such low power
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garageanother great thing about trucks this old is that everything is serviceable by a customer. Easy to troubleshoot with a little experience.
I love my '87 B2600. If it gets gas and fire, it will run!!! Easy to work on and maintain.
That timing chain tensioner is common I replace clutch put headers EGR delete to get rid of the sluggish drive
I was thinking about getting headers for this. In reality, I'd really like to go all-out with a high response KA-T setup. I'm looking to do the timing chain before I put too many more miles on it.
This trail looks like it would be a ton of fun on a mountain bike
I have a Tacoma but those Nissan hard body's are good 👍
Nice. A friend of mine actually rolled his dad's 1st Gen Tacoma while offroading it. It was a nice truck while it lasted
@Dan_And_Daves_Garage my Tacoma has got thru mud holes and thru 3ft of snow in northern Michigan and some rock crawling Nissan is good but not that good
I agree, I've got an 80 series Land Cruiser to scratch that Toyota itch
i laugh when people do this stuff only to find out the reason why the thing sat for 5 years wasn't a little rust.
I've put on 2k miles so far with just new tires and basic maintenance. Why do you think it sat?
Truck hard to kill.👍🏽💯
How well did the rebuilt calipers seal, with the sand blasted mating surfaces?
Still holding up
Good for you! I have definitely had trouble with the remanufactured brake calipers, so I'm very leery of them now.@@Dan_And_Daves_Garage
I've also had mixed luck with them previously. I've rebuilt calipers with new seals and cylinders before on other cars, but the calipers for this were so cheap that I'd rather save the time than mess around with rebuild kits
Can I ask you why you would buy that.
Bought it, fixed it, used it for a year no issues, made money on it when I sold it
@Dan_And_Daves_Garage that's great just looked like it needed a ton of work. Good job fixing it.
Brooo 1,100$!?!!?!? Sh*t boxed ones in tx are sold for 5k 😩
I'm in it for like $2300 total, biggest expense being tires but I've gotten so much utility out of it already if it blows up I'm OK with it
Best Nissan truck after the 620.
1100??? jesus these people are getting robbed
You will be happy with this truck.
Thanks, I was pretty happy with it but sold it to downsize the projects and recoup some cash.
mini truck it man. I'd love to see that.
If it was the 2WD for sure. Never going to get a really low drop because of the 4wd
@@Dan_And_Daves_Garage ahh that is true I had forgotten about the front 4wd. I have never did one myself. But I had a friend that mini trucked some Nissans and Toyota's.
Cheers mate.
Dang roblox streamer movin up 😂
I don't get it
Ur first mistake.
Bosch and Nissan. No No No.
Hitachi or Mitsubishi dist cap-rotor only.
NGK Plugs n Wires
I did get NGK plugs and wires. The truck ran great, with no issues til I sold it.
Sheesh looks like my hardbody
🎉
Wow an old beer can with wheels
I've never seen a beer can this square before