RustyButTrusty Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 My dad delivers newspapers every morning, and has been using his 95 pathfinder to deliver for quite some time. Well it's needing a good bit of maintenance (t-belt, rear main seal, onsets of death wobble new tires) and it's looking like this'll cost bewtween 2-2.5k. He bought the car about 3 years ago with 157k miles on it for $3000 and now it has 211k. On holidays and on some Sundays he has the back of the pathy (with the seats down) completely filled with papers (about 600 or so). Its seems to us that the continual weight that is being carried every morning is very hard on the vehicle's suspension. The bushings/springs/shocks all wear out much quicker. So we are looking at selling the pathfinder to get something that can handle the weight, but that also gets decent gas mileage. Problem is it seems that all the vehicles that get good gas mileage probably wouldn't handle the weight. So if anyone has a suggestion for a vehicle that meets what we are looking for that'd be great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY1PATH Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Get some Moog Springs from rock auto or your favorite autodealer.($70?) They have a progressive spring rate for better load hadling but still maintian comfort when Unloaded. IF you plan on/ want some lift OME also makes some heavier duty springs. Either setup should allow the pathy to handle 750lbs or so without any handling issues. Don't forget good shocks on all 4 corners. Rancho 5000's Go a long way for load capacity. Hell I carried 500lbs of scrap in my rig with no isses and my springs are softer than the ones I recomended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finder98 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 I would do what my1path said. If you get another rig thats used you will still need to put parts into it. If you buy something new it may last awhile befor it needs parts but then you have a payment. That $2000.00 repair bill will seem small by the time you get your new rig payed off. $ 2000.00 wont be long getting chewed up in a couple of months on payments. Then you still need to keep making payments. Take that $ 2000.00 repair bill and get it fixed or do some upgrades like my1path said. My 2 cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyButTrusty Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 I appreciate the advice. I guess I should let ya'll know exactly how much weight I'm dealing with here. On the light side it is around 140lbs heaviest side is about 2200lbs. The heaviest side is only on Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANDY Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 if he dosent want to throw cash at it and wants a newer car what about a crv or rav 4? i think those might get good gas mileage, or buy another one but whatever you guys decide good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12A Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 i personally wouldnt go near a CRV or a Rav4, from a mechanics point of view. both are tiny engines for such large loads, and are not engineered to be able to take those sort of loads. the car will be stuffed before you know it! If your set on getting a new vehicle, i would personally be looking for a ute, as they are designed as a commercial vehicle, thus, designed to be loaded up. Any of the "compact sport" vehicles (such as CRV or Rav4, or Xtrail etc.) are for soccer mums, to be blunt. If you need the ute enclosed, remember there is always the option for a canopy! personally, i would fix the pathy, but hey, Im a mechanic. It wouldnt be costing me anywhere near as much. I could recommend some vehicles, but i dont know what your budget is, i dont know what cars cost for you over there, i dont know what cars are available to you. Hope this can help though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I appreciate the advice. I guess I should let ya'll know exactly how much weight I'm dealing with here. On the light side it is around 140lbs heaviest side is about 2200lbs. The heaviest side is only on Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.... Ok, so you are limited to a 3/4 ton or 1 ton truck/van then, which will get lousy mileage unless you can find a diesel, but then diesel costs more anyway. Regardless, you probably won't find anything worth buying for less than it takes to fix the pathy. I'm actually not telling you to fix/keep the pathy, I'm pointing out that for your needs/wants/prices you are going to have a hard time finding something that will work. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 The 4cylinder rav4 has like a 1500lb towing capacity so I doubt you could put much in the back without bogging it down. The v6 version is 3500 just like a wd21 pathfinder. Personally I would install some beefier springs in the pathy and replace the bushings with polyurethane. Do it once and do it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madhornet Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 i run 600 lbs of tools and toys in the back of mine daily and i tow, run 33's on 10" rims and mud it off road with a family of 5 and i couldn't imagine anything else that would handle what i put this through Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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