I moved to Oregon and left my Jeep Cherokee XJ in Arizona I miss my Jeep but I need a truck I want one that can go off road and go on trails but I also wanted to be powerful and be able to tow other jeeps out the reason I wan't a a truck is the convenience of the bed but I hear that they all have independent front suspension and none of them are really capable of going off road like the Jeep can I'm looking for A decent size truck that can go off road and be used as a daily driver I wish they made Jeep Cherokee XJ trucks like the Jeep Comanche that would be awesome right now I see Toyota pickup trucks Ford F 150 and I am also looking at the Dodge trucks I want my truck have lockers on it and be four by four what is the best option?

 

What's your budget? A Dodge (er. RAM) PowerWagon has solid axles, lockers, extra ground clearance, heavy duty transfer-case, skid plates, etc. and can go just about any place a Jeep can as long as the trails are wide enough (no full-sized pickup is going to be good for tight trails) as well as plenty of payload and towing capacity (since it is based on the RAM 2500), but they start at around $46k new and not much cheaper used. The Ford Raptor while having IFS does very well off-road as well, being F150 based they do have lower towing and payload capacity than the PowerWagon though and cost nearly as much.


If you're willing to go older there's always J-Series trucks, Solid Axle 4WD GM trucks (pre-1987), and Solid-Axle and TTB (twin-traction-beam, a Dana-44 with a pivot in the middle which is kind of a cross between IFS and solid axle) Fords, with the TTB being available until 1997, and Solid Axle Dodges (pre-2000 for the 1500, the 2500/3500 still have solid front axles in 4WD trims).


For smaller pickups, the TRD off-road Tacoma and Pro-4X Frontier are decent off-road, though will have limited payload and towing like any "compact/midsized" pickups (of course in this class an MJ Comanche is a good option as well if you can find a decent one).

 

Look at k5 blazers and the big broncos they are older and can be ok priced.Cheap solid axle truck is the 99-04 gas ford super duties,The front f250 and some f350 used the dana 50.Think of as a dana 60 someone put a dana 44 diff inside it.But you can bolt in a dana 60 from the f350s no problem.

 

If you're looking for a pickup with similar performance to a Cherokee, you need look no further than an old Toyota two door.

A late eighties model should fit the bill.

 

One word- Toyota truck

 

That's 2 words, LOL

Agree with the Toyota p/u, I ran one before my XJ, and it was killer, ran a ton of trails in Colorado, Moab, and it never let me down. I had a 95, and the ONLY thing I would have changed would have been the IFS...a late 80's p/u will have a solid axle.

Also I can't believe anyone hasn't mentioned this, what about a Comanche? You get both, it's still a Jeep AND a truck!

 

OP mentioned it himself, although it's easy to miss in that wall of text, and it doesn't actually make a lot of sense.

So if you want something like a Comanche but not a Comanche, I take it you're looking for a new truck as opposed to an old one? Most of the suggestions on here are for old trucks. If you're willing to consider old trucks, why not a Comanche?

 

1973-1987 Chevy/GMC K-20

 

Ah...missed that part I guess...I'm also going to assume a newer model is desired as well. All of the newer trucks will have IFS for the most part, so keep that in mind. Not a deal breaker by any means, my IFS Toy did pretty well, but more articulation on some trails would have been nice.

 

I mean... if you're wanting a truck, that performs like a jeep, that can TOW a jeep.... J10, J20 ?

 

99-04 F-250/F-350 have several of them.

 

A full size pickup its hard to beat a f250,The 90s f250 is still the ttb but it uses leaf springs and is easy to swap in a dana 60 of the same body style or you can get spring hangs to run super duty axles.Small pickup a ranger 97 and older you can sas swap a dana 44 bolt in if you buy the swap parts.And the rangers you can swap in a 5.0 from the explorer real easy also.

 

I am in agreement with Toyota! I would like to have a new double cab but, don't want the payment!!

 

F-350+ is still solid axle I think.

 

The F250 is still solid axle too, though the F250/350 are due for a redesign in the next year or tow, so it will be interesting to see if the stick with solid axles.