Preaching to the choir here- new member here. I find the whole "side by side" craze of modern times to be quite laughable- the flood of Razors, RTV's, Rhinos and the like. Funny how Americans think of this layout as some sort of new concept as an alternative to the traditional ATV. The Kei truck has been meeting this particular market demand for better than a half century- and they've been doing it far better. I've had a few Kubota RTV's I parted out in recent years, including one that came to me as a basket case that I rebuilt and reluctantly sold. (At a stupid and undeniable profit.) My favorite thing about the Kei truck? It's a TRUCK- it was built like a truck, and built for daily use as a truck- not as a gimmick or toy like a side by side. Enclosed cab, wipers, good lighting, and the bare necessities for safe and comfortable operation is standard- not thousands extra for the "options" that make a side by side into an actual functioning work vehicle. The Kei truck also isn't made with cheesy proprietary parts that are specific (not by accident) and therefore only purchasable directly through the sole manufacturer and their never ending chain of middlemen (dealers.) Decades of trial and error with the Kei truck makes for a practical, reliable, Intelligently built, rugged vehicle with a stunning steering radius (cabover, baby!) and amazing versatility in applications and maneuverability. I recently bought a DB71T dump truck off Craigslist that's obviously been sitting for most likely the past two decades based on fuel (scratch that, solid varnish) condition amongst other things. I got it running the same night, checking basic things such as the corroded points and rotor/cap assembly, and bypassing the entire tank, line, and pump assembly, opting for a gravity fed gas can source to eliminate further contamination. It ran fairly well, and I drove it around my lot on a gas can with no brakes that night. I had a carb that was working (well) intermittently, and removed it for what I was sure would be disaster- much to my pleasant surprise, the entire carb came off and apart without breaking or breaching a single gasket. It had a shockingly small amount of varnish in the bottom of the bowl and in the Venturi ahead of the slide and butterfly assembly. The slide was stuck, and freed up nicely with some PB Blaster and some cleaning. The pumpshot/accelerator pump was completely stuck in the depressed position, answering my question about the momentary bog it had when attempting to increase rpm or accelerate. About an hour later with a blowgun and cleaning jets and passages with carefully chosen torch tip cleaners, the little side draft was performing at a level I was impressed by. I'm still using it at the shop with no brakes and a gas can in the cab (don't worry, I keep the windows down so upon my imminent combustion, it's very hot with plenty of oxygen, minimizing length of agony and shortening the length of my demise) while sourcing parts. I believe I've found a winner semi-locally here in Arkansas, after much research I seem to have found the "one stop" parts supplier that not only sells new parts, but has a Kei truck salvage yard for used parts. Anyway, that's me in a nutshell. Even with a rigged fuel source and zero brakes, this truck has spread a lot of gravel and handled a good deal of work already in its short time on my lot. It was a crapshoot, but the gamble seems to have been a good one. All the important stuff on this truck was a home run.
Well I put my ATV tires on and took my 91 Carry to an off road park! I set out to get it stuck and I achieved that, took a bit more than I thought it wood! I was in about 15' of sand and was trying to jump it out of a hole and hung it up on the ridge! But then decided I would try and just follow my buddy's Honda side by side! Over rocks down cliffs and up through the woods! Wow it di great! I had 3 wheels off the ground at the same time! I had no idea this little truck was SOOO of road capable! Would you have a phone number for the place in Arkansas?
