Greetings from the far East Coast of mainland Canada. It is looking like I am soon to be joining your ranks with the acquisition of a slightly rusty 1992 Hijet. It hasn't run in a couple of years and possibly has a transmission issue, but for the price of it I figure I can't go wrong - particularly if I can fix it and use it around my farm some at the very least. I come from a long line of obscure and derelict vehicles over the years starting with Lada Nivas, Pontiac Fieros, numerous diesel VWs with +/- 1,000,000 kms, Saabs, Smart Cars, various domestic pick-ups, SUVs, etc. My current "pick-up truck" is a 1999 Freightliner FL80 with a 12' flat deck (man the prices on pick-up trucks is still crazy) and I'm debating adding this wee minitruck to the fleet. The current owner is self-professed not mechanically inclined. It is my understanding he purchased the truck from a late friend's wife who considered the truck to be his baby. I am told the engine was gone-over with new rings and possibly a couple of bearings and seals replaced, new clutch, alternator, brakes, exhaust, and the front drive-shaft has new u-joints installed in it (but is sitting in the front seat). The box on the back is a bit rough but it does seem to have a factory dump and (I think) gear driven pump from the rear of the transmission. On the note of the transmission: he stopped driving it because it was "grinding" but can't remember if it was grinding when driving or only when putting it in to gear. The driveshaft was removed due to "thumping" which ended up being a bad u-joint so he had them all replaced but never got to re-installing the driveshaft. I hope to collect it either tomorrow or early next week but I've been scouring your forum here looking for information which may aid me on my quest to get the thing running.
Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you are a sucker for projects, just like me. My Suzuki is great for use around the farm and though the dump bed rarely gets used, it is nice to have it when I need it. Send some photos and keep us informed. Kevin in NC
Well I guess I can change the thread title now, it's home and in my garage. I have yet to have more than a couple of minutes to look at it due to some mechanical issues with the (borrowed) tow rig but I hope to dig in to it tonight a bit. The box is done unfortunately, I'm going to look at removing it this evening after work to facilitate access to the engine cavity and see if I can't diagnose why there doesn't appear to be any power getting to the fuse panel under the dash. The book came with a manual but the photos of the fuse panel don't match what actually seems to be under the dash so I'm going to have to do some digging there.
