LUVTruck.com

Hello everyone. I just registered here, because I've always regarded LUV trucks as a curiosity. My dad was an auto mechanic back in Pennsylvania. I now live in Arizona. In any case, my story is roughly such: I am 18. I drive a 2004 Dodge Dakota- wonderful truck that I can't say enough good about. I worked pretty hard to buy it out though, as a professional detailer. Needless to say, my Dodge is NOT allowed to get dirty. In all seriousness, I don't like taking it on trails as I don't want to smash it or ding it up badly (which is always a possibility on the trail regardless of how much experience you have).

So I've been thinking about purchasing a kind of "rat" that will be stripped to the bone, and be able to go through some of the tighter trails out here. I've seen some pictures of some LUVs doing some pretty wild terrain. I have been looking around for a Suzuki Samurai, but the more I look, the more discouraged I am by the asking prices people have for them. Maybe the people selling them don't expect to get $1500, or $2500 for them, but then again, there is only so much talking down you can do. Besides that Samurais are somewhat desireable, even prized if you can find one in unmolested shape that you can turn into a project crawler.

Anyway, I have noticed that LUVs tend to be cheap, and out here relatively rust free for the most part. I am mostly a motorycyclist, but I am looking to get into 4x4s pretty cheap. I don't want to ding up my truck, and I certainly don't want to wind up with big damage bills on my only vehicle that I rely on every day. So I've been thinking about maybe finding a LUV.

So, with my story established, I will plow right into the questions:

1) Anybody accustomed to driving these in washes? How do they handle thorugh deep sand? I am hoping that like a jeep they will tend to float more then sink.

2) In relatively stock trim, how capable are they? I'm thinking maybe some oversized tires, maybe a small lift at the max. Specifically, number 3 and 4 ask more details.

3) I did the reading on the history of the LUV. Obviously I'm only looking for 4x4 LUVs. My reading suggests a transfer case/transmission module together as one. How durable are they off the road? How low is low range? How slow will they crawl up a steep hill or over rocks?

4) What about approach, departure angles, and ground clearance for breaking over obsticales? This is probably where pickups are weakest in that they often tend to be long. However if I read correctly, the LUV only has a 104" wheelbase, which is not terriable.

5) What breaks mostly in stock trim? I'm not planning on taking the Rubicon trail or anything, just some dirt roads, and trails that are narrow enough to creat concerns about body damage. Even still, how well do these trucks hold up to abuse?

6) Engine wise I would start with something relatively stock. I am curious though, how well do they hold up to slow speed and extended periods of idling?

7) Reliability wise- what fails on these a lot? Is the engine timing belted, or timing chained? Anything especially proned to failure? I saw an Isuzu pup once (similar if not identical no?) that blew a head gasket at about 170k miles, but I don't have much experience with the Isuzu/LUV kinds of trucks.

I can look this info up on my own, but if you want to let me know off the top of your head things like wheelbase, wheel track, rear axel ratios, transfer case reduction ratios, etc, I could use that information.

9) Any general recommendations? Gremlins to look for when considering a used LUV project? Recommended mods? Recommended axel ratios?

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

First off welcome to the site, nice to see a fellow Zoner on here

Second off, I can tell you that I love my 4x4 Luv and have taken it to some pretty amazing places, I call it the little Luv that could some times. as far as your questions go I'll answer them one by one.

1. Mine handles washes pretty good, I do a fair amount of creek bed driving around Wickenburg and my Luv does fine, a 4x4 Luv weighs around 2500lbs stock so they're pretty light weight, just let out some air in the tires/ put wider than stock tires on and your good to go.

2. in Stock form the Luv is a pretty capable 4x4, add a lift and some bigger tires and it becomes even more so, right now i have a 3" body lift and a 1.5" suspension lift on mine, tire wise I'm running 215x75r15 BFG AT KO's that work great for general purpose driving/offroad stuff, If your planning on using this thing mostly off road i'd go with some more aggressive mud terrians for added traction, I'd also go with a wider tire as well, i have pretty narrow ones because i do a fair amount of rock trail driving and the narrower tires help out a lot.

3. As far as the tranny/t-case setup, yes it is a one piece unit, and if you take care of it you'll never have any problems, low range on the Luv is 2.02:1 I believe, nothing too low but It can get you into trouble in a real fast hurry

4. the approache angle on the Luv isn't horrible, but the departure is pretty bad, you could eliminate this problem by bobbing the bed a foot or so, that would give you a much better departure angle. Break over clarence is accually pretty good with the little Luv, I haven't gotten caught up on anything so far and I've driving on some pretty rough trails. The short wheel base is really nice for tight trails, it's pretty much like a jeep, but better

5. really the only thing that breaks on these trucks is the CV's, and thats only if you really hammer on it (like really really hammer on it, I've never even come close to breaking one with all of the stuff I've done) the trucks them selves will take a lot of abuse, MEPR can personally tell you what kind of stuff these little trucks can handle

6. The engine will hold up pretty well to low speed stuff, just keep an eye on the temp though, Isuzu motors are notorious for over heating, so be sure to keep the cooling system in good order.

7. I wouoldn't worry too much about much failing on these trucks, just take care of the cooling system, and do regular maintainece and you'll have very few problems. as far as everything else, 800xl or MEPR will surely post here with the "other" stuff

good luck finding a Luv and have fun with it

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

Good deal. I live in Wickenburg, so I know about those creek beds. Sol's Wash can be a real bugger when it hasn't rained in a while. I've gotten motorcycles pretty darned stuck in there anyway. Ever go up around Constellation road before?

CV joints. I had quite forgotten the truck has independent front suspension. I have never met a CV joint that hasn't ben a real bugger to get free. Even still I suppose it isn't the end of the world.

About the suggestion of docking part of the back of the bed, how would this interfere with the gas tank? Of course I"m sure you could a tank up further foward, or go with a custom gas tank. Or did they put the gas tank behind the driver on the LUV as was fairly common in the late 60s into the 70s?

Last thing to determine: timing belt or timing chain, and recommended replacement interval? This can often be a bargaining point on older vehicles as you can BS people down on price. Just shake you had and draw your breath in between your teeth when they say the timing belt/chain hasn't been replaced yet, and offer them $400 less straight away. Then do the job yourself for under $100. I might be young but I'm no fool.

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

Docking the bed? What's that? Anyways the tank should be on the pass. side under the bed, about 13 gals of it i think. Yeah, offer some cash upfront, that'll get anyone. If your looking for a project that used to run just needs TLC expect about $500- for it, if it runs and the body is in bad to good cond. about 700-1500 is about right. I scored mine for a grand... hell, all the car's i've had as reg drivers have costed me less than a grand....

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-Old ride-82 Luv diesel 5spd with some upgrades
-Past rides-82 Sierra, 78 Coupe De'Ville, 91 2dr Blazer, 86 RX7, 86 Porsche 944T (rear-ended and totaled)
-Curr. rides- 1970 Ford LTD 4dr, 390 4Bbl, 2nd owner! With a few Extras 00' Civic beater...

On the 4x4 Luvs the tank is on the driver's side right behind the cab so there won't be any issues as far as that goes. the G180 motor in the Luv has a timing chain, so pretty much you don't need to worry about it.

Wickenburg, really? I was just down there earlier today visiting a friend, I haven't gotten out on the road to Constellation yet, diffinetly something i want to do though. There are a ton of trails up around Prscott, especially around behind Thumb Butte, thats where I do most of my exploring.

Oh and as far as up grades Finalman wrote in some stuff but posted it wrong main things you can do is add a Weber, by far the best upgrade you can do, (and yet I still haven't do it yet ) Pacesetter makes a header for the Luv that free's up a few more ponies as well, also upgrading to a MSD ignition system would be cool, of and swaping in a dist from a Pup would help alot as well to, eliminates the points and condensor. the is also the option of swaping over to fuel injection as well, but to do so you need to wire up the efi system as a stand alone unit, kinda pain in the rear but should be worth it (im currently in the process of gathering parts to do this to my Luv, hope to get it done sometime this summer) I'll keep my eye out for 4x4 Luvs up here, I've seen a few here and there

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

Well, I actually own part of The Old Livery, which you probably pass on the way into town. It's right on Tegnor street...

If you're ever out my way and you want to give a hollar, I'm happy to run down some of those roads with you on my little dual-sport. I have yet to fully explore Constellation (washes get a little deep for my motorcycle). Blue Tank Road, and Buckhorn Road are also interesting to see. Buckhorn is none too well maintained. I ran out of time exploring Buckhorn. Off of buckhorn there is Owl Springs road which occurs at a fork. I'm told that one of the turn offs that looks like a private drive is actually a way to get past Iassic Bradshaw's grave, and on toward the old Copperopolis city. Very little remains of Copperopolis, but I'm told there are still a few walls and mining materials up that way.

Also some cool trails of Vulture Mine that my one friend showed me once. Don't know iif I trust myself to be a guide back that way without a GPS. There were a lot of turns and forks in those trails.

Well seriously thougn, if you're ever around and looking for someone to accompany you down the Constellation road area, I think I'm rasonably familiar with it at this point. Let me know!

Will do, I'd love to explore more of the area down there, next time i'm down there i'll let ya know

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

welcome man, i jsut wanted to say hi because i am a fellow auto detailer!!

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!!!FINALLY!!!
-1977 Luv mikado

That's cool man. I just have the itch to get a second truck that somebody has pre-ruined for me, so I don't have to feel bad about getting it scratched and dirty. I NEVER detail my own vehicles- I just continually and obsessively clean them so I never actually have to take a day out and fix them up like I usually had to with customers. In any case I"m looking for something I can clean with hose at the end of the day, and wax once a year.

BOY did you come to the right web site.

Welcome. I'm sure you'll find one here soon enough.

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OK, I'm over it. Where's the beer?

ha, well I don't know about "ruined".

Seriously having a new car is a real pain. I will give an example: my Dad sold our old '84 Ford Bronco when I was just a kid. That truck kicked ass- the New Process Gear transmission with creeper. Our driveway was easily a 40% grade. I can remember my dad would put it in low gear, let the clutch out at our mailbox, and get out of the car, walking it up the hill. It never stalled.

That aside, he "replaced" the old Bronco with a '91 Ford Explorer. Mind you the Explorer was a nice little truck that gave us years of good service, but my Dad could never take the Explorer out in the snow back in PA. So, he went on the hunt for another bronco. This time we got an '87, which HI have a lot of memories in. Including laughing at my older brother learning to drive a standard transmission.

The point being we took the '87 everywhere and anywhere. It never got stuck, and ran about 273,000 miles on the clock (about 150,000 by us) before the rust really got to it.

Since getting rid of the Bronco, we now use an '86 Mercury Grand Marquis for the "beater", although it is a very nice beater at that. Obviously not suited for off-road use like the Bronco could have been.

And yes, I admit to comming from a Ford and Chrysler mixed background. Dad always owned Fords and Hondas (he got the Honda thing from motorcycling). My Grandfatherr was a Chrysler guy. My Grandmother was a Ford woman. But LUVs are just so cool- everyone luvs them.

Okay, cheasey joke, but hey, it's hard to resist it. Can't help that this forum is about the 'shaggin wagon.

I'm just going to stop now while I'm ahead.


If anyone has any more experience to offer, I'm always all ears. I'm afraid I came from PA, where there are few LUVs left, so I've never driven one, and only seen about 3 in my lifetime at various gas stations...

I will also just say, that while I'm interested in LUV trucks, I"m not stuck on them. That is to say, come late this summer, I will probably look for some kind of 4x4 vehicle to take off the road. My top picks woud include a LUV, a Samurai, some kind of old Toyota pickup, a Jeep Wagoneer, Jeep Cherokee (little cherokee), or possibly even an old army jeep, although collector values may drive me away from that option...

In any case, I like LUVs, I think they're neat. Even if I don't get a LUV, I will still keep an interest in them.

For the most part if you want something for seriouse off road use I'd recomend something other than a Luv(not bashing the Luv, it's just that for the same kind of money you can get something that's better off road, like say a 79-88 Toyota 4x4, or an Isuzu Trooper(I highly recomend this choice ) )

I love my Luv and have made due with it for offroad duty as the truck was given to me, If i were to go out now and buy a 4x4 truck/Suv it would either be a 83-88 Toyota Truck or 4Runner, or a 88-91 Isuzu Trooper but then again thats just me.

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'80 Luv 4x4, 3" BL, 1.5" SL, 32/36, 2.25" exhaust...and fuzzy dice.
'95 Toyota 4Runner Limited 5-Speed.

Just a comment on the army jeep idea. You can find mid 60s CJs around, not quite a military collectible, but very much looks the part. You don't have to pay the premium for going up against the collectors, but you get a rig with the same kind of vibe to it. Around here I still see them every once in a while set up as a spray rig for farming.

My LUVs have been pretty good to me off road, though I did more crazy things in my 2WD's than the 4x4. I'm also very nice to them, more of a thinking offroader than the aggressive type: "hammer down and hope enough momentum works as well as some forethought" If you really want something that can take abuse, a LUV needs some upgrades, mostly in the front axle department. A solid axle swap (D44 from a Wagoneer works well or a Toyota axle) will over come most of the weaknesses in the stock LUV, i.e. the IFS front end. If you want something out of the box to be stronger, I like Rezkid's picks. I'd probably buy a straight axle Toyota if I was just wanting a truck to beat up on the trail, and a Trooper if I wanted a daily driver with some weekend trail time. Oh yeah, my daily driver right now is a Trooper, so I guess I made that choice. The LUV is in the process of getting a Trooper heart and leg transplant though.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good

Hm, thanks for the tip on the ~60s army jeeps. I really should try to get out to some of these government auctions when I think I"m more ready to buy.

I'm not so much into hardcore offroading (stuff that requires big lifts and low crawl ratios), but I'm into some dirt roads/unmaintained roads that at the most require 4 high. I obviously prefer something that won't die on me, but I would also prefer something that, for example, won't make me cry if break a mirror on a branch, or blow a tire on a rock with (yeah, $400 alloy wheels on my Dodge would probably make me cry). Any of the options I'm considering, or the ones offered would make good "desert rats" I think. (I would definately consider a Toyota, but sometimes it's hard to find 'em cheap).

So I'm going to keep my options open. Thanks for the tip on the front axle on the LUV. That could be very useful to keep in mind.

Oh, one of the other reasons I might seriously consider a LUV, is being a diesel fan. I've heard the motor out of a diesel Pup will bolt into the 4x4. Given the rarity of 4x4 Toyota diesels, that could make the LUV a good choice for a light offroad diesel.

I would still consider a LUV (or an old Trooper), would be because they are as a rule very inexpensive used. Probably because like most import trucks of the time, they aren't very powerful or nicely appointed in the interior department. Doesn't bother me in the least. Don't like vinyl? Just don't wear shorts. Cowboy up.

Last thing I'll mention is that I like pickups and have a carpentry hobby, so a truck makes more sense on a practical level then does a Jeep. I've definately been scoping out the little import trucks in general to run from Phoenix to Wickenburg (about 100 miles round trip driving depending on where in PHX you go). Diesels especially could work up to be a slight savings over my Dakota (which actually gets about 20 mpg with 1400 lbs of stuff in the bed). So whatever I get will be more of an onroad/take it out on the weekend kind of deal. But at the same time, it would be something I won't rely on as I have my Dodge for that.

Oh one more thing to throw out there- I know there are a lot of Isuzu fans here- is it possible to convert a Pup to 4x4, and how hard is it if it's even possible? Reason is I think I may have seen a Diesel pup on craigslist. 2 wheel drive though (did they make a 4x4 pup even?)

Oh, 800XL, am I to take it that you are into classic tractors? I have always been interested in them too. I have to many interests in fact. Anyway I don't own any, neither does my father (no space to keep em, and no time to fix 'em). Some day I want to get my hands on some old Allis Chalmers equipment (maybe a model B). I also always liked the International Cub low-boys, and Massey Harris Ponys.

Anyway I like old tractors. My dad has an '88 Kubota tractor that I learned how to drive when I was 14 perhaps. I'm probably the only kid from Philadelphia who can figure out a manual clutch on a tractor (Kubota used a foot clutch). I don't remember the model now, but it was a great little work tractor. 3 cylinder 15 horse diesel. Real efficient. We used it to dig the footers for our garage back in PA in fact. 4 wheel drive, so hard to get stuck. I'm not very good at using the bucket/backhoe like a professional equipment operator, but I'm OK at it anyway.

Ever go to the Old Thresherman's Reunion back in PA? It draws a lot of old tractor nuts, from steam tractors on up. Lots of old engines, things that make noise, etc. Heaven for me. It's the only thing I miss from back there really...

I am sort of a collector or interested in a whole lot of things. My Dad always had Oliver tractors, so they have kind of gotten into my blood. Also old Caterpillars like 22s, D2s, R2s and the like. I just missed a deal on a 1940s D2 CAT for $500 the other day. The diesel ran, pony motor needed work, and the steering clutches were stuck, but for the money it was a steal.

Funny you should mention the A-C model B, we had one for a short time when I was growing up. Not really big enough to work around our farm, but it was fun to start it up with the hand crank and drive around.

Around here we have the Antique Powerland museum just outside of Salem, Oregon and they have a few events a year. From steam, big one cylinder gas motors, on up, you name it they all show up. Not as big as some of the old tractor meets in the midwest, but plenty of fun stuff.

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95 Isuzu Trooper Daily Driver
86 Isuzu Trooper reliable backup
77 LUV 2wd stock beltway blaster (resting)
79 4x4 LUV project: 2.6L, 5spd, 31s (eventually)

MEPR: Man, my 4x4 makes all other LUVs look good