My 1985 720 Bushmaster 4x4

[ikerex]

Hey Everybody, 

 

Just joined the site, found it while doing some 720 research. I thought I'd give my truck a quick introduction. 

I am the lucky owner of a 1985 Nissan Bushmaster 4x4. This truck has been in my family since before I was born. My parents bought it in 1986, and I rode home from the hospital when I was born in 1988. It was my first vehicle when I was 16. We had it when we lived in Alaska, and it crossed the Alaska Highway and traveled through the Yukon Territory several times. 

 

For those of you that don't know what a Bushmaster is, it was a dealer optional conversion for 720 4x4 King Cabs. I'm not sure how many years it was made, or how many were made, but I have only ever seen 1 besides mine. Basically the trucks were converted by a company called Matrix3 in California (I believe). They basically welded the body to the cab and put a shell on and took out the back of the cab, so it's a 2 door SUV almost exactly like a OG Toyota 4Runner, but bigger. It's pretty cool. 

 

Heres some pictures, the muddy ones at the bottom are from years ago when I drove it in High School. 

 

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[datzenmike]

By definition a 4x4 sees a lot of hard use. Steering slop is the combined play or looseness in all the steering parts multiplied by the steering ratio of the box... which may also have excessive play in it too. For example if all steering parts add up to only 1/8" the steering wheel will move about 2 1/3" side to side.

 

Raise the front and watch while someone saws the wheel back and forth watching for parts that have play.

 

Is the wheel bearing properly pre loaded? Worn out?

Knuckle arm and cross shaft ball joints worn?

Pittman arm ball joints worn?

Idler arm bushings or ball joint worn?

 

The steering box has an adjustment for play but have a care as most wear is in the ahead position with less to none towards full lock. If you adjust out the wear in the center it could be tight to the sides when turning and jam. Not to mention that tight is going to excessively wear the sides now and will stress the bearings that support the worm gear...

[izzo]

Ive seen pictures of your 4x4 on the internet for a few years or so. There is one of those just down the road from me. rare as hens teeth.

[datzenmike]

Or rocking horse shit....

[wayno]

The neon seats will basically bolt right in, you need big washers for the rear mounts, as them holes in the rails are of significant size, and one other issue is you sit a couple inches higher than the stock seat, it seems strange every time I get in mine, but when I was daily driving it, I did not notice the difference so much.

[ikerex]

Thanks guys. I'll probably try and get some Rodeo seats, I like the style a little better. 

 

Next, I'm thinking I'll replace the ball joints and some of the steering linkage stuff. Should help abit. 

 

Also, the shift linkage is very sloppy and loose. Do these trucks have shifter bushings that can be replaced? I've done all the bushings on my wrx, I just don't know how these are set up. 

[DaveZilla]

Nice truck :thumbup:  For the shifter, Nissan dealers do sell new bushings which will take the slop out of your shifter and they're not very expensive either. There's a set of plastic bushings that go in the stick with a little spring, then at the bottom there's a ball pivot with a small bushing that snaps into place, this bottom one rarely wears out, but sometimes a new one will make a difference.

[ikerex]

UPDATE! 

I finally got my Bushmaster home (it had been at my parents house). To get it to Salt Lake City where I live, I had to drive it about 350 miles, which it handled perfectly, no problems whatsoever. Since I've gotten it home, I've done a coolant flush & replaced both radiator hoses, an oil change, and some cosmetic stuff (repainted the front bumper and lower valance, installed a new plex-glass rear window - old one was cracked, installed a new antenna, and repaired the front fender liners). It also now has a nice new pair of rodeo seats. Next up I need to find a new rear bumper for it, maybe a custom tube-type bumper with a receiver hitch for a bike rack integrated with it. I also want to reinstall my Yakima racks on it. Anyway, here are a couple photos, I love this truck! It gets attention wherever I go, its definitely a unique vehicle!

 

[Rhino13]

Can you post some interior pictures? I'm curious as to what that back part looks like.

 

Awesome truck!

[ikerex]

Can you post some interior pictures? I'm curious as to what that back part looks like.

 

Awesome truck!

For Sure! Here are some more pictures for now, and I can take some better interior ones too if anybodies interested in more:  

 

Taken from right behind the drivers seat: 

 

Another: 

 

 

 

 

Front Interior: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kinda crappy quality smartphone pics....eventually I'll take some with my DSLR.

[ikerex]

More Exterior: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Rear Plexi:

 

 

 

Some Z24 Shots:

 

 

[720inOlyWa]

Love this truck! It heartens me to hear that it beat around the Yukon for a few years. That is some tough duty!

[Rhino13]

Wow very cool! I've never seen a center console like that with the gauges on bottom. I wish I had a bigger back seat area haha

[ikerex]

Love this truck! It heartens me to hear that it beat around the Yukon for a few years. That is some tough duty!

 

Thanks! Glad to hear some love for the ol' Bushmaster. It took it all in stride! This thing is really pretty amazing off road. 

 

 

Wow very cool! I've never seen a center console like that with the gauges on bottom. I wish I had a bigger back seat area haha

 

I think all the 720 4x4's had gauges on the bottom like that, but I could be wrong. Ya, the back seat in this thing is huge, it has more leg room than any modern SUV on the market today. You can also fold that bench down and you have tons of room for gear. I've slept in it many times. 

 

 

 

I did a little calculating, from what I can tell (the speedo doesn't show accurate mileage because we had to replace it) the truck has around 215-230,000 miles on it, the engine only has about 110,000, and the transmission only about 5000. It's good to go for a long time!

 

When my parents bought it slightly used in St. George Utah in 1986, they had this "Perma-Plate" protection spray applied to the underside by the dealer. All those years we lived in Alaska and drove this truck on the salty roads in the winter, and there is very little to no rust at all underneath it, so I think the spray actually helped. 

[ikerex]

Question - I need a new rear bumper. I've looked in a couple junk yards locally, but haven't found one in better shape than the current bumper on it. Does anybody know if I could rig a bumper from a similar year Toyota pickup to fit? Or possibly a hardbody Nissan pickup bumper? Anybody tried either of those? 

 

I'm slightly tempted to get a off-road style tube bumper fabricated for it, maybe with an integrated receiver hitch for bike racks in such, but I'd rather not spend too much. I might search some junk yards for a tubular bumper off an old Toyota pickup and try to rig it. 

[Rhino13]

Some one will chime in and tell more specific years, but the 720 had a dealer option rear bumper. I had one on my diesel and it had little plastic end caps on it and a spot to put a ball if I remember correctly. I'm sure someone has one they could ship to you for the right price, and I bet it would be cheaper than having a custom one made.

 

I'm not sure if you're aware/interested, but they also had pushbars for the front of these.

[Rhino13]

This isn't the greatest picture, and I don't have the truck or bumper anymore, but here it is.

[Sealik]

Wow very cool! I've never seen a center console like that with the gauges on bottom. I wish I had a bigger back seat area haha

These are all 4x4 consoles....

 

This '84  has the dealer installed fog/off road switches

 

I'm not sure if you're aware/interested, but they also had pushbars for the front of these.

 

[Rhino13]

Did the two styles on the right with the gauges on bottom come in 85-86? I've only ever seen it with the gauges on top, and 85 and 86 are the two years I've never checked out.

So with those extra switches, were there just ports to hook into for fog and off road lights, or were there actually two more sets of lights up front?

 

And thanks for the front bumper referencing, that's a very nice example.

[720inOlyWa]

I’ll take that tan one... and the dog!

[Charlie69]

The 85 4x4 ST I harvested parts from yesterday had the console with the bottom mounted gauges. it was blue and cracked on one side.  It had a different mounting bracket than the the top mount gauge style.

[ikerex]

These are all 4x4 consoles....

 

 

This '84  has the dealer installed fog/off road switches

 

 

 

 

 

I've seen some 720 4x4's with the push bar. I'm not sure how I feel about them, I kinda like the front end without the bar. I'm thinking about mounting some yellow square fog lights under my front bumper. I'll probably install the switch like those in the photo. I've never seen those dealer installed switches before. Kinda cool. 

[ikerex]

Couple pictures from a weekend camping/mountain climbing trip to the Newfoundland Mountains in the West Desrert of Utah....Had to drive up an insanely rocky, rough, rutted road to get to where we camped, and the Bushmaster handled it fine! I was in 4L for most of the jeep road, and it did great! These old 720's are amazing off-road, even when stock like mine. Heres the pics: 

 

 

[SolidZ24x4]

That's rad, I just got a 85 720 4x4 and am happy to see I can expect it to perform for a while. Going to wash it for the first time tonight... that thing is rad though.

[SolidZ24x4]

I kind of want one of those push-bars