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:

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.

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.

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

More Exterior: New Rear Plexi: Some Z24 Shots:

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.

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!

Ya, it has play while in gear. Its more annoying than anything else. The tranny is new, only has about 2-3K on it. I'll do a search for the bushings.

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.

Super clean truck! I really like it. Did you ever resolve the sloppy shifting issue? Mines an 85 4x4 and has the same problem. Are the shifter bushing the culprit and are they easy to replace?

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. .