I am looking at buying my 15 year old son a truck for his birthday next month. I want to get him some thing cheap but a realiable 4X4. My brother is selling his 84 K5 blazer for $1500. I was going to get that and my son could put a lift and whatever he wanted. Does anyone think that the bronco is a better 4X4 than the Blazer? I will be buying one in about a week.

 

I think both vehicles have their pro's and cons. I am by No means a chevy fan, but, the K5 is a pretty decent machine. I feel that the suspention setup is more favorable for offroad capabilities being solid axles all round, and less prone to breakage IMO. This is my #1 reason for getting an f250 superduty over an F150. The twin traction beam frons suspension is also a good design, but I prefer the solid axle setup. I also like the ford engine better than the chevy, both have good transmissions. One plus about the chevy mill is that the upgradeability and cheapness of parts make it hard to beat.

just my $.02

 

Yeah, i had a Chevy 2001 Chevrolet 1500 4X4 it sucked! I recently got a 2003 F-350 Crew Cab FX4 PSD, WOW! it is a whole lot different! Also the blazer has a new 350 engine with only 30k miles.

 

Ford35003,
I'd say go with the K5 since the price is right and it is readily available. Also like 92f150I6 said the parts are a dime a dozen for a 350. By no stretch of the imagination I'm I a chebbie guy, but the youngster has to start somewhere. I started with an 81 chebbie 3/4 ton 13 yrs ago.

Manny

 

OK thanks for the replies, i am going to go with the K5

 

the solid axle blazer will certianly be cheaper than the bronco if you/he want to mess with the suspension, plus you don't have to mess witht the additional crap that a TTB front bring with them.
The K5 is gonna have 10bolt front and rear axles though, deffinatly not the axle of choice if you want to run bigger tires off road.
Plus I personaly think that the chevy has cheaper and easier to locate parts for the rest of the truck, that series was around for a long time.