Grunt/Runt

Tacoma

Et incurventur ante non
Location
far enough away
chadr said:
When I posted the thread, I was thinking more or less that you take an everyday S-10 Blazer that you can aquire for Less than $500.00, remove all the body, Swap in some 3/4 ton Axles with lockers and adequate gears, throw some average tires so you aren't too top heavy, and then wheel the he!! out of it.

Swapping straight axles into an S10 Blazer costs money. I'm sure those Grunt bodies aren't free either. For less than the cost of all that you could probably build a sweet K5 Blazer w/3/4t axles and have enough left for... paint or beer or something.

It would benefit those of us that aren't able to do custom fabrication. When the frame or drivetrain gives, evaluate your situation and either upgrade or build it back the same. It's not like this rig is built to be a competition buggy.

SAS's aren't something most people do in the garage. ;)


As I remember, and as quite a few have stated in the post, it is built to be a street legal vehicle that can be very capable off road. I don't know if I would ever go with the kit myself, but it would be a very good start if I wanted something that would be comfortable for the family to ride in.

And a K5, Bronco, Cherokee, whatever, is functional and capable and costs less to boot. I guess I just don't get it. It's a new body that costs money, that is kind of ugly.
hlkj
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Houndoc said:
Always seems odd to me when an off road forum becomes an automotive beauty contest....seems to me like it should be about function (which may or may not be worth a darn on these things).
Is that why you drive a Montero? :rofl: Just rubbin ya. Looks are always important. As far as functionality, I think they would do well with a decent driver. The lighter weight would be an advantage over a stock body, as would the lower COG with larger tires. Really, it's just the grille and headlight area that is ugly.
 

AINT SKEERED

Balls to the Walls
Location
Salt Lake
SAMI said:
... yeah, that's cool if you want to break stuff... i think that GM thought almost the same thing with the H2... make a body that'll allow 37's on the stock Suburban gear.... not smart...



H2's have 35's on 3/4 ton running gear, wheres the problem with that?
 
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chadr

Active Member
Location
Hurricane, Utah
Swapping straight axles into an S10 Blazer costs money. I'm sure those Grunt bodies aren't free either. For less than the cost of all that you could probably build a sweet K5 Blazer w/3/4t axles and have enough left for... paint or beer or something.

Yes, but people buy old 3/4 ton Chevy running gear all the time for really cheap which would not be that hard to throw under a S10. I personally know of about 4 old trucks that I could get the axles out of for probably free or a case of beer.

As I remember, the complete kits really weren't much more than what you could buy a new Jeep tub and fenders. They were putting together turnkey rigs right out of their shop if you would provide the Blazer.

Using leaf spring lift kits with the fender clearance on one of these bodies would let you run a lot bigger tires than what you could fit under a K5. A K5 would have to have major fender trimming to fit the tires that I am talking about or a substantial lift making the COG much higher. I don't like the thought of chopping up a perfectly good vehicle just to fit huge tires. K5 blazers usually run at least double what you can get an S10 for. Another plus is that the frame is narrower making it more capable on the trails with an S10.

(I probably just started a war with the full size guys):eek:

And a K5, Bronco, Cherokee, whatever, is functional and capable and costs less to boot. I guess I just don't get it. It's a new body that costs money, that is kind of ugly.

I don't get it either.
A full size K5 - see comments above
Bronco - every one that I have seen that is in decent shape is either thousands of dollars and hard to find or a rust bucket
Cherokee - Unibody and only able to run minimal size tires

Parts stores sell a ton more Chevy parts due to they are all the same from the Mid 70's to the Late 80's. Easier to come by is a ton better than being broke down and waiting to get your parts for 2 weeks.

I am not trying to sell you on it, I am just saying that if someone wanted to build one, it would be a pretty good platform to start with. Like I said, you just have to get past the "FUGLYNESS" of it.:D
 

Jay5.9L

...I just filled the cup.
Location
Riverton
Has anyone looked into how much one of those kits are? When I thought about building a Bummer the kit was in the 5-8K range. For that money I could build a nasty ass Jeep/Toyota/etc.
 

SAMI

Formerly Beardy McGee
Location
SLC, UT
Jay5.9L said:
...build a nasty ass Jeep/Toyota/etc.

:greg:

hey Chad, why not just put the fuggly body on a 3/4 ton frame? when i was over there awjile back they had the kits available for lots of makes and models of 4x4's... i agree that it could be cheap to build... if you're into that sort of thing... ;)

oh, and look what i found...

http://www.4x4kit.com/

VIDEO OF THE RUNTIE GRUNTIE
http://www.4x4kit.com/web1.wmv
 
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Tacoma

Et incurventur ante non
Location
far enough away
well that's kind of my whole point: I am nearly positive that those ugly-ass bodies are more expensive than a decent, running K5. I have not paid more than $4500 for anything in the driveway. The sweet 3/4t Burb was less than $3k. Blazer would have been about that. Economically it's a wash, and aesthetically, well.. I'll just stop being mean there. ;)
 
I believe he was only offering the Grunt at or near turn-key, no kits, so's he could control quality.
I also believe targeted market is the guy that pop's fer an H1 or 2, then blings it, 'an street's it, 'cause retail is gonna go 20-40K, depending on options.
Remember. these thangs are basically a K5, so's it's only as capable as how it's set up.
 

SAMI

Formerly Beardy McGee
Location
SLC, UT
i remember seeing one they were building for some type of jeep show that had a custom chassis, D60's, rear steer and so on, that was going to recieve the smaller of the fugly bodies... i agree they do alot of the work so as to not have some numb nuts build a crappy one and hurt the name of their beautiful product. i'm pretty sure they built most of the Bummers in their shop too. even after the legal issues were settled with GM, they were allowed to build all the ones that had been ordered previously, which was a years worth of work or more.

i think the yellow Grunt ??(the bigger one) in the pictures @ the link above isn't all that bad looking... the huge fat tires are a must to flow with the chunky body... and remove the not so appealing windshield...

-Jason
 
Bart said:
Like I mentioned in my previous post, they struggled on almost every obstacle on Prichett.. I couldn't tell if it was the drivers or the rigs. I don't see why they couldn't do well if they were set up right.

Well, I'd say if they were having troubles, it probably wasn't because of the body :D . I like the looks of these myself. The rest of the chassis is up to whoever builds it, so as mild or wild as you like it.
 

chadr

Active Member
Location
Hurricane, Utah
SAMI said:
:greg:

hey Chad, why not just put the fuggly body on a 3/4 ton frame? when i was over there awjile back they had the kits available for lots of makes and models of 4x4's... i agree that it could be cheap to build... if you're into that sort of thing... ;)

oh, and look what i found...

http://www.4x4kit.com/

VIDEO OF THE RUNTIE GRUNTIE
http://www.4x4kit.com/web1.wmv

Personally, I wouldn't mind finding a K5 and doing something like this someday. I could even do it just to PI$$ off those that think that they are FUGLY.:D OH how great it is to live here in America.

I doubt that I will ever get to it in my lifetime, but I can always dream.
 

chadr

Active Member
Location
Hurricane, Utah
Unimog said:
Well, I'd say if they were having troubles, it probably wasn't because of the body :D . I like the looks of these myself. The rest of the chassis is up to whoever builds it, so as mild or wild as you like it.

My sentiments EXACTLY!!!:D
 

SAMI

Formerly Beardy McGee
Location
SLC, UT
chadr said:
I could even do it just to PI$$ off those that think that they are FUGLY.:D

i think you should do it... and put a huge JEEP RECOVERY sticker or stensil on the hood... i found out, that's how you piss people off.. jeep owners can be abit sensative sometimes...;) i had that on the hood of my samurai, and it got alot of negative attention... good, i say... everyone needs a little harassment ever now and then.. how would we enjoy ourselves without it? actually, without certain types of harassment, i don't think many of us would be here today...:D

-jason
 

anvil

Registered User
Location
Idaho Falls
In 2001 I built a Bummer on a chevy frame. The kit came from the same guy selling the grunt. The quality of the kit was horrible. It was marketed as a complete kit that could be built in a week. Hundreds of hours in custom fabrication were spent on the project. Nothing fit or worked correctly. Maybe things have changed in the past 5 years, but I doubt it. As was said earlier money would be better spent on a tube bender. I seriously think I could have built a complete ground up rig faster.
 
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