- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Since my wanted thread has gained some attention and ideas have already been thrown around concerning the basic plan, I figured now would be a good time to discuss what I'm thinking.
I wouldn't expect it to be anything super capable like a true rock buggy once it was all said and done, but I do think it would have quite a bit of potential to be fun.
My initial thought was taking a two door Sidekick and completely stripping the body, then tubing it out like a buggy by building off the factory frame. I would find one with an automatic, lock up the rear axle and run 33's (33x10.5x15's would be ideal) on the stock drivetrain. I would probably leave the front diff open in the meantime and just to prevent breaking CV axles, but there are some good upgrades out there for putting Toyota CV's in the front of IFS Suzukis, as well as steel axle housing from a Vitara. With those mods, a front locker and 35's are very possible.
It would kind of be a crossover between a side by side and a rock crawler, with no expectations about it being super capable. I do think with a short wheelbase, 33's and a rear locker (and possibly adding deeper gears to the transfer case), it would have some potential to be pretty capable in Moab.
I would want to build the tube work so that it had decent clearance under the rockers and as good as possible clearance on the approach and departure angles. I would think with 33's in that short wheelbase with no lift it should be able to scrape its way over most anything that wasn't too terribly difficult.
The idea would be to have something fairly cheap, that's almost as capable as a side by side. I would imagine it would be plenty capable for 90% of the trails in Moab. Sure it probably wouldn't handle very well at high speed like the latest long-travel side by sides would, but something like this would be geared more towards a desert explorer that had some capability in the rocks.
At the very least I could fab up the mounts for a snow plow and use it to clear snow in the winter time at our house...
After thinking more about the original plan of stripping the body and building a tube chassis off the frame, I came across a Tracker that had the top cut off and a pretty simple, yet clean roll cage was installed in place of the top. It would be simpler to build, I could keep it plated and still drive it on the road all while maintain a heater, stock gauges, etc. Cut sheetmetal to fit the 33's and keep it decently low. I saw this one and really liked how it was built...
Anyone have any specific info or possibly a build thread on this Tracker pictured above? It does have a solid axle and those tires look to be 35's.... I would prefer to keep the IFS and stay with tires no larger than 33's, but really like the roof chop.
I wouldn't expect it to be anything super capable like a true rock buggy once it was all said and done, but I do think it would have quite a bit of potential to be fun.
My initial thought was taking a two door Sidekick and completely stripping the body, then tubing it out like a buggy by building off the factory frame. I would find one with an automatic, lock up the rear axle and run 33's (33x10.5x15's would be ideal) on the stock drivetrain. I would probably leave the front diff open in the meantime and just to prevent breaking CV axles, but there are some good upgrades out there for putting Toyota CV's in the front of IFS Suzukis, as well as steel axle housing from a Vitara. With those mods, a front locker and 35's are very possible.
It would kind of be a crossover between a side by side and a rock crawler, with no expectations about it being super capable. I do think with a short wheelbase, 33's and a rear locker (and possibly adding deeper gears to the transfer case), it would have some potential to be pretty capable in Moab.
I would want to build the tube work so that it had decent clearance under the rockers and as good as possible clearance on the approach and departure angles. I would think with 33's in that short wheelbase with no lift it should be able to scrape its way over most anything that wasn't too terribly difficult.
The idea would be to have something fairly cheap, that's almost as capable as a side by side. I would imagine it would be plenty capable for 90% of the trails in Moab. Sure it probably wouldn't handle very well at high speed like the latest long-travel side by sides would, but something like this would be geared more towards a desert explorer that had some capability in the rocks.
At the very least I could fab up the mounts for a snow plow and use it to clear snow in the winter time at our house...
After thinking more about the original plan of stripping the body and building a tube chassis off the frame, I came across a Tracker that had the top cut off and a pretty simple, yet clean roll cage was installed in place of the top. It would be simpler to build, I could keep it plated and still drive it on the road all while maintain a heater, stock gauges, etc. Cut sheetmetal to fit the 33's and keep it decently low. I saw this one and really liked how it was built...
Anyone have any specific info or possibly a build thread on this Tracker pictured above? It does have a solid axle and those tires look to be 35's.... I would prefer to keep the IFS and stay with tires no larger than 33's, but really like the roof chop.
