Poor man's side by side

[NS Gearhead]

It's much better then it was... but still louder then I'd like. Muffler and parts were all of $80...so I wasn't expecting too much. I won't be catching air with it... but a little vid may be possible. LOL

 

[crazyal]

Have a friend who had a Suzuki Samurai that welded the rear end. Worked great until he drove on pavement and destroyed the spider gears. After that he bought a locker, I think LA lockright, seamed to work just fine and was cheap. He did both front and rear. If your looking for a fun project add a roll cage to it just in case. For non road going Sizukis it's not uncommon to see an exoskeleton. Of course if you're not careful you could end up with lots of money into it.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I have two of those mufflers under my Dodge 250.. simple turn downs after.. Makes a beautiful, loud, noise

 

[NS Gearhead]

Have a friend who had a Suzuki Samurai that welded the rear end. Worked great until he drove on pavement and destroyed the spider gears. After that he bought a locker, I think LA lockright, seamed to work just fine and was cheap. He did both front and rear. If your looking for a fun project add a roll cage to it just in case. For non road going Sizukis it's not uncommon to see an exoskeleton. Of course if you're not careful you could end up with lots of money into it.

Yeah, Lockrights are about $300 each. Not quite budget cheap... but a possibility if I find myself stuck too much. The two things I want to spend money on are 31" tires and new low range gears. I found some super aggressive re-treads for $175 each... and the 4.2 low range costs about $650 (factory low is 1.8). It seems to have decent power once you get it reving... but that's still 20km/hr in low range... way too fast for offroad. I do have a Jeep TJ roll cage my buddy donated for the cause. Looks like it'll fit nice with some slight modification.

 

[buickanddeere]

We wasted a load of time and money with a home built go kart. Would have been way farther ahead with a golf cart, after market posi and small ATV tires.

 

[NS Gearhead]

You got it. I was collecting parts for a two seater go kart... but soon realized this is the way to go. Much cheaper and easyer.

Went to bolt on some manual hubs so I'd finally have 4x4, only to discover the hub flanges are way thinner...and the bolts bottom out


That'll have to wait until monday... so I moved on to the rockers. Jacked her up and hogged out the front wheelwell about an inch to allow for bigger sneakers and get rid of some rust.


Measured and cut the 2x3s, then capped them






After lots of drilling and grinding




Still have to fix this corner and weld the fender

 

[GolfAddict]

Good progress! I'm sure having fun watching you.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Thanks GolfAddict! Glad I can provide some entertainment.

Got some welding gas and got back at it. Replaced the rotted section of A pillar, and welded the fender to the 2x3


Seam sealer


Painted black until I can decide what color it's gonna be




Side #1 done! We have a little saying around here; "She's pretty from affar, but far from being pretty!" Pretty much sums this up. I do try to do a good job as it's good practice, but it's nice knowing it's just a beater and doesn't need to be perfect.

 

[scesnick]

I had a Yamaha Rhino a few years back but i think my next vehicle for the farm will be one of these. You can usually pick one up for around 5k. You can fit a round bale in the bed and you can even get them with a dump bed if you look around a bit.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Those little trucks are pretty cool. It'd probably work very well for what I'm doing too. I'll have to look at them pretty close when it's time to replace the tracker.

Costs so far;
Tracker- $500
Square tube- $40
Manual hubs- $40
Exhaust- $80

Total so far- $660


What do you guys think for paint? I've got three options in mind; flat black with gloss black flames, drab olive, or neon green with the A pillars and roll cage flat black.