Off-Roading

[rlacasse1]

Does anyone here do it?

When I come home from this deployment I plan on getting into it a bit. I should be up for a PCS, hopefully to CA or CO.

Anyone have good suggestions on some trucks to start with? I'm looking at Samurais, Trackers, K5s, and most any Toyota or Nissan. I'm kind of thinking of sticking to a smaller 6 cylinder or possibly a 4 cylinder. Don't want to have the gas mileage of a 350sb. I don't really care to do any insane rock crawling or mudding. I just want something that'll handle well out on trails.

I want to get into it cause I think it'll be a fun way to spend time with my wife and son. She isn't really into DSMs and my boy is 2 1/2. So it's hard to tote him around in a little car. And now that my grandpa's truck (87 F-250 3/4 ton, 6.9 IDI) was handed down to me, it'll be easy to drag a trail rig around.

So...... suggestions.

 

[yzfgsx]

This is my 2002 Montero sport. It is a very underrated truck, you can get cheep.

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I would make sure whatever you get has at least a locking rear differential.

 

[rlacasse1]

I love Monteros. That's a good option. But those damn Mitsubishi motors.

Guess I should add, I really want to get something that runs on a timing chain, not belt. But, that's not a deal breaker.

 

[crash89]

I dabble! hahaha

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[Spoolin92GSX]

Most of my friends in high school and college were really into off-roading, pretty much any Jeep and you'll be happy with a modest lift, re-gear and limited slip/locked FRONT diff. Locked rear ends flip trucks . Jeep TJ Wranglers (round headlights) have been my best experience, and you can drive it to the trail and drive it home

 

[rlacasse1]

Yeah, I've looked at Jeeps, but I'm not sure that I want one. I'm just not a huge fan of them. I don't know why.

I also like ZR2 Blazer's quite a bit.

 

[XiKeiyaZI]

Haven't gotten into the bigger tires and lifting yet - but I did take my new "pull" toy out. Found an opening in some local trees, drove through bushes, over logs, between trees, through a ravine, and finally found the below 'clearing' on my way back to the gravel road.

This is in a 99' Expedition. The A4WD to 4WH is nice. Just switch and go. Was extremely muddy out when I did this and never had a problem. The vehicle is likely MUCH larger than what you want, though. Lol. Either way, I went about 2 1/2 miles into an untrailed forest perfectly fine.

Note - The garmin is accurate, zoomed out a ways. I was on my way back for these pictures.

 

[rlacasse1]

Yeah, that's probably a little bigger than what I want.

 

[LOLVTEC]

These pics remind me of when i had my FJ Cruiser. Had a urd supercharger, 12" lift, with bigg asss tires.

 

[Ozone302]

I wanna take my dsm out in the forest or something. Put the awd to good use

 

[Lofty]

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[WES_393]

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Im surprised it actually made it up there.

I had a 91 Bronco. Slight lift, 33's, autolocking hubs, and a 302ci engine. Fuel injected of course. I got that truck up to the windshield in snow. Had to stick my head out the window to see where I was going (or plowing I should say). Never once got that beast stuck. Gas mileage sucked like nobodies business (around 8mpg city) but it had a 30 gallon tank so you could go a few days without filling up. We were actually deciding how to go about swapping in a turbo diesel from a 95 F350, but decided to get a DSM instead.

Here's a pic of it.

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[rlacasse1]

So I'm thinking something like this. Hope it's a manual. It's just hard to contact people when you are deployed. Blows.

1990 Toyota Need Engine Work

Cheap to buy. Easily fixed by me. Fine for taking the family camping and some off roading.

 

[Clinical]

I'm pretty much the most serious person around when it comes to offroading.

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[Dark_Horse]

1988 - 1991 Isuzu Trooper V6.

You can find em running for $1,500. They have a timing chain and can go almost anywhere you'd care to get.

 

[sag1441]

yeah cant go wrong with a toyota, high resale which hurts you on the purchase end though. if you are thinking camping i would avoid the sammis and stuff like that, you will find there is no room for gear. an fj60 landcruiser might fit your bill, the fj80s are sweet camping/light off roading rigs but will break the bank.

buying a prepared rig will save you thousands, so if you find yourself looking at stockish stuff for cheap and thinking well i can add better off road parts to it just stop and find something with all of it already . decent wheelers go super cheap just gotta keep looking. and decide why you dont like jeeps haha, a great wheeling cj or xj is super cheap, parts are plentiful and they are very tough and reliable.

 

[rlacasse1]

1988 - 1991 Isuzu Trooper V6.

You can find em running for $1,500. They have a timing chain and can go almost anywhere you'd care to get.

I was looking at those as well, but all the ones in my area are rusted to the point of where they practically have no body. My buddy use to have one, and it was a pretty good ride. Plus, I showed my wife a trooper and she was dead set against it. She is more of a form over function person. I want something that will do it for us both.

yeah cant go wrong with a toyota, high resale which hurts you on the purchase end though. if you are thinking camping i would avoid the sammis and stuff like that, you will find there is no room for gear. an fj60 landcruiser might fit your bill, the fj80s are sweet camping/light off roading rigs but will break the bank.

buying a prepared rig will save you thousands, so if you find yourself looking at stockish stuff for cheap and thinking well i can add better off road parts to it just stop and find something with all of it already . decent wheelers go super cheap just gotta keep looking. and decide why you dont like jeeps haha, a great wheeling cj or xj is super cheap, parts are plentiful and they are very tough and reliable.

Yeah, I've ruled out Sammis and Trackers based on that alone. It's hard to fit a wife, kid, gear, and tools in something that small.

I don't want to buy a built rig for a couple of reasons. The first is I like to learn by doing myself. That's why I want to buy something close to stock, a lift is ok, but a full on built rig is not what I want. Second, I want this vehicle to EASILY double as a back up vehicle for daily driving. Third, has to comfy for the wife and son.

I don't know why I hate jeeps so much. I just do. I had buddies that had them and they were good off road, but I just never liked them, at all. I'm just biased for some reason.

But it looks like this truck will be it if all works out. 1990 Toyota Need Engine Work

 

[rlacasse1]

Well, now it looks like I have a 4runner. It's in ok condition. But it needs some love. I'll fix the rust spots, there are only two or three. You can't really see it in these pics but the windshield is cracked in a couple places. And it's getting water in the oil. Overall though, I think it was ok for $500. I can probably sell if back off or part it out for that if I need to. But I couldn't seem to find one that's in ok shape for less than $2k. So this will have to work.

So when I get home in four months from this deployment I will:
1) Put a new windshield in.
2) Fix the engine, that'll be simple enough as long as nothings cracked, or do a 3.4 swap.
3) Fix the rust, eventually.

And it's an Auto, so that means I can make my wife drive it too. She can drive stick, but prefers auto. And it has a sunroof, which she freakin loves.

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[MakeItHappen]

i would say jeep is a good way to go, very very very easy to work on, after an engine and 6 transmissions i should know, have a cherokee and a wrangler, top down doors off toss the windshield down on the wrangler, cherokee is good for camping

 

[zedicus]

o.k. jeeps are about the only thing with an engine i don't like.
i had a k5 full size blazer, awsome in the wide open off road, to big for trails.
just recently got rid of a 2003 xls montero sport to get a suv with more seats. that montero, BONE STOCK, would out off road, out climb, and flat out out run my friends modded out jeeps and broncos. there is a dry river bed here and i had my wife and kids all loaded up and we were caught this jeep cherokee that was lifted and had swampers and no exhaust. we caught and passed them, the driver and passenger looked like they were gunna poop a brick when i got next to them, rolled down the back window and my 4 yr old daughter waved at them from her car seat as we went by.

actually we have a 2007 outlander xls now, its kind of low to the ground for any extreme hills or rocky areas but it runs up and down the sandy river bottom and through the local sand hills just fine. we also get weird looks from some of the people when we are cruising around the river bottom with the A/C on and a movie playing in the back, and theirs people out there in sand rails and giant jeeps and pickups.

 

[rlacasse1]

Ok, so I got brought home from this deployment on emergency leave because my father-in-law died. So it gave me a chance to check out the truck a bit and see if I could figure out all the work that I'm going to have to do.

The main issue is that it is passing coolant like a motherf@cker. With fresh oil it only took about 2 minutes of running to completely milk out the crankcase. So I'm going to have to figure out what's going on there. The entire top end of the truck is rebuilt. And it doesn't seem to be losing compression into the coolant system. But that's the main thing I have to look at when I get home.

Other than that, I need to put a straight pipe in it where the converter was, it was laying in the back of the truck for some reason. I have to put a windshield in it and get the sunroof to function properly. And then I have to figure out what's up with the rear gate, it won't open.

Overall, I say it's not to bad for $500.

So my goals with the truck aren't really extreme. I'm not planning on doing real crazy 4-wheeling. I want it to be a capable "overland" type truck that is fairly capable on trails too. I don't need to be able to fjord 10' deep rivers or shit like that. Or be able to climb the face of Mount Rushmore.

Anywho, I'm trying to decide if I want to go with an engine sway or just rebuild the 3.0, which I'm not hearing good things about at all. I'm really wanting to convert this thing over to a diesel engine.

 

[ChrisTheBuilder]

You can never ever go wrong with a Toyota pickup. I've been building trail rigs rock crawlers and rock buggies for almost 7 years now and a modded Toyota Pickup is the best all around in my opinion. Parts are cheap and plentiful and it's simple yet indestructable.

 

[Clinical]

gonna put this riiiight here

Superior moped is superior

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