Calling on all trail pros

NC_Mog said:
Heck if you're going to spend $5k-10k and if it'll be towed, you can get a nice gasoline powered Mog. Strip the bed down to a flat bed, put some decent tires on it, and you'll waltz thru most trails in this area in otherwise stock form. Put a winch on it, and you're ready to tackle Lower 2. No other stock vehicle can say that. But, not everyone is ready for a little eurotrash driving. :driver:
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I have yet to see a mog for sale for less then 15K.
 
im gonna steer you away from the XJ... I've had 2 that were built pretty nice... My reasons are strictly anti-unibody, not anti-jeep...

The unibody is difficult at best to weld to and have anything stay a long time while being abused... Some will say otherwise "i've wheeled full-widths, etc.... for 5 years no problems" but I know how hard wheeling can be on those unibodies... Most of the XJ guys I used to wheel with quickly learned all of the downfalls of the XJ's unibody... Go with something in a full-frame.. YJ's are great, TJ's too...
 
ghost said:
I have yet to see a mog for sale for less then 15K.
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Let me know when you're ready to buy one and I'll hook you up. Ebay is not the only place and probably not the best place to buy one. Heck I spent less than $15k on my diesel 406...arguably the best recovery platform out there. Less than $10k for a gas model (404) is easy.
 
I'm all for a Toyota, but then I too am biased. For the amount of money you have available, you can get a truck that you don't have to replace both axles to run anything over a 31" tire, put lockers front and rear, get 6-8 inches of lift with tons of travel and buy a new set of tires of your choice. And have a helluva capable rig on your hands.
 
???

I have been 80% welder 20% maintenance for the past 12 years. I could understand the problems with the unibody. But if this stuff was easythere would be custom 4x4 s everywhere. Figureing things out like that is part of the fun.
 
???

hey guys I have also been looking at the samurai. Do they seem to have many problems with the driveline? I ask because it seem s that 90% of them run it stock with just a lift and tires. I have seen a few on this board and others boards and almost all of them are stock. I know that they onl;y have a 100 hp or so but they have to be taken a beaten on some of the trails yall ride on from the pix i have seen.
 
ok. first you want something with a frame. not knockin on the cherokees cus i currently have one that i am building into a rock crawler, but a frame is simply more rigid and will perform better. 2nd, dont get anything with a bow tie. mainly cus they suck. if you dont believe me ask jrraw23, he has had tons of experience with full size chevys and still hasnt learned that they sucks :flipoff2:. 3rd you want something with a decent amount of wheelbase or something that you can stretch easily to get a desired wheelbase. and last you want something that has a decent amount of power and torque. i am not saying that a samuri will not do good off road because i know they will, but it gets to a point where you have to start doing some major mods to them if you want to keep up.

so that narrows it down to a cj, yj, or tj. when you say you are looking for something between $5K and $10K are you talking about initial vehicle cost or with mods. if with mods and for simplicity i would say go with the yj because they do have one of the best platforms to build from, which i believe may have been already stated, they are typically cheaper than most cjs because a lot of people think they have a gold mine, and of course they have leafs springs which will make a lot of things much easier, like stretching the wheelbase with minor mods and bolting up 1 tons much easier.

now if you are just looking for something with an initial cost of $5k-$10K, then by all means get a TJ. i am biased towards them but everyone knows they are the absolute best off road :lol: and in the long run they end up looking the best and there are so many things you can do to them and the girls love em, so getting noticed will be much easier and they will be more likely to get into your rig than they would if you have a samuri or full size chevy.

i know the last part has nothing to do with a good trail rig but sometimes its the little things like that, that help you decide
 
In that price range you can easily get something that someone else has spent a lot of time and money building. Don't worry you will still have things to fix and modify so they are what you want, but you won't have to take the big hit on the major components. In axles, tires, and wheels I have already spent the lower end of that budget. Add in winch, transfer case, recovery gear, suspension, base rig, and a ton of other little things and you are way over the budget. Buy it all in a rig that is ready to run and you get it much cheaper. I am very biased towards an open top. Jeeps are great once you get rid of just about anything mechanical that came from jeep unless you are talking a CJ then you can keep more parts. Don't forget than many people have at least a year tied up in a build during which you don't get to enjoy wheeling. Buy something you can enjoy now and tinker with and you get a lot more free time.
 
302cj said:
hey guys I have also been looking at the samurai. Do they seem to have many problems with the driveline? I ask because it seem s that 90% of them run it stock with just a lift and tires. I have seen a few on this board and others boards and almost all of them are stock. I know that they onl;y have a 100 hp or so but they have to be taken a beaten on some of the trails yall ride on from the pix i have seen.
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The general consensus is that Samurai axles are OK with up to 33" tires. They only have 60hp stock (1.3 liter). Popular mods are installing Toyota minitruck axles and 1.6 8valve or 16 valve engines out of Sidekicks. Yes, they will take a major beating. My buddy barrel rolled his down a hill in my back yard, landing on all 4 tires at the bottom. It broke the windshield and popped a tire off the rim. We aired the tire back up, removed the windshield, and kept on wheeling.
 
Check out 'Built 78 Golden Eagle' in vehicle for sale area. That should be a vehicle ready to roll in your price range. Happy wheelin'. I'm partial to CJ's.
T.J.
 
i think a toyota would be a good choice. Ive had a cj7, 51 flattie, and a yj, and think that the toyota i just got is the best base to build off of. one, because of the initial cost of the truck, many go for less than 1 grand running, and because you can usually find people selling geared 3rds and other parts for much less than it would cost you to go get some jeep axles regeared, at least it was for me.
 
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