I Want to Build a Buggy and need help

OK, you are getting married....

I did this same thing, but I started my buggy BEFORE I was engaged. Been married for over 2 years now and the buggy is still sitting in the garage as a pile of parts...

You may thing you have the time now, but once you start planning a wedding and get married, your time is then taken up by someone else.

Go the easy route and buy a ex comp/used buggy that needs some TLC. You get to fix stuff, modify it as needed, but it will be a much faster process than building it from the ground up.

After you get tired of the buggy and modify it and get good at setting up the links and such to how you like, then when you got a little more time (you will after a couple of years of marriage...) then start your project.

Advice given from someone whos in the same situation. My buggy has been sitting idle for a while now. I just don't have the time.

A good quote I saw on Pirate which I've found to be extremely accurate:

"Whatever you figure the build will cost, double it and only then are you in the ballpark"

I've found this to be very true. Even with the cheap to nearly free D60s and D70s I've got, a free motor, trans, and used transfercase and I'm way more in the hole than what I originally expected.

I'd hold off on building cause your new wife will want at least 75% of whatever extra $$$ you have...
 
hopefully im gonna come out at about 15000 on mine . ive probally got about 1000 more to finish. i think thats cheap for what ive built
 

Attachments

  • crop of front.jpg
    crop of front.jpg
    66.6 KB · Views: 324
I don't have to worry about her with my money. She makes almost as much as me now and just getting going in her job.

I appreciate all of what was said, but I think that people missed what I was asking.

I am looking for advice on HOW TO BUILD not if I can afford it or not. I did ask if it can be done for the price, and I have mixed answers.

I am going to do most of the fab work myself, unless I can find an inexpensive builder. My uncle is an iron worker and he has built several race cars on the side. He already agreed to help out with the Fab and getting the metal through his work (load a piece of pipe on the truck every now and then...) They use a similar pipe for some hand rail applications in Sporting event centers and parking garages and they just built Ford Field and Comerica Park in Michigan. He is sure that they have some tube left from that. He is going to get me the size of it. Would this work?
 
Pipe wouldn't be advisable.. the main purpose of a buggy is to be light, isn't it?

If they use DOM at sporting centers, I'm buying a 18V sawzall tonight.. :D
 
Let me know if I can help any. My buddy has a CJ-5 on rockwells and 44 tsl's for sell. I think he is asking 7k for it. It works really good-CJ-5 with 258, t-18, dana 300, 4-link rear, leaf sprung front, winch, pinion brakes, custom hummer beadlocs, full cage, oba, heater that works, trail tested and mother approved.
 
The how is pretty tough. I have been acumulating buggy parts for a while now. The first thing to figure out is 1,2,3, or 4 seater. Then you have to chose rocks or mud. Mud rigs tend to be rigid suspension high horsepower. rock rigs flexy and high torque. You could use a rock rig for mud occasionally but you have to chose which you want to do and take the compromise on the other.

While making these choices you need to do a lot of research. Not so much into details but look at a lot of rigs. What do you like what do you hate. When building from the ground up you want to make sure that everything has a place and looking at already built rigs will help with seeing what is an afterthought. Buying a chassis is a great/cheap way to start. For the price of tube, time spent bending, welding, designing you come out way ahead of the curve.

Clearly we can't walk you through everything that you can do while building but the place to start is research. While you research ask the logical questions. Is this something I can do? How much time can I spend on this? What about money? What am I going to sacrifice to do this?

I am taking a different approach with my buggy. I am going ultra light, lower horsepower, small tires. My thought is a 2 seater that is light enough to toss around. Light enough to tow with an F150, but still built to meet comp specs just in case. If I had to guess, I would say I have about 60 hours in design, 40 in parts hunting, and another 20 just agonizing over misc crap. I haven't even started to build yet.
 
Thanks, I am willing to giver it my all. I understand that i can't be waled throught the entire process, but I am looking for info on things like different axle options, what works and what dosent, what can be built with a "smaller budget" and still be dependable. This thing will be mainly for Rock. I am not planning on competeing, just building and beating the piss out of it.

I need help/advice from every angle. What size tube is the best to run, if I decide to build where is the best place to get it (tube)? and so on.

I am really thinking 4 seater with the option of removing one or both of the rear seats for storage if needed.
 
Sounds like you want to buy a chassis if you aren't sure about tubing size. 1.75 diameter DOM with .120 wall or better for the entire thing. Larger where you need more strength and the thickness for sliding over rocks. Rocks would be a good axle choice cheap, strong, and low gears. You could also do 4 wheel steer since it will be longer to allow for a 4 seater. 60/14 bolt combo would work well but they aren't cheap.

for a 4 seater I would look at a chevy 350, turbo 400, dana 300(low cost) or an atlas(high cost), rockwells.
 
Just remeber, cheap + buggy don't go together unless you put POS in the middle. Look around on pirate, there is plenty of buggy stuff on there. Tubing prices run the gamet, anywhere from 3-7$ a foot for dom. I think andy sells it, but I don't know his prices. The more you buy, the cheaper you can get it for.
 
andysleds said:
Is propane the way to go.
Click to expand...
Alot of people on this board will say yes. IMO no. You can get a late model efi motor for under 2K. Will not stink of propane, 2 pane tanks take up alot of room, don't have to worrry about finding gas, etc, etc. Propane is for cooking:driver:
 
Rock buggy= light + low + gearing.
I don't know much about the mud buggy thing but I know that building your own chassis is difficult and pretty much will require a large welding table with some ability to mount jig points. If you build your own and pass on the table/jig, keep the bends simple. No mulitple plane bends and super long runs. Use U and L shapes cause if they are the same everything will stay square and true. Either way 35XJ's rig is less than 10k and it is a mix of used and new parts, short of plumbing and brake lines it is done. It has AL links, 4.3 vortec, T350, D300 4-1, coilovers, air shoxs, kirkies, narrowed YJ body, 40" MTRs, FJ80 Efront, V6 rear. There is no reason you can't build a super capable buggy for less than 15k, you'll just have to pass on the crate motor, Art carr auto, atlas, new coilovers, Giant hiems, DOM in the cage, Sticky 39 krawlers, walker evans beadlocks, you know the magazine BLING crap.
 
a cheap buggy is possible, but you gotta go with used parts that are half worn...

I saw a nice buggy with a 4cyl with a trans axle, turned sideways. the transaxle turned a set of toyota axles running 37s. Nice setup and IIRC, was build for around $13K.


Good luck


Rob
 
Might wanna consider goin with a truggy. Build off a chevy, jeep, yota, w/e frame and alot of time/money/effort is taken care of there by just already having a platform to build off of. Also if you were to get an actual truck to do your build you could keep the cab and tube around the rest and still have alot of the simple amenities that would be hard to do with a full out buggy. Another plus is you can sell alot of the parts off the truck your not gonna use. When I bought my Ford I turned around and sold stuff that I wasnt gonna use to completely fund my hp60/14 bolt combo w/4.10's plus a little change left over.
 
jrraw23 said:
Might wanna consider goin with a truggy. Build off a chevy, jeep, yota, w/e frame and alot of time/money/effort is taken care of there by just already having a platform to build off of. Also if you were to get an actual truck to do your build you could keep the cab and tube around the rest and still have alot of the simple amenities that would be hard to do with a full out buggy. Another plus is you can sell alot of the parts off the truck your not gonna use. When I bought my Ford I turned around and sold stuff that I wasnt gonna use to completely fund my hp60/14 bolt combo w/4.10's plus a little change left over.
Click to expand...

good advice. wow. :fuck-you: :lol:
 
rockcity said:
a cheap buggy is possible, but you gotta go with used parts that are half worn...
I saw a nice buggy with a 4cyl with a trans axle, turned sideways. the transaxle turned a set of toyota axles running 37s. Nice setup and IIRC, was build for around $13K.
Good luck
Rob
Click to expand...

Rob I saw a company last year at Tellico that made them from the Honda format. Same design as you are talking about come in a variety of set ups. one, two or four seaters. As light as 1600 puonds. I have been wanting one ever since.

And, if I was able to build one, it would be on propane.
 
rockcity said:
a cheap buggy is possible, but you gotta go with used parts that are half worn...
I saw a nice buggy with a 4cyl with a trans axle, turned sideways. the transaxle turned a set of toyota axles running 37s. Nice setup and IIRC, was build for around $13K.
Good luck
Rob
Click to expand...

Half used up? Shop around and you'll find quality used stuff.
Anyways I've seen rhinos (honda motor transaxle) several times at the WE Rock events. Even with all the light weight, gearing (7.17 or 5.89 diff) with the 37 in tires they have to hit lodges so hard it's not even funny, they have no ablity to crawl. They actually go better in reverse as one joker showed the crowd due to the lower reverse gear than first gear. Don't forget how tall they are. Off my soap box now. Good luck with your build man. Time to go play with my half worn stuff.
 
Buy an entire 3/4-1 ton truck drivetrain. Set it up on a chassis table or the floor and build a buggy around it. If you stay with <40" tires you'd have an easier time staying within budget. It won't be bulletproof or classy but it is entirely doable. You've obviously got your mind set on it so say screw the ring and build it.
 
Back
Top