Tired of looking for a rust free/unaltered/not beat to death Samurai. Found a 97 Tracker 4x4 that meets above criteria. Input from the hive on pros/cons would be great.
Tired of looking for a rust free/unaltered/not beat to death Samurai. Found a 97 Tracker 4x4 that meets above criteria. Input from the hive on pros/cons would be great.
Did you look for rust in non-obvious places? I had a Sidekick that looked clean on the outside, but most of the floors were gone & a couple of the cross-tubes between the frame rails were only held together by paint & flakes of rust.
Comparing the Tracker to the Sammy, the Tracker will do better in traffic & as a DD, but gives up a bit of off-road capability to the Sammy. Unless your main purpose for it is 4-wheeling, I wouldn't worry about it.
Love Trackers (owned 3 Sammies). Gears in the high 4's or low 5's, two speed transfer case, ladder frame, drop out center section like a 9". What's not to like?
Very simple to maintain. Very simple to modify.
I am far from an expert here, but some of the Trackers came with rack and pinion steering, which, while great on the road, can be damaged off-road.
I too had been considering the exact same options you are looking at. The Sammies are getting tough to find. Check out the prices on the later FI models.
Having owned or driven both, the Sammy wins the cool factor but the Sidekick is better in almost every way. Both have plenty of after market support. Every year or so I find a "just towed behind the motor-home" SuziGeo that looks good with low miles that is hard to pass up. Some day I'll get one.
Any body else ever experience the silent Sammy? It you get one going about 65-70 with not top, can't remember it had doors, they go silent. No wind noise or engine noise. Real strange, the guy I bought mine from told me about it. When it happened I thought the engine had expired.
No go find a big hill and try it, stock exhaust and only slightly taller tires helps.
My Samurai's all had 33" Super Swampers and a Thorley header so there was never any silence!
KIA sportage?
belteshazzar wrote: KIA sportage?
I often wonder about these. Isn't the engine a Mazda FE clone?
I seem to recall that when they were new someone was offering a fairly serious suspension lift kit and some other real off roading parts for them.
akylekoz wrote: Any body else ever experience the silent Sammy? It you get one going about 65-70 with not top, can't remember it had doors, they go silent. No wind noise or engine noise. Real strange, the guy I bought mine from told me about it. When it happened I thought the engine had expired. No go find a big hill and try it, stock exhaust and only slightly taller tires helps.
60-70MPH? That's really pushing the top speed. Hard to believe a vehicle with the wind noise of a WW1 fighter plane would go silent, but maybe the wind noise and engine noise happen to cancel each other out somehow?
More on topic, what's wrong with an altered Sammy? You'll soon want to mod it anyway, might as well save yourself the effort 
In reply to GameboyRMH:
My samurai will go 61mph on flat ground. but it is not happy. 4.16 tcase gears and heavy 31s will do that to you. IMO you can usually get a tracker super cheaper than a good Samurai. As long as it has the 1.6 16v that is all i care about. I might eventually sell the samurai and get a tracker to tinker on.
I miss my Samurai JX.
MrChaos wrote: In reply to GameboyRMH: My samurai will go 61mph on flat ground. but it is not happy. 4.16 tcase gears and heavy 31s will do that to you.
Mine might just hit 61mph on 31s with stock ratios, on a good day. My personal record is 130kph on roughly stock-size ATs.
In reply to MrChaos:
Mine with stock gears, 29" tires and a 1.6 8 valve will run 70+. It's turning just above 4000 RPMs to do it though. I wouldn't want to go far.
GameboyRMH wrote:MrChaos wrote: In reply to GameboyRMH: My samurai will go 61mph on flat ground. but it is not happy. 4.16 tcase gears and heavy 31s will do that to you.Mine might just hit 61mph on 31s with stock ratios, on a good day. My personal record is 130kph on roughly stock-size ATs.
older gearbox with the .795 and heavy 31x9.50 tsl swamper radials which are soo heavy, like 60 a tire heavy. Im thinking of dropping to 30 or 29's.
I drove this all over the place, highways and backroads. Used to scrape the ice off the seats before I got in for work. And used to get soaked if it rained. Kinda like a four-wheeled motorcycle.
Those are 33's on steel AR wheels.
[URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/zuki.jpg.html]
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ebonyandivory wrote: I drove this all over the place, highways and backroads. Used to scrape the ice off the seats before I got in for work. And used to get soaked if it rained. Kinda like a four-wheeled motorcycle. Those are 33's on steel AR wheels. [URL=http://s265.photobucket.com/user/derekrichardson/media/zuki.jpg.html]
Back in the 70s I had a Scout 80 as a DD/off roader. Left the top off and wore rain gear when needed.
how about an Isuzu amigo?
In reply to mad_machine:
same late 80's early 90's japanese 4x4 rust and if you find one iirc some have a dana 44 that has a stupid 4.77 gearing that is only available from iirc Yukon now.
Honestly I would replace my Samurai with a tin top sidekick with the 1.6 16v/3 speed auto combo with working A/C.
Heads up outasite! Your unicorn has been spotted!
Edit: D'oh, borked link fixed.
You borked that link Gameboy
Thanks, too far to travel to be disappointed.
Just returned from inspecting the Tracker which was advertised as EXCELLENT. It wasn't, but acceptable as a winter project if we can agree on a price.
MrChaos wrote: Honestly I would replace my Samurai with a tin top sidekick with the 1.6 16v/3 speed auto combo with working A/C.
I really like that.
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