ReadSpeed
Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2026
- Member Number
- 10078
- Messages
- 20
Hello All,
My name is Ted. Long time listener, (I browsed the old site 15+ years ago every day in middle school) first time caller. I spent my youth reading Peterson’s 4x4 cover to cover, dreaming of going on the Ultimate Adventure or competing in TTC. Life, per usual, had other plans for me.
In high school I never had the money for an extra vehicle, so a dedicated 4x4 was never in the cards. I attended UNOH for college, where I became engrossed in the car world. Leaving school, I landed a job restoring exotic cars. Having access to tools/lifts/suppliers I kept right on down the car-road and after paying my student loans off I went through several “fun vehicles”, my last two being an E36 M3 and a Ferrari 308 GTS.
Fast forward a few years and life again threw me a curveball; I sold off all my toys and opened a business. A mobile welding and fabrication outlet, specializing in motorsports work. After several good business years, my wife and I were able to purchase property and build myself a shop. These two details will be important later on in the series. At this point I am sure you are bored with my life story monologue however, so I will move onto the fun part. I have almost 4 miles of trail on my property that is primarily used for dirt bikes, and I live in an area that most would affectionately refer to as "the middle of nowhere". All of the pieces to the dedicated 4x4 puzzle finally clicked.
I had a very specific set of requirements, I wanted something that was roughly UTV sized, 4 seats, 4x4 (obviously) and weighed under 3500 lbs (NH's OHRV registration weight limit). As you might imagine, there aren't a ton of vehicles that fit these prerequisites. I ended up stumbling across a 1996 Geo Tracker a town over and after a few months of pestering the owner I was able to secure it for $500 delivered to my house. It was a pristine (or close enough in the rust belt) example of a Tracker, with two small holes in the outer rockers, faded paint, but otherwise in immaculate shape underneath. Nary a scuff in the factory undercoating on the frame or floors, brand new 30" Duratracs, new KYB shocks and 2" pucks. It was perfect. Well, a perfect start at least, as it was 2WD and didn't come with a key. Minor problems, minor solutions.
I removed the ignition cylinder, got it running and driving only to find it had a horribly blown head gasket, and I also believe the valve seals are gone as well. Business picked up over the winter, so I pushed it outside and covered it behind the shop awaiting a solution. I schemed up a plan to hunt down 4x4 parts for it over the winter and added it to my list of marketplace searches. Alas, Tracker parts in the Northeast are few and far between. Last week however, I struck gold and found 1996 Tracker 4 hours away, that allegedly had no issues aside from a dreadful case of cancer.
8 hours later, I had secured my second Tracker. It is indeed rusty, someone did a horrendous job repairing the rockers and floors, but the drivetrain purred like a kitten, and it has 50k less miles to boot. The perfect donor. With a donor in hand, it was time to formulate a plan. A plan I will save for another post as I have likely bored you poor readers half to death by now. If you have indeed made it this far, I applaud you as well as thank you, I am ecstatic to finally have a 4x4 build and look forward to hopefully entertaining you folks (and shamelessly promote my business in the process) along the way.
Cheers,
Ted
My name is Ted. Long time listener, (I browsed the old site 15+ years ago every day in middle school) first time caller. I spent my youth reading Peterson’s 4x4 cover to cover, dreaming of going on the Ultimate Adventure or competing in TTC. Life, per usual, had other plans for me.
In high school I never had the money for an extra vehicle, so a dedicated 4x4 was never in the cards. I attended UNOH for college, where I became engrossed in the car world. Leaving school, I landed a job restoring exotic cars. Having access to tools/lifts/suppliers I kept right on down the car-road and after paying my student loans off I went through several “fun vehicles”, my last two being an E36 M3 and a Ferrari 308 GTS.
Fast forward a few years and life again threw me a curveball; I sold off all my toys and opened a business. A mobile welding and fabrication outlet, specializing in motorsports work. After several good business years, my wife and I were able to purchase property and build myself a shop. These two details will be important later on in the series. At this point I am sure you are bored with my life story monologue however, so I will move onto the fun part. I have almost 4 miles of trail on my property that is primarily used for dirt bikes, and I live in an area that most would affectionately refer to as "the middle of nowhere". All of the pieces to the dedicated 4x4 puzzle finally clicked.
I had a very specific set of requirements, I wanted something that was roughly UTV sized, 4 seats, 4x4 (obviously) and weighed under 3500 lbs (NH's OHRV registration weight limit). As you might imagine, there aren't a ton of vehicles that fit these prerequisites. I ended up stumbling across a 1996 Geo Tracker a town over and after a few months of pestering the owner I was able to secure it for $500 delivered to my house. It was a pristine (or close enough in the rust belt) example of a Tracker, with two small holes in the outer rockers, faded paint, but otherwise in immaculate shape underneath. Nary a scuff in the factory undercoating on the frame or floors, brand new 30" Duratracs, new KYB shocks and 2" pucks. It was perfect. Well, a perfect start at least, as it was 2WD and didn't come with a key. Minor problems, minor solutions.
I removed the ignition cylinder, got it running and driving only to find it had a horribly blown head gasket, and I also believe the valve seals are gone as well. Business picked up over the winter, so I pushed it outside and covered it behind the shop awaiting a solution. I schemed up a plan to hunt down 4x4 parts for it over the winter and added it to my list of marketplace searches. Alas, Tracker parts in the Northeast are few and far between. Last week however, I struck gold and found 1996 Tracker 4 hours away, that allegedly had no issues aside from a dreadful case of cancer.
8 hours later, I had secured my second Tracker. It is indeed rusty, someone did a horrendous job repairing the rockers and floors, but the drivetrain purred like a kitten, and it has 50k less miles to boot. The perfect donor. With a donor in hand, it was time to formulate a plan. A plan I will save for another post as I have likely bored you poor readers half to death by now. If you have indeed made it this far, I applaud you as well as thank you, I am ecstatic to finally have a 4x4 build and look forward to hopefully entertaining you folks (and shamelessly promote my business in the process) along the way.
Cheers,
Ted
