Asuna Rustrunner

[Snowracer]

ok this is about to be a "build" thread showing just how stupid and stubborn i am

with the buggy being on the back burner for the last few months and it almost being a year since ive been wheeling and a event coming up i needed a rig. this thing popped up on FB and went and looked at it and the guy told me that the front diff was making noise but he had spare parts. also told me the frame was damaged where the rear link mount is. thing was covered in mud and parked in some grass so didnt really get a good look at it but has 31s with lots of life and a m8000 winch so figured it couldnt be that bad. it fired right up and drove on the trailer and thats when the regrets started to kick in. got it home and crawled under it and seen way more frame rot and damage then what he told me about. went and pressure washed about a years worth of mud off it and found even more rust and damage. at this point i was full regret mode but had already bought it and no time to go shopping for another rig as not even 2 weeks to get a rig ready.

specs
1992 Asuna Sunrunner aka Rustrunner with a 1.6 and 5speed and 5.12 gears

looks ok from a distance

this has pretty much been me every time i work on it. no ragrets, you know what im sayin

 

[Snowracer]

after washing it and seeing that the body was pretty much all expanding foam and rust and held up with square tube and angle iron i tried to ignore that and focus on the frame so it wouldnt fold in half

really should have just cut my losses and parted this out and found something but im stubborn and forged on and told myself i could patch the frame and get a few runs out of this pos. rear lower link mount on the pass side was so rusty it pulled out of the frame. upper link mount was rusted right out and someone had replaced it with some smaller tube and flat bar but it was so ghetto and rusted out as well

oh and yes the body mount is gone and that angle iron on top of the coil bucket is now whats holding the body on

rear lower link mount, can see that i already put a pipe inside the old mount that runs all the way through the frame

this is the cross member behind the trans, did the same and put some tube inside it through the frame

cut some fish plates

welded to the frame and the tube i added

the link mount is plated inside and out with the tube trough the frame and welded the tube to the inside plate and the tube to the stock mount on the outside

 

[Snowracer]

so with the one cross member and rear link mount "fixed" it was time to move onto the upper link mount

was part of the original crossmember that rusted out, then a smaller tube inside that and two bolts holding it together

the welds had broke and the bolt holes wallowed out

cut the link mount brackets off the old tube and reused them so didnt have to cut new brackets. then cut some more fish plates for the frame as it was rusty where the old cross member was, drilled holes in them for some DOM tube then welded it all up

 

[Snowracer]

with the rear suspension part of the frame "fixed" it was time to move to the next part of the frame that was "kill bus full of nuns" bad. really should have cut and run by now but kept saying no ragrets and kept hot gluing steel to rust

front pass side frame at the front under the body mount

plate on the inside and outside and angle on the bottom. and yes them are some nasty welds and even left a hole in the frame as there is no steel there to weld to

 

[Snowracer]

there is lot more rust and parts of the frame missing but i think i booger welded enough on it that it wont fold in half on the first trail ride, maybe the second trail ride that will happen

guy i bought it from said something was wrong with the front diff, he wasnt sure if it was the diff or just a cv axle. he gave me a diff and two axles to fix it. well it was very much not a cv axle

after a bit of confusion i found out the diff he gave me has the wrong gears in it

so pretty much have to find a new front 3rd or a rear 3rd to match the diff i have. other option if i cant find anything in time is to put the bad chipped gear set in the good housing and send it

 

[Snowracer]

only saving grace to this rust bucket is it came with a sweet quad muffler installed on it

and it looks tiny in the shop with my buggy

 

[Chkn]

Damn that’s some dedication. Hope you didn’t pay too much for it.

 

[Snowracer]

Damn that’s some dedication. Hope you didn’t pay too much for it.

more then i should have but people think they are made of gold around my parts when they are really made out of rust as i found out

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Uhhh, well, I mean....... You...... Fuck

What gears are you working with? I just scraped so many of these fucking parts.......

 

[Snowracer]

Uhhh, well, I mean....... You...... Fuck

What gears are you working with? I just scraped so many of these fucking parts.......

it has 5.12 gears and he gave me a 4.62 front diff. as of right now im getting a 4.62 rear diff that i will be putting in saturday the morning of my event

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Gotcha, the 5.12s are kinda all ate up from guys wanting to regear Sami axles. You can get 5.38s after market, but I don't think you can get 5.12s. Maybe try ebay.

Also, let me know if you need parts. I'm not sure what I have left, but who knows. I do have a Toyota cv conversion kit I didn't want to throw away.

How far from porthill or east port are you?

 

[Snowracer]

Gotcha, the 5.12s are kinda all ate up from guys wanting to regear Sami axles. You can get 5.38s after market, but I don't think you can get 5.12s. Maybe try ebay.

Also, let me know if you need parts. I'm not sure what I have left, but who knows. I do have a Toyota cv conversion kit I didn't want to throw away.

How far from porthill or east port are you?

if my buddy can get me the rear 4.62 3rd ill just swap that in for now.

only 600 miles or 11 hours from you

if this pos lasts a few rides and i like it ill build my own square tube frame as there is nothing to the stock tracker frame. on the fence about keeping the ifs or pissing everyone off and putting a D30 under the front. then some 33" sxs tires

 

[YotaAtieToo]

if my buddy can get me the rear 4.62 3rd ill just swap that in for now.

only 600 miles or 11 hours from you

if this pos lasts a few rides and i like it ill build my own square tube frame as there is nothing to the stock tracker frame. on the fence about keeping the ifs or pissing everyone off and putting a D30 under the front. then some 33" sxs tires

Thats definitely the best bet, not a huge difference in gearing either way. They're not near low enough no matter what r&p you use

I thought you were closer to ID for some reason. Definitely not close enough to grab some useless parts

The ifs is cool, rides nice, but the aluminum diff is obviously a weak point, there are up grades, but it just gets expensive for what it is. The other problem is the Honda civic type McPherson strut suspension. Up to you if you want to build upper a arms for it.

D30 would be bigger in every way than what's under there I wouldn't hesitate if I had one laying around or got it for cheap.

SxS tires are for sure the way to go.

 

[Snowracer]

I like the idea of the ifs as main goal with this will be to keep it light and narrow so i can hang with the sxs homos i just have a real hard time spending money on the ifs when know 33s will be pushing limits of it. yes can graft toy ifs parts and do a strut delete but now thats getting spendy. I dont have a 30 laying in my scrap pile but they are everywhere around hear and cheap. i can buy and rebuild a 30 with gears and nothing fancy and it would still be cheaper then buying a used toy diff that needs a rebuild.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I like the idea of the ifs as main goal with this will be to keep it light and narrow so i can hang with the sxs homos i just have a real hard time spending money on the ifs when know 33s will be pushing limits of it. yes can graft toy ifs parts and do a strut delete but now thats getting spendy. I dont have a 30 laying in my scrap pile but they are everywhere around hear and cheap. i can buy and rebuild a 30 with gears and nothing fancy and it would still be cheaper then buying a used toy diff that needs a rebuild.

I don't know if you have followed any of the little track kick "builds" on here, but the key seems to be 30" tires. If you stick to 30s, the diffs and cv's seem to be fine. I wanted 32s and went down a rabbit hole with a Toyota ifs diff and cv's. I think I made a mistake hard mounting the diff and I was also pulling the cv's out. The zuk diff is wider than the toy diff.

There is a certain year zuk steel diff and housing, but they're also expensive.

I do have a pair of the longer travel Monte Carlo struts if you want them.

I totally agree on the Toyota axles. They're a good fit for the tracker, but have gotten expensive. If you went that route, may as well pick up a built pair and go to 35 SxS tires. My thought was a pair of JK axles retubed to pass drop.

It just depends on if you want something to just bomb around in, or something more wheeler/crawler type. Bombing, leave the front open and have fun.

 

[Snowracer]

have been a lurker in the suzuki forums for years and have watched both of your builds. im wanting a small trail rig so thats why im leaning towards the d30 and 33" tires. plus with a 30 and keeping it open i feel like i could run a 35 or bigger tire for snow wheeling and it would slay. lot of jeeps in our wheeling area are running 35-37s on a d30 and keeping them alive. i had a xj on 35s and it held up but was open front. plus the rustrunner would be about 1500-2000 pounds lighter then a jeep and half the hp so that will help as well

 

[Snowracer]

buddy called in some help and they got the rear 3rd pulled for me last night, even if busted 3 of the upper link mount bolts. should be easy to get out as lots of bolt there to weld a nut to

 

[YotaAtieToo]

I wouldn't hesitate to lock the D30 for what you want.

Run 35x10s year round

 

[Snowracer]

I wouldn't hesitate to lock the D30 for what you want.

Run 35x10s year round

so will the stock rear diff hold up to that? as cheap and easy to run adapters in the rear to match the front bolt pattern and width if i do a 30

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Just depends on how you use it. I've broken 1 rear shaft in a buddies tracker on 33s. Wet rocks and involved

Which D30 you talking? Old-school CJ type with live spindles? Or newer stuff? Either way, grab any given rear, 8.8 would be bullet proof. Just depends on how far you want to go.

Somebody mentioned that zuk outters are the same diameter as small bearing 9"? My idea is to try and weld some 28 or 31 spline side gears in a kick diff and use cheap cut to length shafts. But, I'm just doing it because. Way easier to just grab a different rear axle.

 

[Snowracer]

8.8 out of an 95+ explorer is what i would like to run but was thinking just run spacers on the stock rear diff for now to save some cash. would go back to the 5.12 3rd and do 5.13s in a 30. would do an 30 from a xj as they are cheap and easy to get and 60" wide so be a good match with a 8.8 or stock rear with adapters ect

 

[YotaAtieToo]

8.8 out of an 95+ explorer is what i would like to run but was thinking just run spacers on the stock rear diff for now to save some cash. would go back to the 5.12 3rd and do 5.13s in a 30. would do an 30 from a xj as they are cheap and easy to get and 60" wide so be a good match with a 8.8 or stock rear with adapters ect

Not a bad plan. You can ditch the cad when you retube for Pass drop.

Isn't the WJ D30 a better axle though?

You should be able to run cheap circle track bead locks with 5x4.5 or 5x5 pattern too

2wd Toyota 1ton axle is 8" 3rd and 5x4.5 for what it's worth. Would be easier to mount your upper links to, but probably not easy to come by.

 

[Snowracer]

current idea would be build my own 2x3 square tube frame then put the tracker drive train in that. use the rear diff but swap over to leafs as cheaper then buying stuff to link it and not after lots of flex. retube a 30 to pass side but not sure quite yet what to do for suspension. might be able to find another tracker body or just use the firewall and body panels off this one and go more buggy style. still early and just in the planning as want to try and get a few runs out of this rust bucket first

 

[YotaAtieToo]

If you do all that, just build some dual a arm suspension.

 

[Snowracer]

well i just ordered some 7.5-16 R1s for this way cheaper then truck or sxs tires

 

[rattle_snake]

Dang man you signed up for a project. Should look the part with the tractor tires

 

[Snowracer]

front and rear diffs swapped and ready to kill some nuns this weekend

 

[Snowracer]

Dang man you signed up for a project. Should look the part with the tractor tires

cant wait to put these on this turd as i think you are right and it will look the part with them

 

[YotaAtieToo]

33x9? Or so

Probably need 4:1 tcase just to spin them

 

[Snowracer]

33x9? Or so

Probably need 4:1 tcase just to spin them

7.5-16 so 31.9 tall and 10 pounds lighter then the 31s i have now.

was already looking at tcase gears. buddy i got the rear 3rd has a doubler set up he can sell me that uses a sami case. not really sure how all that works or if a better option then doing just gears.