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Steve300xcw said:
You can find toyota's for about that

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Otherwise f250/f350's can be had pretty reasonable.
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Many TJs in that sub $10k price, might have miles but are unmolested and have probably never had the t-case shifted.
 
I have been seeing a bunch of those ZR2 s10 tucks and blazers pop up for sale around that $2K mark lately in decent shape and milage. I don't know a whole lot about them but 4.3 & 4l60e aren't bad drivetrains. I'm thinking some sawzall, maybe spacers for steering clearance and some 35's would make for a decent beater. Run the IFS until it blows and then maybe consider a SAS on leaf springs with a cheap jeep D30 or waggy D44, assuming that's the side the front diff is on, I honestly have no clue.
 
jps4jeep said:
I have been seeing a bunch of those ZR2 s10 tucks and blazers pop up for sale around that $2K mark lately in decent shape and milage. I don't know a whole lot about them but 4.3 & 4l60e aren't bad drivetrains. I'm thinking some sawzall, maybe spacers for steering clearance and some 35's would make for a decent beater. Run the IFS until it blows and then maybe consider a SAS on leaf springs with a cheap jeep D30 or waggy D44, assuming that's the side the front diff is on, I honestly have no clue.
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They’re driver drop. I had a non-ZR2 SAS on a waggy front axle and 37s and wheeled it around the southwestern US for ~15 years.

Don’t waste your time on waggy 44s, they’re not cheaper than Dana 60s anymore.
 
jps4jeep said:
I have been seeing a bunch of those ZR2 s10 tucks and blazers pop up for sale around that $2K mark lately in decent shape and milage. I don't know a whole lot about them but 4.3 & 4l60e aren't bad drivetrains. I'm thinking some sawzall, maybe spacers for steering clearance and some 35's would make for a decent beater. Run the IFS until it blows and then maybe consider a SAS on leaf springs with a cheap jeep D30 or waggy D44, assuming that's the side the front diff is on, I honestly have no clue.
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Many years ago there were kits to put XJ/TJ front axles in S-10’s You could probably do that pretty cheap to a ZR2
 
Jeffh555 said:
F250 with a gas V8. Chop fenders, and maybe wheelbase, mount 40"+ tires, weld diffs, go party.
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I've thought about exactly this many times over the years. My day dreaming building of one has ranged from exactly what you stated to basically cutting everything but the firewall and floor away and caging the rest. Then slowly make improvements over the years like 4 link etc.
 
I bought exactly one SXS and put almost 2,000 miles on it and sold it. In my opinion they’re not contenders. The plastic and cheaply built chassis are not easily modified to handle bigger tires, unless you’re spending coin on a Can Am or KRX, and then the “cheap factor” is right out the window.

The most important factor to the cheap build is that there are little clusters of parts hoarders all across the US. That’s how you build a cheap wheeler. There’s Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota, Suzuki, Jeep hoarders hiding everywhere. Once you find them, the cheap wheeler comes alive.

I’m with YotaAtietoo in building Suzuki/Chevy Trackers/Others. Body on frame, easily modified, easy to work on, reliable, and just impressive with 32”-33” tires on them. Even better slightly stretched, SAS’d on 35”-37” tires. There’s a kid I’ve grabbed parts from in PA with a Dana 30/35 Tracker on 35’s that is absolutely impressive. He said he wanted to show the 35 could live in the rocks. :lmao:

But then you can watch Dex Jeeps and watch hime absolutely thrash XJ’s relentlessly and just have cheap fun.

The real question is always, how creative are you? :smokin:
 
Gen z was the last of the hands on kids and even some of them are questionable. Majority of people born in the cell phone Era can't change a flat tire.
Add to that the fact that things cost alot more and you will end up with less and less actual rock crawler builds.
Those people can however drive down the street and finance a sxs in about a hour with sometimes nothing down.
So that is 100% the future of cheap wheeling though not actually cheap.
Low investment wheelers also bring all kinds of trash and disrespect as I'm sure most have noticed. That is our future
 
Oddball said:
I picture people wheelin shit like escapes and libertys. Cheap wheeler to me is 2k after tires.
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This was kinda the thought I had too... but to put a price on it, for 2024, Id say $5k. Something you could hack up and throw some 33" tires on and beat on. SAS isnt off the table, but the axle sources are getting harder to find too, for cheap.

Around here the Geo/Zuk are like hens teeth. Anything pre-2000 seems to be going up in price, and if its 4wd its a "Jeep". Wranglers can be had around ~$10k, for a TJ or JK. Can possibly find YJs for less, but not much. The older sxs seem to be in the $5-10k market.

I know most SUVs built in the last 20yrs are FWD/transaxle. I guess the main question is, what wasnt?

Or are people wheeling any of the transxle rigs with success? short of going DED style.
 
+1 to the 2007 and newer second gen XJs JKs. The oldest should be on their 3rd or 4th owner by now and if it weren't for COVID inflation should be hitting the market in bulk, trashed condition. Parts are common and range from cheap to just build a buggy. Unlocked dana HP dana 30 and a new gen dana 44 will hold up to 33 or 35s well enough. And your gay lover wife can't complain about not having enough room for his chihuahua the kids.

Only downside is the amount of electronics. But in my experience, the base trims are not much more complex than late model TJs.
 
This mid 80s Single cab f350 460/c6 would be a good start..

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Mattygwheeler said:
This mid 80s Single cab f350 460/c6 would be a good start..

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For a while when my jeep was down, I drove an 89 F-250, 5spd 460 4WD. It was a great truck, I always wanted to turn it into a crawler.
 
Jeffh555 said:
I also think 4Runners are a pretty good contender.
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Other than a wide selection of light pods, tents and other garbage the platform brings basically nothing to a table. Shit starts popping with a quickness when the tires get into the mid-30s and from there you wind up wanting to throw the axles from a Ford truck under it and then you decide you need the engine from a Chevy van to move all that mass.

You'd have to be a complete moron to start with a platform that's gonna run right into expensive and difficult upgrades like that. There's just no point in building one beyond the "trail rig with mild bolt ons" level. After that it makes more sense to pick another platform.

Say what you want about the minivan engine but you gotta get waaaaaay deeper into building a JK before you hit that kind of expense and effort.
 
Jeffh555 said:
F250 with a gas V8. Chop fenders, and maybe wheelbase, mount 40"+ tires, weld diffs, go party.
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A friend of mine did that only used one with a 6.0 diesel. $1,000 for the truck, $1,000 for the 8 inch lift kit on Craigslist, and $1,300 for the used 44s, not sure how much for hydraulic steering, threw spools in it, and works well until the steering breaks.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Other than a wide selection of light pods, tents and other garbage the platform brings basically nothing to a table. Shit starts popping with a quickness when the tires get into the mid-30s and from there you wind up wanting to throw the axles from a Ford truck under it and then you decide you need the engine from a Chevy van to move all that mass.

You'd have to be a complete moron to start with a platform that's gonna run right into expensive and difficult upgrades like that. There's just no point in building one beyond the "trail rig with mild bolt ons" level. After that it makes more sense to pick another platform.

Say what you want about the minivan engine but you gotta get waaaaaay deeper into building a JK before you hit that kind of expense and effort.
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Agree with all that and I'm building one on tons, lol.
 
I don’t think this is what you had in mind when you asked, but I think just looking to the Gambler guys is your answer. Cutting fenders on a car and throwing some bigger tires on gets you through some mild trails.

So i think there’s plenty of beaters still out there, it just looks different these days.

I think a different question is what is a modern day cheap platform to start with and have the potential to grow into a serious wheelers (like XJ and Toyotas of days past). Unfortunately I think the answer to that one is similar to other things in this world, it’s just not like it used to be. Some good suggestions in this thread, but also just keeping your eye out for deals because they’re still out there. I picked up my current XJ for $800
I see deals out there but with FBM and Craigslist everything moves super fast. Almost need to be cash in hand same day it’s posted if you want the good deal stuff.
 
arse_sidewards said:
Other than a wide selection of light pods, tents and other garbage the platform brings basically nothing to a table. Shit starts popping with a quickness when the tires get into the mid-30s and from there you wind up wanting to throw the axles from a Ford truck under it and then you decide you need the engine from a Chevy van to move all that mass.

You'd have to be a complete moron to start with a platform that's gonna run right into expensive and difficult upgrades like that. There's just no point in building one beyond the "trail rig with mild bolt ons" level. After that it makes more sense to pick another platform.

Say what you want about the minivan engine but you gotta get waaaaaay deeper into building a JK before you hit that kind of expense and effort.
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Name a modern-ish body on frame SUV that was made in large volumes over a long period of time and is more durable than a 4Runner. There’s probably a couple, but I don’t think any are so dramatically better that you’re a moron to build a 4Runner.

Any pickup is gonna hold it’s value better than an SUV because there’s some gardener that will buy it to make a living.

Don’t forget, the factory solid axle Toyotas that were that benchmark for budget wheelers for decades would snap axles and steering if you looked at them wrong.
 
Jeffh555 said:
Name a modern-ish body on frame SUV that was made in large volumes over a long period of time and is more durable than a 4Runner. There’s probably a couple, but I don’t think any are so dramatically better that you’re a moron to build a 4Runner.

Any pickup is gonna hold it’s value better than an SUV because there’s some gardener that will buy it to make a living.

Don’t forget, the factory solid axle Toyotas that were that benchmark for budget wheelers for decades would snap axles and steering if you looked at them wrong.
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Overall reliability is the reason I'm personally building one. Wife and I love the 4Runner...it's been the most reliable vehicle we've ever owned and we bought it new...so a lot of it is already having it and sentimental.
 
trying to think of the original question of what the new "modern beater" is and i cant think of anything that i've seen on the trail that would meet that term

i see alot of the ol beaters, xj's, 80s-90s toyota's, suzuki's

maybe we havent hit that next generation of vehicle yet

what have you guys seen on the trail?
 
i've had 2 buddys run 90s ford fullsize pickups as cheap beaters relatively recently but ive only ever seen those 2
 
FS truck, most anything else built in the last 10-15 years is all independent suspension transaxle no low range shit.
 
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