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Modern Offroad Beater

Tech Tim said:
That program screwed the auto enthusiasts more than they will ever know.
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by design ...

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I'm not sure why less than 20 years old is a prerequisite.... most vehicles (except jeeps and maybe toys) built in the last 20 years are not even close to this on 33's IMO
I paid 4500, put some fb 33's on and have been wheeling since. It's taken apart now for crossover, frame fixing(at the steering box) and a winch. I've been thinking about throwing a spartan in the front and seeing if i can keep the shafts alive on 37's:laughing:
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I've got a 12 bolt with 4.56 for the rear, another motor that purrs like a kitten and an nv4500 for future use.... also only cost anther 800 for those items in a beater truck.
 
Sterlingfire said:
I'm not sure why less than 20 years old is a prerequisite.... most vehicles (except jeeps and maybe toys) built in the last 20 years are not even close to this on 33's IMO
I paid 4500, put some fb 33's on and have been wheeling since. It's taken apart now for crossover, frame fixing(at the steering box) and a winch. I've been thinking about throwing a spartan in the front and seeing if i can keep the shafts alive on 37's:laughing:
20240113_121743.jpg


I've got a 12 bolt with 4.56 for the rear, another motor that purrs like a kitten and an nv4500 for future use.... also only cost anther 800 for those items in a beater truck.
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Because everyone here knows what older beaters are the shit, hell the bassis of this forum was founded on them.
And if 33s are What we are talking a 90s tacoma with an elocker and 33s would out beater that thing anywhere :flipoff2:
 
20 years because that is usually when they are close to cheapest. Too new to be classics, too old to be new with payments.

Oh and 33’s? lol. Shitbox Toyota trucks don’t count until they are on 37’s.

33’s May as well have white walls and be mounted on Daytons.
 
For $5,000 and under I found a 1996 k1500, 96 4Runner, 92 Cherokee (bastard year?), 1995 4Runner, 4 cylinder 95 cherokee, 1993 bronco, 99 K2500 suburban and a 1998 Grand Cherokee.



Older than 20 years old. They should still be reliable ‘beaters’ as much as calling a $5,000 car a ‘beater’ hurt me.


For another $5,000 in parts and time these could be really reliable off road.
 
Beat95yj said:
20 years because that is usually when they are close to cheapest. Too new to be classics, too old to be new with payments.

Oh and 33’s? lol. Shitbox Toyota trucks don’t count until they are on 37’s.

33’s May as well have white walls and be mounted on Daytons.
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Daytons aren’t required if you have fiberglass fenders, and a back half chassis. Beat the fuck out of this thing and it will still be a shitbox toyota.

2001 Toyota Tacoma - Prerunner
2001 toyota tacoma 4x4 for sale by owner - Genoa, NV - craigslist
 
RunningProblem said:
For $5,000 and under I found a 1996 k1500, 96 4Runner, 92 Cherokee (bastard year?), 1995 4Runner, 4 cylinder 95 cherokee, 1993 bronco, 99 K2500 suburban and a 1998 Grand Cherokee.



Older than 20 years old. They should still be reliable ‘beaters’ as much as calling a $5,000 car a ‘beater’ hurt me.


For another $5,000 in parts and time these could be really reliable off road.
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fawk to me a beater is a vehicle rims tires winch parts steel and everything for $5k or less :laughing:

sounds like my (what i thought was nice) 4runner is a beater to alot of people
 
Arickvan said:
fawk to me a beater is a vehicle rims tires winch parts steel and everything for $5k or less :laughing:

sounds like my (what i thought was nice) 4runner is a beater to alot of people
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‘Cash for clunkers ruined the used car market.’
‘Due to inflation…’

This isn’t 2004 anymore. I think a $2,000 beat 4Runner is going to need $3,000 in work to get it running. If you could find one to begin with. I would hope for $5,000 you wouldn’t have to do engine or electrical repairs. Just start wheeling it like a ‘broke’ high school kid and bolt on stuff until you want one tons and fourtys.
 
Beater is in the eye of the beholder, all about perspective. I hang out with people who have several hundred thousand dollar race cars AND hundred thousand dollar trail rigs. My 1 ton LJ on 40’s is a beater in my circle
 
JR4X said:
Don’t get too excited. It’s got 4.24:1 t-case gears. Spooled rear, locker in front. 30” SXS tires. Little, light, effective.

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Build thread
irate4x4.com

Faux door

Faux 2, now version Faux door Going to try to start migrating my threads over here. Starting with my Zuk thread because it’s the first one I could find after the old place ruined everything. If you remember (or care) I had built an 04 grand vitara for my wife at the time and I called it...
irate4x4.com irate4x4.com
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Reminds me of a Subaru brat we put 29 inch sxs tires on and beat to death. My old lady flopped it three times but it eventually succumb to water damage. Most fun on $1800 ever.
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Arickvan said:
fawk to me a beater is a vehicle rims tires winch parts steel and everything for $5k or less :laughing:

sounds like my (what i thought was nice) 4runner is a beater to alot of people
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yup. beater in my eyes is $2500 or less, so Id say $5k all in.

Tech Tim said:
There are plenty of Wranglers under $10K, JKs even, if you stick with a 2dr.
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Wranglers here are in the $10k range. You can find them slightly below that, but not much, even a YJ.

You can still find ZJ & WJs for sub-2500, and occasionally an XJ, but they are typically more.

I am perfectly content finding old vehicles and working on them. There are tons of "newer" vehicles that are littering the yards, and most of the 20+ yr old ones are being scrapped, as the demand isnt as high. Mostly curious if there is some "hidden gem" out there, other than the standard stuff we always see.
 
pinchegringo said:
Reminds me of a Subaru brat we put 29 inch sxs tires on and beat to death. My old lady flopped it three times but it eventually succumb to water damage. Most fun on $1800 ever.
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You didn’t drag it out and stick another engine in it to keep beating on it?
 
Jeffh555 said:
I'm going to disagree on that one. According to a forum post from 2000 on off-road.com a Dana 44 ARB could be found for $629 back then. Adjusted for inflation that's $1,156.37. A Dana 44 ARB is now $1,091. I'm sure we can find parts that have gotten more expensive or cheaper, and yes building off-road rigs is not cheap, but I don't think that is why we see less builds. ARB too rich for your blood, I don't think welding rod has outpaced inflation. We're getting old. We remember when shit was cheaper.

While the parts are expensive, but I'd argue that you don't need most of them. I saw a trend around 2009 of people thinking they needed to have super built rigs, full ground up builds that take more time, money and skill than they have. Still today if you ask on the internet about super duty ball joints, you'd be told that they're junk and you NEED to have ball joint eliminators or deletes. This seems to perpetuate throughout the build. Stock steering is junk, you need 2.5 ton steering. You need to be on 37s and have $10k in skid plates to run the Rubicon. 4Runners and XJs are junk.

I feel like this mindset made people start never ending builds, I saw a few of them in our club. The never ending build will make you not wheel, and make you and your friends gun-shy of starting new builds.

When I got started, I had an XJ on 31s then 35s then 36s and stock front axle with a lockright. I'd drive carefully, but still break a front axleshaft every couple trips. I got good a changing them and sourcing replacements at the junkyard. My buddies with Toyotas did the same with birfs. We still went out and had a great time, and upgraded as we could afford it.
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Yeah,and minimum wage hasn't changed for 15 years.
 
Back when I was 15 I was at my cousins farm in Oregon and we bought this in Salem for 150 bucks. It was a ford escort I think.
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It got spraypainted, muffler cut off, and we did everything from building ramps with a tractor to jump it and pretending to be rally car drivers on the fireroads around his house. We would usually end up putting it in a ditch and walk back to his house to get the tractor to pull it out. Best 150 bucks ever, don't have any current pics but last time I drove it it had no windows, none of the doors closed and it was missing some, the front fenders had been torn off at some point, and it overheated since the cooling system did not work.

I remember the first time we came back with a dent in it from hitting something his mom sat us down and made us read a website about fatality statistics from crashing into trees. Good times.
 
ParadisePWoffrd said:
yup. beater in my eyes is $2500 or less, so Id say $5k all in.


Wranglers here are in the $10k range. You can find them slightly below that, but not much, even a YJ.

You can still find ZJ & WJs for sub-2500, and occasionally an XJ, but they are typically more.

I am perfectly content finding old vehicles and working on them. There are tons of "newer" vehicles that are littering the yards, and most of the 20+ yr old ones are being scrapped, as the demand isnt as high. Mostly curious if there is some "hidden gem" out there, other than the standard stuff we always see.
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Ok that's fair clarification on the age range. Makes sense.
I don't think there is a unicorn or hidden gem from y2k on except for super duties... but they are yuge!
I think the best you'll get is an in between with ifs and needing actual Fabrication to make strong enough for bigger tires in the future.
So pick your favorite body style and get some fb tires(where are we now guys, Is 37 the new 33:shaking:) get in the trails and see what breaks first, and so on and so forth.
For me, i would consider a Colorado or canyon in crew cab style to start (if i was in my 20's again :lmao:) the engine is trash but 5.3 came in some so that isn't out of the question for a conversion if a v8 isn't cheap. Not that it's my favorite body style but for a gm product of the 2000 Era to use in trails it would work and can be found around me anywhere from a grand to five. some sort of body lift to clear 33 maybe:flipoff2::flipoff2:Then rock out until it breaks
 
There's people wheeling CRVs and Subarus around here. A lot of the stuff mentioned in here is scarce in the rust belts. XJs for example I rarely see, even TJs kinda disappeared. S-10s and blazers another rarity. The small Zuki type stuff also pretty rare. Tacoma's aren't easy to find and hold value.
 
What were the biggest tires offered factory in the 90s? 33s?

Now 37s come stock so I would say 37s are the new 33s
 
I remember when the first TJ Rubicon got 33"s it was a pretty big deal. Or were those 32"s?

edit - Shit, am I misremembering? I just looked and see some references to 31"s...is that seriously what they came with? If so, yeah I take it back. Still makes 33"s impressive for 20 years ago lol
 
Well if 37 is the size you want to slap on your cheap beater, what stockish platform you gonna use to keep it cheap?
I mean, are we not talking about our 20 year old selves?
There aren't many vehicles made in the last 20 years that can be reliable with a 37 in stock form, let alone swing that big fucker without a lift or or having to take your sheet metal completely off. I don't know about you guys, but in my 20"s i had to be able to daily drive my beater because who could afford more than two vehicles back then? There were plenty of other priorities that needed attention.
But i guess if you want 37" tires on your cheap beater then a super duty is the only way. Plenty is strength for them, pretty close to clearing with stock suspension, and plenty of engine/ trans combos that can be slipped in.
 
Sterlingfire said:
Well if 37 is the size you want to slap on your cheap beater, what stockish platform you gonna use to keep it cheap?
I mean, are we not talking about our 20 year old selves?
There aren't many vehicles made in the last 20 years that can be reliable with a 37 in stock form, let alone swing that big fucker without a lift or or having to take your sheet metal completely off. I don't know about you guys, but in my 20"s i had to be able to daily drive my beater because who could afford more than two vehicles back then? There were plenty of other priorities that needed attention.
But i guess if you want 37" tires on your cheap beater then a super duty is the only way. Plenty is strength for them, pretty close to clearing with stock suspension, and plenty of engine/ trans combos that can be slipped in.
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My highschool beater had half bald 42s
 
Sterlingfire said:
Well if 37 is the size you want to slap on your cheap beater, what stockish platform you gonna use to keep it cheap?
I mean, are we not talking about our 20 year old selves?
There aren't many vehicles made in the last 20 years that can be reliable with a 37 in stock form, let alone swing that big fucker without a lift or or having to take your sheet metal completely off. I don't know about you guys, but in my 20"s i had to be able to daily drive my beater because who could afford more than two vehicles back then? There were plenty of other priorities that needed attention.
But i guess if you want 37" tires on your cheap beater then a super duty is the only way. Plenty is strength for them, pretty close to clearing with stock suspension, and plenty of engine/ trans combos that can be slipped in.
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A lot of vehicles could be bought and built with rcvs, 37s , and a sawzall for 10k.

Hell any cheap jeep, 05+ ford axles, and a welding machine
 
Cash for Clunkers hit the delete key on thousands of average trucks and SUVs that average people didn't care about. They just wanted their government cheese. Not a conspiracy.

I also want to advocate that all the talk about beater trucks and tire size. Until you get into some real hairy shit most anything can be wheeled with skill.

Now exploding aluminum front diffs, not holding an alignment, and not making an inspection hole in the engine block...all different stories.
 
You know thinking about it Xterras and Pathfinders used to be everywhere and are about the 20year vintage. I don't really see those anymore either. CFC put a spin on the market for sure.
 
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