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Picking a budget trail rig?

DFW Rusty

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With the completion of our house being in hand, and the wife being ultimately happy I am hoping to be in the market for a budget starter rig soon. Have to finish the skirting on our house and build our carport, should be 100% by March-ish.


What I am wanting is to get something farily barebones, relatively complete vehicle that either needs TLC or something along those lines, preferrably older (old enough to antique tag), full frame (no XJ), auto(preferred, can swap later), has a factory full (3 wide) back seat for the kids. This will give me my building blocks for a future build. I'll probably spend a short time fixing it up and making it road worthy and light trail worthy and then enjoy it for a year or less. During that time I will slowly build my stock pile of beefy parts: 2.5ton rock wells, atlas or doubler, hydro steer components, beadlocks, 44" TSL's... etc... etc... then when I have all my parts build my rig. Then build kind of an old school heavy, full bodied, family trail rig. I don't really want an already built rig cuz most full bodied trail rigs of this size are hammered dog shit or over priced lightly hammered dog shit!

I am leaning towards a K5 blazer preferably a mid to late 80's model, but not sure what would be the best choice.

So on that note and given the specs I plan to dump into the rig, what would Irate4x4 pick for the vehicle to build, budget being $5k ish (preferrably a little under) I almost posted this in General4x4 section, but given I'm not in the market yet and dont have my rig yet I'm not going to start a "maybe if" thread there. I know full bodied rigs aren't for everyone, and they aren't as capable as buggies, but it's my preference. My last rig was a full bodied TJ on rockwells and 46" tires and although it was a heavy pile, I loved the look of a full body rig on the trails and big tires.
 
what part of 44's rockwells and doubler is budget?? :laughing:

4 door pickup and bob the bed, ford and chevy should have tons of options for 5k

Budget is the vehicle, not the build... I supposed I should have titled "turn cheap beater into trail rig".
 
99+ Crew cab pickup with short short bed or Tahoe, Yukon would be my go to. Imo the k5 is not the way to go. The frames are weak, cost a mint to insure, and sheet metal is becoming expensive. Yes, they certainly are better looking, and nostalgic, but i would hate to crumple one up. Just my shitty opinion though:flipoff2:
 
5.0L Explorer on SuperDudy axles.


Not as cool as a K5/Bronco/Ramcharger, but cool cost some more money now.

Explorer is actually a really good idea, I saw one for sale awhile ago for like $8k trail ready
I think they're cool:smokin: but I also like weird stuff :laughing:
 
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I'm going to vote K5. Get one already beat on a bit. Repo parts easy to find. Tons of years to swap with. Has the back seat and you can remove the top as you want.
 
I've got a 2000 5.0 explorer...running. was planning on using the 5.0 in a 77 f150 but I'd part with it.

A tree fell and caught the passenger side of the roof so that's messed up along with the windshield.

East Tennessee
 
We watched the dirt every day with the f250 over christmas break and my wife loved that truck. Prolly wouldn't be to hard to find a beat up gasser f250 4x4 short bed work truck in Texas for too much money.... That might be the way to go.


Y'all are right about K5 not being too cheap. Was looking a bit ago and K5 for sub $5k is pretty junked out. Tons of 02ish dodge 1/2 ton 4x4 crew cabs for $5k range on fb market place.
 
$3000 running driving v10 crew cab superduty. Bob the shit out of it and stuff 37s or 40s under it till your budget Rockwell's come In


Or the newest escalade/Tahoe/similar you can buy with your budget. Hopefully something with an 6l trans



:Edit: you may be able to get the d.e.d. crew cab for cheap. It seems to always be floating around for sale at about parts cost
 
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I love the idea of a 2001+ tahoe/Yukon for a big family wheeler.
 
Ive thought about this a good bit. It was my plan until I bought my 79. Beater super duty is going to be hard to beat for a budget wheeler. You start off with a solid axle, and one tons at that. Sure beats spending weeks stuffing a 60 under a comparable gm of the era

Hack the rear frame off at the spring hanger, build a flat bed for cheap, ditch the fat lip front bumper and you will have acceptable approach and departure angles. You can even leave the wheelbase right where it’s at and still be happy with it. Leaf springs are cheap and proven, and easy to dick with to get more flex. It won’t have the performance of coil overs and links, but you want cheap and easy so you can enjoy it while you buy parts.

This actually makes the most sense, and i don't really like ford body style post 1980...
 
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We watched the dirt every day with the f250 over christmas break and my wife loved that truck. Prolly wouldn't be to hard to find a beat up gasser f250 4x4 short bed work truck in Texas for too much money.... That might be the way to go.


Y'all are right about K5 not being too cheap. Was looking a bit ago and K5 for sub $5k is pretty junked out. Tons of 02ish dodge 1/2 ton 4x4 crew cabs for $5k range on fb market place.

Agreed about buying a dooty for cheap. The idea peaked my interest. Good axles, can be found with manual trannies, getting really cheap. Engines are junk but w/e. Would have to pinch the nose and bob the rear but it seems like it would be a good beater/throw away trail rig.
 
Dont get me wrong. I’m not a die hard ford guy. I love my gmt800, and I love k5s. But all the old solid axle standby rigs are either hammered and rotten, or the price is higher than giraffe pussy. I’d much rather (and I do) daily a gm of that era than the ford, but the super duty is a better off the shelf solution for a wheeler. The gm ifs is useless for anything much more than fire roads or sand.

Over the k5 (or a bronco) you get tons right of the bat. A frame that doesn’t flex as much as the suspension. The crew cab is much easier to load the family into with back doors. A shortened bed gives you room to haul supplies. A/c and a heater keeps the family happy. Plus you’re not locked into the k5/bronco 110” wheelbase.

Damn it, now I’m going to be looking for cheap super duty’s again.

:lmao:Funny you say that...i was gonna get a busted up 05+ super duty, build the suspension to flex, put my 37's on it, and stick my good 01 body and motor/ trans/ t case into it for quick simple yet strong and useful setup.
 
Agreed about buying a dooty for cheap. The idea peaked my interest. Good axles, can be found with manual trannies, getting really cheap. Engines are junk but w/e. Would have to pinch the nose and bob the rear but it seems like it would be a good beater/throw away trail rig.

That's the biggest downfall i can see, the body is YUGE!:laughing:
 
Do it!

I’m dumb enough that my 05 will get the sd axle under it. It’s not a wheeler though, I just want a solid axle under my work truck/daily. Low lift and 35s, capable enough to explore if I want to, but not built enough to encourage me to do anything stupid:homer:

And don’t worry about the giant body. Nature will take its course, and it will clearance itself after a few trips:flipoff2:

I used to trail beat K5's back when they were dirt cheap and I can attest to this fact.
 
Xterra if it's enough room.

05-09 can be had dirt cheap with a bad transmission (failed cooler, cross contamination) bad timing chain guides (faulty chain design) or a low oil pressure light (timing cover o-ring).

If you get an Offroad or Pro-4x it'll have an m226 (Dana 44 variant) rear end with an e-locker. IIRC an 07+ will have the stronger version of the locking diff.

Ton of upgrades you can do with OEM parts from the other F-Alpha Nissan trucks. "Titan swap" for long travel IFS and 6" wider track. 5.6L is a plug and play swap (Nissan even put it in the Pathfinder) and can be done with the 6spd manual. QX80 axles will work with the factory front diff and Titan width arms. Etc etc etc.
 
Do it!

I’m dumb enough that my 05 will get the sd axle under it. It’s not a wheeler though, I just want a solid axle under my work truck/daily. Low lift and 35s, capable enough to explore if I want to, but not built enough to encourage me to do anything stupid:homer:

And don’t worry about the giant body. Nature will take its course, and it will clearance itself after a few trips:flipoff2:

I wanted to, but my wife is getting what she wants, and that's not 37's or bigger.... she wants to be back on 33-35" tires again. Something we can do Fire roads, take camping, and pull some quads around:smokin: She doesn't like the hard trails i like, so I'll keep building my beast and shell get her daily on mud tires:laughing:
Eventually I'd like to do some stuff with the ifs and try to get some more reliable travel out of it, but not right away. I have a couple trucks i gotta make into one in order to get this done for her, but I'm hoping to get it out of the shop by spring....i haven't even brought it in the shop yet:rolleyes:
 
Well, at the sceep like pace you’ve been working at, you should have that wrapped up for her spring of 2023:lmao:

What was the goal with your 08(?)? Get it built and ready to wheel for a trip that was like 2 months out? And then it went like every project I start, where it takes 10 times longer than you thought and you end up working on everything else possible besides your project

:rolleyes:100% correct on all accounts... now I've got 4 projects piled up in front of that. Pretty much all 4 are fixing stock vehicles that are broken, but yeah my pace could use a boost:lmao:
 
Crazy GF traded in her F350 for a new Ram 3500... There is a mighty nice F350 in Colorado right now. She traded it in because of some intermittent over fuel pressure code (diesel). I don't blame her when she is hauling 4 horses with an LQ.... PS.... Horse girls are fucking bat shit crazy, but I love em....:lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:
 
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