DougyFresh

definately toyota mini truck, 79-85.

i have had the joy of driving two 4x4 toyota mini trucks, one was on 33's with locked axles front and rear and one was on 35's with open axles.

the one on 33's would literally go anywhere you pointed it, we had it on hills that i would almost bet money a k5 would flip over backwards, i even stopped halfway up one of them and took off again just to try flipping it and it wouldnt... we had it for almost a year and never once got it stuck

the one on 35's was almost the same way, but it would lose traction on extreme climbs and deep mudholes would stop it, but otherwise, it was close to as good... we had plans of locking the axles in it, but never got a chance to before the owner broke it in half.

that said, my opinion is the only weak point of a TMT is the frame, they rot out from the trans crossmember to the front leaf hanger.

DougyFresh

Samurai is definately a close second though, add in the full TMT drivetrain with locked axles, 33's, and a SOA lift, and you are in for one heck of a play toy that still drives good on the road.

Ol' Bloo

Id have to go for old chevy K5's or izuzu's. The trooper and pup are reliable, cheap, and get better mpg's than most jeeps with surprising aftermarket support. My dad used to wheel a 90's model S10 blazer that did fairly well too. I've also heard great things about the old mistubishi montero's from back in the day. Overall...id still choose an XJ.

DougyFresh

i should have said i still have whats left of the one that was on 35's... i have the axles, transmission, transfercase, driveshafts, and the frame back to the transmission crossmember...

i'm seriously thinking about building a frame from crossmember back and finding a 2 door XJ body to set down on it...then i get to combine my two offroad loves, XJ's and TMT's... get the stoutness of toyota axles and the sheer good looks of a 2 door XJ all in one package

Ianf406

lots of samuris up in montana.. some of them look pretty awsome when they are done right.. even saw a geo tracker that looked preatty awsome

Ianf406

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...1t:429,r:2,s:0

looks alot like the tracker i saw

DougyFresh

tracker's arent bad either if you want something thats super close to fitting down an ATV trail! i really want to get one and strip it down to basically a slightly overgrown yamaha rhino and make it fully independent suspended with long travel suspension all the way around, but keep it stock width and run 31x10.5's...

Ol' Bloo

Well I've fit my XJ on ATV trails before without a single issue, don't be that guy who drives a tracker.

HCCAFan

I have been thinking about Bronco IIs lately. The full size Broncos and K5s are so heavy, you need something pretty big to pull you out.

Bronco IIs are cheap as dirt because no one wants them and a lot of people put the axles out of them in other stuff so they must be decent. The 2.9 V6 in them is also a great motor. B2s are small for tight trails, light for getting pulled out, and swapping in a V8 seems viable. A B2 on 40s with a small V8 would be just about unstoppable.

I also like yotas and nissan pickups but sellers are usually too proud of them.

DannyH

Yoda's are dope, but they can be somewhat expensive to buy because they hold their value pretty well.

I bought a 1985 fully-functioning GMC 4X4 last year for $500. Now that's a bargain!

DougyFresh

actually, the axles in B2's are junk, worse than what's in our xj's...

BUT, they are super easy to build... i have went over the basic B2 budget build in my head numerous times...buy a B2 for $500, sell the stock drivetrain from engine to axles for $200 and your in for $300 for the B2 frame, body, and interior....pick up a wrecked 91-94 Explorer for $750 and pull the complete drivetrain and swap it into the B2. the explorer front end is a dana 35 (wee bit different from our rearends) and the rearend as we all know is an 8.8. the explorer engine is a 4.0 v6 and if you get a 5 speed you get a M5OD trans. you will need to pretty much do the rear end like you would to put it in an XJ, move the shock mounts and put the spring perches on top of the axle. the explorer coils and leaf springs are also good for roughly 2 inches of lift on a B2... explorer springs and some fender trimming and your clearing 32's, if not 33's

wow, i just realized i know quite a bit about B2's...

if i were going to build a B2, i would put a non disco jeep d30 in the front, 8.8 in the back, ford 4.0, M5OD, manual t-case, explorer springs, trimmed fenders, and 33's...

98CherokeeLimit4x4

I've always liked the toyota's straight axle or ifs both are great. and I like old chevy 4x4 75 to early 80's best trucks ever made in my opinion 350 will last forever.

HCCAFan

I was thinking the Dana 35 the 90+ ones have up front and I thought the 7.5 was decent in the rear.

Thanks for the clarification though. Starting to seem it's not worth it.

bravododger

I'm not sure how to do it, but can we make a vote thread with maybe 10 different vechiles in it? We could the popular vechiles from here as a baseline. Obviously being XJ guys, no XJ's =) Anyone care to make one or participate?

DougyFresh

VERY, VERY few B2's have d35's up front... VERY few... about as rare as hen's teeth...

the 7.5 is junk