Oh, and the easy button is an ATV. I have a Polaris Scrambler that can be had all day for $1k, that I tow on a Harbor Freight trailer behind the minivan. If it gets stuck, someone pulls me out. If it dies or I hit a tree (long story) I just tow it home.
She has new plastics now after a recent refresh. Parts are on CL and Ebay all the time. Mine is a 400cc but there is a 500cc that is a little nicer as well.
I will just leave this here from a different member of the forums.
Also would a cheap CRV or RAV 4 work for off-road?
In reply to ckosacranoid :
I'm throwing the draintrain from a cheap RAV4 under a BG chassis if that's a clue 
If you can find a good one, the late model Isuzu Amigo 2-door (later called the Rodeo Sport) is a very good little SUV. The V6 had around 205 hp IIRC (I had a '99 for 120,000 miles) and came with a Dana 44 rear end, limited slip, both chassis and powertrain were very rugged (a real truck, not a car) and I never had any problems of any kind and I drove it all over Colorado and some in Moab. Easy to lift, too, back in the day you just called up a company in California called Valley Spring Works, told them you had a 99 Amigo that you wanted to lift 2 inches and they sent you a set of rear coil springs for around $200. Add a set of Old Man Emu shocks, readjust the front torsion bars to level out the ride height, and you are done in one easy day in your garage (followed by an alignment). Same thing should work for the late model Rodeo, which is the same basic vehicle with the longer wheelbase and four doors. I would guess that the last Troopers were also good. Biggest problem would be parts.
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:In reply to ckosacranoid :
I'm throwing the draintrain from a cheap RAV4 under a BG chassis if that's a clue
Keeping the Toyota engine, or using a BP engine?
Years ago there was a Scandinavian solution for using a Celica GT4 transmission in the 323GTX as an end run around their transmission issues.
Land Rover Discovery.... I'll duck and Cover now before someone throws something at me hahaha.
Seriously though, they have plenty going for them. If you need any convincing watch some old camel trophy footage, they were largely stock mechanically outside of diff mods and some slightly larger tyres. In fact, just go watch some camel trophy footage anyways because it'll give you all the inspiration you could want to go out and play in the mud regardless of what rig you choose.
The less obvious answer
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
BP of course. Riel adapters still makes the conversion plates. The E15x transmissions are far easier to source than mazda awd bits and they're far more stout as well. It's an annoyance to source all the little bits and to get a driveshaft fabricated, but being able to handle 500awhp without grenading will be nicer
Nobody mentioned the first Gen Isuzu Trooper! Slow as b@!!$, but the damn things go anywhere.
daeman said:Land Rover Discovery.... I'll duck and Cover now before someone throws something at me hahaha.
Seriously though, they have plenty going for them. If you need any convincing watch some old camel trophy footage, they were largely stock mechanically outside of diff mods and some slightly larger tyres. In fact, just go watch some camel trophy footage anyways because it'll give you all the inspiration you could want to go out and play in the mud regardless of what rig you choose.
Very competent off-road for sure - make sure you're getting one with a lockable center diff. But parts supply is a little more difficult than a Jeep and expect all the interior luxo bits to be trashed.
Keith Tanner said:If you do go for a Toyota, stay away from the 3.0 V6. It combines a lack of power with head gasket failure rates that would make a Subaru engine embarrassed. . ... The 3.4 is a different story.
Yep. I had a 4-runner with the 3.0 and it was the worst of both worlds - gutless and a fuel hog. My friend's Suburban was about twice as large, yet had much more power and got better fuel economy. Then my uncle bought a 4-runner with basically the same body, but the 3.4 and the vehicle was transformed.
When looking at the Japanese offerings, don't forget the luxury variants. I routinely see Lexus' going for less money than the equivalent Toyota, even though the Toyota has seen hard use and the Lexus was a housewife's ride.
The Avalon video makes me chuckle. I was making my way to Fordice lake in Northern California in the 4-runner when I hit a section of fire-road that was partially washed away. If you slipped off the edge, you were looking at about two hundred feet of tumbling and rolling into a gulley. As I sat there, trying to gather my courage, I noticed a Chevy Caprice parked by the lake. Skill and courage go a long way....
I've had a 1997 Nissan pickup truck since February 2009. The first hundred thousand miles or so it was a wonderful on-road and off-road truck. After being hit head-on and bending the frame it has become an awesome off-roader. I remove the doors that would not function put tire chains on it and it goes everywhere. I'd recommend the cheapest running small truck you can find. Pictures forthcoming
In 1997 I bought a 1974 Ford F-100 short box has a 390 in it lifted 5 in. I bought it out in hemet ca. I absolutely love the truck but it sucks on tight trails in the sand dunes or an Open Country it rules
In reply to accordionfolder :
You would love a dirtbike. They're so much more fun than 4 wheeling.
twowheeled said:In reply to accordionfolder :
You would love a dirtbike. They're so much more fun than 4 wheeling.
Yup. tough to carry firewood for the winter however
In moab we rented a very done up Rubicon with 38" tires, lockers, rock rails, etc. One of the trails we did was poison spider but after 2 hours we were losing light and had to turn around without completing it. The next day I rode that trail on my dirtbike and I made it up to the top and back in a hour!
ckosacranoid said:
Also would a cheap CRV or RAV 4 work for off-road?
Best I can tell (as a guy shopping for an older-but-well-kept CRV or RAV4) these don't exist.
I really loved my 91 rodeo for this. 31x10.50 was the stock tire size. With the gm 3.1 and 5 speed it was a blast on trails once I installed a rear locker. Growing up around sand rails and dune buggy's it was weird being enclosed but worked great and was cheap!
ive wheeled a full size and as long as the trails are wide enough it can be fun.
ClemSparks said:ckosacranoid said:
Also would a cheap CRV or RAV 4 work for off-road?
Best I can tell (as a guy shopping for an older-but-well-kept CRV or RAV4) these don't exist.
Weird I have a buddy that loves the late 90s ones and he just put a rebuilt head on a clean auto 4x4 and figures it will only go for 1500-2k he's prepping 2 for sale and he daily's one of his 2 depending on time of year
I suppose I'm talking about "well kept" ones and the OP is looking for something low cost to play off road. So my comment was probably not appropriate.
I'm not sure how good a CR-V/RAV4 would be off road...but it would be better than nothing!
My little bit of off road experience makes me want to advise "Get whatever you want and go enjoy it...you'll be ahead of 90% of people (regular people...not GRM) who give advice on off-roading."
I had a Samurai years ago that was an absolute hoot in an off-road setting. I wouldn't want to drive it on the road more than just to and from a local trail...but off road at 1 MPH it was at home.
Then I got a $500 3/4 ton '82 Chevy 4x4. It was also a complete riot.
Here's some terrible video proof: https://youtu.be/SLZk3n_Tpfs
If you have a place to experience off road...just pick up the first cheap thing that you think might be suitable and go enjoy. If you decide your choice wasn't optimal...sell it for what you have in it when you find your next choice ;)
accordionfolder said:Here's a badge engineered one I guess?
I have an entire build thread on my raider over in the build section. Other than the badges it is 100% Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero.
look for the ones with the headlight sprayers because that indicates it has the off-road package with a factory rear LSD
Why not just miata with a paco lift?
You could just send it and not care!
irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:accordionfolder said:Here's a badge engineered one I guess?
I have an entire build thread on my raider over in the build section. Other than the badges it is 100% Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero
+1 For Montero/Raider, ours with 235/75r15 tires tackled all the same trails as a JK wrangler on 33s on Drummond Island. Incredibly easy to drive offroad. As mentioned they are creeping up in value with the rest of the 80s Japanese SUVs.
In our area, finding a Montero, Trooper, Amigo, Samurai, or any other 80s/90s Japanese SUV is FAR easier than finding a clean Jeep. Michigan has crazy Jeep Tax, since it seems to be the default SUV of choice for rich suburban high school beaters and the most popular offroad platform by far in the region.
Getting something more common like a Jeep XJ over something more obscure really makes more sense if you'll be doing serious offroading. Finding parts for a Isuzu in backwoods country will be near to impossible, while nearly every junkyard in the country has Jeep parts, and every corner store auto parts store carries something to limp you home.
To expand on my earlier comment since I now have a actual keyboard...
I started out with a Samurai that I traded a enclosed trailer for. Build thread Here. Lots of lift. Locked diffs. 33" tires. Winch. Tire carrier. The works. It was literally unstoppable. I've never gotten it stuck.
It sucked to drive on the street. And unless all your wheeling is going to be in one place, you need a streetable vehicle that is capable off road. Enter Samurai 2.0. 2" of lift. 30" AT tires. No tire carrier. A 100% more usable vehicle for the off road exploring I do. It still hasn't been stuck. I don't go through what I can go around. Still really only usable as a local rig. At 70 it's not a lot of fun to drive. If you want to go any serious distance, you are going to want to flat tow it. Also, no A/C in the south kills it for anything other than a 3 season rig. As it sits now. I still love the little thing and it's a vehicle I'll probably never sell.
In the search for something a little nicer to drive I came up with this. A 2000 Cherokee. Build thread Here It has a few creature comforts the Samurai was lacking. Notably, A/C, cruise control, and power steering. I bought a pretty nice one instead of a beater and it set me back about $3500.
In preparation for some trips I want to make over the next couple of years it now looks like this. I learned my lessons on the Samurai. It is very capable and still drives very well down the interstate at 75 with the cruise set and the A/C on full blast.
You probably need to start with considering what kind of off roading you want to do. Rock crawling demands a completely different vehicle compared to sightseeing or camping is at the end of a dirt road. The Trans American Trail is going to require a different vehicle than mud bogging. Spend some time on YouTube and see what appeals to you and go from there.
You can pick up a XJ on 33s with 6" of lift for pretty cheap. You won't want to drive it 500 miles to the mountains to explore forest service roads though. If you want to go run the Kentucky Adventure Tour, a Rav4 probably won't make it and a full size truck it going to get scratched to hell and back. There are also some places a full size vehicle just won't go.
I picked the XJ for it's size, availability of parts anywhere in North America, inexpensive aftermarket and parts support. For instance, the winch bumper for my XJ was $150. A winch bumper for my son's Xterra is $600. Do some research and see what fits your needs and budget.
Edit to add: My son blew up the above mentioned Xterra. A rebuilt engine was $3500 and working on that thing was a pain. In the year he owned it I had to retrieve it from the side of the road 4 times for assorted issues. He bought the green XJ in my first post, added a 2" lift, 5 - 31x10.5x15 tires, replaced a bent tie rod, and replaced the oil pan gasket for under $2500.
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