The best advice I could give is to just drive the damn car with a basic lift and some all terrains.

seriously. I have jumped into more projects w/ little knowledge than anyone I think.LOL gotten rid of almost all of them due to one thing or another.

just drive the damn thing, or go by a sxs.

One mans unfinished project is another's base Brian. If the first person to do a 2.2 swap had listened to the negatives we would not have as sweet of cars as we do, same goes for lifting our little Roos, it just takes time and patience.

 

Go for it and don't get frustrated when it gets hard ( which it definitely will ) that gl is gonna be a sweet base though

Edited January 23, 201511 yr by sumoco

Monstaru

 your advise may be the way to go.

 A few weeks ago I found a killer deal on a wildcat. I have wanted one long before they came out in 2012. After we brought it home I told my wife that I was abandoning the home made side by side. She informed me that she didn't want me to abandon it. I told her that I didn't care I was abandoning  it. The next day she told the kids to go out and see gramps's new toy. The kids ran out and looked and the grand childe that I have bonded with the most said O I was hoping it was a 4 seater and walked back inside with his head down. I turned to my bride and said the 4 seater is back on. 

 Having said that maybe the lift and new rubber is the way to go.

 At this point I have been so busy I haven't killed any thing for over a year.

Apintonut,

 I don't know where you find all of this information but I'm sure glad that you do. I looked at jbain8 and biohazard2222's profiles they haven't been on for 4 and 5 years. I will still send them a email but it is another long shot.

 Thanks

 

Google ;-)

And u are following the some of the same rout I did but you asked more questions than I did truth be told I know what I would build if I had another zero behind my yearly income subarugears.com and a fugitive2 four seated rear engine 4x4

But I'm old school for my age (built not bout) (I'd be building in a bigger shop with nicer tools) when I first seen ur posts I thought about offering up my buggy for sale so yes some projects go bust but some don't.

Check to see if any one that did post that they had plan profile was filled out and find them on Facebook with there name and location

 

Also I've become friends with a few people from this form said the where going to kick my but into gear on distractions (my buggy's name) to make it to wcss

I'm not being negative. I am being realistic.

It is not about forging a new way for me, much like these guys, it is about the build. I get that. But through my experience,  I should have just done some basic things until I understood the vehicles. They do talk to you after you beat them for a while. I mean hell, JBBVW has beat his car for almost 9 yrs. He has taken it more places than a side by side can go. And we live in the woods.

just saying.

I'm not being negative. I am being realistic.

It is not about forging a new way for me, much like these guys, it is about the build. I get that. But through my experience,  I should have just done some basic things until I understood the vehicles. They do talk to you after you beat them for a while. 

 

Sometimes it's sweet nothings while toodling over rocky terrain and other times its "Hey spardnubbin why did you that?!!" when you bury them up to the windows in mud.

I'm not being negative. I am being realistic.

It is not about forging a new way for me, much like these guys, it is about the build. I get that. But through my experience, I should have just done some basic things until I understood the vehicles. They do talk to you after you beat them for a while. I mean hell, JBBVW has beat his car for almost 9 yrs. He has taken it more places than a side by side can go. And we live in the woods.

just saying.

 

 

Indeed. A simple lift, a weber, a welded rear diff and some mud terrains. GO!

 

And Brain my friend, I've seen some CRAZY stuff that those side by sides pull off. None of our little soobs could do stuff I've seen them do. my Rubicon would be speechless if it saw what I've seen. Skip forward to about 16 minutes.  yikes!!   They pop back in about 27 minutes again.  Awesome watch either way.   

 

 

also. This is reply #109. lol No nothing yet?

Its amazing what happens when you combine lots of very expensive parts and just enough skill to press the throttle to the floor.Bunch of idiots with more money than brains.

^^^^^^^  The last thing I'd expect to hear.  This from a guy who lost his car on the way home.  rotflmao.

 

 

That stuff is AWESOME!!!  I'd love to have one of those things.  

In normal wheeling,climbs are done slow and controlled, only using throttle as a last resort.Those guys just stand on the throttle from the get go and thanks to super expensive parts, it works out.

In normal wheeling,climbs are done slow and controlled, only using throttle as a last resort.Those guys just stand on the throttle from the get go and thanks to super expensive parts, it works out.

 

+1

 

I never liked drag racing

In the words of the almighty Suicidal Tendencies:  'Just because you don't understand it, don't mean it don't make no sense.  And just because you don't like it don't mean it ain't no good.'

^^^ Love it.

 

 

#114 BTW.

Edited February 3, 201511 yr by NorthCoast

I think this is about the best advice there is. Also a perk is it is street legal and I don't need to fight that.

 

Now the question is how much lift?

 

I cannot seam to handle the quote function. I tried many times to quote post 101 

Edited February 3, 201511 yr by utcoyotehunter

I think this is about the best advice there is. Also a perk is it is street legal and I don't need to fight that.

 

Now the question is how much lift?

 

I cannot seam to handle the quote function. I tried many times to quote post 101 

 

4 inches in the front, 3 in the rear.  Add some 27 inch mud terrains.  Weld the rear diff.  Grab a come a long, a strap and a shovel.  Go.   Work through things as they come up.  i.e.:  bumpers, stowage, lights.  Spend a year doing that.  If your car takes you to all the places you need to go, you've done it right.  If that car has too many problems with the trails you're on, bail on it and buy an old Toyota truck and repeat the process.

 

After a while I got sick of going down the gnarly hills and wanted to go up them.  So I bought a Toyota.  After a while I wanted to go up the REALLY GNARLY stuff, so I locked it and added 4.88s.  Then I needed a back seat cuz of kids, so I bought a Wrangler.  

Any progress? Are you building yet?

I just found some plans Saturday and was going over them last night looking at what mods to make.

 

I like your idea to make the chassis to accept any transmition.

Did you get RhinoBuggy plans?

 

I stretched the Bandit plans to make it a 4 seater.  Easy to do!

 

There are some issues with the plans.

I uploaded some pics that show a brace behind the front wheel that will need to be moved to the rear.

Your front wheels will hit this brace if you build it to factory specs.

 

Converting the plans from right hand drive to left hand drive is not as straight forward as you would think.

 

I also lowered the gas tank from what Rhino called for.

No reason to have it up high where they put it.

Lower center of gravity, still well protected, gives room to haul gear or people in the back of the buggy.

 

I'll text you over the weekend.

Yes the plans that I received are rhino buggy plans they are stalker style.

The changes I intend to make are a 4 seater. I hope to change the rear of the buggy but not sure how much I can get away with due to structural issues.The #13 brace you have mentioned. I don't plan on going with very big tires but it dose give me options when I change my mind.

 

Thanks Rob,

The Stalker and the bandit are the same basic frames/plans.

There are only minor differences in the top side & rear end designs.

 

I dropped the front of my hood by 9" from that the plans called for.

Why have the hood and fenders blocking your view?

 

I also minimized anything that goes farther forward than the radiator.

I wanted a good angle of approach.

 

Us a Chevrolet S10 rear seat as it fits nicely.

It will include integrated seat belts.

 

Design in some head room for the rear passengers.

They will be sitting slightly higher than the front passengers.

 

After talking with other rock crawlers and asking them what they would do different.

No one put in a heater.  Everyone wished they had.

I transferred the heater core to the buggy. 

Even in an open air buggy it make a difference on snowmobile trails.

Hey hey hey !!!! If there is hard copy of plans going around I need coppys!!!!!!!

I have been responding with Sweet 82 the past couple of weeks.  He invited my bride and me up to the mountains to see Summer.  We quickly accepted and met at a nearby trail.  Sweet 82 was very insightful and went over everything with me down to the changes that he had done to the bandit plans.  There were many.  He also showed me the difference in the stocker plans.  As he has stated on the forum before, the frame is the same on the two plans.

 

We took Summer for a test ride and even though it has a welded differential it will turn on a dime.  With the tractor tread tires that it has on Summer it has a definite ATV ride not a car ride, but this is to be expected when making an ATV out of a car.

 

The aluminum paneling that he installed were lightly recessed back in the frame work and the fit looked like they were laser cut.  He has re-posted some of his build pictures in the gallery and they are worth a look.  For my needs I will need to make some small changes but they are very basic.  It is time to start getting my steel together. 

Soooooo.......about a copy of these plans....

It has been over eight months and this is the 125th post and I have finely got my toes wet. I got my first batch of steel for the lower frame on Thursday and cut the majority of it today. For my height 6'2" I did add 300mm(about a foot) to the length since when I sat in Summer it was a little tight in front and back. I plan to tack it together this week after work.  This should go rather quickly.  Maybe too quickly, since the next step I will need a pipe bender.  This obstacle I have not overcome yet but will soon enough.

  After I get the lower frame tacked together I will start posting pictures.