Mike,
Do you have any more pix of the frame chop/drop?  I'd like to see some plating pix before paint.  Anything would be great.  Thanks!  (GREAT build by the way!)

Eric

I do have some better pics but not on this computer. I wont be able to post them till tomorrow night.

BTW, Thanks for all the compliments. This was a much larger project than I had anticipated and Its always nice to see that others understand why I put forth the effort.

With a 4 1/2" frame chop & drop and sliding it forward, are you going to do a centered diff?  At least your motor fits under the hood without modification.

You have done an amazing build in a short time, which shows the importance of having the entire donor vehicle for parts.  Of course having a plan on what your are going to do helps (not to mention your skills).

I do have some better pics but not on this computer. I wont be able to post them till tomorrow night.

Excellent!
 

Pic as requested. I used 3 inch strap but if I were to do it again I would have used a plasma cutter to cut a single piece of plate for each side. It is capped top and bottom. It was what I had and I was on a time constraint.

With a 4 1/2" frame chop & drop and sliding it forward, are you going to do a centered diff?  At least your motor fits under the hood without modification.

I do not have plans to center mount this diff but I wont rule it out sometime in the future. I do like that mod.

I love the frame lift, great mod, I've wanted to do one to mine for about 5
years now, but I never have had a shop to work in  .

What I just can't get over is how much rust is on the undercarriage after
only 10 years    I don't know how you guys deal with it, I'm sure glad
I don't have to deal with that here.
Wild

I love the frame lift, great mod, I've wanted to do one to mine for about 5
years now, but I never have had a shop to work in  .

What I just can't get over is how much rust is on the undercarriage after
only 10 years    I don't know how you guys deal with it, I'm sure glad
I don't have to deal with that here.
Wild

LOL! I bought this rig because of how little rust it had!    Thats no joke. Most of these dont even have any rockers left. First gen trackers have suffered a far worse fate around here. Most every first gen around here is near see through.

do you find you have much bump steer with the 33's on the rack and pinion steering?, that was my biggest issue when i had 33's on the xl7.


nice work btw, what are you going to do about the xl7 rear end locker issue?

-Lance

do you find you have much bump steer with the 33's on the rack and pinion steering?, that was my biggest issue when i had 33's on the xl7.


nice work btw, what are you going to do about the xl7 rear end locker issue?

-Lance

There is no bump steer. Keep in mind there really is no angle on the tierods. The front suspension is entirely stock. No lift at all. The wheels are stock and have the correct offset for the vehicle. I am not running a swaybar though so I do get a little body roll. I am going to try to swap V6 coils into the front and see if that helps. I havent been able to find any yet. I dont like running sway bars on off road rigs.

As for the XL7 locker issue, well, I dont know yet. I dont even know what the spider gears look like. However, I have 31 spline ford spiders mixed with a suzuki lock rite locker in a tracker rear being used as a front diff in my buggy. After all that I would think the XL7 issue should be fairly simple. Just gotta figure out how much crap needs to be machined

Quote from: sir lance on November 07, 2010, 03:06:38 PM

do you find you have much bump steer with the 33's on the rack and pinion steering?, that was my biggest issue when i had 33's on the xl7.


nice work btw, what are you going to do about the xl7 rear end locker issue?

-Lance

There is no bump steer. Keep in mind there really is no angle on the tierods. The front suspension is entirely stock. No lift at all. The wheels are stock and have the correct offset for the vehicle. I am not running a swaybar though so I do get a little body roll. I am going to try to swap V6 coils into the front and see if that helps. I havent been able to find any yet. I dont like running sway bars on off road rigs.

As for the XL7 locker issue, well, I dont know yet. I dont even know what the spider gears look like. However, I have 31 spline ford spiders mixed with a suzuki lock rite locker in a tracker rear being used as a front diff in my buggy. After all that I would think the XL7 issue should be fairly simple. Just gotta figure out how much crap needs to be machined

mmmmmm...

I would love to hear about it when you figure out a locker for the XL-7.  Are all XL-7 diffs the same?  I mean I have a 2006 set of axles - would the 4.25 gears swap for 5.12 from an older XL-7? 

mmmmmm...

I would love to hear about it when you figure out a locker for the XL-7.  Are all XL-7 diffs the same?  I mean I have a 2006 set of axles - would the 4.25 gears swap for 5.12 from an older XL-7? 

I am not 100% sure but I am under the assumption that they do.

Quote from: muskegtracker on November 07, 2010, 09:33:14 PM

mmmmmm...

I would love to hear about it when you figure out a locker for the XL-7.  Are all XL-7 diffs the same?  I mean I have a 2006 set of axles - would the 4.25 gears swap for 5.12 from an older XL-7? 

I am not 100% sure but I am under the assumption that they do.

Thanks Mike.  I guess I'll have to look into it some more.

However, I have 31 spline ford spiders mixed with a suzuki lock rite locker in a tracker rear being used as a front diff in my buggy. After all that I would think the XL7 issue should be fairly simple. Just gotta figure out how much crap needs to be machined

I don't remember reading about running Ford spiders in a Tracker rear.  Are you using spiders from a 8.8 or a 9"?

That is totally cool.  I've always liked the looks of the 2ng gens better than the 1st gens.  This last summer I could have bought an 03 Tracker with hard and soft tops and 100k miles for $5000.  Instead I bought an 05 Wrangler Unlimited for more than twice that.  Now I get to pay through the nose for gas.  I wish I had stayed with a Zuk!