My first wife had a Tracker, it was a blast to drive/play with, but it was hers, when we split 7 years ago, & I havent been around them until last week.

me & second wife were looking for a vehicle since she wrecked her car, & we looked at a metal hard top tracker for sale, well it brought back memories, & this wife loved it, but guy sold it refusing to wait until we got insurance check. so we just bought a truck for her & financed it & looking for a Tracker to buy with insurance check.

after doing some light research, I am almost wanting 2, lol but my questions are how decent are the automatics? I dont have any experience driving with an auto other than a 15 minute test ride last week. but I am thinking hard of getting an automatic for us/her to drive, I am not into heavy mods, I dont do off road except want to go around in my yard which my driveway is 1/4 mile & up side of a mountain. lol.. maybe a 2 inch suspensiopn lift?  this past winter hiking up & down got old, I hiked it every day for over 2 months because of the deep snow not melting,  parked my 2 wheel drive Toyota truck with mud tires & 40 cinder blocks at bottom of driveway.

I also have some land that I havent been to lately since I need 4wd to get to, & since my heelspur I dont car to hike 1 mile to get to my property & then hike all over it..

but also wanting a 2wd, 5 speed, wondering how these do? how does gas mileage compare to 4wd? would like something like that for a DD wondering how close to 40 it could be pushed? saw taller gearing available? from auto trans versions? even my motorcycle I swapped gears for better gas mileage, & manage 50 to 58mpg out of a 1100 Kawi. worst yet is 45 mpg average doubling in high winds.

I am just curious if anyone has done anything for mileage? most of my commute to work is down, & up going home.  but even the worst of it my 1985 4cylinder 5 speed 1 ton toyota can pull hills at 55mph in 5th gear. but only gets a max of 28 to 29 mpg my last toyota got 33 to 35 mpg, but needed 4th for 1 of the hills, but it wasnt a 1 ton. but it was a normal geared truck.

from what I seen the 4wd can get up to 30 mpg? how does the 2wd version compare?

I have seen alot of these Trackers priced quite cheap, enough as to me seriously consider trying to purchase 2 with our insurance check.

so what do I need to be aware of? any problems other than rust?

I am very mechanically inclined. I like a good challange, I also can do body work, sheet metal repair as I have done both mechanics & body work profesionally in my past, & have tools, equipment at my disposal to do what ever I need to do, but not a building.

I do like to go after fuel mileage! I have an old air cooled vw that I worked on & was able to go well over 600 miles between fil ups, I was getting 36 mpg out of a mild cammed 1641cc motor & 21 gallon gas capacity. still have it but got tired of it. it was awesom for road trips, but not fun for 500 miles between stops, but was great stopping every 250 or so miles to walk around. lol, its been sitting a couple years. & had a dodge neon I was getting 38 to 41mpg out of. blew tranny & tried several different geared tranaxles, & never got over 34mpg after that. did have an automatic Chevy sprint, nothing I did would get me into the 40's how I wish I had bought a manual trans version, as some got supposedly up to 57mpg.

if you can guess I like to drive / ride & like to do road trips here & there, & like to get as good of gas mileage as I can. I put somewhere around 50,000+ miles a year & only live 26 miles from work. I have managed to get around 100,000 miles a couple of times, but that was many years ago & I was dating someone before my first wife & was driving 600 mile round trips several times a week to see a GF I had she lived 305 miles from my house.

 
Later,
Randy

Mileage isn't all that different between the 2wd and 4wd Trackers.  As for mileage I can get up to 27 but have never gotten over that with decent tread on it.  Originally it had some 235/75 R15 street tires that were to thin to be the claimed size, but I was able to push up into the 28-29 mpg range.

For gearing the 4 speed comes with 5.12 gears, I believe the 3 speed automatics come with 4.30.  I think most of us lift the rigs instead of going for hypermilage.  There is a MGP thread over at http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/technical-discussion-beginner-repair/what-economy-(mpg)-are-you-getting-mpg-poll-added!/ you might want to take a look at.

For the light duty wheeling you are thinking of a lift probably isn't needed.  Just some nice and aggressive 235/75 R15 tires will fit without a lift and should allow you to go most anywhere. 

I understand as most people I been around never understood me.

when I was in college in the 1980's I commuted 75 mile round trip every day in a 1973 Chevrolet 4 door Nova I managed to average 24mpg yes average 24mpg with a V8, I built an engine just for gas mileage, a 307 & geared it 2.73:1 I also built a warmed over 350 that managed at best 14mpg, that I played with, as I couldnt afford 2 cars so I had two motors & 2 rears my spare rear was around a 3.50:1 & I could change out motors & rears in several hours & cruise & maybe pick up a race, on Friday, & Sat nights & Sunday night swap back to my economy motor. there was no rear seat, only a thin piece of black carpet, & 2 carpeted wooden drink cartons remember those?  that was my rear seat, & lightweight front seats with a blanket over for padding, hood bracing & trunk bracing was cut out & hood pins installed, rear doors were gutted windows were fixed to not roll down & regulators removed, & carpet glued to cover opening inside of door. yes it was lightened quite a bit.

My dad caused me to be like this as he had a muscle car, & an economy car, did everything he could for more power in muscle car, &  everything he could to get better mileage in the economy car which he commuted to work in 130 mile round trip every day until his death.

lowering the front slightly, helps with some vehicles, I am not talking a low rider, but a 1 to 2 inch front drop can pick up 1 to 3 mpg in my experiences. also raising compression helps, but with todays gas, & unless want to fool with alcohol water injection, or octane boosters, I need to keep under 10:1 compression for daily drivers, a mild port, & ccing the head, & fully balanced / blueprinted bottom end, removing any unnecessary accessories, like power steering if equiped & converting to manual steering, air conditioning, removing rear seating, sound deadning, switching to lighter wheels for less unsprung weight, on some vehicles I have swapped to smaller alternators.

as for my old beetle, most people claim 22 to 28mpg out of a carbed 1600, 25 to 31 out of a fuel injected motor, yet I managed 36 mpg out of a carbed engine with a 1.5 mm oversize bore stock was 85.5 & I went to an 87mm bore to get 1641cc & mild cam, with a 4.12 gear but I rear & learned alot & mixed parts from different years that I believed would help me raise my gas mileage, like earlier motors smaller ports for better throttle response, smaller carb from a 1200, jetted for my application, & managed to pick up a 3.88 transaxle, but never installed it. still have it when ever I want to fool with it again. I also had a 1915cc motor built which is a 94mm bore with dual carbs that I played with. lol  sold that but still have the carbs, & even then I had 8 different sets of dual carbs trying to see which gave me best mileage when playing.


as for a 4wd, actually I will probbaly need a 2 to 3 inch suspension lift for my other land, as I know what I need to travel over, plus I would like to be able to drive down my back yard here.

I used to could get into the beguining edge of my other land with a 2wd truck a 1960 Ford F100 lifted not sure how much, but it was quite tall, I built it as a teenager, & had 20 leafs springs per side in rear, full leafs, along with a lifting block, also had 12 full leafs per side in front, plus a 1 inch lifting block. that did pretty good, but still had trouble due to length of truck, & lowness of solid front I-beam axle, it had around a 4.25 gear. I mainly cut firewood & sold it to help pay for my car addiction. but even that couldnt get even 1/2 way into my land, & never took my first wifes Tracker in there as it was to low, it had wide lower profile tires with just street tread, & by the time it needed tires a more agressive tire was installed, but not as good as I would want, but still enough to get me to like the trackers from then on.

I even have an old junked Plymouth Horizin in my back yeard. it was the "economy" version, not the 2.2 that everyone knows, but a 1.6 liter cam in block Peugot motor from factory it came with a 4 speed, if car had not rusted out, I was going to do a 5 speed conversion & try to go through motor to increase power so I could pull that 5th gear, it got around 40 to 45mpg, & I wanted to see what I could do to get more. lol

Randy

You can do some limited ECU re-flashing, Rhinoman might be a good person to send a PM to.  That is probably the easiest way to play with your fuel curves without switching over to a third party ECM system such as the Megasquirt.

For the lift, there are a couple of guys on the board that sell 2" spacer lifts, about the highest you can go with your suspension on a Tracker before you need to look at dropping the front diff.  Otherwise you will just destroy your front CV shafts.  jeff1997 and MUD CHILD are the ones to PM about that.  They do stiffen up the ride a bit but you can't beat them for a combination of quality and economy.  Combined with a locker and good tires you can point these things just about anywhere.

If your more of a build from scratch sort of guy you might want to check the build diaries.  BRD HNTR has done quite a bit in the garage building up his Tracker, you can read about it over at http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/build-diaries-how-to-diy/tracker-2x4-rockers-frnt-bmper-4-dr-sprngs-lwered-frnt-diff-$30-steel-frnt-diff/

Keep us updated on what you do to squeeze the most possible out of these rigs.  It will be interesting to see your progress. 

Thanks, for the information. browsing right now for the best deal. plenty of overpriced rigs out there, as well as abused looking rigs. will get something reasonably soon I hope.

If I really wanted true gas mileage I would try to buy one of the old SUZUKI trucks,  I may be able to ask questions of people that had them to find if guy is still in business repairing, or knows of any leads of them for sale, I dont see them around much anymore, but 1 time they were everywhere, there was a guy specializing in repairing them in Eden North Carolina, & lived in Greensboro NC, he also traveled every year to where they were made & restocked his parts, & I bet there were at least 30 little trucks most with 2 cylinder 2 cycle motors, mounted under the bed, I think there was 1, 3 cylinder later 70's vintage truck, also there was 2 or 3 of the little 4 wheel drives & at least 1 had the 2 cycle engine. anyway these trucks were all around Danville VA, Martinsville VA, Eden NC, Madison NC, Greensboro NC, Reidsville NC. I may know the whereabouts of 1 or 2 thats not for sale, but they might know if guy is still repairing, & he would know where any for sale are if anyone else has interest?

Later,
Randy

That would be the LJ series.  I know Eric, the owner of this site, has one for sale but Suzuki USA has it currently.  I have seen a couple of those with a 1.0L conversion from a Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift.  That probably just sips the gas. 

sipping gas, thats what I was thinking, I hung around the guys shop a little when I was in my mid 20's & I am 43 now.  I know they were good mileage, but I dont remember & wont quote, but I bet probably in the 40 mpg range if not better, but never saw cheap ones back then & I was more interested in either horsepower & muscle cars, a work truck, or an economy car, & I just didnt know enough about to splurge for something I wanted to drive way more than average mileage.

I also did a lot of messing with old Datsun L series, mostly 510s but had some 620 trucks, probably still have 15 or so L series engines in my parents basement. plus Chevrolet big blocks, small blocks, VW motors,  a few small block dodges & maybe a couple ford engines, not counting my old parts cars & muscle cars in my back yard.

I just like several different worlds, & know I actually have more fun tinkering for gas mileage than I do with anything else. when people ask me what my dream car is I say a tunnel rammed small block in a late 70's Chevrolet monza that could get 25 to 30mpg, hiway, for a daily driver, but thats quite a tall order with todays gas. I know it was a pain to get 24 on the Nova, & if anything wasnt right I would notice it. but in todays times to think of 25+ with a carb on a tunnel ram, I just dont see it happening. 20 maybe, & no normal od trans. only a 3+0 tranny which is a 4 speed with 3rd gear made into an OD & they flop the shif arm to make it 1,2,4,3 but third is actually an OD so it technically becomes an OD, with a hurst vertical gate straight line shifter. but to see peoples expression to think someone is driving a tunnel rammed muscle car for an everyday car would be priceless., someday I will get a wild hair to see what can be done, but I really dont expect much over 20 hiway.

sorry to go on so much.

Later,
Randy

well I finally found a Tracker, & dropped a deposit on it today, I had been browsing, had a worse time than I would have guessed buying one.

1 person had agreed to a price, & only hours before I drove there called to tell me not to drive as they sold it? it was a 3 hour drive each way. then its the rust buckets, or ragged out totally, or way over priced. what an ordeal.

anyway what I found was a 1 owner trade in to a car lot a 1995 2WD Automatic with 103,xxx original miles with paperwork & clean history & no wrecks with 4 brand new tires, for $800, but it needs some work. opinion whether good or bad?  I will go back with the rest of money the next day my job schedule will allow me to. I wasnt planning to buy it as I figured it would be another wild goose chase, & I wasnt prepared. I have looked at quite a few, more than 10 local to semi local, & as far away as 80 miles away, & I just figured this would be like all the rest, especially when dealer was explaining the door problem, but it really didnt look bad as for the metal that pulled out only at the nuts, so I guess I will have several weld beads holding my hinge on.

the upper door hinge on drivers side ripped out of the body, & will have to be welded in, plus valve cover is leaking pretty bad, its enough that I am going to fix it before I drive it 45 miles home so I dont have to worry about a fire. but otherwise its very clean, reasonably decent body for 15 years. top has seen better days, but it didnt leak & I drove it close to 30 miles in a pouring rain. the worst of it is the yellowed foggy plastic windows.

I will remove the fender & see what I need to do next week to fix the door hinge, & to see which process I need to weld it back on with, probably stick, but I may mig. I will see what I think when its here. unless I here what is recomended? but I know stick will give a deep penetration & would be sound & wouldnt risk a safety issue of a mig not having enough penetration. my mig is a 110 volt, if I had a 220 mig I would probably consider that, but I have 2 gasoline arc welders, 1 is a pipe line welder, the other is a Lincoln Ranger9. plus I have a Lincoln tombstone 225.

anyway finally a Tracker. 

Thanks,
Randy