I'm in the market for a 4x4 toy/run-about and have narrowed it down to a Sidekick, or possibly an early Toyota PU.  It'll get used for light offroad ("easy" crawling, forest trails, etc) and winter street. 

It will see street use, but not daily.

On to the questions...
Did the Sidekick ever come with LSDs or lockers from the factory?  If so, which years and trim levels? 

Are there any preferred years?  Option packages/trim levels?  (mechanically better, not worried about stereo or fancy carpet).  Did the axles, diffs, ring&pinion change?

I'm guessing I want a 95+ to get the higher rated 1.6? (I'm only looking for covertibles, not hardtops)?

Thanks,
Alistair

Yep, 95 and up, you can  pick auto or manual trans
no Limited Slip Diffs as far as I know.

If you are wanting to build it up with aftermarket bolt on products buy a 97 or earlier and stay away form the sport models (<--- sports have a different set up and you will have to custom do lifts.

Zig

97 and earlier?  I thought the resdesign (Vitara) came in 99, leaving 98 as an possible year to buy?

95-98 will be the first gen trac/kicks ... and sounds like what you want.

The lsi models have some trim changes ... seats have adjustable headrests, and I think PS std. I've seen non-lsi models tho with PS ... I'd suggest you try to get the PS if you can.

Lockers are fairly easy to add after the fact. (mini-spool, lockrite, ARB are available).

Re-gearing is a little harder ... if you get an auto, you can get 5.12's from stick shift model thirds and gain some gearing. I'm still hoping that the 5.83's become available again ...

97 and earlier?  I thought the resdesign (Vitara) came in 99, leaving 98 as an possible year to buy?

  Brain Fart 

a '95 to '98 auto will be a 4 spd and will have 5.13 diff gears already (right?)

a '95 to '98 auto will be a 4 spd and will have 5.13 diff gears already (right?)

whoops, yea, I think that is correct ... I keep forgetting which autos have which gears ...

it's the 3spd autos that had 4.62's ... and that was pre 95.