Time to go to work on the Tracker. Iv'e used this Little car as a daily driver, parts runner and chase car for several years. We did the lift in my shop about three years ago and we installed a cage in a couple of days. Everything on this car was done by my workers and on a time crunch so the quality was never what I wanted it to be. Don't get me wrong the quality was 8.5 on the scale but not the quality I do. Now I have a month gap in between clients so a new trans and t-case gears, cut the back half off and tube the rear with my own 4 link finished off with fox shocks 2" coil carrier and 3" bypass shock. I'm doing this build with left over parts for my now closed retail location. I hope to be done with all the fab and sheet metal work by the beginning of march. I will try to share pics nightly... Stay tuned.

 Worked on removing the rear axle, fuel tank, rerouting fuel lines and electrical. Then out came the angle grinder with my 6" cut off wheel. The whole theory behind this build is to lighten up the package inprove approach and departure angles, Increase suspension travel, improve articulation  and still have a street able car. When I first built this it was a less expensive answer to a Yamaha Rhino. It turned out to be a better Rock crawler, better in the sand and quicker in the desert and you still could go the the store and get some milk! Then came the RZR S. The RZR S is faster in the desert and sand but the tracker still crawls better. This is my answer to the whole side x side battle! The TRC quad sport... Sand, desert, rock and running to the store to get some milk.

  Pretty sweet. It's always more fun to drive to the event , wheel it , and drive it home too.  Looking forward to your progress.

The coolest trip with this rig was to drive from San Bernardino Ca. to Pismo on a 30 minute notification. We grabed a duffle bag with some clothes and off we went. We made hotel resiverations from a blackberry going down the road. We stayed three nights four days. Wheeling during the day and dicing with Rhinos and even LS1 sand rails. Spending the nights in a hotel with an awesome hot tub was great. We at breakfast and late dinner in town and wheeled 7-8 hours a day in between. No breakdowns and the tracker worked flawless all weak!  Heres the only pic I could find out in the sand. Here is my wife back at the hotel.

very cool. anxious to watch the build.

Looking forward to the modifications.  I wold like to see what the dimensions of your 4 link end up being.  I just 4 linked my tracker, and have been experimenting with the upper link heights, and haven't noticed much difference.

Thats gonna be a sweet rig when complete! Thats exactly what I'd love to do to mine if only i had the resources.

Just got back into the shop after a Great week at King of the Hammers. I was there helping with setup and shooting pics for Randy Slawson (Bomber fab). He won the LCQ and took 4th place in the main race. Back to the tracker today. worked on cleaning up the rear axle, removing the drum brakes and brake lines. Went back to the chassis to remove some double wall on the rear fenders and plan my next cuts for the boat sides. I still want fully functional windows but want to bring the side as far up out of the rocks as possible. I removed the old cage and spare carriers to make way for the new cage. Thats it for today!

Finally figured out what to do. With my design and engineering on the run this kit needs to be more like a 3/4 chassis kit, not a back half. Back to cutting. I really want to keep this car light and make the suspension work. More and more material needs to come off to achieve the performance required in my original concept.To build a better all around on / off road car that will compete with the polaris 900 XP and still be streetable. I've taken around 300 lbs off so far. This does not include the tail gate and original spare. I cut the frame and made a troff that a 1 3/4 D.o.m piece will lay in. Tomorrow I will start the kit and go up with the chassis.

Wow! You are going to town on that...

Thanks for the updates!

-Eric

I spent most of the morning removing locking lug nuts. I had to do this on the rear also. someone broke into my tracker about a year and a half ago and went through my glove box and stole some stupid stuff. At the start of the build I couldn't find my key that fits all the lugs. Crap had to find a way to remove them without damaging to wheels or lugs. This little kit from Irwin worked awesome. Took the extractor and hammered it in place and used a star wrench, I applied pressure and they started to back out. man I'm glad the make this kit. Its well worth the $20.00 I spent on it at Auto Zone.
I got the frame rails set up to plug in 1 3/4 D.O.M main rails and the rest of the tube will be 1 1/2 x .120 D.O.M main cage and 1 1/2 x .065 lacing. I will build the kit in place and it will un plug for final welding. The mid rails will go through the fire wall and tie into the upper strut tower on each side.
After lunch I will cut the rear fenders and set the wheelbase. Yes the rear will have a Rzr look!

Here is a pic of the tool used for extraction.

See if we can get the Zukiworld challenge to grow I think a "pro" class would be perfect for something like this.

See if we can get the Zukiworld challenge to grow I think a "pro" class would be perfect for something like this.

Be careful of mission creep...

-Eric

Played around with different wheel bases and came up with 98 1/2". Laid out a tape line and started my first cut. I will hammer and dolly a rolled fender lip for the rear.
 Chose my spots for the mid rail to go through the fire wall and hole sawed through. Its tough to hit the mark on the back side but I came close enough that a small bulkhead patch will tie it in well. Looks like tuesday I will lay out the lower 1 3/4 tube main rails and start tacking it all together. Im trying to get the most angle on the boat sides and still have a fully functional doors with windows in them. Not a lot of room to play with but I think I can at least take three inches off the outside edge.