greetings. love the site. lots of good info. just finished reading through all 50 pages of this section! took a few nights.

just bought an 02 vitara for a d/d and off-road camping machine. it is going to replace our 76 landcruiser fj40 that faithfully hauled my wife and i through the backcountry of bc canada for years. we'll miss the old girl - but we needed something a bit more civilized now that we have a baby with us.

masterkit1 3 1/8 kit is en route.
kargo master safari basket rack en route.
going to go with a m/t tire no bigger than 245/75/r16s - done enough diff and axle snapping in my day.
arb air locker for the rear and lower gearing will help save those axle parts.

question: my vitara looks a lot like the chev tracker. from what i understand the body is very much the same. but... is the frame? wondering b/c i want to know how possible it will be to order tracker parts such as bumpers, sliders, etc that mount to the frame. there is a serious lack of these kind of parts for the vitara! do i have to do custom fabbing or just custom fitting?

I have owned Kicks and Trackers from the first Gen and I've owned 3 - 2nd Gen Trackers to date but I cannot provide you a definate yes or no because I've never owned a GV (2nd Gen) yet. 

However, thoughts that repeatedly come to me on this subject are: I used a 94 Geo (Tracker) steering box on one of my '94 Kicks and it fit and worked perfectly.  It was $400+ cheaper too.  When I open the hood of my current Tracker, "Suzuki" is imprinted on the air boxes and other various parts and components inside and even the catalytic converters have "Suzuki" imprinted on them as well.  When you look through the various vendor's web page products they frequently list GVs and Tracker year models together for application.  So as far as the 2Ltr and 2.5Ltr models (through '04), I'm inclined to believe they are virtually the same.  GM hooked up with Suzuki for a licensing agreement to build the "Geos and Trackers" (until '04 model end year) so other than some badges, a few cosmetic differences, and brakes, wheels (16") and some differential components on the 2nd Gen models, I think they are virtually the same beasts.. 

i am confused. i own a vitara NOT a gv. mine is much more basic with fewer features than the gv. it has the 2l l4 dohc engine. i guess i should ask: how alike are the frames on the vitara, gv, and tracker?

2 door Vitaras should virtually equal 2 door Trackers.   4 door GVs should virtually equal 4 door Trackers except the GVs should have the 16 inch wheels required because of their larger calipers.   Other than the badging, some moldings and some cosmetic changes/differences and a few changes to the drive train, I am of the belief they are virtually the same trucks.  At least up to the model year where they still had ladder frames under them.

Guys... check out my statements here and sound off if you have corrections to the above.

from my research,the tracker and vitara is identical except for rims,calipers,and body moldings.

trackers drivetrain has suzuki all over it

I did have one thing that I would like to mention which was NOT the same......

While I was looking for trailer hitches Reese  was have a sale on class 1 hitches....for a suzuki grand vitara 4 door models (and other vehicles) before I bought the hitch I took the bar to see if the frame mount holes would line up and they did not......ended up having to order a class 3 hitche and at a price I did not like..........my hunting trip was only 1 week away so I bought it regretfully..

was not the same if you ask me

i think if these frames were all the same or very similar then vendors would be advertising it... and they aren't. there seems to be some big change after 98... and manufacturers of bumpers, sliders, etc have yet to really jump on to the latest generation. there's not enough of us moving beyond stock with these yet. looks like i'll be fabbing up my own junk. keeps it more interesting anyway...

I did have one thing that I would like to mention which was NOT the same......

While I was looking for trailer hitches Reese  was have a sale on class 1 hitches....for a suzuki grand vitara 4 door models (and other vehicles) before I bought the hitch I took the bar to see if the frame mount holes would line up and they did not......ended up having to order a class 3 hitche and at a price I did not like..........my hunting trip was only 1 week away so I bought it regretfully..

was not the same if you ask me

You need to look at the year - there was a change in 98 to both the Tracker & the Suzuki lines.

Pre 98 - a Tracker and a Vitara/SideKick are essentially the same vehicle, post 98 a Tracker and a Grand Vitara are essentially the same vehicle - however a pre 98 Tracker is different to a post 98 Tracker and therefore also different to a Grand Vitara.

There was also another change in the Suzuki line in 05 - when the body on frame construction was discontinued, however, I don't think (I could be wrong) that this version was released as a Tracker.

i would not suggest ordering the masterkit lift, they are overpriced for one and for two your gonna get a whopping 1inch suspension lift that is not even, using the same size coil spacer in the front and rear is not the correct way to lift your truck.  look for jeffs spacers on this site to get an even 2inches of suspension lift and get your body lift wherever, people get all nutty for the fact that masterkit has the bumper relocation brackets... big deal, it's just plastic crap that will come off in the bush anyway.. 

There is a large difference between 1st gen trucks (pre-'99) and 2nd generation trucks '99+).  The bodies and frames are different.  Also after '99 they no longer offered the 1.6 engine in the 2-door Tracker. 

I think the largest issue with after market "stuff' for these trucks (2nd Gen 99 model year thru 04 GVs and Trackers) is that not many vendors have the luxury and time of getting their hands on a same year Tracker and GV to trial fit their parts on both.  So they build a part for one... but don't know for sure if it will work on the other model because they haven't tried them.  It takes alot of time and money to build "parts".  They usuaually won't advertise it fits if they haven't tried it.  They have a reputation to protect.  There are alot of vendors out there building vehicle specific parts... mainly for Suzuki models.  The people who buy them are frequently the ones who connect the dots between the models.   AFTERMARKET 4X4 skids is an example of how similar these trucks are.  If the frames on these trucks is significantly different..., how is it the skids he builds will fit GVs and Trackers?  There are some differences in these trucks, but there are far more similarities.

XL-7s have more differences.

SWB-Track/Vit chassis are identical to Vit/SWB-Tracks.
LWB-Track/GV chassis are identical to GV/LWB-Tracks.

Track/Kick chassis are identical to Kick/Tracks, excluding the Vitara  (damn, this is difficult...) Sidekick Sport.

There's a possibility of very minor differences if you compare two that were built in different factories or in different years (as long as they're the same generation), but, as a rule, don't sweat it.

Hell, everything from an '02 XL-7, built in Japan, bolted onto my '03 Tracker, built in Canada, even though the XL-7s frame is wider at the back.  Well, excluding the trailer hitch, obviously.

of course the trailer Hitch :S LOL