I've had several 4x4s, the last 40+ years. '78 CJ-5 with the 304, '54 CJ-3B, '86 Dodge D100, '91 Dodge diesel, and a '06 Dodge diesel. All of which had their advantages and disadvantages. A couple of years ago, I was looking for something to keep the miles off the '06 Dodge, to run around town and as a local hunting rig.
I ended up buying a cherry '96 Geo Tracker 4 door, 4x4......
I may end up buying another truck someday......but I'll keep the Geo till my last day. It's like an UTV, that is street legal....plus, it has a windshield and heater! License plate reads "BURRO", and it has earned it!
Andy3
The Sidekicks and Trackers are absolutely one of the most underrated 4x4's ever built. I would include Samurai's too but I think most know about them at this point.
They were all decades ahead of the SxS craze and 100Xs more useful.
deflave;
Top of the morning to you sir, I hope that the last Saturday in May is looking to be a fine one for you all.
My long time hunting and fishing partner is on his 4th??? Tracker now, having had both 2 and 4 door ones has now settled into a pair of 4 doors which are better hunting rigs if not pure 4x4 rigs.
An illustrative tale about their ability in the BC mountains is one I've likely told before, but will repeat nonetheless.
Buddy, our youngest daughter and I were up in the early spring season looking for non-existent turkeys and just seeing what we could see in general after our usual dreary valley bottom winter weather. At that point he had a 2 door Tracker with a locking hub kit but otherwise stock as far as I'm aware.
We got into some soft, sketchy and unquestionably deep spring snow and he just kept crawling over it heading increasingly higher up this particular piece of mountain. As I was sitting in the back seat, I looked around and saw no come along, rope or even a shovel and that gave me somewhat of a pause, as I carry enough recovery gear in my diesel pickup to fill his entire Tracker.
When then I asked him gently how much farther up we were going to go - based on the snow and all - he replied that we'd turn around when he had to get out and lock the hubs in!!!
We call them "Quads with Heaters" up here across the medicine line and there's an entire cottage industry with folks rebuilding them, keeping the old usable parts on ones too rusted to work otherwise and then modify them too. For the most part, the Tracker with it's independent front suspension is better thought of than the Samurai up here, as the solid axle 4x4's are tricky to keep on the negative camber washboard gravel logging roads which are all over the back country.
The Suzuki motors in particular seem to run forever and are rebuildable too for the most part.
Anyways sir, that's the view from north of the medicine line this morning and not much more.
All the best to you all as we transition into June.
Dwayne
