Hi all, a little backround first. I got this 91 Tracker last summer from my Dad. He said the trans was blown and was going to junk it. I planned on swapping in a 5spd until I started tearing it apart. After getting ready to drop the trans, I took the cover off to get to the converter bolts and guess what....there were no bolts in thereÂÂ
So I pulled the trans down and took a closer look. Turns out someone had put a used trans in and forgot to torque the bolts down. This would explain why there was so much hacked up under the hood; missing bellhousing bolt, wires hanging, kickdown cable broken. All the holes on the flywheel were ovaled out so this needed to be replaced. A local jy had one for $40. I spent ~$50 on misc hardware and fluids.
After putting it all back together I drove it back and fourth to work for about 2 weeks. I then realized the driver front wheel bearing was bad. After what felt like forever and a day I finally bashed the race off the spindle, took it down to the parts store and had a new one pressed in. The bearing, labor to have it pressed into the hub and some grease came to $100.
I drove it through the winter as my beater but couldn't stop buying parts to "improve" on it. First I got the 1 1/5" coil spacers from digger; $50 shipped. Then the Masterkit1 3" BL; $120 shipped. Then I came across the skid plate from Sean at aftermarket4x4 for $120 shipped. I found 5 chrome wagon wheels on Ebay with 4 Goodyear Wrangler MT's with 75% tread and 1 Goodyear Wrangler RT brand new for $350. I had to drive about 45min each way for these and we'll call it $30 in gas.
Last weekend was real nice here in the northeast so I decided to put all my toys on the rig. It took the better part of Saturday and Sunday and alot of help from a friend, but I am very happy with the results.
On road drivability has not changed much, there is still enough power to get up and go, but the hills around here are killers. It feels much more stable around corners, that supprised me. I bet the wider tires have alot to do with that. And those tires are loud
but that is to be expected. I have not really had a chance to take it offroad, only up and down a pole line with a little mud hole at the bottom, so I can't say anything about that yet.
I think I got a good thing going here, so far after getting it on the road and the few aftermarket parts on it, I'm only into it for $860 give or take. I'm sure that number will get bigger and bigger but even if I left it like it is now, I'd be very happy. I just can't stop thinking about what I'm going to do next, roll cage, bumpers, rocksliders, winch, lockers, bigger tires, more lift the list goes on and on. Well here are the pics.
Before:
During:
With only the BL:
After BL and Spacers:
Nice front skid!
Finished! After trimming front fenders, very minimal only on the rear near the rockers:
My trip up the pole line, it was getting dark:
Look at this funny lookin guy, my friend Tom who helped me with this project:
Comments, questions, suggestions? I love hearing others opinions. Let me know!
-Kevin
