pitotshock
June 11th, 2004, 10:06 AM
Well I though I would take the time to introduce myself...
Name is James, live in Arnprior (Ottawa Valley) and I bought my '91 sidekick (2 door, ragtop, 4x4) this spring for $400 from a guy in ottawa. It only had 138K on it, but the body was gone, so after 4'x4' of 22ga steel, one gallon of bondo, half a gallon of asphalt tar, and a quart of white Tremclad she was put back together. Oh yeah, I had to get it done within the 10 day trip permit (got to set goals for ones-self). The tires were almost new CTC Roughrider A/Ts and the truck hadn't left the city for all of its life. The previous owner had no idea what manual hubs were (set to 'free'), and thought that this was really bad in the snow even in 4x4. lol
Goal for this truck is to be able to access the crown land / backwoods areas with a canoe to do some remote access fishing / hunting. I was really looking into some used ATVs, but even the junk ones are damned expensive. And then I would have to tow it around behind my car, pay insurance... In the end I though that the sidekick would be cheaper, just as capable, and quite a bit more useful.
So far I have removed the back seat (seatbelts had rusted off anyway), built some kick-a$sed(in my eye) steel bumpers, front skidplate and 31x10.5 Wranglers on 15"x8"wide steel wheels. The wheels had a 6 bolt pattern that was being used on a '91 toyota, so I re-drilled them (had exact hub size and bolt spacing diameter) to a 5-bolt pattern, steel shot blasted them and paint(tremclad). Planning on a hockey puck body lift, spring spacers, 2500lb Warn winch up front, class IV trailer hitch in the rear. Everything either has to be very cheap or free for this project (making it is half the fun).
So far I have been very pleased with the performance of this little rig, in the bush I am going everywhere that my buddies Xterra is going and every ATV path I have found. Took it up to Elliot lake last month (6.5hr each way) without a problem. And on the big tires, I am averaging about 24mpg.
wow, that was a load, hope your not bored by this point
Name is James, live in Arnprior (Ottawa Valley) and I bought my '91 sidekick (2 door, ragtop, 4x4) this spring for $400 from a guy in ottawa. It only had 138K on it, but the body was gone, so after 4'x4' of 22ga steel, one gallon of bondo, half a gallon of asphalt tar, and a quart of white Tremclad she was put back together. Oh yeah, I had to get it done within the 10 day trip permit (got to set goals for ones-self). The tires were almost new CTC Roughrider A/Ts and the truck hadn't left the city for all of its life. The previous owner had no idea what manual hubs were (set to 'free'), and thought that this was really bad in the snow even in 4x4. lol
Goal for this truck is to be able to access the crown land / backwoods areas with a canoe to do some remote access fishing / hunting. I was really looking into some used ATVs, but even the junk ones are damned expensive. And then I would have to tow it around behind my car, pay insurance... In the end I though that the sidekick would be cheaper, just as capable, and quite a bit more useful.
So far I have removed the back seat (seatbelts had rusted off anyway), built some kick-a$sed(in my eye) steel bumpers, front skidplate and 31x10.5 Wranglers on 15"x8"wide steel wheels. The wheels had a 6 bolt pattern that was being used on a '91 toyota, so I re-drilled them (had exact hub size and bolt spacing diameter) to a 5-bolt pattern, steel shot blasted them and paint(tremclad). Planning on a hockey puck body lift, spring spacers, 2500lb Warn winch up front, class IV trailer hitch in the rear. Everything either has to be very cheap or free for this project (making it is half the fun).
So far I have been very pleased with the performance of this little rig, in the bush I am going everywhere that my buddies Xterra is going and every ATV path I have found. Took it up to Elliot lake last month (6.5hr each way) without a problem. And on the big tires, I am averaging about 24mpg.
wow, that was a load, hope your not bored by this point