OK. Gonna get this thread going. Hope to be able to get some good progress on this in the next year or 2. My son will be 4 in a couple weeks. Keep seeing pictures of that mini Jeep crawler online, so I decided I want to build one. Hope to keep it WAY low budget, and off to a good start so far. Here are the plans as of right now. They are likely to change up a little with time and budget, but this is a good starting point.
Engine: 2001 Yamaha Kodiak 400 Auto
Trans: CVT belt drive auto from ATV. HI/LO/N/R/P
T-case: TBD, but leaning toward a Samurai t-case. Possibly with 6.5:1 low conversion if I decide it's needed, but with LO in the trans and t-case, it may not need it.
Axles: Samurai axles or something else as narrow as possible.
Chassis: all 1.25 or 1.5" tubing. Shooting for Width and Length around the size of my Polaris Ranger. 60" total width, 81" wheelbase. Would like to get it skinnier, but don't want to mess with custom axle shafts and such if I can get away without.
Tires: I'm going to use the 27" Super Swamper TSL's that are currently on the donor ATV at first. If they don't work out, I'm thinking 30-32" tires. I know I can get some JK Rubicon stockers fairly cheap if I don't stay with an ATV type tire.
Suspension: Not sure yet. Air shocks would be nice, but they are too $$$... Might try to find some FOX coilovers from a RZR or something. I need to figure out how heavy this thing is gonna be first, but I'm hoping it's around the same size/weight of a RZR. I have a full set of shocks/springs from a Polaris Ranger 900, that I might be able to try out, just not sure they will have the travel that I want.
Steering: Still up in the air.. Looking into an aftermarket electronic power steering setup that might work for me.. Might try to find a Samurai manual gear box at first to see how it works out. Full hydro might be a little tricky running off the ATV engine, unless I use an electric pump.
MISC: Of course there will be misc stuff added on. LED lights, some tunes, fuel cell, etc.
I'm hoping my son will have fun helping me out with this project, and we will get to enjoy it on the trails when it's complete.
Here's the beginning. The donor vehicle.
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