How Did You Get Started, And What Are Your Plans?

AJMBLAZER · #1 09-27-2002, 01:10 PM

I grew up around 4x4's and trucks. Mom and dad had a 76 Chevy K5 Blazer from new through 92 when they bought a 92 Blazer K1500 that I later bought. At first I just knew I wanted a big truck, specifically a Blazer. Didn't know much about automotive stuff or offroading, so my first truck was a 86 K5 Blazer with automatic hubs, a worn out 305, various leaks, and got really shitty mileage. Oh yeah, and LOTS of rust. Sold that and bought my parents 92 K1500 Blazer Sport. Loved it, but learned a lot from it. Like GM's IFS SUCKS! I got into 4x4ing with it in San Diego, CA when I was stationed there in the Marines. Had a lot of good times, but also wasted a lot of money and time on trying to offroad with it and lift it. Shoulda just kept it stock and had fun, or sold it and got something rust free and capable. Sold the Blazer last May and picked up my current POS, a 93 Tracker 4x4 just for a cheap play toy that was a daily driver AND had real 4x4. Now it's falling apart so I'm looking for a Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 with a Cummins Turbo Diesel and a 5 speed stick. Only problem is due to the insurance co having to pay out a bit last winter from an accident I had, I may not be able to insure said Ram 2500. [img]images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] So now I'm kinda shopping around for a Toyota Tacoma TRD (gotta love a factory electic rear locker) 4x4 with the 3.4L V6, 5 speed, and hopefully extended cab. Just wish they were more common here than the crappy S10's and Rangers I'm not as impressed with. [img]images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] This is Michigan though.....

jbsjunk · #2 09-27-2002, 07:07 PM

aww, come on AJM, crappy s-10's??? yeah, yeah. mines different. [img]images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] as for the topic at hand, my dad was a mechanic, so i've been spinnin' wrenches since i could talk. now i'm doin' it for a living. i was the only one in my family that dug cars, so as time progressed, i had the usual string of crap piles, then my first 4by. a s-10. go figure. [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] wheeled the wee out of it, and 5 more 4by s10's after that. witch brings me to the truck in my sig. pics are around here somewhere. [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] who knows what the future holds.....so, have i bored ya'll yet???

desertrat67 · #3 09-27-2002, 08:06 PM

I grew up in So Cal and was around the desert until I left. My mom's friends had dune buggies, 3 wheelers, quads, 4X trucks and the like. My first time out with my mom on a 3 wheeler we hit a rut and i put my two front teeth through my upper lip. I still remember that and still love going out to the desert. When I finaaly got my liscence I inherited my mom's 82 diesel Isuzu P'UP. Not much later it got a body lift, cranked torsion bars , and 31" BFG's. I wheeled this thing through 3 engines and many gallons of fuel out at glamis and around El Centro. It is now awaiting the Caddy 500 swap and hopefully a set of Rockwell 2.5 ton axles. Think i might even go with Michellin XML's for the tires.

TxFireman · #4 09-28-2002, 12:27 AM

Well, we also had 4x4's in our family. My earliest memory is of my dad's brand new 73 K5. We did a lot of fishing down at padre Island and 4wd is not an option but manditory to get way down there. Not to mention all the various work needs that he neded the 4wd for with our land and what have you. Sometime around 75-77 range he bought a new crewcab lb 4x4 GM. As a kid I had several toys to play with... mini bike, modified go-cart's etc. Later on I messed around with moto-cross. When i turned 16 (1984) I bought a 77 Chevy reg cab long bed K10. Did a lot o playing with it, then lifted after about 2 years. I kept it until 99 and sure did get my 2000 dollars worth out of it. LOL My girlfriend (now wife) was raised around 4x4's too and since we planned on getting married, we figured 2 trucks wouldn't work so when she was 20 she bought an 84 K5. Thousands of off road miles later.. 2 kids... and 10 years of marriage, we are down to my 97 K1500 and her 01 4wd Tahoe. we plan to buy another K5 sometime in the future that we will use mostly for trail use. [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] So far my 4 year old daughter seems to be interested in off roading, and hopefull the 5 month old will feel the same.

Benny Boy · #5 09-28-2002, 12:57 AM

I didnt grow up around 4x4s or dirt bike or anything of the sort.

I had a broke down Honda accord and needed a new ride. My dad had an '81 Toyota Trekker in his possesion. He bought it to resell. I talked him out of it for $1600 on payments. SInce I had a 4x4 now and internet, I searched for Toyotas. I found t4x4pickup.com and hung around there for a while until someone sent me to ORC.

With help from the friendly members of ORC, I built up my Trekker a little. Eventually, a member from ORC posted a link to POR. And thats where the fun began. [img]images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Now I have the '81 Toyota Trekker, an '85 Toyota extrcab built fairly well with 38.5" SXs. And I have a Sami on 30s with wrangler springs. And saturday night, I go pick up my second Sami. and next week, I pick up my 3rd sami....

My Web Site

muddybronco · #6 09-28-2002, 02:39 AM

you have lots of toys! judging from the pics on your website, i'd have lots of toys too if there was that much mud nearby [img]images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img] if i'm ever up in the oregon area, i'll be sure to call you up and we'll see who can dig to china first [img]images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

btw, what's a "trekker"? different than a regular yota pickup?

#7 09-28-2002, 05:21 AM

I bought my first 4WD 7 years ago. My 76 F100 came with 6" of lift and 35s. I wheeled as much as I could, but only knew of one place to go, and non of my other friends had 4x4s. I also had very little mechanical experience.

Then 3 years ago, someone gave me my first 4WD magazine [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] That is when I realized what I could do to my truck, the mods started, and as they say...."The rest is history."

2 years ago I got involved in my first club and now most my friends have 4WDs and go wheelin' regularly. Mostly in NW Oregon.

In 2 weeks I enter my first amature 4x4 competition and plan on installing a custom 1 ton full high steer before then (if only the package would get here).

I don't know what the future holds. As long as I keep wheelin' [img]images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Rembrant · #8 09-28-2002, 06:28 AM

Hello Folks
Well, I've always had an intense admiration of anything to do with automobiles. Grew up wrenching on whatever junker I was driving, and learning from my old man that if you take care of your rigs, they will take care of you. While In my younger years I was speed crazy, I grew to love the 4x4's that we had....and the roads, trails, and mountains in our area. Between my old man and his brother, over the years we rode in all sorts of rigs, '76 Power Wagon, '78 F150 4x4 w/400, an '88 F250 4x4 w302, '95 Tacoma 4x4, '93 Pathfinder, and my uncle, now on his 9th Jeep, used to haul us around in his old Jeep Commando, or whatever Jeep variation he had at the time..including and '81 Scrambler, which he bought brand new, and still has today. And for me, I've had several myself, but currently its a '90 Toyota 4x4 for me, and a '95 Jeep YJ for my wife. So, there was always a 4x4 around and we went somewhere every weekend, the mountain, the backroads, the beach, etc...And now, I'm addicted, and I'll never be without a 4x4. My only problem is that mine is a daily driver....can't afford a woods rig yet, but I'll get one sooner or later. Anyhow, thats my story... [img]images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]
Rembrant

Steve83 · #9 09-28-2002, 09:40 AM

My first vehicle was a '76 Mustang II that kept me from riding the bus to school - when it ran! So I became a mechanic out of necessity. I drove that thing into the ground! After towing an OVERloaded U-Haul trailer back & forth across the Mojave to & from Monterey, CA, it blew 1st gear out of the rebuilt tranny, and I decided it was time for something else. I went shopping for a good, cheap, used F-Series with a 300 & manual and my Bronco was the first one I found that fit the bill. Boy, am I glad! After about 10 years of abuse, there are almost no original parts on it, including some of the frame, but it's at least as reliable as the MUCH newer vehicles my family & friends drive as evidenced by them calling me to get them off the side of the road MUCH more often than I call them (never!). They still don't believe me that I'll never get rid of it, even though they all saw it rolled & put back together.

I plan to keep on doing minor mods to make it more useful & driveable, but it'll never sit on tires bigger than 33's or be lifted. Right now, I can take it down 4-wheeler trails and then get on the interstate with a trailer & do 95mph with confidence. I refuse to give up the versatility since that's what I like most about it. To me, that's what an off-road vehicle should be.

#10 09-28-2002, 12:01 PM

my story started with love for the outdoors. Hunting, fishing, camping, boy scouts, etc... then i got my liscence and had an 87 toyota presuva (big box with engine inside) to change fluids or anything u had to live the front seats up. took that camping til the engine locked up, got 2 cars (87 olds tornado and 95 neon) now i have an 88 gmc jimmy and 97 honda passport. now i wheel when i can, and theres about 5 of us that go activily at school.usually a s10 blazer, my s15, 2 burbans a couple of jeeps. i'm not really mechanicly inclined but i am learning slowly, little things help, like neccessity.

theo