A modern day K5?

[blazinzuk]

Buy a Wrangler?

I actually totally agree with ya. It looks like this is coming back to a diesel 4 dr JK. But somehow Zombieblazer here wants to get the cost down to way less than a JK, not sure how. But its an interesting concept

 

[ZombieBlazer]

I actually totally agree with ya. It looks like this is coming back to a diesel 4 dr JK. But somehow Zombieblazer here wants to get the cost down to way less than a JK, not sure how. But its an interesting concept

I thought the Jeeps were very overpriced AND flimsy... but that is just my impression. I could be wrong.

But really I have four different ways of looking at it essentially.

1 - Reality (what I am currently working on) - I will probably just fix up my diesel blazer and use it for very limited off-roading because I don't have the money to rebuild it enough to do the things I want. This may involve making a camper or small trailer.

2 - Dream - Design something I can build myself that is cheap and ultra durable and reliable that would allow me to do the things I want.

3 - Bigger dream - some how I get enough money to allow me to just buy a new vehicle that fits what I want to do. Maybe that's a Jeep or some other new vehicle

4 - Super dream - I develop one of the design ideas I have... get rich and then take the money from that and start a auto company and design the ultimate vehicle for the masses.

- within all these different possibilities there may be design ideas that could apply to #4.

Of course most of it is pipe dreams but it can't hurt to explore ideas.

 

[blazinzuk]

I thought the Jeeps were very overpriced AND flimsy... but that is just my impression. I could be wrong.

But really I have have four different ways of looking at it essentially.

1 - Reality (what I am currently working on) - I will probably just fix up my diesel blazer and use it for very limited off-roading because I don't have the money to rebuild it enough to do the things I want. This may involve making a camper or small trailer.

2 - Dream - Design something I can build myself that is cheap and ultra durable and reliable that would allow me to do the things I want.

3 - Bigger dream - some how I get enough money to allow me to just buy a new vehicle that fits what I want to do. Mayeb that's a Jeep or some other new vehicle

4 - Super dream - I develop one of the design ideas I have... get rich and then take the money from that and start a auto company and design the ultimate vehicle for the masses.

- within all these different possibilities there may be design ideas that could apply to #4.

Of course most of it is pipe dreams but it can't hurt to explore ideas.

Take that super dream and just keep it with ya, in the back of your mind, make contacts when you can. The oppurtunity may present itself sooner than you think or it may never.

You can do so much with a diesel blazer, in my case Jimmy. Mine has 35s and will have them. Looking for a 14 bolt SF 6 lug to put in back.

For one dude ( if it was just me) I could easily camp in the back of the Jimmy and I am not a small person.

You wanna know the key to making a cool durable, pretty close to what you want rig?

Keep the same rig for a long long long long time.

My off roader is the culmintion of 12 years of buying parts, screwing things up, rebuilding them, and 3 total trucks.

In all reality the Jimmy and my crew cab are all gonna be like that. Oh yah it may sound like I have all sort of disposable income but its just not true. I have had the crew cab for 4 years, finally gonna be able to do something with it this year. Bought it for super cheap cause no one else wanted it. Jimmy is gonna get nicer because about 8 yrs back a buddy gave me a body. Had to do some quick thinking and favor asking, and favor giving but eventually got it to my house. Its been sitting waiting for something like my rusty Jimmy to come along ( )

Keep a rig and long time and you may find that it meets the vast majority of your expectations. Keep changing your rig and it never will, unless you have major major coin to drop

 

[ZombieBlazer]

Take that super dream and just keep it with ya, in the back of your mind, make contacts when you can. The oppurtunity may present itself sooner than you think or it may never.

That's the way I look at it, too. You never know what could happen.. but if you don't dream it will never happen. But I understand people like Greg's point of view too where it's beneficial to live in reality... but I probably don't talk about reality as much though because it's more fun to talk about the dreams. haha But right now I am slowly amassing info to do what i need to do to my current Blazer. But also... it helps to get an idea of what is possible when making plans too so you know what is reality and what isn't.. what's possible.

You can do so much with a diesel blazer, in my case Jimmy. Mine has 35s and will have them. Looking for a 14 bolt SF 6 lug to put in back.[/qipte]

I love my old Blazer... but I don't trust her. haha On a old vehicle you never know when something is going to give out. And the stuff I want to do requires ultra reliability.

That's why I find the idea of some vehicle that everyone could work on and completely rebuild anything or fix anything ourselves, even on the trail, so attractive. And the way I see it it is long long long overdo.

For one dude ( if it was just me) I could easily camp in the back of the Jimmy and I am not a small person.

The thing is though I have a motorcycle that i would like to haul around with me - a street bike. And I would like to travel off road and on road. So that really complicates things because I didn't want a trailer and a didn't want a popup for various reasons that are difficult to explain fully. haha

There are those things you can put your bike on the back of your vehicle that mount to the tow hitch but those are a big security risk, too.

You wanna know the key to making a cool durable, pretty close to what you want rig?

Keep the same rig for a long long long long time.

My off roader is the culmintion of 12 years of buying parts, screwing things up, rebuilding them, and 3 total trucks.

In all reality the Jimmy and my crew cab are all gonna be like that. Oh yah it may sound like I have all sort of disposable income but its just not true. I have had the crew cab for 4 years, finally gonna be able to do something with it this year. Bought it for super cheap cause no one else wanted it. Jimmy is gonna get nicer because about 8 yrs back a buddy gave me a body. Had to do some quick thinking and favor asking, and favor giving but eventually got it to my house. Its been sitting waiting for something like my rusty Jimmy to come along ( )

That's awesome man. Good things come to those who wait! haha I have had my truck just sitting for a long time and waiting, too. I have been working on many different projects and not getting paid.. just educating myself about things but hopefully I am at a point now where all the time put in will start paying off so I can start doing the things that have been on hold like buying stuff for my Blazer. (Hope hope!)

Keep a rig and long time and you may find that it meets the vast majority of your expectations. Keep changing your rig and it never will, unless you have major major coin to drop

Yeah.. and even if it doesn't meet all my dreams.. it's still a cool ride! So it's win-win really.

 

[TerryD]

I love my old Blazer... but I don't trust her. haha On a old vehicle you never know when something is going to give out. And the stuff I want to do requires ultra reliability.

There is no promise of durability or longevity with a brand new vehicle. Russell bought that brand new Duramax and has had nothing but trouble from it. The key is learning how to fix minor stuff, recognize major stuff early and fixing the weak spots ASAP. Sounds like you have a good start for a K5. Need to quit dreaming and start working. Dreaming doesn't hurt anything, but if all you do is dream, you never DO anything.

 

[ZombieBlazer]

There is no promise of durability or longevity with a brand new vehicle. Russell bought that brand new Duramax and has had nothing but trouble from it. The key is learning how to fix minor stuff, recognize major stuff early and fixing the weak spots ASAP. Sounds like you have a good start for a K5. Need to quit dreaming and start working. Dreaming doesn't hurt anything, but if all you do is dream, you never DO anything.

A couple weeks of message board discussion = all you do is dreaming?

The irony is I think the way things are the majority of people are dreaming. The people making the money spend a ton of money convincing us what we should dream... disposable cars, monster trucks and one-off vehicles.

But yeah even new vehicles are susceptible to breaking down too... but with old vehicles it's a certainty.

That's also why I want a vehicle that is built to work on more easily. I have other ideas about how to deal with possible breakdowns as well.... but they will likely be called more pipe dreams.. haha

 

[375 H&H]

I agree with Terry. a diesel blazer is a good starting point. get to work on it. after a while you will 'become one' with the blazer and will be able to sense when something isn't right with it. the nut behind the wheel is the biggest factor when talking reliability.

 

[ZombieBlazer]

I agree with Terry. a diesel blazer is a good starting point. get to work on it. after a while you will 'become one' with the blazer and will be able to sense when something isn't right with it. the nut behind the wheel is the biggest factor when talking reliability.

Keep in mind though that my interest is in going on long expeditions.. doing that you put your vehicle through an incredible beating. Even vehicles that people dump money in and are purpose built for it get torn apart.

But that's more of a long term goal I am shooting for.

Also, my diesel has high miles on it. I know these are supposed to last forever.. but again.. it's not something you can really bank on. If I was a diesel mechanic I might be ok though.

 

[TerryD]

A couple weeks of message board discussion = all you do is dreaming?

That is neither what I said or what I was implying...

Keep in mind though that my interest is in going on long expeditions.. doing that you put your vehicle through an incredible beating. Even vehicles that people dump money in and are purpose built for it get torn apart.

But that's more of a long term goal I am shooting for.

Also, my diesel has high miles on it. I know these are supposed to last forever.. but again.. it's not something you can really bank on. If I was a diesel mechanic I might be ok though.

Diesel mechanics have no more resources available to them than you do. Read, study, and try. You are not leaving for an expedition tomorrow, so read something about your diesel and then go check it out for yourself. You keep saying you want something you can work on yourself but you already have about the simplest vehicle that has ever been produced at you fingertips. Know the limits of your parts and reliability is easy to achieve. Spare parts, seals and bearings in good shape and properly maintained will cover 80% of common failures.

Start doing maintenance to your truck. Repack the wheel bearings, rebuild the brakes, replace the u-joints and service the transmission. That will teach you what to do with proper tools, give you an idea what tools to carry to service them on the road. Reliability has allot more to do with proper service than the parts used.

 

[blazinzuk]

My Jimmy has now over 400k on it if you believe the paperwork. If I had the time and money or if i needed too I would drive it across the country

 

[ZombieBlazer]

Start doing maintenance to your truck. Repack the wheel bearings, rebuild the brakes, replace the u-joints and service the transmission. That will teach you what to do with proper tools, give you an idea what tools to carry to service them on the road. Reliability has allot more to do with proper service than the parts used.

I have done the wheel bearings before.. replaced the radiatior.. replaced the starter on the side of the road and alternator.. belts.... done the brakes.. replaced the brake rotors... replaced the brake master cylinder.. changed all the fluids

Replaced the 700r4 transmission myself on the side of the road...

I totally disassembled a Honda CBR600 in an apartment complex.. (that's a long story). I still need to put it together. haha

When I say a vehicle that can be easily worked on I mean how easy bugs are to work on where say one person can take the engine out on their own on the side of the road... Something that it wouldn't be unrealistic to even do major overhaul work on anywhere. I know things like this seem unrealistic but I feel where there is a will there is a way. I think a lot of things that could be done with vehicles are untapped. That is what I meant when I was referring to that video about the Cubans who saw technology in a new way. They had a totally new paradigm.

 

[blazinzuk]

When I say a vehicle that can be easily worked on I mean how easy bugs are to work on where say one person can take the engine out on their own on the side of the road... Something that it wouldn't be unrealistic to even do major overhaul work on anywhere. I know things like this seem unrealistic but I feel where there is a will there is a way. I think a lot of things that could be done with vehicles are untapped. That is what I meant when I was referring to that video about the Cubans who saw technology in a new way. They had a totally new paradigm.

Dude lets dip into reality for just a second. It is super easy to pull a motor on a blazer really not a big deal. Yes pulling a motor on a bug is easier for sure. But half the reason you can do it by yourself is simply put weight! Even a normal sized person can lift a bug motor and sling it around a bit. But trying putting that rather small stuff in something that weighs as much as a blazer, it won't last long.

I can tell you this, I didn't know anything about bugs neither did my buddy who just bought it. We thought hey we can do this with no book or no knowledge about bugs, its a bug easy to work on. Yah not so much. Took us most of the day to get the motor out.

Now I know what I am doing you can pull a bug motor in what 20 minutes or less maybe 10 minutes?

Well I can pull a blazer motor in about an hour, 30 minutes if there is a time crunch. Thats by myself.

Have me pull a motor in say a front wheel drive car? First time I do it probably gonna take all day, next time I do it gonna be half that, third time I do it can still probably cut that time down a touch.

I was so familiar with my zuks we could pull a zuk in the garage, me on the top side and my buddy on the bottom side, needed a 10 mm, 12mm, 14mm and a 17mm plus a cresent wrench. From pushing it in with a blown motor to pulling it out of the garage running was 2 hours. Thats totally adjusted ready to run down the road.

While you are always talking about easy to work on you need to remember that if you have done something once or twice it will be way easier than the first time you did it. I have had the simplest things stump me the first time I did them with no book.

The best thing to do with a totally new car is include some sort of factory manual with the vehicle. This will do more to make the car easier to work on than just about anything I can think of.

If you have never seen a factory manual for a car...........well they make a chiltons or haynes seem like a 3 yr old wrote it with crayons for all the illustrations

 

[ZombieBlazer]

Blazinuk, I totally get what you are saying...

My thing is I just think that if they wanted to they could make things easier..there are solutions to these things. but it isn't a priority for the people who design vehicles.

But remember.. the people who designed these vehicles weren't really designing them for the purpose we want to use them for...

That is the biggest key. IF they were they would do the things we could imagine... like the including a detailed manual etc.

My point is just that I think things could be better... I'm not saying it's impossible to work on them as is... etc. I just think it could be better...

Another big problem is how so many vehicles are so different.. with different models too. One of the reasons the bug was so successful is because it was so similar from model to model allowing info about how to work on them to be passed more easily.

This would be an immense benefit of having ONE vehicle that many off roaders loved... something designed specifically for our purposes.

The key to what i am trying to say is that the reason we don't see how things COULD be done is because we have been conditioned NOT to see it. This is the point I am trying to make about the Cubans that is not getting across I don't think.

The VWs SHOW more of what is possible with the right mentality.. but remember... that's like 80 year old tech! IMAGINE what we could do now with that same mentality...

 

[MrSchaeferPants]

Something to keep in mind is that there isn't 'one' thing everyone likes. That's why there's a die hard following for Blazers, Broncos, Samurais, Heeps, Full size trucks, 4runners, toy pick ups, bugs. And all these guys thinks 'their' make/model is the best, you can't make a one size fits all. I mean you can, but you'll still just be a niche like the rest of them.

 

[TerryD]

Something to keep in mind is that there isn't 'one' thing everyone likes. That's why there's a die hard following for Blazers, Broncos, Samurais, Heeps, Full size trucks, 4runners, toy pick ups, bugs. And all these guys thinks 'their' make/model is the best, you can't make a one size fits all. I mean you can, but you'll still just be a niche like the rest of them.

Go to the EXPO forum. Everything from fully equipped semi based rigs to bicycles and even one farm tractor.

 

[ZombieBlazer]

Something to keep in mind is that there isn't 'one' thing everyone likes. That's why there's a die hard following for Blazers, Broncos, Samurais, Heeps, Full size trucks, 4runners, toy pick ups, bugs. And all these guys thinks 'their' make/model is the best, you can't make a one size fits all. I mean you can, but you'll still just be a niche like the rest of them.

True, but my thinking is that many of these vehicles are similar sych as certain sized Land rover defenders, Broncos, Blazers, Hummers etc etc...

Yet all these vehicles are really not built for the purposes we use them for today which is why we end up modifying them to suit our needs.

My feeling is that if you made a vehicle like the Blazer but that was made specifically for our purposes then you would get people from all those different makes interested in it. Plus many people who couldn't afford to get into it before or didn't know how to do all the mods themselves etc.

That's my theory..

 

[ZombieBlazer]

Hey... check this out.. this could be a big solution to one aspect of the whole thing - I have never heard someone claim you could do this type of work entirely by hand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGElSHzm0q8

He claims you can make any type of body panel with hand tools alone. There is a video series he is selling and people claim it is good but you never know about online endorsements.