ok gurus, this is the epiphany I had last night, I had been looking at getting a utv of some sort to use for cutting wood to heat the ole homestead. than I got to thinking about the "bottom drawer buggy" they did on xtreme 4x4. they used a front axle on the rear as kinda a cheap 4ws. now I got to thinking that with all of the sas on 'yotas that maybe a guy -me- could use they same principle to build upon to make my own utv. what do you all think. where I cut wood is in a pretty heavily wooded area on a pretty steep slope, cant get a full size in there, and alot of it is even tight for a yota.

what I am thinking about doing is purchasing 85-95 pu, using the stock front ifs and by flipping and rotatinga second front ifs system mounting it to the frame(making this sound alot easier than what it will be).

 

dont even mess with it. honestly, just use the truck as-is with some lockers and a winch and some aggresive tires.

 

Post pics of your build if you go for it.

I am thinking you might have a concern with the diff gears in the back( which once was the front). I am by no means a gear expert, but basically you'll be running in reverse all the time, and I believe you'll be on the weaker (coast) side of the gear and could have a better chance of failure.

I'd also think you would want to at least try and install a front solid axle in the rear. Would be so much easier to align and install. Ultimately would be stronger as well. The offset diff would be an issue though.

 

Actually an IFS front would be on the drive side in the rear (it's on the coast side normally).

I x2 for the use it as it is. Maybe trim the body back to nothing and tube buggy it, but I wouldn't put all the effort of hacking an IFS into the rear...

 

You would also have to either narrow the frame in the rear, or mount your shocks/struts/whatever you use for springs inboard with a ton of funky fabrication.

If you don't narrow the frame, you would also experinece issues with lift. In order to get the upper a-arms to clear the frame, you will have to go really high. You'd be much higher than you could lift the front even with a bracket lift.

 

thanks guys, i realized shortly after i posted that 86-95 had torsion bars, what a pain that would be. i was figuring that it would be easier to find an ifs that someone yanked out compared to a sa, and maybe a little cheaper. this truck isn't going to be abused per say, it shouldn't be driven more than 500 miles a year. like i said i would be doing this instead of buying say a john deere gator or polaris ranger, these machines run around $10K, that goes a long way towards buildinga machine that would atlast the woods i cut from. this would be for nothing other than pulling logs out to an area where they can be chopped, split and thrown in my 3/4 ton.

 

I'd bet you could get a good starter Toyota for $2500. If you are willing to put another $7500 into that you'd be amazed where it would go.

 

It's bad enough to have to suffer a weaker 7.5" diff. in the front on IFS rigs. If you were to downgrade to a 7.5" in the rear, for a truck you want to use for work(?), you may need to put that into consideration as well. If you wan't one (7.5") for some crazy-ass reason, a Toyota 2wd PU axle is so equipped. Plus you'd get some weaker axle shafts with that. I'm just givin' ya a hard time.

Look here for used axles, of all types.
http://car-part.com/

 

I am looking at it as not using it as I would my 3/4 ton but more as I would use a utv. but the nice things about this rig would having a heater, a weatherproof cab, and best of all it would be a yota. again dont look at this as a "work truck" but more as a 4wheeler.

 

IRS sounds like a cool idea for such a vehicle. If you can get that done, I would love to have a look at that.

 

If you?re going to do rear steer, definitely go with a strait axle. The stock IFS on the rear just would be up to the task. What size tires do you plan on running? You might was to consider building the axle up with longs, ARP studs and so fourth. Full hydro would probably be the easiest way to set up the steering. Im sure someone on pirate has rear steer on a yota but they probably used mog or 1ton axles. If you have the skills and funds I would say go for it. It would make an awesome build up.

If you want to stay on the cheap and simple, I would say buy a standard cab solid axle yota, weld the rear, pound in the fire wall (tire clearance), cut the fenders and throw some 34x9.5 tsl swappers on. You will be amazed at what this setup can do.

 

I would buy an 80 or so toy truck, remove the bed, build a slimmer flatbed, and build a heavy duty rear bumper and in the front as well, then slap on the 33s, 4.88 gears spool the rear and leave the front, it would be a kickass little beast for like 3k.