noob seeks advice

[SP450andLE]

high all first post here and am taking the no such thing as a silly question approach.
1 can you lock back diffs for the escudos

2 are the escudos/vitaras as good a starting point as a samuris

thanks in advance

1. In short, yes.

2. It depends on what you want it for.

3. The search function is your friend...

Also, welcome to the wonderful world of ORE

[suzookyman]

1. Yes
2. Having owned a few of both, "go the Samurai ! "
3. What he said.

[Heath]

1. Yes
2. Having owned a few of both, "go the Samurai ! "
3. What he said.

Im with Al. (we owned the same zook - should never have sold it to ya Al )

Samarai is a little more robust (well for a little 4wd) but is a little more "agricultural" in its drive and ride. Tough little giant killer which never ceases to impress with where and what they can drive/do. My next toy will be of this type (leaf sprung, small, light, uncomfortable but a hell of a lot of fun). Easy to modify on a budget (okay expect that to stretch though - nothing stays cheap for long ) and heaps of stuff/ideas available on mods. Hard to find a good cheap one now though...

Scud/vit is more domesticated, but can still hold its own. Tend to be a little soft in the front end - fragile IFS setup/CV/Diff/struts, etc. Some work is required to toughen things up (but what domesticated 4wd out of the box doesnt need this?) Good little truck for the softer stuff (and if driven within its limits can surprise with its abilities) and more gear becoming available for them as time passes. Bang some lux ales on and go for it. Easier to find cheap ones too.

Best fun for your bucks in my humble opinion . Okay lets hear the other marques chime in here - LOL.

[SP450andLE]

1. Yes
2. Having owned a few of both, "go the Samurai ! "
3. What he said.

Im with Al. (we owned the same zook - should never have sold it to ya Al )

Samarai is a little more robust (well for a little 4wd) but is a little more "agricultural" in its drive and ride. Tough little giant killer which never ceases to impress with where and what they can drive/do. My next toy will be of this type (leaf sprung, small, light, uncomfortable but a hell of a lot of fun). Easy to modify on a budget (okay expect that to stretch though - nothing stays cheap for long ) and heaps of stuff/ideas available on mods. Hard to find a good cheap one now though...

Scud/vit is more domesticated, but can still hold its own. Tend to be a little soft in the front end - fragile IFS setup/CV/Diff/struts, etc. Some work is required to toughen things up (but what domesticated 4wd out of the box doesnt need this?) Good little truck for the softer stuff (and if driven within its limits can surprise with its abilities) and more gear becoming available for them as time passes. Bang some lux ales on and go for it. Easier to find cheap ones too.

Best fun for your bucks in my humble opinion . Okay lets hear the other marques chime in here - LOL.

On behalf of Lincooln... (With a Vitara)

He has only ever broken the mount for the front diff.

And put a hole in his other one, which was fixed with a quicksteel patch

And he has been driving (thrashing) that thing for a few years now.

And now my view: I'm not sure I would consider much about a Vitara 'domesticated'... *Cough especially not the ride Cough*

[De-Ranged]

Having spent alot of time and energy trying to solve issues on a scud with a mad pilot and now owning a 413 I'd say for me (like to build em extreme) I'd say they are the same the scud has a longer wheel base and generally better body's than the older sami's... the sami body has lots of straight pannels which are easier to fix or modify
The rest of the bits in them well I don't want to keep any of the bits on mine just the body

If you are not going to swop axles to something stronger then, the sami is the better, stronger drive line, an engine swop is dead easy from pretty much any 4 cyclinder rear wheel drive car as they have a divorced transfercase, the vitara front diff can't handle bigger wheels and lift (lift stresses the cv's, can be solved by some brackets to drop the diff about 40mm, but unless you get a steelcase front diff off a grand vitara (rare and expensive) you will brake front diffs on 31"s..... the bonus of the vitara is there are alot more of them out there, sami's are getting a bit harder to get parts compared to vitara

If 30"s and family drives are the ticket then the vitara is the way to go way more comfortable, better handling

Cheers Reece