1988 Geo Tracker review from North America

Motor smokes until warm due to old valve seals.

When going through water you must bring a can of brake cleaner to dry distributor cap out. Remember to wait for fumes to evaporate then the cap will be dry.

Due to heavy mud driving, the mud will clog the window spindles up and cause rolling and alignment problems with your windows.

Pulled stock rocker panels, front under fender wale covers off to discover sand packed under there. Must remove all sand or it will cause rust.

Be careful with bigger tires, you may need to do some modifying of fenders and fire wall.

I personally have gone through two clutches due to the over sized tires.

Front steering is always going to have an issue with larger tires.

The frame must be reinforced for more wilder use. Be careful if you play hard the frame is rather thin, and not properly formed for a wheeling machine.

The seat rails needs to be greased frequently to prevent dirt build up and friction on the track.

If you do your own brakes always remember to bleed your brakes from the drivers rear to the passengers rear and then the junction point in front of the third member. Then passenger front and finally drivers front. Only in that order will it be bleed properly.

If you seem to notice a toe in problem when the wheels are on it could be two things:

1, Traction bar must remain on.

2, You need new struts.

I gave my Geo Tracker a 3 1/2 inch body lift. I also put blocks under my springs lifting it up another 3 1/2 inches. I replaced the back shocks with Shocks from a Jeep Cherokee. They are 1 inch longer, that allows for a little more articulation. I have 31X10.5 on what seems to be Rock Crawler rims. The rims have a two inch off set to allow for more back space for the tire.

My next project is to put lockers on it. I may even go with something called a coil in my rear end. I hear nothing, but good things about it. The rear has a 5/12 gear ratio stock. The front axle stock has a problem with blowing out when a locker is put in and 32 inch tires are used. A good buddy of mine had went through two front ends before he went to his Dana 44s.

All around it is a beast and it eats trails up like nothing. I personally would love to see someone make a rock crawler out of one. That would look so monstrous.

This vehicle handles better off road than on.

The miles per gallon is around 25, a little more a little less depends on how you use the vehicle.

The thing I like the most about these rigs is their fuel tanks. On empty you still have three gallons of gas called a reserve. Nice huh, I didn't believe it until I tried it out. I ran my tank until the needle was below the empty line. Then I went and filled up 8 gallons of gas into an 11 gallon tank WOW!!!