Moon buggy-ish build for wife/child?...thoughts?

[Craig_c]

Well been thinking lately of the direction of my next build. I have been building a Samurai tin top crawler for some time now. Toy axles, 39.5 Iroks, VW diesel, auto trans with a sidekick to D300 doubler. Built for air shocks.

My wife had never ridden in anything but a RZR until my U4 buggy was done. I thought she would be scared in it for awhile since you sit up so much higher and have much more body roll than a Rzr. But that was opposite, she said something about it made he feel safer and more comfortable doing things. She said something about all the tubing and side panels....

So I was thinking of maybe ditching the Sami build for a small moon buggy style rig, for her to drive and eventually my daughter (she's 4). Something small and nimble that will crawl good, with good visability for them to learn in. She'd be scared to death of any air shock equipped rig I've ever rode in. I really wanna finish the Sami because I have so much time in it already, but I was them to enjoy wheeling and feel safe and comfortable trying things as they learn.

So who has been down this road? What are your thoughts? I thought having Windows and doors and heat in the winter/rainy times would be a great thing for them. I'd hate to ditch all the parts I have now, the VW engine is basically all new, I spend many hours building the doubler setup. I've never seen a front engine moon buggy though. Maybe a VW transaxle buggy?

 

[TBItoy]

sway bars

tube doors + cage

 

[patooyee]

I've never seen a front engine moon buggy though.

 

[Craig_c]

I'd like to see some interior pics of that last one.....looks like from that pic the cage/chassis could be widened pretty easy for two seats

 

[Craig_c]

sway bars

tube doors + cage

It was going to get a sway bar. I've done too much work for me to change over to coils at this point. The frame has been notched for clearance at full droop and the engine would prevent cutting any more on the drivers side to clear a coil over.

 

[zukimaster]

Re:

I building a tin top Sammy also, post a pic if you have one

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[nhl_bullitt]

Smurphy's old buggy was pretty sweet. Only had about 105" wheelbase, 4cyl manual trans on waggy 44s. Fairly cheap in materials/parts used when it comes to a buggy from scratch. Of course it had 2 seats in it, low and stable. Anyway, I always thought it would be a fun crawler.

 

[Craig_c]

Smurphy's old buggy was pretty sweet. Only had about 105" wheelbase, 4cyl manual trans on waggy 44s. Fairly cheap in materials/parts used when it comes to a buggy from scratch. Of course it had 2 seats in it, low and stable. Anyway, I always thought it would be a fun crawler.

That's a cool looking buggy, but the low seats and tall front tube would make seeing out of it suck, and being its my wife and child learning to wheel in it, I'd like them to have good visability out of it.

 

[Craig_c]

]Current project

 

[sleepsontoilet]

I'd like to see some interior pics of that last one.....looks like from that pic the cage/chassis could be widened pretty easy for two seats

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/general-4x4-discussion/2205994-2016-reload-buggy.html

 

[xjpaddler]

Mmmmmm. Jesse's buggy! Really like that little monster.

 

[mckeddie]

I'd go rear engine transaxle. Simplest cheapest build you can do imo, and they work awesome and are crazy stable.

 

[Craig_c]

I'd go rear engine transaxle. Simplest cheapest build you can do imo, and they work awesome and are crazy stable.

I'm gonna do some looking and see if anyone has used a VW front wheel drive transaxle in a buggy. I'd like to keep my diesel, and they have the same bellhousing as the VW gas engines.

Keep my Toyota axles, shocks. and sell the rest. Tubing is no big deal. The real deciding factor is if the women would wanna be without heat and a sealed cab. Wish I could afford to do both!

 

[nhl_bullitt]

Your current project looks freaking sweet man.

 

[patooyee]

Re:

Don't know if I'm correct but I define moon buggy in my mind as one where you sit next to the drive train instead of on top. A 2 seat moon buggy in that case would be very wide.

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[Craig_c]

That's where the "ish" comes in! Yeah they either would have to be a transaxle buggy or a bit wider/taller to fit 2 seats

 

[ToyotaTom]

Here is a cool little 2 seater.

The original moon buggy was a 2 seater lol.

 

[RustyC]

I built a two seater rear engine. Without body panels the visibility in the front is great. Keep the rear window open and rear visibility is not too bad. I also made the pedals adjustable, that has proven to work out well. Mine was not a trans axle build though.