Fairbanks Resident - New Wheeler

[2002 Sporty]

Howdy Folks,
I'm a resident of Fairbanks. Just got outta the Airforce in past few years. I'm an interested trail romper and explorist.
I drive a different kind of 4x4 than most people would choose to apprehend.
I have a 2002 Kia Sportage, 1st gen Korean built fully boxed chassy rig.
I choose this truck cause everything I have adapted to it is Custom.
There are a lot of these lil Kia's on the road and they are more capable than one may expect to belive. I like to keep up with bolt on bad-boy rigs.
There are no modifications available for the Mazda FE3N engine.
There are no locking differentials available on the market. No one makes them.
I have a custom 3" lift with 104 TJ rear springs and RAV4 shocks.
I have some new 15" Rockcrawler wheels on the way with 2.5" backspacing, and will be maxing out the wheel wells with 30x9.5x15 tires when I can.
I'm interested in a fabricated front winch bumper - preferably Aluminum for the weight benefits and underbody skid plates. Thanks for reading my post.

[naturalbornmudder]

welcome to frozen axles 2002 sporty. It sounds like you have a nice rig started. I don't envy you trying to find upgrade parts.I bet it can be a pain. COme on out to a trail ride or meeting and see what we are about.

[The_Ronster]

Very cool to see some out of the box thinking with your rig :2thumbs: Welcome to the site, hope to see you out on the trails or at the monthly meetings.

[rpiereck]

Welcome to FAO! I'm looking forward to seeing that tricked out Kia in the trail, definitely different!

[ChevyKev]

Fabbing is better than bolt on! :tools:

ALuminum sounds like a geat idea as well, but I'm too cheap for that! :D

[boostlesstj]

sounds like it's gonna be an interesting rig

[The Bronze]

A non-jeeper! Welcome to the brotherhood of the cool little wheelers! :)

[Disco69]

Welcome to the site. I think that it is awesome that you have a "non-standard' wheeling rig. Snoop around and ask questions. There's a TON of info on the ole site. Cheers.

[Justaguy]

If you are looking for someone to custom fab an aluminum bumper for your ride, the best in town is Karold @ Karolds welding and fabrication on discovery road out by the airport. He can build anything you can dream up.:D

[The Bronze]

An aluminum bumper sounds like a great idea! Ron and I were both talking about trying our hands at that.

[The_Ronster]

An aluminum belly-up is where its at though. C'mon spoolgun :pray:

[The Bronze]

The guy is wondering what he has gotten himself into....

Back on topic.

[2002 Sporty]

The bronze, Your correct with your comment. What the Hell did I get myself into is about right.:confused: And I don't have a jeep. Wheeling with only one frozen axle is just plain nuts ain't it? I dig that Zuki Avatar though. I was skeptical about joining the site, cause I drive a Kia. And if I'm not parked next to another one, then you probrably wouldn't or couldn't tell the difference.

Justaguy, thanks for the heads up on that local fabricator. I'm low on the funding at the moment - family, but the info is exciting enough for now. I'll have to go down and check out the place and speak to the guy.:D

Ronster, I don't have a very powerful rig, and all the added weight of heavy metal is just gonna rob me of the lil power I got. Plus I'd probrably end up nose diving with a 1/4'' Steel bumper/winch combo.:o

Disco69 & rpiereck, Thanks for the welcome.

boostlesstj, Intresting is what I tell my daughter when it looks like it aint quite there yet.;) Don't worry, I understand. I gotta start somewhere.

ChevyKev, I feel you man. I like to see something that no one else has, or something that I have never seen before. With Bolt-on's, It just depends on who has the biggest pocketbook to purchase the most mods. My pocket book is quite thin.

Speaking of skeptical; I am worried about getting a winch of my own and some better tires. I would hate to burden others with getting pulled out the muck. Cause I want to take this lil rig where no Kia has ever gone before.
I wouldn't mind just torching/Cutting a trailor hitch, and the front bumper. Then welding the shortened Hitch to the front of the frame, where I could just plug a winch in and then remove it for daily driving. We'll see...

[naturalbornmudder]

I would say bring it out on some of the trails with us. A couple good ones to start are Banner Creek, Fairbanks Creek, and Beaver. Those 3 trails support light to moderate wheeling and you get check out the rig on the trail, check us out, and get in some wheel time as well. Like a friend of mine used to say, run what ya rung, just make it safe and drive it safe.

[reeferman]

Who made the rear axle for the KIA?

[BigMike]

I would do a tube style bumper with a aluminum skid plate due to the weakness of it.

[2002 Sporty]

Who made the rear axle for the KIA?

The rear axle is made by Mazda. Eaton made a posi-traction for the rear end of some of the 10 Bolt 28 Spline 4.44 geared pumpkins, and possibly for the 4.77 pumpkin that's in mine.:)
They do not make the posi-traction for the 1st gen Kia's any more. I emailed them last week, they confirmed it. :mad:
My only luck would be to look in junk yards for used rear axles, find the manufacturer's number and call it in to Kia to see if its a posi-trac or not.
I could always go the Lincoln Locker welded rear end. But my Kia's a daily driver and the ole lady might kill herself on the ice and highway. So untill she gets her own heap, I have to deal with what I got. :eek:
Oh yea, almost forgot; I could do a diff-conversion with the posi-trac from the rear end of a Miata for the 26 spline that's in the front differential of my Sporty. That would help with 4x4ing. Would just have to find a donar Miata with the posi-trac in it. :D
I know that some Sporty's the same year as mine have the posi-trac in it. I just have to lift mine up off the ground and see if it's in there or not. I'm no genius at this stuff though. Turn wheel one way; other wheel turns too:confused:
Lot's of RX7 owners take the low gearing from the Sportage rear axle for tearing up the smaller race tracks. but it dosen't do anything for me. The Sportage rear end is its own beast. :rolleyes:

[2002 Sporty]

How long does it take to see my replys on this site?
I work nights as a security guard and look forward to chatting with the members, but it seems like days since my last post. What's up with that?

[naturalbornmudder]

found a glitch in the forum posting so no one saw your posts until you sent me the private message this morning.
YOu should have more posting abilities now.