7/10/2023 0 Comments Geo tracker lift kit calminiAt a Mexican dinner the night before we hit the trail, the waitress at Georgetown casually mentioned a recent bear attack of a runner on the Pacific Crest Trail, which passes through Desolation Wilderness and crosses the Rubicon Trail. Geo's budget was rock bottom, though I was paid well. The entourage was me, Steve Kramer, one of the Geo engineers with no four-wheeling experience and a Southern California-based freelance photographer who called the rest of us "dude". To raise the bar and provide our camp provisions carrier, I drove the lead (lifted) vehicle with a small U.S.A. That was the second vehicle's only modification. I insisted that the idea would not work without the bare minimum of an aluminum belly skid pan. Then Chevrolet/Geo threw the curve ball: They insisted that a second Geo must go along with no modifications. I was confident we had enough to get this Tracker through. We knew the vehicle needed undercarriage protection, and Steve did an excellent job of fabricating a full belly aluminum skid pan that was barely visible in a profile view of the Tracker. We slipped a prototype Lock-Right rear differential locker kit into the rear differential only. Warn participated with a 5K pound capacity winch and prototype winch mount. We were allowed to install 29" diameter BFG All-Terrain tires on the stock wheels. Steve and I worked closely to bring a Geo to par. I volunteered to get a two-door Geo Tracker over the rock-strewn route. I had driven the trail as early as the summer of 1967. They knew that many Jeep® 4x4s had navigated the trail but had no idea how severe the rock challenges were. Two Geo engineers (Suzuki obviously designed these vehicles) thought that Chevrolet's Geo Tracker needed Rubicon Trail bragging rights. 4x4 trucks and SUVs, mostly trail guiding at media events in Colorado's 'Fourteeners and at Moab. During the mid-nineties, I was consulting for G.M. Knyte.Steve Kramer of Calmini was on that Rubicon adventure.
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