The side piece - "cheap" Samurai beater

[91samurai]

If you keep the samurai rear you could shave the housing easily. both of mine I had the ring gear about an 1/8 from touching the bottom and It made a big difference.

 

[paulevans76]

Please don't ! You'll ruin the appeal of the lightweight / small / nimble samurai !

Just put the lockright and the 32s on the stock axle it'll be fine unless you drive like a retard.

@drkelly had 34" TSLs IIRC on his without troubles.

I doubt I'd gain a significant amount of weight from just the rear 60 series axle. I know the typical 8" toyota swap has very little weight penalty, but still, I get your sentiment: weight is weight. And driving like a retard is probably subjective. I do want to be able to lay on the throttle and not worry about stuff, but I'm not trying to shit-missile it off any sweet jumps or anything. I just want to avoid popping shafts and/or bending housings. Sounds like I'd be in pretty safe territory with 32s.

Another fun drivability thing I've been dealing with, is anytime I fill it all the way up, it pulls fuel into the charcoal cannister which kills the vaccuum I guess and it sort of vapor locks itself. Anyone have any ideas? I am going to try running it higher on the firewall to see if that helps. I've been dealing with drivability issues related to the fuel system from the first time I filled it up, although previously there was also rusty crud in the fuel (which was remedied by the petroworks tank).

 

[Bebop]

I doubt I'd gain a significant amount of weight from just the rear 60 series axle. I know the typical 8" toyota swap has very little weight penalty, but still, I get your sentiment: weight is weight. And driving like a retard is probably subjective. I do want to be able to lay on the throttle and not worry about stuff, but I'm not trying to shit-missile it off any sweet jumps or anything. I just want to avoid popping shafts and/or bending housings. Sounds like I'd be in pretty safe territory with 32s.

I would say different if you were racing.
But for your use, the stock rear axle will be just fine.

 

[R Q]

Took this hog out to Kairos and ran creek bed trails for a whole day with some other CORE dudes. It was a diverse group of rigs which is always fun. It did pretty damn good. But being low and on little tires it was fairly exhausting picking lines and smacking corners and skids non stop. It did some stuff it probably had no business attempting, and the 2nd-3rd gear assaults definitely left their mark on the rock anchor rear spring hangers.

I still haven't installed the rear locker, so this was first time taking it out with the front locked and the electric power steering. The power steering was pretty great but there were a few times it didn't have enough guts to turn. Maybe I had some other interference between a spring clamp and the steering linkage, I dunno. I didn't want to break anything and utilize any spares.

View attachment 372065

Not too many cool pics as Kairos asks to keep the creek bed photos off the interwebs.

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You can see from the below pic where it's parked back at the house that it's time to go ahead and finish up the rear bumper. I had to bend the poor mudflaps back down every time we stopped. Tailpipe also got a wee bit squished but not too bad.

View attachment 372064

I had a smart/stupid idea that instead of putting the lock right in the stock rear and still worry about popping a shaft, I could maybe run a 60 series cruiser rear axle so I could just not worry about it ever. They came with 3.73s and correct offset. I could run 5-to-6 lug adapters up front to correct for the lug pattern and get the width close. I would feel pretty comfortable running a 32 or so SxS stickies should I ever get the itch.

Anyway, it was fun as hell but I do think it could use a bit more clearance.

Your rig did great! It was a fun day and glad to see you making obstacles with it! All this rig needs is more seat time with you.

 

[jeepyjman]

so far digging the build. I really want to find a cheap sami to get back out on the trail

 

[paulevans76]

so far digging the build. I really want to find a cheap sami to get back out on the trail

Thanks man, and I hear ya. The best part about them is everything is scaled down except the fun. I wouldn't turn my nose down at a tracker/sidekick either. More motor to start with and still compact.

 

[DirkaDirka875]

so far digging the build. I really want to find a cheap sami to get back out on the trail

The words "Cheap" and "samurai" are pretty much just antonyms these days.

Thanks man, and I hear ya. The best part about them is everything is scaled down except the fun. I wouldn't turn my nose down at a tracker/sidekick either. More motor to start with and still compact.

And ditto this. Throw a sami front in it or yota axle swap it, and make memories.

 

[Caver Dave]

Another fun drivability thing I've been dealing with, is anytime I fill it all the way up, it pulls fuel into the charcoal cannister which kills the vaccuum I guess and it sort of vapor locks itself. Anyone have any ideas?

IMHO, the canister is likely fawked from raw fuel... resulting from possible clogged vent OR being 35 years old

 

[paulevans76]

IMHO, the canister is likely fawked from raw fuel... resulting from possible clogged vent OR being 35 years old

I previously removed the fawked 30 year old canister and replaced it with one from a Miata (I think) because it was cheap and on the shelf. I pulled the vacuum hose off the canister and drove 10 miles or so, then made sure the canister was empty and reconnected it, and it's been good to go. I just have to be careful when I fill it.

Wish I could have gotten a the white/natural color fuel tank instead of black so I could easily see the fuel level, but they only had black when I needed one. Plus the sending unit just goes from super full to a little over half and hangs there until empty.

 

[paulevans76]

Quickly boogered together a rear bumper for this thing, finally. Used a cheapo LED strip for the brake/turn/revers and still have the stock brake light by the spare, so it's pretty visible. I need to mount and wire in the license plate holder but zip ties will do for now.







After this I hit it with some hammered black to fill in any evidence of shitty prep and porosity that a flapper wheel wouldn't fix.

Got that all done in time for a long URE weekend w/ my brother and a mutual buddy in his sweet 1st gen runner. We camped at Art Lilley from Fri thru Mon and it was pretty much a ghost town - highly recommend it if you prefer to stay up having many cold ones and playing tunes around the fire until late. Plus it was free.

Anyway, the Zuk did everything will a little effort. I couldn't do the gatekeeper ledge on the frontside without using the bypass, but that's the downside of an 80" wb. I stayed busy going after stupid lines on all the trails. Almost flopped it on Dickey Bell when I got denied going up the middle and it pitched me off to the left - but eventually 2nd gear and a little go juice got me right. We did all the tourist stuff like poser rock and the mud hole by Art Lilley as well. What a blast this thing is! I am convinced that whenever I get around to installing the rear locker and some SxS tires its going to be like cheating.

Picture dump:











Evidence of my driving talent:



Hard to tell in the pics, but those are pretty deep dents in the diff 'cover'. Nothing leaking tho, so all good!

 

[91samurai]

You can buy a weld on steel pipe cap big enough to to go around the round part of the diff “cover” area and cut it in half for some easy diff armour. 1 cap is enough to do both axles since you cut it in half.

 

[paulevans76]

You can buy a weld on steel pipe cap big enough to to go around the round part of the diff “cover” area and cut it in half for some easy diff armour. 1 cap is enough to do both axles since you cut it in half.

Good idea. Probably shoulda thought to do this before now!

 

[drkelly]

I beat the housing in on mine to the point that the ring gear wore/cut a whole through it and oil started leaking out. I bought another housing and welded this on:

Samurai Diff Armor - (fits stock Samurai housing front or rear)

Samurai Weld-On Differential Armor If your still running a stock Samurai axle housing this upgrade is a must have. Trail-Gears weld on Diff Armor has been precision Laser Cut from 3/16" A36 Steel, then CNC formed to weld up perfectly. This product was designed to fit 1986-1995 front and...

lowrangeoffroad.com

 

[paulevans76]

@drkelly did you stretch your old samurai at all? Mine might be a smidge more than stock in the front based on how I did the RUF. I'm wondering how much I can do without steering and fuel tank interference. I know without moving the tank I'll be very limited, but like my wife probably says, even a few extra inches would be nice.

 

[drkelly]

@drkelly did you stretch your old samurai at all? Mine might be a smidge more than stock in the front based on how I did the RUF. I'm wondering how much I can do without steering and fuel tank interference. I know without moving the tank I'll be very limited, but like my wife probably says, even a few extra inches would be nice.

Yes, I stretched it about 1" front and rear. I ran the Kick/Track powersteering mounted with the Petroworks wedge bracket. It was spring under, and the steering linkage wouldn't allow more than about 1". In the back, my rear diff scraped/clearanced itself against the tank by denting it just slightly from the 1" stretch after I added that armor piece.

 

[paulevans76]

Yes, I stretched it about 1" front and rear. I ran the Kick/Track powersteering mounted with the Petroworks wedge bracket. It was spring under, and the steering linkage wouldn't allow more than about 1". In the back, my rear diff scraped/clearanced itself against the tank by denting it just slightly from the 1" stretch after I added that armor piece.

Thanks. Looks like I'll be in the same situation unless I goof around with another steering setup.