Suzuki Samurai know how

Post by **Jwlman** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:52 am

Who has some suzuki Samurai know how? My dad just bought one to build up a little bit.

So far his ideas are diesel engine, cage, SOA, armor, lockers/gears for the rear rear and front rear, and 33 inch tires (but I am going to try to talk him into 35s

.

So, what is the max tire size the axles can handle, or should we just go straight to yota axles? Tranny and t-case any good? I see they have 6something gears for them.

He wants a very capable wheeler but also needs to drive decently for cruising around town.

Post by **Stinson** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:22 pm

First thing I would do would be swap a yota drive train into it. Sounds like a fun build post some pcitures.

Post by **willhf1011** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:31 pm

i've always heard 33 is about as big as you want to go on sammi axles. they do have some crazy low transfer case options pretty cheap and some guys seem to do well with the motors ive heard

theres a sammi buggy thats been passed around between some of the maryland creepers with a 1.8 diesel out of a chevette, it pretty cool, something to look into

Post by **MtnToys** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:21 pm

VW 1.9l TDI, toyota axles, tcase and tranny

http://www.acmeadapters.com/index.php?sound=Y

Post by **Arya Ebrahimi** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 4:37 pm

If you're starting from scratch yota axles seems like a no-brainer to me. They'll hold up to 33s just fine under a sammy(MIGHT pop a birf occasionally, but not a huge concern). Plus you get the ability to build them up over time as tire size progresses. You've seen me wheel, yota axles are plenty strong

Post by **maybs** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:37 pm

Well I don't have much know-how since I haven't done anything yet... but I would second the Toyota drivetrain, from the tranny all the way back if you go with more than the VW 1.6TD. If he's never gonna want any more power than that, you can stick with the samurai tranny and tcase, but I would still do Toy axles unless he plans to beef up the stockers or isn't going to drive like Ary. I decided to go all Toyota due to the higher availability of replacement parts and upgrades.

Post by **Jwlman** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 10:34 pm

So, Here is the plan right now:

1.9L turbo diesel
Toy tranny, tcase and axles
yj springs SOA
33 or 35 inch tires
bead locks
Cage
Body armor
New seats

So school me on toy stuff now. lol
What should I look for when pulling the toy drivetrain?

Post by **Arya Ebrahimi** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:44 am

What exactly do you want to know?

There's so much to learn when going from Jeep/Dana stuff to Toy stuff that it's hard to just school you on it.

Here are a few highlights though:

Cone washers suck
Longfields are the shit
Stock rear axles are amazingly strong
Keep your steering arm studs tight
Dropout thirds are awesome
Avoid Trail-gear because they're shady people
Plan on long lead times if you order from Marlin(one of the good people in the Toy industry though, so I do what I can to support him)

If you're wondering what to look for in terms of toy axles. You want an 84 or 85 front housing. They're better gusseted from the factory. Although you can add gussets to any of them. For under a Sami I'd think the earlier rears(85 and earlier) would be good because they're a bit narrower than the later IFS axles(55" vs 58") and they're cheap cause not many people want them. There are a lot of good deals on Pirate these days for used beefcake Toy axles. We're talking Longfields, high steer, ARBs, 5.29s etc.

Depending on the budget and his abilities you might consider a more modern Toy engine than the 22re. Perhaps the 2rz or 3rz. Something to think about. I don't think they're really that much more expensive, but they have more modern equipment and make a bunch more power. I'm talking like 45HP instead of 20

Edit: Doh, nevermind about the engine, I forgot you're going diesel.

There are a bunch of toy guys on here as you know, so ask away.

Post by **alk1174** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:27 am

Look at the L52 trans. Its a 5 speed with a decent overdrive and it is 4"-5" shorter than the later (84-95) models. This will help out if you are doing a doubler. The bearings arenâ€™t as large as some of the newer models so I would look at rebuilding it. I have had no issues with mine at all. I rebuilt it anyway since I actually drive my truck to the trails but the bearings that came out looked good.
Marlin Crawler will have anything you need for a toyota trans or tcase and I second the quality of their parts. They can also send you a rebuilt and beefed up trans if you are willing to spend the money.

Post by **Stinson** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:30 am

For transfer case, check out marlin crawler. You will want a dual adaptor to bolt two cases together, and while your in there you might as well go ahead and re-gear the 2nd case with 4.7s with a 23spline input. With that you will have more gear than you know what to do with.

Post by **Jwlman** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:31 am

Arya Ebrahimi wrote:What exactly do you want to know?

Mainly need to know if they have better manual transmissions or transfer cases in some years/models then others and what to watch out for/look for when buying used ones or pulling them from the junkyard.

Pretty much need to know the same about the axles but I do think the narrower ones will be better for it.

Post by **Jwlman** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 8:32 am

alk1174 wrote:Look at the L52 trans. Its a 5 speed with a decent overdrive and it is 4"-5" shorter than the later (84-95) models. This will help out if you are doing a doubler. The bearings arenâ€™t as large as some of the newer models so I would look at rebuilding it. I have had no issues with mine at all. I rebuilt it anyway since I actually drive my truck to the trails but the bearings that came out looked good.
Marlin Crawler will have anything you need for a toyota trans or tcase and I second the quality of their parts. They can also send you a rebuilt and beefed up trans if you are willing to spend the money.

Definitely will need to try to keep the drivetrain short

Stinson wrote:For transfer case, check out marlin crawler. You will want a dual adaptor to bolt two cases together, and while your in there you might as well go ahead and re-gear the 2nd case with 4.7s with a 23spline input. With that you will have more gear than you know what to do with.

Think there will be enough room in a sammy to have doublers with only a couple inches of stretch f&r?

Post by **Stinson** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:05 am

im not sure what you can fit in there. I would think you could fit duals but im not positive. Your other option would be just gear the case to 4.7's. You dont have the gear selection like you do with duals, and you lose your stock low, and reverse is low. Hippie's dads truck is 4.7 gears in a single case. Mine is duals, check em out sometime and see the difference.

Post by **BadnewsCJ** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:38 am

Jwlman wrote:
alk1174 wrote:Look at the L52 trans. Its a 5 speed with a decent overdrive and it is 4"-5" shorter than the later (84-95) models. This will help out if you are doing a doubler. The bearings arenâ€™t as large as some of the newer models so I would look at rebuilding it. I have had no issues with mine at all. I rebuilt it anyway since I actually drive my truck to the trails but the bearings that came out looked good.
Marlin Crawler will have anything you need for a toyota trans or tcase and I second the quality of their parts. They can also send you a rebuilt and beefed up trans if you are willing to spend the money.
Definitely will need to try to keep the drivetrain short

Stinson wrote:For transfer case, check out marlin crawler. You will want a dual adaptor to bolt two cases together, and while your in there you might as well go ahead and re-gear the 2nd case with 4.7s with a 23spline input. With that you will have more gear than you know what to do with.
Think there will be enough room in a sammy to have doublers with only a couple inches of stretch f&r?

i doubt it james

i know nothing about sami's but i do deal with the whole short wheelbase thing and there aint no way i could squeeze a doubler in my rig

define "couple inches of stretch".....

Post by **MtnToys** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:51 am

Dual cases are about about 6" longer than stock. Tcases basically come in two styles top shift(shifter on the tcase) and forward shift(shifter on the tranny). You need a top shift for your rear case. If your tranny is forward shift then your crawl box can be forward shift. You can cut and weld the rails of a forward shift to convert it to a top shift. The stock input is 21 spline. If you get 4.7 and duals at the same time you can upgrade the input on the rear tcase to 23 spline. I would get marlins bling clocked dual adapter.

Like krantz was saying, go with the L52 tranny for the shorter length.

Strength wise W>G>L52>L50

I'm pretty sure this is correct...
90-95 - W56 forward shift
85-89 EFI - W56 topshift
85-88 carb - G54 forward shift
84 - G52 forward shift
83 L52 topshift
81-82 - L45(4speed) L50(5speed) topshift

Rear axles
86-95 58" wide, larger break drums and axle tube diameter
pre86 55" wide

If you want selectable lockers go with the factory elockers found in the TRD tacos and some 3rd gen runners. If you shop around you can get a complete elocker 3rd for $300.
Highpinion 3rds are in the front of 91-97 cruisers. 93-97 had an elocker option.

Some venders
http://www.allprooffroad.com/
http://marlincrawler.com/
http://www.trail-gear.com/
http://longfieldsuperaxles.com/
http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/new/
http://www.frontrangeoffroadfab.com/nfoscomm/catalog/

If you need parts fast get them from trailgear. If you can wait 3 weeks get them from marlin.