My first Samurai experience was in a brand new 1988. The manager where I worked had just bought it and told me I could use it while he was away for two weeks. I was 18 years old. That was a big mistake on his part. When he came home a day early he found his Samurai now had 235/75-15 bias ply snow tires and the carpet was out hanging on a clothes line and the body drain plugs were all popped out. I was amazed at how capable it was in stock form. A little over 30 years later I now have one of my own that I can’t stop tinkering with. It has a Toyota 22R-E engine with a Toyota 5 speed and t case. I recently had 5.38 gears installed in the stock Samurai axles with a spool in the rear. I did the spring over axle kit and have 35’s. I can’t wait to finish it and hit some trails.
@@FortuneOffRoad I needed a 2” body lift to get the clearance needed for the bellhousing. I still had to modify the trans tunnel a bit and make a hump in the passenger foot well for the slave cylinder. The worst part for me was the wiring. I hate wiring. I took all the engine harness wiring and computer from the donor 1989 Toyota truck I got the engine and trans from. It was a lot of work for a small performance gain. Looking back I’d probably go with a GM 4.3L instead 🙄
@MrHayabusa1299 I really home my 1.3L will hold up. I lo e thr stock engine and it's simplicity. The option of a turbo is cool too, but we'll see if that's enough power to move it
Excellent video dude, I agree with all your talking points. I’ve dumped a lot of effort into building mine and am almost where I want to be. I agree that the stock axles limit the progression of the build, you know I’m on 35’s so I have RCV fronts and chromoly rear axles, and I’m about to upgrade the rear axle housing to one of the trail tough sidekick hybrids. I don’t have the same terrain and obstacles as you do so I’m building mine for my terrain which is mostly mud 🤘😎
You've done a great job with yours especially to tackle that specific terrain. RCVs are the way to go. I wish they made more options for rear axles too
Greetings from Pontassieve, province of Florence, Italy. I have a Suzuki Jimmy 4x4 with a 1.3 LT m13a petrol engine from 2001, all original, which I use to go to the countryside, the forest and the mountains on the agricultural and forestry roads used by the logging companies.
I have the stock 3.73 in the axles. Used to go 65 mph, switched to propane and now cab only go 35. No idea what happened. Might have some engine issues, but works for crawling!
Tons and 40s?! Hell yeah! Question.. what tcase gears are you running? And how does the 3.73s pair up? Ill be running 33s and picked up a tcase that already has 6.5:1
I'm running 6.4 with 33s, and it's just about right. For crawling, I would go 5.38 in the diffs but I figured I would be braking them often in the rocks.
@Fortune Off-Road I know there's a balance between reduction and strength. I may go 4.56 or 4.88. Under geared is ok, I'll trailer it mostly. Wanted to keep this all suzuki but if it keeps breaking I got some yotas.
@@FortuneOffRoad fair enough, alot of rigs still run leafs, trail tough has what looks like an impressive link system for the samurai, comes with everything but axles, and I'm sure you could make it work with the 1tons.
Great video, I keep coming back to your older videos as I am currently building up my tin top to keep up with my other friends much larger rigs!
Awesome, thanks for rhe feedback!
My first Samurai experience was in a brand new 1988. The manager where I worked had just bought it and told me I could use it while he was away for two weeks. I was 18 years old. That was a big mistake on his part. When he came home a day early he found his Samurai now had 235/75-15 bias ply snow tires and the carpet was out hanging on a clothes line and the body drain plugs were all popped out. I was amazed at how capable it was in stock form. A little over 30 years later I now have one of my own that I can’t stop tinkering with. It has a Toyota 22R-E engine with a Toyota 5 speed and t case. I recently had 5.38 gears installed in the stock Samurai axles with a spool in the rear. I did the spring over axle kit and have 35’s. I can’t wait to finish it and hit some trails.
Sounds like a beast! I would love to swap a 22re into mine. People say it's too big, but I'm willing to chop to get that drivetrain
@@FortuneOffRoad I needed a 2” body lift to get the clearance needed for the bellhousing. I still had to modify the trans tunnel a bit and make a hump in the passenger foot well for the slave cylinder. The worst part for me was the wiring. I hate wiring. I took all the engine harness wiring and computer from the donor 1989 Toyota truck I got the engine and trans from. It was a lot of work for a small performance gain. Looking back I’d probably go with a GM 4.3L instead 🙄
@MrHayabusa1299 I really home my 1.3L will hold up. I lo e thr stock engine and it's simplicity. The option of a turbo is cool too, but we'll see if that's enough power to move it
Excellent video dude, I agree with all your talking points. I’ve dumped a lot of effort into building mine and am almost where I want to be. I agree that the stock axles limit the progression of the build, you know I’m on 35’s so I have RCV fronts and chromoly rear axles, and I’m about to upgrade the rear axle housing to one of the trail tough sidekick hybrids. I don’t have the same terrain and obstacles as you do so I’m building mine for my terrain which is mostly mud 🤘😎
You've done a great job with yours especially to tackle that specific terrain. RCVs are the way to go. I wish they made more options for rear axles too
Greetings from Pontassieve, province of Florence, Italy. I have a Suzuki Jimmy 4x4 with a 1.3 LT m13a petrol engine from 2001, all original, which I use to go to the countryside, the forest and the mountains on the agricultural and forestry roads used by the logging companies.
Excellent. Sounds like you have a classic suzuki in a beautiful country.
It’s cute and badass all at the same time! Can’t wait to see the new axles!!! Good job man, keep it up!
Thanks dude, I'm excited
Love this! Somehow I missed the domelight deal. Freakin cool idea :)
Thanks dude, works great!
Based my whole Samurai build off your videos! And it’s kicked ass!
Awesome! I hope it's been working well. Mine does pretty good on most trails. 🤙🏻
@@FortuneOffRoad it does the only difference is the Epic Trek SPOA and 33 super swampers
What ring and pinion ratio are you running? and have you ever driven it on the highway with the 6.4 t case gears and 33s, if so how does it do? Thanks
I have the stock 3.73 in the axles. Used to go 65 mph, switched to propane and now cab only go 35. No idea what happened. Might have some engine issues, but works for crawling!
Tons and 40s?! Hell yeah! Question.. what tcase gears are you running? And how does the 3.73s pair up? Ill be running 33s and picked up a tcase that already has 6.5:1
I'm running 6.4 with 33s, and it's just about right. For crawling, I would go 5.38 in the diffs but I figured I would be braking them often in the rocks.
@Fortune Off-Road I know there's a balance between reduction and strength. I may go 4.56 or 4.88. Under geared is ok, I'll trailer it mostly. Wanted to keep this all suzuki but if it keeps breaking I got some yotas.
@mada310 most samurai still look close to stick even with the yota axles, strength increase sounds nice
With the 1tons are you gonna keep leafs or link it?
Leaf springs for now, possibly links later
@@FortuneOffRoad fair enough, alot of rigs still run leafs, trail tough has what looks like an impressive link system for the samurai, comes with everything but axles, and I'm sure you could make it work with the 1tons.