The "Terrible Towel": Suzuki Samurai Coil Conversion

[RalphDogg]

because it starts to look like you stuck full widths under it.

no offense but full widths aren't 1/2 ton yota axles.

[OverkillZJ]

Ralph has a point, but I consider all points moot undil backspacing, wheel width, and tire width are taken into account...

[gonecheenin]

Because this project went overboard enough alrady, and I intend to keep (make) it relatively street legal... have the bugy for the throttle happy wheeling...

I only bring it up so often cause I've seen WAY too many sami's bust stock axles easily offroad, even with only their mighty fire breathing 1.3 providing power down to 33's

Seems the rears bust as much as the D35's do in Jeeps, the fronts pop too but don't seem to be as often


With Toy's however the dang machines seem indestrucable AND although the Toy's are a little bit wider, they are still very easy to keep streetable with the right tire & wheel combo

[oldschoolyotaguy]

I only bring it up so often cause I've seen WAY too many sami's bust stock axles easily offroad, even with only their mighty fire breathing 1.3 providing power down to 33's

Seems the rears bust as much as the D35's do in Jeeps, the fronts pop too but don't seem to be as often


With Toy's however the dang machines seem indestrucable AND although the Toy's are a little bit wider, they are still very easy to keep streetable with the right tire & wheel combo

ya, sammi axles just seem wayyy too small to be under a core wheeler, IMHO...im pickin one up off a buddy this summer for cheap and im gonna throw my toy's under it(since it has a buick 3.8/th350 in it ha), dunno if ill run a 3.75 BS wheel or not, depends if it gets streeted at all and what tire size I run

its not just the strength of the axle, a samurai weighs just around a ton, loaded for the trail (+ or - some)...so the weight the axles carry drops substantially, thus making it "stronger"

[OverkillZJ]

Then someone give me yota axles...

[OverkillZJ]

Sweet, high steer setup showed uptoday, along with drivehaft spacers and various other details.

[Bird_Flu]

Sweet, high steer setup showed uptoday, along with drivehaft spacers and various other details.

Holy crap that was faster than expected especially considering it's from RRO.

[oldschoolyotaguy]

matt, im curious as to what weight the coils are that came with the kit you put under it... im assuming their qa1 coils??

cuz im linkin mine and im lookin at qa1's 14" 150lb and 130lb coils...150 front/130 rear...that seems to be an ideal coil for a zuk...plus their only $38 through jegs

[OverkillZJ]

They're 175 at all 4 corners, and I think QA2. It sits higher than I'd like, personally, but I haven't even wheeled or flexed it yet, hope it settles.

[oldschoolyotaguy]

damn, thats pretty heavy, but then again, add a driver, passenger(preferably topless female), tools, cooler of beer, cage, full tank of gas, etc, etc...

plus mines most likely gonna have a 22re/5spd/duals....

is yours sitting under its own weight?? didnt know of it was done yet...if so, could you measure your frame height for me....HOLLA

just tryin to get a rough idea of how high i should get mine, yet its going to be on 35s/36s...hmmmmm...

[RalphDogg]

is this done baby yet? i want to see it on a spring training run.

[OverkillZJ]

It's not done... even when the suspension is, I still have steering to deal with. With a rather fawked up wrist/hand, I can't wheel that thing with manual steering again, I need to get the hydro / hydro assist on. Have all the parts, just a matter of time.

So then when it is done, my 5.9 needs to be done to flat tow its ass... In other words, life got in the way of my hobby.

Shocker.

Stinky - I'll post up when I get a chance, but I think it'll be off since it's only moved 20 feet since I put the coils on, they usuall settle when flexed. I hope!

[oldschoolyotaguy]

wurd, lemme know bud

[90LiftedYJ]

We couldnt get it out of the garage. we had to deflate the tires and winch it out with the buggy just to get it out of the garage. it was fun.

[OverkillZJ]

You forgot to mention I tried pulling it out with the lawn tractor, that was just funny... ended up doing a lawn tractor burnout!

[trailblaze]

fawked up wrist/hand,

hmmmm you know your supposed to push away from the desk so you don't hit your hand off it while playing with yourself

[SirFuego]

It'll be ready for icebreakers, right?

[OverkillZJ]

hmmmm you know your supposed to push away from the desk so you don't hit your hand off it while playing with yourself

LMAO! A 75 lb server (about $4,000 worth) feel and I caught it one handed. Pissed me off so I punched the desk, 8 xrays and a wrist brace later, that apparently wasn't the right thing to do!

[OverkillZJ]

Almost a year later, and I'm back to it.

Getting it out of the snow drift and into the garage was a wheeling event in itself, Beat was there to laugh at that one. I managed to blast it out in third gear, without brakes.

The plan is still (for now) to keep the stock Samurai axle shafts. I understand they're weak, but the brackets are all welded on, and I want to get this thing moving forward. Eventually it will get bigger axles if I keep it long enough to justify it, but this thing was intended to get me wheeling while I rebuild the buggy, and that's still my plan - so I need to get this thing done to start on the next one.

I sold the truck and trailer, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it, for now, time to wrench.

How the kit came from RRO

Getting things lined up.






No driveshafts, had to pull it out with the buggy.


After a break for almost a year (had other things to do) it's back in the garage to get finished up. Got the front shocks on last night, started making brackets to hold the brake lines low and out of the way, and planning for how to build a square drive shaft for the front that should be much stronger.

[Deadman 94 xj]

That looks like fun! I agree on the cage. I don't see that thing staying on all fours for very long

[beat1078]

Should have gotten my phone for the video.

How did the bracket for the shocks take shape? Did you end up cutting the one side off and welding it lower?

[OverkillZJ]

I figured out a way to make sharing that lower bolt work, I did make some shorter sleeves than what came with the kit, works great. If I put the brackets where we weren't thinking about, the shocks would bind too much at the top.

[psychobilly]

Never buy from Rocky Road Outfitters, beyond their shady practices and slow shipping (and outright lies at times

They made unapproved charges to pinkys (pinky and fattys funland) credit card when he orderd his t-case gears. Then didnt refund the core when he sent his old stuff back either. I cant believe people still buy from them, sorry about your luck.


Also, I hate to be the bearer of more bad news but you might as well cut that front apart now while your working on it. What you got there might look good going down the road but its not a trail suspension. Hell, its really not even a suspension. I'll try to explain, picture the suspension flexed. One arm angled up and one arm angled down. Now picture the angle, like a line drawn across the upper and lower bolts of the mounts on the axle. The angles will be very different, they will cross like an X and unless your axle can twist like a screw in the middle it wont move. It will also destroy the bushings because of the force this creates on them. If it does travel it will do it by bending the arms right behind the Y and smashing the bushings out. Again, I hate to tell you this but you bought a system that wont work for your intended purposes. if you really want to keep the Y type links you either need to use large rubber bushings that will allow enough give or you need to make one side a single mount (wristed). I wouldnt trust those arms as built in that application though as you risk a major failure under hard breaking with one arm controlling all the twist. Again, sorry about your luck but the good news is you know ahead of time and can fix the problem.

[OverkillZJ]

They made unapproved charges to pinkys (pinky and fattys funland) credit card when he orderd his t-case gears. Then didnt refund the core when he sent his old stuff back either. I cant believe people still buy from them, sorry about your luck.


Also, I hate to be the bearer of more bad news but you might as well cut that front apart now while your working on it. What you got there might look good going down the road but its not a trail suspension. Hell, its really not even a suspension. I'll try to explain, picture the suspension flexed. One arm angled up and one arm angled down. Now picture the angle, like a line drawn across the upper and lower bolts of the mounts on the axle. The angles will be very different, they will cross like an X and unless your axle can twist like a screw in the middle it wont move. It will also destroy the bushings because of the force this creates on them. If it does travel it will do it by bending the arms right behind the Y and smashing the bushings out. Again, I hate to tell you this but you bought a system that wont work for your intended purposes. if you really want to keep the Y type links you either need to use large rubber bushings that will allow enough to give or you need to make one side a single mount. I wouldnt trust those arms as built in that application though as you risk a major failure under hard breaking with one arm controlling all the twist. Again, sorry about your luck but the good news is you know ahead of time and can fix the problem.

Yep. RRO is a nightmare, I'm done with them but running with what I have.


It's a single wristed setup. There's a slip joint on the drivers side lower. The kit isn't the greatest but I've already seen it work very well.

I understand what you're trying to say, but there's only 3 static links on the front axle, not 4. It looks like 4, but the drivers side lower is a smaller piece of tube in the bigger one, allowing it to flex - I assume it's there as a safety in case of breaking a bolt on the other side, it would keep the axle from rotating over on itself.

[Deadman 94 xj]

A lot of guys remove an upper link without issues. It'd be the same as running a three link IMO, as far as the braking goes. I agree though. I was going to ask about the way the arms mount because the picks don't clearly show it.

Edit: ^ nevermind