OK before yall flame me.. hear me out . I am a jeeper yes . But I have my first sammy and it is bone stock . I took it wheeling in the bowls and it kicked A$$ .So of course I am now ready to modify it . I want 30s or 31s with a minimum lift . I am willing to go with a 1 inch body and maybe a 1 inch shackle .Will this clear them ?Or do I need a full suspension lift ? What are you non soa guys running ? Any info is appriciated . And yes I did a search first . Thanks again

You are going to need around a 3" suspension lift to clear 30's or 31's. I guess you could get a body lift, but I don't like them. If you're going to be wheeling it, you definiately want some sort of suspension lift. I would recommend a SPOA swap. This will provide much better travel than a traditional SPUA configuration on a Samurai. If you really want to get a good suspension under it, go SPOA and use YJ springs. It will offer a ton of travel and plenty of lift. But, if you just want to run 30's, and keep it cheap, go with a 3" lift. Hope that helps a little. ~Steve

I have a trailmaster 3 inch lift that doesn't clear 31's. I actually needed a 3 inch body lift to avoid rubbing the 31's and use all the travel of the springs. I would do a SPOA because you'll just end up wanting one later.:smokin:

I read your post, and I understand your question.. and I know my answer isn't what you are looking for. A spring over can be done for so cheap.. especially if you have a welder/chopsaw/sawzall of your own, or have a handy friend. I think you'd regret not springing it over to start with.

As a side note, and maybe this is more along the lines of what you are looking for.. even though I don't recomend it.. my friends Sami had 31's on it when he bought it.. and it was DEAD stock. I'll admit they were rather worn, and couldn't have measured more than 29.5".. but still.... It'd never wheel good that way.

Before I went SPOA, I had 235/75-15's w/15x8" wagon wheels. I had to trim the front bumper and bumper bracket and use a BFH on the rear seam of the wheelwell. I wheeled like this for over a year. Granted they still rubbed but it wasn't bad. I am now running 33x12.50 MT/R's with 5.5" SPOA and 1" shackle. SPOA is the way to go. Unless you can afford a more exotic set-up, Like 1/4 elliptical or coils:bounce2: :bounce: :bounce2:

My .02
jim

Oh don't forget to remove that VERY useless swaybar.:rolleyes:

You should do some type of sub frame with some long coil overs, then do some type of motor swap with some kind of wild t-case conversion. Or for the time being just do a soa.:D

hey, the other are technically correct in that by the book you need X" of lift to clear X" tire.

Most "31s" measure in at about 30"

But If your not sceared of some trimming you can probably fit them on there. Especially with a 1" body lift. Watch your back spacing on the rims.

Trim the bumpers, hammer the seams over. Do some simple clean up work on any sharp edges. Cut the front bumper mounts off the frame (those tubes w/ flanges that hold the bumper )

SOA is very easy, but imho id still do the above trimming and flattening even with an SOA but for some their zuke is a daily driver where looks are important and hammered body seams dont look pretty....

somthing else to think about...

-mike

minium lift, i was planning on leaving mine low with 31"s but i went SPOA, i had a 2" shackle lift(plus a grinder and a hammer) with 31" trail masters on 15x8" rims with about 3" b/s......if you don't already have rims get at the most 2.5" b/s.......my tires just cleared...... but i didn't like how it was on the rocks so i went with a SPOA last week, and the flex is great, i also put the rear springs up front with m/l shackles..... but you can use a 2" shackle lift with everything else stock(if you take the bumper off) and knock that lip down a bit....... and my 31"s measure at almost 30"...... so it realy depends on your tire, like swampers will measure over 31".....
good luck....
WELCOME NEWBIE:flipoff2: :flipoff2:

If you are looking to lift it cheap, check into putting some front CJ springs in the rear and move your rear springs up front and throw missing links on there. You will move your front axle about an inch forward which will help with the clearance and gain some height and lots of flex. Just replace your brakelines and shocks at the same time. With some trimming and a BFH you should be able to clear 31's depending on the wheels you use.

Here's a pic of my brother's 87 with the setup above and 235x70's. My brother ended up with about 3-4 inches of lift.

http://home.attbi.com/~rokzuki/pics/20011208-1.jpg

Forget the cj's, do it right the first time.....Put yj's under it, your a jeep guy you know how soft stock yj's are on a SPOA. That will clear your 31's on 8" rims no problem. Here is mine back when it was a baby on 31's with stock yj's. Awesome ride with awesome flex....I even had room to go up to 33's with it.
welcome:flipoff2:

Her is another

The guys are right. 3 inches is about the minimum that you will need. I ran extended shackles and built beefy extended hangers because my main objective when I got the thing was to fit 31's. I ran it for almost a year like that with everything else stock. I even pushed that thing through some pretty extreme obstacles. But I should have done a SPOA from the beginning. I had no Idea what I was missing. It could have been done for next to nothing and the performance is like night and day. I too am partial to the YJ conversion. Mine now has YJ's all around, ML shackles on the front, t-case gears, etc. I sure could have saved a lot of wear and tear on the Zuk if I had done it back then because I would not have had to gas it over everything to make up for the short commings of my stock suspension.

Originally posted by RudeZuk
Forget the cj's, do it right the first time.....Put yj's under it

I prefer YJ's myself (which is why I have them on mine). Unless you are a fabricator the CJ's rear/rear's up front is a cheaper way to get better performance without spending a lot of money.

My setup cost about $1500 by the sime I was done (mounts, shafts, brakelines, shocks, etc). My brother's setup cost about $300 (springs, m/l's, brakelines, shocks, etc). My zuk will outperform my brother's zuk hands down, but it did cost more.

The main thing to take care of when going to 31's (or bigger) is to get that gearing done. I've got a 4.16:1 tcase and wish I had even lower gears.

ok before I am in too deep here .The Spoa seems to be the resounding choice so I am leaning in that direction as I prefer to learn form others and try to do things once . Heres the question . Are there any decent kits that give you all the spoa stuff and let you run yj springs as I have several sets of em and I would like to use a set if I can . WIth a spoa and 1 inch shackles it should flex decent ? And will the yj springs make it better or should I use my OME cjs ?They are 2and a half inches . Sorry if this is too much but i am going home for a long weekend and I want to try to have most of what I need lined up . Thanks for all the help .

I personaly like the Trail Tough kit myself. It is great quality and is an easy install. I have the front kit but fabricated the rear. A big plus is that Brent at Trail Tough knows his stuff, will be able to tell you all that you will need, and is very willing to help you make the right choice for your needs.

In order to use the YJ springs you will have to modify all of your mounts. The stock springs a 2 inches wide, 37 inches long in the front and 39 inches long in the rear. The CJ front springs are about 42 inches long and 2 inches wide. The CJ rear springs are 2.5 inches wide as are the YJ's. The YJ's are about 46 inches long.

Since you have them laying around, I would definately go YJ's. Talk to Brent and get his kit. It's reasonably priced (especially if you haven't fabricated much like me). Since it's not a shackle reversal you can use the stock driveshafts with either spacers or extended slip yokes. I don't know if he has an actual kit, but he can tell you exactly what you will need (brakelines, driveshaft stuff, steering, etc).

If the Trail Tough kit (missing link) is anything like the Canyon State kit (shackle reversal) as far as height goes, you will get about 4 inches just by swapping out the springs. Then add another 5 inches for a spring over. You will clear 33's with no problem at that point.

Just through in some tcase gears (4.16:1, 4.89:1, or 6:1) and possibly diff gears and you're ready to go.

Originally posted by jeeppartz
ok before I am in too deep here .The Spoa seems to be the resounding choice so I am leaning in that direction as I prefer to learn form others and try to do things once . Heres the question . Are there any decent kits that give you all the spoa stuff and let you run yj springs as I have several sets of em and I would like to use a set if I can . WIth a spoa and 1 inch shackles it should flex decent ? And will the yj springs make it better or should I use my OME cjs ?They are 2and a half inches . Sorry if this is too much but i am going home for a long weekend and I want to try to have most of what I need lined up . Thanks for all the help .

For quick dirty fun I go with a SPOA. the image below is my fresh Spring over after ditching 3" National springs. 31"BFG MT
Oh and very little rub with 31's and 3/4" longer shackles.

Crap! the pic is too big so go here (http://www.geocities.com/zukybill/Loscoyotes.html) and it is the 2nd and 3rd one down.