New guy lots of ???

[dart451]

I'm interested in a samurai, but have some?? My friends are getting into gators, or sideby quads and I thought, why spend the money on something not street legal. Then I got to thinking about a jeep had 8 cj's over the years (best one I put 35" boggers and converted it over to a 383 mopar). Saw prices on a cheap jeeps (scary) and remembered how crappy they were on gas. I thought that a samurai would help beat the gas cost and fit in tighter places. I never expected to see the aftermarket and support you have. I'm from Il so need some mileage, snow driven, and dirt climbing ability and of course playin in the mud. How gutless are the 1.3 with 29-31" tires at highway speeds? How bad will lift, tires affect mileage? Why not start with a sidekick or tracker with a 1.6? Anyone from ILL so I can check some out in person? More qustions to come and alot of links in the basic stat thread are no good.
Thanks
Jim

[DirtJumper]

My 1.3 with 27s is pretty gutless, but I still love the truck. If you change the gearing you wil get a lot of the power back. I think the reason most guys go sami is because of the simplicity of the design and the aftermarket support...they just don;t make an 8" lift for a track/kick :D. Swapping a 1.6 8v will give more power and is reasonably inexpensive if you can find an engine for cheap.

[zukNoff]

when i first started i put on a 3 inch body lift and ran 29/9.50/15 swampers. It ran great on the road, and its was preaty impresive in the woods. The stock 1.3 did the job. So if you just plan on tire sizes no bigger than 31, you will be ok. But there is always the want of going bigger! So if you go with some 33" tires you better start lookin for some lower gears. But even then its just a matter of time till that 1.3 gets tired of pushn them. In the woods it was good with the 4.1 t-case and 5.38 diffs. But on the road getn to the trails suck after awhile, even with the lower gearing. So i guess its just how big do you wana go? If i would have known i was gona go this far i would have done some things differnt in the begining.

[dart451]

I will keep tires smaller, this is not going to be hard core. Right now I drive backroad to work 60 miles round trip and do 45-60mph few stop signs ang get 20 mpg out of my dakota, would like to do alittle better then that with samurai. If I like it and start wheelin more, I will build another one for hardcore use. So many hobbies and so little time, I won't be doing much wheelin unless more people in the area get back into it. Right now have a vw woods rail I've use twice this year for dirt hill climbing and jumpin, but its 7' wide so it doesn't fit in tight woods to good. I take quad, in woods but hard to take passengers with quad. Kind of funny I have a Suzuki Hayabusa with the same size motor and it has 150 hp at the tire, maybe I can transplant it lol

[zukNoff]

yeah thats preaty sad a bike has the same size motor as a vehicle and the Hayabusa has more HP too, i think the stock 1.3 is only around 70 HP? But yeah i think you will be ok if your keepin your tires small, 29" would be good, that way you can still go do some off roadn when you get a chance. You would need a body lift tho, 3" is like 100$

[purevil71]

I'm from Indiana my self, but I know that there is a pretty big group of wheelers down in Springfield, ILL. Also, there are some guys up around Peoria that I know of.
If you check out the sami section of Off-Road.com, there's quite a few ILL guys that hang out there that I'm sure would be more than happy to let ya check out there stuff.

[dart451]

Peoria is about 50 miles away, I will check out site!
If not wanting to go to radical then should I open the search up to include trackers, sidekicks? How do axles compare? Do front suspensions hold up (trackers) good? Are the auto trannys any good? Is there a kit for quick door removal like a jeep?
Thanks for all help so far

[zukNoff]

i would stick to the samurai, if you get a sidekick or tracker. its gona have IFS in stead of a stait axle up front. Plus samurais just look cooler. I never had any problems with my trany and there is almost 200k on it. If your intrested in takin your doors off, its very simple
(do it yourself) you just cut part of the hings on the doors. If you go to www.izook.com they have a write up on that with pics.

[skyhiranger]

I am running 28" tires on my stock 91 (EFI engine). It pulls them just fine. I am getting 31-33MPG with it. The only mods I had to do, to fit the tires, was trim the end of the front bumper a little and I hammered the firewall seam down at the rear of the fenderwell.

[dart451]

I like the looks of Samurai better then the sidekick or tracker has alot more character.
So 28" tires clear when you are wheelin or was clearance just for street duty?
Any advantage to trying to find a efi vs carb version?
I have started to search for a samurai, every good deal seems to be 700+miles away lol. If any one knows of a deal within a couple hundred miles il 61443 zip I would appreciate the tip.
Thanks

[skyhiranger]

Yeah, 28" tires will clear wheelin', with a stock suspension. You will have to cut the ends of the bumpers a little, to keep the tires out of them while turning (street or offroad). From what I can remember, the hammering of the firewall seam wasn't mandatory, in my situation, just done as a precaution, in case the tire ever got back that far (which it doesn't look like they ever could, but you know how that goes).
This Samurai was the one I use to wheel (mildly), but then I found another one and built it to use exclusively off-road (31s, 5.12 gears, lock-right, RUF, left it spring-under (for low COG) and hacked the fenders to clear the 31s). Overall, it does pretty good off-road.
I personally, would not run anything other than EFI. A lot of guys get along fine with the carbs though.