What would you guys say is the realistic cost to swapping in yota axles into my samurai? I saw this on another zuk forum but I figured I'd get a second opinion.

Im in college, and dont have a lot of spare money, but I could afford acquiring the axles (lets say ~$250)

I have friends who can weld, and I would probably 4 link the rear while the rear was out and stretch the wheelbase a bit Gotta figure, I gotta do something about steering, cause I still have manual non-power steering, I would leave the stock gears in the yotas for the time being and just rock the 6.5 in the t-case (which Im getting soon)


Opinions.


TIA.

The cost is ALWAYS more than you anticipate. While you are at it there are things that you have to adress that cost money. New drive lines cuz the sammy ones arent tough enough any way. New brake lines. Cross over steering and power steering at that. New wheels with a different pattern. I cant qoute prices on the toy parts but I personally could not find toy axles that cheap. I could barely find a front for the money you are looking to start with. I have 850 bucks in to the dana 44's but thats total built cost. Gears lockers high steer dutchman shafts premium hubs. Lots of money to do one of these swaps. Good luck and try to find all the parts before starting.

Probably my thread you spotted on another forum.

So far almost $200 into the rear. That's new seals, driveshaft, spring perches, shock mounts, hard brake lines, diff protection. Saved money buy just cleaning up the stock drum brakes, welded the diff, got the wheels free (just some old steel wagon style) and took out the T in the brake lines so the hard lines could screw straight into the samurai rubber lines.

The front I estimate I will have $900 into. Big costs being the high-steer and locker the a bunch of small stuff. That also doesn't factor a drive shaft not sure how much I will spend on that yet. I don't have the patience to do everything on the cheap anymore, I want to wheel this thing in the spring.

im in so far 1000.00 for yota that have detroits and 5:29's and hi steer now i have to go buy heim joints and a stick or two dom tubing

it could be done on the cheap. you just have to have good fab skills or good friends with good fab skills. i picked up a set of 84 yota axles for $75. after front pads, calipers, shoes, and wheel cylinders i don't think i have more than $300 with them in. i also picked up some land cruiser springs for $50 to extend the wheelbase. so if you really think it out you could do it for just as cheap. wheel and deal.

I have a thread on another forum where we did axles, YJs, power steering, and wheelbase stretch for $500. It can be done by looking around for great deals and doing the fab work yourself. I'll try to find a link.

Skuzi.

Edit to add link:Toy swap on a budget (http://forums.off-road.com/suzuki-geo-all/196076-toy-swap-budget-completed.html)

It's a 2 part thread. This is the second with a link to the first.

Picked up my Yota's for a smooth trade for parts I had laying around $0.00. Monte carlo calipers 10.00 ea., Chevy rotors 25.00 ea., millwork on the rotors 10.00 and caliper brackets 12.00. That gave me disk brake rear axel. Steel for the full upper trusses and diff guards 20.00, perches 30.00, shock tabs 4.00. I did all the work myself, remade driveshafts, reused brakelines, reworked my steering, and ran'em like I got'em. 146.00 total for the swap. I already had the wheels because the Toys replaced the Dana 44's.

My total cost for my swap was $1,200. That was for 5.29s, 36" Swampers, crossover steering, power steering and such.

I bought a complete '83 Toy truck and sold off all the rest of the stuff I didn't need, plus sold all my old sami stuff and wheels/tires for $1,800 so I actually made money doing the swap....lol

It can be done on the cheep, you just have to be patent and shop around for good deals.

Depends how you want to do it.

The first ones I swapped in for the price of the axles, and one brake soft line in the rear. No additional cost as far as I can remember, other than some expendible items (cutting/sanding discs, welding wire/gas/ little bit of steel)

This time I'm into it for high steer/toy ifs (~$5-600) links and joints (~$200), coilovers (1200) a WHOLE lot more cutting discs/gas/wire/steel/tubing than the first round. And it's still 4.1/open...

AND that's just the front..add 2 more COs for the rear, links/joints, gears, selectable locker, frame stretch, etc, figure 2500 for the back as well, and another 1000 still for the front

and the total comes to .... ~ 5000??? :eek: no wonder it's still on jack stands and I don't have half the parts listed, :laughing:

So I'd say anywhere from price of axles to, well, the sky's the limit, depending on how you want to set it up/use it.

If you wanted to just get them in there, I would wait on the gear swap and reuse the d-shafts. This is basically how I did mine. Wait on disc brakes as I don't think they are necessary.

$300 for a set of axles

$100 for brake lines

find some 2x4 rectangle tubing and cut your own spring perches

$400 high steer setup -

= $800 but there are always other things you want to do while you're at it but I figure this is the minimum.