Shadow Crawlers Samurai Build Up

[Shadow Crawlers]

We are building this for my dad so he has it in time for Moab 2006. Eric we still want to lead some trails!

Here are some pix of our current build up. I haven't touched it for almost two years, since I didn't have a bender or my current knowledge. Since I took my dads samurai as most of you know as the "Green One" and put some Tim Hardy style wheeling in it he adopted my old Project. . Still runs but looks like it could be used for auto recycling ;D ha ha.

He adopted my old one which I went hay wire on a couple of years ago and hacked it up . Here we are with a tubing bender, and a couple welders building what I had in my mind from the start (except it's his now LOL).

So far it has

1.6 16 valve lowered 1" (Shadow Crawlers 1.6 harness integrated into stripped Samurai Harness and 1" lower motor mounts)
sammie tranny
waggy axles with 5.89's
Shadow Crawlers Cage (more to be added of course)

It Needs

Tires TBA
Steering Toy IFS box and pump (any body have one laying around?)
6:1 t-case gears (any used ones out there?)
Our D-shafts
With Isuzu Dana 44 flanges so we can use Yota Shafts (need some of these too, the flanges)
Shocks probably DT's

Pix more of these to come as well!

2 years ago




Present








Check in for more updates.

Shadow Crawlers & the Minerich Family

[XJ618]

Looks like a sick build..

[Shadow Crawlers]

Pimping my stripped 16 valve harness. Please forgive the looks of it as it is not complete :-). Just wanted to show you how it looks un taped. Also stripped an underhood samurai harness so we can get rid of the wires not needed and integrate rock-light wires etc in it as well.

[Shadow Crawlers]

Well we have some updates, not that anyone cares since this probably seems like the usual build lol

Finally got the 16 valve in and no wiring until we place the lighting underneath.
The IFS box is mounted but we had to redo the front hoop to clear the big bastard. Oh yeah and moving the axle 6+ inches forward doesn't help in placement. So I hope everyone enjoys, and there is much much more to be done!!.

[dabomb5756]

What are some of the suspension specs? Or what is planned for suspension?

[Shadow Crawlers]

Wrangler springs up front, flexed extremely well before I tore it down a couple years ago. The rear I have wranglers with a main leaf cut down for axle wrap. I am going to try waggy fronts on the back and that should get my wheel base close to 100"s. later on I would like to atleast link the back.

I will probably run DT8000's for damping.

L8rz

Chris

[dabomb5756]

Nice. Shackle reversal i see for the front, Missing link in rear?

[sj-x]

only 2 bolts for the steering box....?

[Shadow Crawlers]

shackle reversal is the only way to go! I dont' have m/l's in the rear because I do not like the way they work :-).

Only two bolts and a c-clamp is all you need with hydroassist :-P j/k. There will be three bolts when it's done and the sleeves need to be welded on the other side as well as the fish plates. Would have had it done properly in the picture but someone forgot to pick up the hardware I had requested he he.

[Shadow Crawlers]

I finally found time to work on the steering after finishing up a cage for an EB Bronco.

I wanted to keep the pitman arm up as high as possible because I want as much suspension travel as possible. I had to notch the frame to clear the heim joint and drag link.



The inside of the frame.



Box, and P/S resevoir



Aerial View



Drag Link Shots



I am going to try a 1" spacer at the axle end to keep the drag link from binding on the leaf springs. It will be close but I think it will be just right. I Once I get the bugs worked out on the drag link end I will get the Ti-Rod slapped on.



And yes the sleeve will have gussets

L8rz

Chris

[Shadow Crawlers]

Well heres some updates... Got the Wiring for the engine done. Wiring for the lights still needs to be finished but it's running. Needs some finishing touches as can be seen in the photos. Oh yeah can't forget, SAMBOX II. These are sweet.

[Shadow Crawlers]

Some pix of the SAMBOX II









I will be getting one for my zuk soon .

Why not go with a Toy Tranny, and Toy Cases?

Cost too much to buy the bell housing adapter, dual case adapters, have to find toy drive-train parts, and more time involved in making mounts etc. Plus the weight savings of the Samurai Tranny, and t-case. Simple . The aftermarket for the weak Suzuki transfercases have evovled to a new level!

Hopefully gears will be in this week so I can get started on D-Shafts, and take it out on a test run while it's still half-arsed .

This weekend I hope to move it out on it's own power

L8rz..

Chris Minerich

[Shadow Crawlers]

Got alot of work done, and actually drove it today! I don't think it's going to wheel with bald 235's, since I got it stuck in the drive way and had to use the rev limiter to get it unstuck and alot of rocking .

Dad was all fired up that he could take his Zuggy for a ride.


Sliding down the drive way


Front d-shaft


Rear d-shaft We will be upgrading to heavier tubing and possibly a C/V to get the pinion out of the rocks


Front steering shot


Battery mount, passengers will have to compromise!


Rear Shot, x-bracing will hopefully go in this week, along with rear shock mounts etc.



Hopefully too many people didn't take the battery mount seriously
L8rz

Chris Minerich
Shadow Crawlers

[Shadow Crawlers]

Got some updates. I had to figure out where and how to mount the shocks and was going to mount them into the main hoop when I decided I didn't like the 40 degree shock angle so I decided to go crazy. I added the x bracing and the lower tubing which will also add strength as well as shock mounts.

I will add tubing for harnesses when we get the seats mounted into the cage, and also the harnesses. This will happen after many other things we need, but stock seat belts work good enough for now.

I was planning on getting ready for Moab EJS 2006 but since they made their decisions we are just going to hit trails in Grand Junction, and Montrose for that week.

Hope you enjoy






I have not seen the response on this thread as I thought I might get. Perhaps it's kind of "old school" compared to Azrockcrawlers, and Rudezuks. Alot of views though
Thanks

Chris Minerich
Shadow Crawlers

[Ben Holloway]

might be "old skool" but it works and you wont cost you and arm and a leg, maybe just an arm. I looks good, i remember checkin this thing out on here like 2 years ago

Ben

[jamesmross]

do you have better pics of the rear shock placement?

[rotozuk]

We are all speechless I guess. I'll pipe up though.

I think your cage is scarry close to your dads head. I'd really like to see several inches of clearance between head and tube. Perhaps it is just the photo angle?

The rear shock angle is horrible. Might as well just take the shocks off and call it done.

The steering resevoir placement is very questionable, and the plumbing is worse. Does it actually work without sucking a bunch of air?

-Wayne

[jamesmross]

Thats kinda what I was thinkin' (about the shocks) but I wanted see for sure what he had goin on.

I think it looks mostly good though, considering its still in its ugly/unfinished stage.

[rotozuk]

Yeah, I usually keep my trap shut on the Minerich' builds. He usually just argues with me anyhow.

On a positive note I do like how you tied the cage into the frame picking up 3 planes of the frame on the "B" pillars.

-Wayne

[XJ618]

Nice work, it's looking good. I cant wait to see it with the meats on it.

[Shadow Crawlers]

Thanks for the constructive criticism Wayne . It's always good to know what others think. BTW whats your mininum room for comfort? my dad has about 4-5"s of head room, but we will be mounting the seats into the cage which will drop them about 2"s. We have to drive almost 150 miles to get tub
ing at all, if not locally it's "everyone builds their cages with pipe".

Only argument I have with you on this reply is what is your measurement rule of several inches? 3 5 6 10"s ? he he

Yeah I figured by tying the cage into the frame by having the main hoop, and x-bracing seperate was the best way to go, just common sense.

I was running out of ideas where to mount the resevoir, so I mounted it on the body. I know it's not very clean looking but for now it will have to do. The feeding problem should be no problem by having double capacity of the two resivoirs tied together. We did not have any problems when we started it, and test drove it. If it does have a problem then we will have to find a remedy for that after this weekend. We will be taking it out to a local trail with the tires off of my zuk .

I am still experiementing with the rear shock angle on the drivers side. I may move the axle mount down and into the front of the axle housing to help steepen the angle later on. If I didn't have plans to go test it out Saturday or any time soon I would probably mount the shocks at a different location, but at the same time it burned the motivation into me to finish the x-bracing .

I will be up there thursday working on it again and will get more pics.

Thanks

Chris "Minerbitch" Minerich :P
Shadow Crawlers

[rotozuk]

4-5" of head room is good. It looks a lot closer in the photo.

In a violent roll a person will move several inches closer to the roof as a result of the belts getting pulled tight, etc. I have seen a lot of vehicles where the driver is VERY close to the cage. To the point that they get brained from time to time just driving around on the trails. While the cage might help keep them from getting crushed, it may kill them via head trauma.

Any way to get those rear shocks close to perpendicular to the axle would be a great benefit.

-Wayne