ok so recently i figured out that i cant use 5th gear all that well, i have to stay in 4th at like 6grand just to do 60.......i got 5.12's front and rear and only 33's, i tried with my 33x12.5 boggers and it did it so i figured maybe my tire size was too small so i stuffed my 33x15.5's under it to see if maybe a little more meat would help and it still did it, i can go into 5th but if there is any terrain differance whatsoever i have to downshift back to 4th......it could be a 2foot differance and back to 4th i go. Any Ideas?

ok so recently i figured out that i cant use 5th gear all that well, i have to stay in 4th at like 6grand just to do 60.......i got 5.12's front and rear and only 33's, i tried with my 33x12.5 boggers and it did it so i figured maybe my tire size was too small so i stuffed my 33x15.5's under it to see if maybe a little more meat would help and it still did it, i can go into 5th but if there is any terrain differance whatsoever i have to downshift back to 4th......it could be a 2foot differance and back to 4th i go. Any Ideas?

Yeah... 1.6 liter engine, more tire pressure when on road, and t-case gears. Your speedo and tach may be off if you're reading 6k at 60mph. While 6k rpm all day it not good 4k is fine, it is OK to rev these engines.

As a general rule: the bigger and heavier your tires are the slower you are going to go.

-Eric

actually i have a 1.3 but its well built by me, cam, header, port polish intake, 32/36DAGV, .050 over. I thought that the bigger the tire then your speedo would read slower? its like that on my lifted chevy, it read 45 and i'm actually doing like 53. I dont plan on taking it on the freeway til i figure out the solution. I did find som calcultaion methods, according to all those i should be running a 38" tire, could it be that my tires are too small?

actually i have a 1.3 but its well built by me, cam, header, port polish intake, 32/36DAGV, .050 over. I thought that the bigger the tire then your speedo would read slower? its like that on my lifted chevy, it read 45 and i'm actually doing like 53. I dont plan on taking it on the freeway til i figure out the solution. I did find som calcultaion methods, according to all those i should be running a 38" tire, could it be that my tires are too small?

You're right that a speedo will read slower as you increase the size of the tire without changing any gearing. If you put 38" on there, I doubt you'll get an actual 50mph out of the car in any gear. Have you thrown a GPS in the car or been paced by someone to see how fast you're actually going?

You're at the limit of tires size vs. highway with the 1.3liter engine. All the hop up in the world and you're going to be struggling to get an honest 65mph.

So, I'm curious why you want to go so big with the tires... You know that with the Samurai axle and those 33" tires you have gobs of diff clearance? For what it's worth the Samurai is a different philosophy than the full-size. Light weight an agile with the ability to pick more lines and dance through the obsticles vs. plow through them. Usually folks that build really large Samurai don't enjoy them and part them out/sell them within a couple years because they just "don't work for them".

-Eric

when i first bought it, the kid had already installed the 5.12's getting ready to lift it and his dad said no more so i bought, with the 5.12's and the SPOA lift he got on it i was only doing 55 back and forth through 4th and 5th gear, that was with a junk motor too, i still cant accomplish any mph out of it with a well built healthy 1.3. I eventually am going to do a V-6-V8 swap. as for the huge samurai its getting a coil spring suspension, toyota running gear, and then eventually the 4.3 or 355sb......i already have a daily driver now, i'm just making a toy that seats 4!