I'd like some informed advice from Suzuki owners.

I'm looking for a light 4x4 to tow. It needs to be street legal (CA), and would be used mostly offroad. I don't intend to spend time trying to break stuff (aka rockcrawling)   , but I do need something so I can at least try to hang with my offroading friends, who spend a considerable time in the desert riding bikes, UTVs and a Sidekick. So it would need to be bearable on short stretches of highway, over long washboarded roads, and rocks and sand. Probably won't ever see much mud. I formerly had a dirtbike but had to sell because of med probs.

I'd prefer the samurai, but I know they're scarce so I'm open to the other models.

What I'd like to know is this: starting with a stockish samurai or sidekick/tracker, what at a minimum needs to be done with it to make it reliably offroad-worthy? And from the other end, are there mods that I should avoid like the plague (I've already seen some rather illogical lifts and such on vehicles for sale and wonder how they have avoided torquing the springs and such into so much pasta).

Thanks tons; this site is a wealth of info.

Rob

Oh, BTW: if anyone has one to sell PM me. Or trade for a track-ready Miata.

If you want to run on washboard roads a Samurai will work with the right shocks and some softer springs, but you will probably be more happy with a Tracker.  The IFS suspension and rear coils just work better then the traditional spring design.

You won't be able to keep up with the bikes and UTV's off road, those things can fly!  But you will be road legal which makes up for a lot. 

As for reliability off-road, just don't do that much to them.  If you keep the tires around 235/75 level you aren't going big enough to break things, on a Samurai without the SPOA your unlikely to to bend springs.  For either the Samurai or Tracker a set of OME springs is a great modification.  A better ride then stock but won't lift you high enough that you need to start worry about modifying the steering on a Samurai or dropping the front diff on a Tracker.

On the Trackers, best bang for the buck on lifts is a spacer lift and there are several qualified sellers on the board you can get them from.  But they do give a rougher ride, so for your requirements I would spend the extra and go with a spring lift instead.

When playing off road at speed remember that these are short wheelbase vehicles.  They don't handle going sideways quite the same as a full size and can flip rather easily when your playing Dukes of Hazard.  But Check out the Zukiworld Challenge for an idea of what you can get away with and some of the builds.

As both Samurai and Sidekick owner, I would also agree with Drone that a Sidekick (aka Tracker) would be a better choice for what you are wanting to do.  Much smoother ride, more power (larger engine, fuel injection), etc. 

Keep it near stock with not too large of tire and it will hold up fine. 

FWIW, I bought a 2dr 4WD Sidekick for $500 nearly 6 years ago and it has held up great, starts everytime, etc.  I haven't replaced a single thing on it-not even the battery.  Best $500 vehicle I've ever had. 

Thanks for the tips. Can't seem to find many soft top sidekicks around (SF Bay Area). Actually a few more samurais.

I'll keep looking.

BTW, with sidekicks/trackers what are the pros/cons of the 2 door vs. 4 door? I'd lean towards the lighter one but that doesn't always tell you how they handle.

I don't think the 4-door weighs much more than the 2-door.  I believe 250-300lbs based on the transmissions. 

The 5-speed manual models are mechanically identical and the autos are not a whole lot different either.

But the 4 door is much uglier. 

Softer ride though, that longer wheelbase makes quite a big difference.

Speaking of soft ride, how does a Samurai with a coil conversion or soft springs compare to a lifted sidekick? On your standard long dusty CA desert road?

For the type of driving activity that you describe, a near-stock Tracker/Sidekick will give you great off road capability in and reliability.  The advantage of the 2 dr model vs the 4 dr is that the shorter wheelbase will give you more capability on a sharp breakover, as it will not drag the frame on the ground as much.  Take it out and try it.  If you feel you need more clearance, add a little lift.

Personally, I have been going off road in a box-stock Tracker for years, and haven't felt a need to do anything to it other than put 235's on it.  

I love my 4door Sidekick.  I have 225/75s on it and am adding a 2" spacer lift this weekend because there are so many breakovers around here that I scrape on.  That is probably all the modding I will do.

I see what you mean. The odd thing is that I'm finding some low priced samurais (as some crawled out ones at higher prices) and not many of the older sidekicks/trackers. Two nearby lots have a 95 sidekick for $5K (low miles tho) and a 87 samurai for $1900, for example.

But having been through CA smog hell, getting something a bit newer often means I can keep it on the street longer.

Sammy + washboard roads = slow down or swap ends and maybe roll. The wheel base is too short and narrow. I'm not sure what kind of springs would make up for that and make it handle any good at any kind of speed, IMHO. And I drive a Sammy and had a sidekick.

Yeah, washboard probably is one of the toughest things on a suspension. The high frequency stuff can vibrate everything to death. I had a container of cream churn to butter once in Death Valley. You speed up to make it more comfortable, but then your shocks start to overheat. Maybe a Lincoln Continental....

Rob

I just finished adding a Jeff 2 inch spacer lift cause i had some rubbing with the 235/75/15 BFG AT's on my 96 2 door tracker.  Rides soooo much better then stock, I live on a dirt washboard road hehe, but maybe the new struts/shocks helped. The lift feels very balanced to me, like this is where the tracker should be. Got my first "zuki" compliment om the first off road test drive after the lift, Jeep and 2 Polaris pulled up and asked " did you come up that road?, is there another way in? My response " i know it's not a jeep" lol

I put the AE lift on my 2dr Sidekick and it handles washboard and pot holed roads like a champ. Running 31's

The Track/Kick's in a basically stock condition with just a minor lift and slightly larger tires, can really do a good job on the trails, rommier, FI, and fairly low cost.

My thoughts are if you are not going to lift the vehicle alot with large tires etc, the 2dr excells, but with larger tires and a fair amount of lift that short wheelbase can come back to bite you at speed. If I had it to do all over again I would have started with a 4dr.

Where in the Bay Area are you?  Not many zuk guys around these parts