ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Suzuki 4x4 Forum => Topic started by: F1sh3rm4nSt3v3 on March 01, 2010, 09:44:56 PM
-
I got a buddy that did a radius arm suspension conversion to his Ranger, he says my sami cant keep up. So far hes right its like flexing a skate board. I wanna do a radius arm conversion to my sami but no one makes a kit for it. So i was thinking why dont i just buy a jeep kit and go from there? What i was wondering is what Jeep has a wheel base similar to the samurais? I want to move the front end forward a bit so i'm not too worried about that, its mainly the rear that i want to keep in place! I can live with moving it back 4-5 inches, my brother runs a fab shop and we're gunna put tube flat fenders on it, but i want to keep the tires ahead of the bumper.... Soooo...YJ, TJ, XJ? wrangler? rubi? anyone know?
-
I think most wranglers have a SIMILAR wheelbase, although I think its a good 12" longer, give or take, I know they have a bit more length to them, mostly in the front really. without it looking really nuts, I cant see it being done easy on a samurai with the stock body. but hey, try it, it may look super cool.
-
Having built two so far a 4-link in the rear on a Sammy is pretty simple if you have the right shop. That way you avoid the binding you might get with a radius arm setup. Make sure your springs are soft enough, we put Grand Vit springs on the rear of the second one and we couldn't get any traction due to the springs being to stiff.
http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/build-diaries-how-to-diy/sj-410-rear-4-link-build/ (http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/build-diaries-how-to-diy/sj-410-rear-4-link-build/)
For the front end your probably better off just designing your own rather then hacking up a Jeep suspension. Both Trail Tough and Rocky Road make coil conversions for the Samurai.
-
I did some research and found that the Jeep JK is 95.4" and the TJ is 93.8" i dont mind moving the front or rear ends at all i want it to have a better center of gravity so this will help a little bit......as for the springs I'll show you my buddys set up on his ranger i want to do something similar to that, radius arm up front and soft leafs in the rear.
those are 37's on his ranger, hes got 40's now, 37's would be nice to run on my sami, i'm also doing a V6-V8 conversion soon too, just havent decided yet.
-
What is the length on his front links? I would go with a 4 link rear, if your already building the suspension you might as well go all the way.
What type of travel are you trying to get?
-
thats just an example, i was thinking about using a jeep radius arm kit since they are somewhat close with the same wheel base.....I did find a coil sprung suspension kit sold by Rocky-Road, it looks pretty tempting. I jsut want something that will take away my axel wrap, give me a little more lift, ok well a lot, and something i can fab work around to move my front diff. forward! With the coil sprung kit i could just make spring cups and mount the seats inside them and just make brackets that will bring the cups up off the diff and down off the frame give or take about 2" at both ends!
-
YJ Spring conversion with a traction bar will do most of what you are looking to do. But I don't blame you for wanting to do something more. :)
-
yea, now that I have a daily drive and the zookie, I want to someday be able to make one of the corners touch the ground and still have 3 tires touching the ground! ;D I love power too so y not drop in a healthy 4.3 or even a LS1 v8?