ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Build Diaries, How-To, DIY => Topic started by: S.Sidekick on May 06, 2010, 01:20:12 PM
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Hey guys so i have been collecting parts for some time now, and i think it is time to start the build. School ends in June and thats when the big stuff will happen (axles, gears, tires, suspension ect...) I have everything, but need some time to put it on. I will start this post with how this rig started and show how it ended up today. Hope you enjoy, any advice is thanked in advance.
Jon K
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Heres my motor
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heres a side shot
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My exhaust
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how it sits with everything off
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put CSI racing seats in
made the brackets from stock seats
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how the seats look, i have harnesses but will put those in last, they sit 1.5" higher than stock, but it is super nice
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Also finished my CB today mounted in ash tray, and found the best antenna spot. Back door. It is perfet, i ran the wire through the back light hole, and tucked it the whole way to the CB
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Heres the antenna build lol
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Heres the toyota bumper i picked up for $50 also tinted taillights
and heres a pick of the harnesses
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Looking good. Nice to see that rig get some more work done on it. :D
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ya i am supper stoked. The only thing is that i totaly should be studying, but Suzies more important haha
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what axles are planned for this thing?
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I have a 84 toyota front, and a 89 V6 toyota rear. I already picked up youkon 5.71's and knuckle rebuild
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What size tire you planning on running? Do you have a suspension set up in mind? Coils, Leafs?
Looking forward to seeing this build, I love seeing solid axle kicks!
By the way what muffler were you running on your rig? Wasn't it a Spintec or something like that?
Amilla
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I also was wondering about the tire size... With the 5.71's I'm guessing 33-35's... Did you mock up a full size spare before mounting the CB antenna? A 33 takes up alot of room. :-\
Zig
a 33" spare on my 2 door
(http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/gallery/0/22_29_04_10_4_50_14_2.jpg)
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ya it was spintech, it sounds so burly for a 4cyl. beleive or not people always ask if i swaped the motor, lol
i have 4 stock leafs from both years. i will run those and thirty three inch swampers. I have heard from some of my buddys the toyota leafs will flex great with my little rig.
i didnt mock it, but i am going to cut a square center section from the sidekicks stock tire mount then re-weld in a stronger peice with toyota lug specs in its place.
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here are the tires i am going to use when i first get my gearing done. they are used but still street legal i got them for 70 bucks with rims, 5 of them. the rims are going to my buddys sand blasting shop and i am going to paint them black! 8)
they are 33x10.5x15 TSLs
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hey went out and measured the distance to the CB, i got 18" to the antenna. HAHA 36" tires lol hells ya
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hey does anyone one know what size shackles i should run. Cascade off road told me 5"offset. and have you heard anyhing about procomp shocks?
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hey went out and measured the distance to the CB, i got 18" to the antenna. HAHA 36" tires lol hells ya
Good deal.. close fit there 8)
Zig
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ya i lucked out. I went and purchased my other parts today. I got
highsteer
wheel spacers
shackles
spring hangers
shackle hangers
I got pretty lucky, i befriended the guy at the shop and we worked out a deal that if the shackles i ordered dont work he will exchange them for the size i want. i am going to measure the shock hoop height today, and also order a u-bolt flip kit.
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ok i went with a 14" shock hoop, and check out my parts!! my room is getting loaded. I dropped the wheels and leaf springs off at the sand blasting shop, i will paint the wheels black and the leafs red. I also had my rear axle rhino lined, and i am going to paint the diffs red. Hopefully i will have atleast one of my diffs done with my gears in this weekend.
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Looking good. I like the red center on the new hubs. :D
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thanks, ya they are actually stock hubs from my front axle, i heard to keep the stock ones beause aftermarket ones crack. Hey does anyone know how to use a hilift as a winch? Mine just came in the mail yesterday and it didn't have any instructions, i know where to hook my tow strap to the top of the jack, but do i hook my strap coming from the sidekick to the base plate or the bottom hook?
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Why did you have the REAR AXLE rhino "lined"??You understand that needs to BREATH,right??You could build up alot of heat in there because of that goop,also the rear could expand/contract if only painted.Somtimes people "outsmart" themselves.
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haha ill correct my post it was Rustolium bed lyner in a can. Two light coats, since these axles are so old, a majoirty of axle has rust. Also after hot tanking them/sand blasting there were alot of imperfections. I really want to show and wheel this truck so this light bedliner rattle can stuff had just enough texture to hide any imperfections. the breather valves will handle the heat just fine, and the diff carrier is red, if it matters
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Emailed you. Travis
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The rustoleum idea...BRILLIANT!!
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thanks, well the axles are done!!! i have both diffs geared and my front axle is 100% brandnew! i mocked it up to see how it looks, got my wheels back and they are flat black, and also made a new sub box that goes inbetween the seats. I will put pics up tommorrow so keep an eye out.
And Travis i didnt get your email
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hey, so here is how she will sit. This is a little lower than it will once the springs are welded on, but this gives you a good idea. Also i made a new sub box so i can have more room in the back let me know what you think. I had two 200 lb people sit in the back, and they said it didnt bother them. here are some pics
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heres one more
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Does anyone know if toyota Driveline spacers bolt to a sidekick driveline. Will i have to have one made?
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http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.php/suzuki/sidekick-tracker-x90/drivetrain/toyota-drive-line-adapters.html (http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.php/suzuki/sidekick-tracker-x90/drivetrain/toyota-drive-line-adapters.html)
this might work for ya. not sure what thickness you need, but i'm sure you could have one made if you need a bigger spacer than this
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Do you need a spacer or an adapter? Maybe a little bit of both?
Amilla
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well thats where i am a little confused... I am using my stock drivlines, and was hoping to run a spacer to accomodate the lift, but i do not know if there is a spacer that bolts from sidekick drivline to toyota diff.
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well thats where i am a little confused... I am using my stock drivlines, and was hoping to run a spacer to accomodate the lift, but i do not know if there is a spacer that bolts from sidekick drivline to toyota diff.
There is a spacer that does this... It was originally for samurai/toyota conversions. Not sure where mine was purchased, but it was from one of the sites vendors.
Zig
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See if the center ring of the Sidekick drive shaft seats up with the pinon flange. If it fits nice and tight you can simply just re-drill the flange to the correct bolt pattern.
Or you could get your self a set of Toyota drive shafts... They might be just the right length.
Whats your distance from flange to flange?
If I have any old stock Toyota shafts laying around ill measure them up and see if there in the ball park for ya.
Oh and Lowrange sells the Toyota to Suzuki adapters, made by Rock4x. There good for all zuk models. Samurai, Sidekick, and Vitara.
Amilla
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I thought the Toyota driveshafts do not have a slip yoke? I thought theirs was in the middle of the driveshaft whereas the sidekick's is at the top?? Also another thing i was looking at is does anyone know how many splines the sidekick pitman arm is? My highsteer from Trailgear, came with one, but i do not know if it will work with the sidekick.
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Awww yes, forgot about the slip yoke. You would have to get yourself slip yoke eliminator for your rig. Toyota drive shaft or not, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get your self a SYE.
Amilla
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well, i thought that since i am running stock leafs from a toyota, i would not need to. the Trail tought coil kit uses spacers so i thought i would be able to too.
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If you have a way to cycle the suspension, you could measure full droop, then compression. That would get you in the ball park, for shaft movement, and length.
Hope this helps
Amilla
Post up some pics of your ride, I want to see the progress.
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k, i will get pics up this weekend, i want to get my front axle painted. But i have two forklifts to measure my max flex/droop. My buddy just gave me rear shocks off his yj. i dont know if they will fit, but he had a 3.5" lift on his rig.
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hey, sorry for no pics, between the 4th, aniversary, and Supply Chain Management classes i got overloaded lol. I am planning on welding my frame extention and hopefully get one of the axles mounted this friday, so hopefully with school permitting ill get some more pics up.
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Help!!! so today i mocked up the sidekick with the final measurments, and i was wondering if anyone has any idea of how far forward my front axle should be? Ill have pics up soon, but when the wheels are centered i will rub when flexing and turning, so i ended up moving them forward a bit, but this will cause me to have to purchase a custom driveline. As of right now, my toyota leafs hang past my frame 8" and my tire has 7"s from bottome fender to tire. Does anyone know if this seems right?
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so i cut my cross member off, and this is where i stand. this will be my ride height
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Is that keeping level with your back-end? How much up travel are you looking to have?
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i am a little confused by you question, my front and rear end are going to be level, if that is what you mean. I have different size shackles to make sure of that. And by up travel do you mean, how fare my wheel will go into my fender? If thats the question i am not sure. My dads friend who is helping me said the 7" gap from the bottome of the fender to the wheel was best to prevent trimming at full flex/turn. The reason i was wondering if i am doing this right is i didn't think i needed custom drivelines. Am i doing something wrong? sorry for all the questions.
Jon K.
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If I were to do my build over again, I would have cut the piss out of my fenders. Kept the lift as low as possible, it feels to tall as is. Up travel is normally limited, down travel is where you get your articulation.
Are you going to have to redo the power steering box?
When placing your spring hangers, it may take a couple tries to get a good shackle angle. Just tack everything in place, and see how it sits.
Are your springs brand new?
Amilla
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I was wondering if the front end sat 4" or so higher then the rear without shackles. if so I would redo some of the mounts. :D
7" isn't that much, what size tires are you running? Doing something like this you are probably going to need customer drive shafts no matter what. Looking over your rig it looks like you are using the stock transfer case, you might be better off biting the bullet and picking up a slip yoke eliminator as Amilla suggested for the front and rear and matching up drive lines once your done.
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If i move my axle back and cut the fenders what is the probablity i can use just a spacer? Tires are 33's but i want bigger, but dont want to lose my 4Low. The leafs are used stock ones. the fronts are 84 and the rears are 89. Steering box should remain the same. I purchased the high steer system and my box turns the direction it needs to, so it should work. Is there anyway around slip yoke, i think its a great idea and a plus, but i just dont have the coin.
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hey i got the front end done yesterday!!! i am so happy with it. Its so huge i can't beleive it. I'll get pics up soon, but i decided not to do a shackles reversal. It was alot easier to put the shackles in the front and from calling trailtough, trailgear, and some local 4x4 shops they said it only improves on road driving not offroad. I cant wait for you guys to see it. the hood is up to my chest.
Jon k
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hey guys here are some updated pictures. ;D
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;D
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;D
I am using the old mounts for the sidekick to mount the leaf springs. i will be reenforcing these and then extending the rear frame as well.
This will be the final height, i need bigger tires lol.
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that is the most booty fab thing i have ever seen .good job on making a less capable car then u started with lol
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thanks man, i will have more pics up tommorrow i put a stinger on it, and its mobile now.
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I like the use of the existing link mount for the front mount on your spring in the rear.
For your front shackle, you might want to move the upper mount back. You should have around a 35 degree angle going forward. One of the issues with the way it is now is your down travel is limited. It also makes it really easy for the shackle to fold backwards and pin itself to the frame if you hit a rock.
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I AM MOBILE!!!
Yes i will move the shackle back, as you can see my rear sits about two inches lower. Do you think the angle change will lower my front that much to make it even?
Here are some pics
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oh yeah, i also widend the stance of the yota axle by 3". I moved the spring perches out on each side 1.5"s. Doing this allowed me to still use the stock link mount and then i extended the rear frame with a single peice of square tube that i welded and bolted to the exisiting rear frame. To that i mounted my shackle hangers and then gusseted those for more strength.
Here are some pics
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so you bolted that square tube to that small round cross bar at the back of the frame? and then welded your spring hangers to it?
how where you able to actually tighten the bolts without collapsing the tube?
i would keep an eye of that for sure, i have a feeling that it will rip off at some point, that rear tube is not thick at all, and normally rusts out from the inside out.
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no, my sidekick does not have that small tube. My rear frame is tied togther by a peice of 1/8" steall that is box welded accross. My vehicle came with a factory tow package, so i think my frame is different that most.
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this is what i had stock, no tube
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The 4 door frames are different than the two doors,
So any updates and pictures on this rig? Im gathering parts to do mine now ;)
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Sorry for the late reply, I always suck at posting when I go back to school, lol. I HAVE UPDATES!!
So i have got some more parts done and on their way. My driveshafts a finshed. The front was retubed, and replaced with a 2 1/4 shaft instead of that dinky little stock pipe. I ordered my Brake lines, and shock mounts, and my shocks came. I ended up going with dosetech, or however you spell it. And the best part is i found a set of tires with less that 500 miles for $200 bucks. They are a little smaller than i hoped, but i figure i can sell them for more than i got em for, it they dont work.
Let me know what you think, is my first build lookin ok?
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Oh, I also got my spare mounted! It worked perfectly, it fits a thirty three no prob.
This is the tread on the lowest tire.
Thanks guys, in a couple more days/weeks i will start making my videos again. We took my buddies 4runner out and broke it, thats why you dont send a yota to do a zuks job lol.
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I got my steering and shocks done yesterday. For my rear shocks we did a tube mount that cross the inside of the frame.
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more pics, and i also decided to cover my square tube bumper with the stock plastic to make it look a little cleaner.
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not to bad looks like it will a nice rig. One thing I don't like is your frame extension on the front, but I have seen worst designs on other things before and held up fine. I keep getting parts for my sas, but for some reason I keep running out of money and keep selling parts. LOL
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I am confused, on what you find bad about my frame extension?? Can you elaborate?
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the picture I saw looked like you welded a 1/5''-2'' tall by 3'' wide square tubing about 12'' long under the cross member. I was thinking it looks like a lot of leverage. the cross member is thin and it could rip or bent after a while.
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Ok, just so everyone doesn't think I am calling BS, I have never done this kind of build before, and just want to make sure my rig holds up, and am stating what i have done. the extension is 1.5" tall by 3" wide, and is tied together all the way accross the front frame. We built a box design that was square to the frame to prevent twisting, (the tubeing is 1/8" thick) we then added gussets that tie the frame extension together and prevent upward bending and the schedule 40 pipe the comes off the stinger to keep it straight. Do you really think that this is not strong enough?? Thanks for the help.
Jon K
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you will eventually rip off your rear upper shock mounts, you need to make them double sheer.
and i do agree with the front frame extensions,, i am willing to bet that they will bend overtime, if not rip off.... and due to how low and long they are, you will find yourself getting hung up on rocks and stumps and things like that....
your stinger braces wont do much to stop the bending, the angle isn't right to stop that kind of vertical movement, it will want to push everything up, the bars would have to be opposite of what they are to do what you want them to do.
not trying to be negative, just trying to help, Ive been there before, and it sucks when things break....
-Lance
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What do you mean by double sheer??
And could I add additional metal stock above the extentions in the front to make them stronger?? How could i have done this different? THe extension is parralel to the front bumper and I am confused on how it will be any differnet from when the sidekick was lower. If that can get stuck on rocks, wouldn't a bumper?
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double sheer means plate on both sides of the bolt, just like your lower mounts, you need to support the other side of the bolt, otherwise the bolt will just work back and forth until it brakes.
frame extentions:
if you run a gusset from the start of the stock frame, all the way to the end of your extensions. basically like what you have already done, just bigger, all the way to the end. that will help. maybe even run 2 of them close to the edges and cap it. think of it like a door wedge on top of the extention, big end at the truck, small end at the stinger.
and as far as everything being low, its called approach angle, the further away from the tire the "overhang" of the truck is , the more it will hang up on stuff. it will get to the rock before the tire has a chance to drive over it. and it being low makes that matter worse. the stock bumper may have been that low at stock height, but it was allot closer to the front tires.
think of it like this. if the stock bumper was 3 feet in front of the truck, what would happen if you tried to drive up a steep driveway? now pull that bumper back in, even tho its the same height off the ground, the fact that its closer to the tires means it will not hit the steep driveway first.
hope this helps
-Lance
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alright well i will look into picking up some metal stock to make the extensions stronger, as for the rear shock mounts it is a stud kit. The stud is drilled all the way through the metal pipe and has a welded washer to prevent movement. I dont think they will move too easy. And as for the issue with catching logs and rocks with the extension i cant really do anything about that. I am going to be lifting it in the future to run 35s but this wont be until tcase gear and a SYE so ill just play it safe on what i approach. Thanks for the input anything else lol?
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I see what sir lance is talking about on your shocks. How thick did you say the round tubing is? One way I see to change the shock setup is to take the round tubing out and put a 2'' or 2 1/4'' x1/4'' thick wall tubing and cut out the bottom section so the shock will slide into the tubing. Then drill a hole through the tubing and run a bolt in it, through the shock and out the other side of the tubing. this would let you have a 1/4'' thick plate on both sides of the shock for ''double shear''. does any of that make sence? I am not saying there is anything wrong with the shock set up now or you need to change the set up, but if you do need to fix or change anything in the future you might consider doing it this way. I have seen a lot of rigs running no shcoks and dont care to.
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haha yeah, I didn't really like the shock setup, but since I widend the stance on the toyota axle i had to come up with something. I still got to see how she felxes. If it works I will run it, and worry about changes down the road/after the wedding, ;D,
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its not that the bolts will move persay, its a metal fateage thing, take a coat hanger and band it back and forth a bunch of times, it will be ok for the first little while, but eventually it will break in half. same sort of idea, the studs will flex, so will the edge of the pipe that the stud goes through.
i built my first sas kicks (my wifes and mine) rear shock mounts like you did, as well as 2 friends of mine. all 4 trucks broke within the first 5 trips or so down the logging roads hahahaha.
oh, and watch for cracking at the bottom of the extention where you welded your spring hanger on. the hanger may want to rip off over time.
-Lance
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I was stripping down my fj 55 land cruiser and noticed it has a similar shock set up as yours but they used angke iron and not round tubbing. It is a factory bracket and I see no issues with it. maybe you will be in good hands.
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cool, i talked to some of my buddies that have run this setup on jeeps and yotas and had no issue, but we will see what happens. Oh an i droped off my high steer linkage to have it shortend and the fabricator gave me the idea of taking some card board cut outs down to tacom steel and having them laser cut out some 3/16 steel pieces to strengthen the extensions. The pics bellow show what they will look like. It will run along the eextension and then onto the sidekick frame. There will be two on the outside, and two 90 degree ones that trace the inside of the extensions.
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have you taken this thing out yet?
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ya, I thought this post was dead, but I did post these same pics in the Regular Forum, but here ya go.
(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll33/SSidekick_photo/SASStatic.jpg)
(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll33/SSidekick_photo/SASFlex2.jpg)
(http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll33/SSidekick_photo/SASFlex.jpg)
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SWEET :) SO, how is it?
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I love it... The only complaint is I used the sidekick power steering system which makes this thing turn slow. It feels like I turn the wheel forever before I actually turn. Also ride quality from IFS to SAS is a doozy. lol