Hi everyone...Im new to the Samurai club and was needing some experienced advice.  I'm going to purchase a Samaurai soon to make into a great offroad vehicle, but also keep as a daily driver.  I know certain years were carburated and certain were fuel injected.  Which year or years are the best platform to create a sweet ride??  Also, if you guys could give me a basic list of things I should do first like : lift kits, lockers, gears, wheels and tires, etc ---I'm just not sure on the sizes and brands of each of these things, kinda new to the 4x4 market, but eager to get my feet wet.  Workin with a $4,000 - $5,000 budget.  Thanks guys!!

Kevin

Welcome...

Wow, you have a lot of questions there... I'd suggest just reading through some posts, the Gear Guide, and Archive sections of the site and make up your own mind on what you'd like. Then, ask more specific questions when you get closer to making decisions.

Good Luck, Eric

Thanks for the reply eric! I've been researching like crazy and think I've answered a lot of my own questions.  I was still curious about the axles...Are they straight or individual??  Also, How much can they take as far as offroading?? Should I upgrade, and if so, to what??

Oh yeah, I'm moving to Michigan for law school and the weather is the main reason I've decided to get a sammy.  How are they in the snow??

THanks

Kevin

   I don't have answers for a lot of your questions but I can tell you a couple things. First, this forum is the best source of information I've found on the net so post away and check back often.
   Second, I live in Utah and the Samurai is fantastic in the snow when it's in 4wd. If you try driving it in the snow in 2wd get ready for one slippery ride. It never ceases to amaze me the difference between it's 4wd and 2wd snow performance. Don't be afraid to put it into 4wd even if there's only a half inch of snow sticking to the roads. It'll take you anywhere you need to go.

Good luck and I hope you find a sweet Samurai!

Awesome off road in stock form but some upgrades never hurt. Sami's are straight axle front and rear with leaf springs and tracker/sidekick have independent front suspensions and straight rear axles with coil springs. I have owned both and they both have there good points but straight axles are better for offroad action. Hope I could help you out a little.

I'm from wisconsin,  and my samurai was my daily driver for one winter,   it was locked,  so i usually kept it out of four wheel drive, cuz four tires spinning is never good,  if you can afford a selectable locker for it i would go that rout,  for the rear and quick lock the front, that way you can go open rear and just leave one hub unlocked up front,  or go open rear and just lock the front,  and do the same,  they are really fun in the snow,  but,  they are also really cold,  really cold...   mine is carbeureted and i havnt had any trouble with it (yet)  i wheel quite a bit with it, i think fuel injection was 91,   with all that  i have done to mine i'm still around 3 grand,  and thats including chromoly axle shafts,    good luck

In stock fourm the sammi axles are pretty much maxed out with a 33" tire on them.
But you can get new birfs and rear axles that will allow you to run the 33 with out having to worry about snapping an axle.
If you wan to go bigger theres always toyota axles, they will handle up to 37" in stock fourm.

There are so many differnt kinds of lifts you can get for a samurai.
It just depends what kinda of off roading your going to do, how hard core do you think you need? Are you going to be on rocks, mud, winding trails?
All these things you should take into consideration, and it should help you choose a lift.

Same thing goes with gears and lockers, do you need super low gears? Or just a little bit lower than what it is now.  For the locker since you going to be doing road driving with snow and ice, a full time rear locker might get a little bit hairy, if you can afford it an ARB would be the way to go...best of both worlds.

For you tire size, you have to think about your gearing, with a sammi you can gear the transfer case down to allow you to run differnt sized tires (thanks to the non-divorced transfercase). or you can re-gear your axles with ring and pinion, this way it a little bit more complicated and expensive.  Im pretty sure most people who are sammi owners are gearing down with there transfercase, since a 6.5:1 T-case gear will be perfect for a 33.
There are other T-case gear options that you can get for tire sizes from 30 to 33"

wow that was a lot of typing...
blisters on my fingers!

hope that helps

Amilla