Two weeks ago I purchased a '89 Sidekick with the 1.3 and 5.38's in the pumpkins. I also acquired a rolling chassis from a Samurai. I thought about running the Samurai trans and t-case, thinking that this would be the same as adding the 5.38's to the sammy. Is this something that anyone has considered? I plan to swap the front Sammy axle into the kick with a 4-link setup. Where is the stock difference in the gearing that allows the kick to work with the 5.38's?
Thanks

By the way, love the site!

I believe its all in the t-case. those 5.38 are highly desired! where did you find this car?

Well...goes like this: Guy I work with has a Samurai, SPOA, custom shackles, 33/13.5/15 Swamper LTB's. He found a Weber carb in the local bulletin board and when he went to buy it, the guy also had this car. I went to look at it, it would crank up, but smoked like a tar bucket and would barely run. He said he would take $500 and throw in an extra head. Couldn't pass it up. After new air filter, fuel filter and ignition tune up, it now is a daily driver.
According to autozone, the 1.3L in these is rare as well.

your a lucky sum bizoch

Two weeks ago I purchased a '89 Sidekick with the 1.3 and 5.38's in the pumpkins.

Isn't it 5:62.5  RP in the 89 cab 1.3's?

Two weeks ago I purchased a '89 Sidekick with the 1.3 and 5.38's in the pumpkins. I also acquired a rolling chassis from a Samurai. I thought about running the Samurai trans and t-case, thinking that this would be the same as adding the 5.38's to the sammy. Is this something that anyone has considered? I plan to swap the front Sammy axle into the kick with a 4-link setup. Where is the stock difference in the gearing that allows the kick to work with the 5.38's?
Thanks

By the way, love the site!

well ello there
http://www.ottindustries.com/kicker3.htm
 this is what I would use with the sami t-case  A bit spendy but what the hell

That carbed 1.3 sidekick will have 5.625 axle gears. Yes, the 1.3 carbed sidekick is rare to find....they were only made for the very, very early 89 model year sidekicks.  All 89 sidekicks that I have ran across have had the EFI 1.6 engine....and some of them have had build dates as early as 08/88.  I would like to know what the build date is on yours.....it should be either on the back part of the door jamb (open the door to see it), or on the side of the dash on the drivers side (again, open the door to see it).....it may say something like "manufacture date" and have a 4 digit number "xx/xx".
The 5.375s (5.38s) came only in the 91, 4 door trackicks with the 8V engine.....kinda hard to find too.....but not as hard as the 5.62s.
All samurais have 3.727 (3.73) axle gears and a 1.409:1 high range in the transfer case......which if the tcase was a 1:1 high (like all the trackicks are), it would have to have 5.25 axle gears to be geared the same.

The manufacture date is 11/88. Would it be possible to swap the Samurai tailshaft onto the Sidekick trans? I could then add the Sammy t-case. That would give me the gearing to run some pretty decent meats. I imagine high gear would suffer, but I only spend about 10 to 15 min. on the interstate.

Thanks for all the info.

Well, I just got off the phone with Doug Smith Suzuki in American Fork Utah...
They can still order the 5.62 R&P.

Front: $484.52 
Rear: $ 451.95 
The woman said one was on back order... Not sure which one...
Now I don't feel I overpaid as much...


Jerry!!!

The manufacture date is 11/88. Would it be possible to swap the Samurai tailshaft onto the Sidekick trans? I could then add the Sammy t-case. That would give me the gearing to run some pretty decent meats. I imagine high gear would suffer, but I only spend about 10 to 15 min. on the interstate.

Thanks for all the info.

11/88...hmmm, interesting.....thanks.  That seems like a really late build date to have the 1.3.  Maybe there was no rhyme or reason to what sidekicks got the 1.3.  But I kinda figured they used up all the 1.3s, then switched to the 1.6s......but evidentely that is not correct, since the one I saw that had a build date of 08/88 had the EFI 1.6.

Samurai tailshaft on a sidekick tranny?......not very easily.....definitely not a bolt-on deal.
A better idea would be to get a trackick 2wd tranny and run the samurai tcase behind it.  The output shaft size on the 2wd tranny is the same size as the samurai tranny, so the samurai intermediate shaft slip yoke will work.  You would have to make some frame mounts for the samurai tcase, but that would be your best choice, IMO.

Hey guys,
Brent at Trail tough has a piece that prsses in to the 4wd tranny then you can shorten an intermediate shaft and run the sami t-case...  Lostsamurai on here has that set up on his sami.


Also, Skyhigh... was the 89 with the 1.6 5spd or auto?

Hey guys,
Brent at Trail tough has a piece that prsses in to the 4wd tranny then you can shorten an intermediate shaft and run the sami t-case...  Lostsamurai on here has that set up on his sami.


Also, Skyhigh... was the 89 with the 1.6 5spd or auto?

I didn't think TT had those out yet...........anyone got a pic of what it looks like?

That 89 was a 5 speed, IIRC......it's been awhile since I looked at it.

Lostsamurai picked one up early on... Don't think ir is on the website, but you may be able to call and ask for one...
I will look for a pic...

Lostsamurai picked one up early on... Don't think ir is on the website, but you may be able to call and ask for one...
I will look for a pic...

It's no big deal.  It's just that I have heard about this "piece" on several different forums, but have yet to see any pics of it.

Hey guys,
Brent at Trail tough has a piece that prsses in to the 4wd tranny then you can shorten an intermediate shaft and run the sami t-case...  Lostsamurai on here has that set up on his sami.


Also, Skyhigh... was the 89 with the 1.6 5spd or auto?

This part sounds interesting. I was hoping to use the parts I have on hand, since I have a complete Samurai rolling chassis (minus body).

Is there a webpage somewhere that list the gear ratios in the trans/t-case for both kicks and Sammys?

Did a little measuring this afternoon, from outside of spring pack to outside of spring pack on the samurai front end is about 1-1/2 narrower than the kick frame. Looks like with some fabrication, the front axle could go under the kick. I will either look into this or adding spring perches for the coils and a 4-link setup. I am a machinist, building track bars would be simple.