Dear Friends,

I am based out of India and have a Suzuki Samurai (1.3l EFI) that I use for off-road here in India.

I am running stock tyres 235/70/15 (28" tyres).  Need your advise:

- Will going in for a ultra low gear set help in increasing the 'low rpm torque' and the rock climbing aspects of the Suzuki on my stock tyres?

- will the stock trans case be able handle the increased torque?

- Considering that I will be up[grading to 30" tyres, which ultra low gear set should I go for? 4.x, 5.x or the 6.x set?

- I am also planning LSD or lockrite lockers.

Waiting for your inputs.

Hey

What do you plan on doing with this sami?  Are you looking to just make it a flat out crawler, or are you needing to be able to drive this on the road too?

If you plan on running a 30" tire and need to be able to drive it on the street i would recommend getting the 4.9:1 or 4.16:1 T-case gears.
But if you want to be all out slow with little to no street driving i would get the 6.5:1 gears.
I had the 6.5:1 gears in my sami with stock tires for a while....it was incredibly slow! 40-45 was my top speed and it was pretty wound out.

Any of these T-case gears are going to drop your low RPM torque.
Your sami tranny will hold up to the load, as long was your reasonable with it.

You will be unstoppable with lockers front and rear and along with low gears....
I'm pretty sure you will be lovin life!

hope that helps some

Amilla

If you go with the lower gears make sure you get some new transfer case mounts.  It's not very much fun to rip the stock ones in two.    Low Range Offroad two or three "Bulletproof" transfer case mounts on their sight.  And with some larger washers the Rocky Road ones work great.

You might also want to think about getting an updated front output shaft.

"Updated Transfer Case Front Output Shaft
Putting in lower transfer case gears and really getting on the throttle can sometimes damage the front output shaft. This results in a loud popping noise under load and is detrimental to the life of the output shaft. Repeated popping of the front output shaft gear will result in gear failure and loss of power to the front axle. In 1994 Suzuki upgraded the output shaft and stopped using the older style shaft that was prone to failure.

These later style shafts are a drop in replacement for 1986-1993 transfer cases. You can see the difference in the picture, the older version is on top and the upgrade on the bottom.  This upgrade is especially good for transfer cases that have lower than stock gearing in them because the lower the gear, the higher the torque load going through the gear.

The front output gear can be installed without full dis-assembly of the transfer case. Only the front output cover needs to be removed to install this gear. Replace your older gear now and keep it in your tool box as a trail spare. Fits 1986-1995 Suzuki Samurai's."

http://lowrangeoffroad.com/samtcase.htm

Amilla

I have the 4-1 with 30" MTR's and I can say that at 65 M.P.H I am turning almost 4000 R.P.M. I would actually like a little lower low range but I don't want to lower the high range anymore.

Thanks for the info friends.  I plan to use the Zuk "On Road" also, hence will go in for the 4-1 gear option.

BTW, have already procured the LSD. will get it installed and update you folks.

I don't know if you folks are aware or not, but off-road is pretty new to India and a small group of 50-100 people is actively promoting it all over India. Many Samurai (Known as Gypsy in India) are part of that, apart from the willys Jeeps.

Cheers,

One more questions guys:

We have very very mild rocky trails but quite a lot of muddy/slush (clayish muddy) trails -- something similar to the 'rainforest trails'.

Will the LSD + 4-1 ultra low gear T-Case setup be sufficient?

Cheers,

It should be.  The Gypsy is a pretty light rig, and that is your biggest advantage.  I have seen pictures of people wheeling in Asia and Chili with the Sammy's in rain forest trails with success.  The 4.1 or 4.8 transfer case should be plenty to keep your tires turning with stock tires.

Thanks Drone. Will go in for the 4.1 T-Case option. What's your opinion on the RockyRoad 4.16 Crawler Gear kits?

http://www.rocky-road.com/zukgear.html

It's just that I am based out of India and can't take the chance of returning the shipped goods back to the US :-(

Cheers,

Rocky Road makes great equipment, as do any of the aftermarket companies on the front page at zukiworld.com   But you will want to make sure they have the items in stock before you order them.  Otherwise it can sometimes take up to a year to get the parts you ordered.