I have an 88 samari, I want to put either 31's or 33's on it. What size lift and gear ratio do you guys think would work best. ???I do drive it sometimes on a daily basis on the freeway's. :-/

31s on a DD with some 5.38s should be fine

Wild

5.38's are way too much gear for a 31 or 32 tire. I used to run 5.38's with 33's and they were still too much gear. I swapped on a friends 35's and it was just about perfect. In case you are wondering what I mean, with 33's and those gears I could run it up to 65 mph.. .......... AT 5200 RPM! That is too much rpm's to be running on the street. I would reccomend 4.62's at the most.

I'm running 33/12.5's with a 5"SPOA and 4.57 gears in my 88 Sammi.  The gearing is great for me, but the 33's and the 10" rims they're on are just too much for my stock 1.3.  I can't get up to highway speed, and I lose my RPM's in the deep stuff off road.  It's fine off road, when I say deep I mean the real deep sh*t.  Unless you up the motor to a 1.6, STAY WITH 31's.  A Spring over and 4.57's will do nice with a set of 31/10.5" Dunlap Mud Rovers(lighter than other tires and just as capable, if not more...perfect for your Sammi, cheap too).

Me, I'm impatiently waiting for and old Tracker to come in on trade for $100 or so here at the dealership...DAMN I need more HP

5.38's are way too much gear for a 31 or 32 tire. I used to run 5.38's with 33's and they were still too much gear. I swapped on a friends 35's and it was just about perfect. In case you are wondering what I mean, with 33's and those gears I could run it up to 65 mph.. .......... AT 5200 RPM! That is too much rpm's to be running on the street. I would reccomend 4.62's at the most.

Did you have the low T-case gears too ??

Wild

I'm running 31's with 4.62's in the third members. Stock tcase, 87 transmission.

Works pretty good at bringing high range back into line.
5th is usable on the way home. My GPS says the speedometer is reading about 12% high. (real speed 59 when the speedo says 66).

Tcase gears will bring your high range back to stock AND give you a crawling power in low range. 4.16 will get you close to stock high range on 31's, 4.89 / 5.14 will have your speedo reading a bit high on 31's.

If you can only do 1, and you are not going to get a really good deal on tracker 3rd members, go with the tcase gears.

Did you have the low T-case gears too ??

Wild

Nope!!

I love my little sami with 30's and a 4-1 case. In my opinion the t-case is the way to go.  That way you can change the high range just slightly but change the low range dramaticly. There are so many ratios now also that you cant go wrong. And as for cost.......well if you think the gears are exspensive then look at other makes t-case gears. I am thinking about putting in some 4.62's but I do drive it to work monday then home on friday. All on the freeway. It turns about 4500 rpm at 75 mph right now. I am afraid that 4.62's would make it to low. But then again I am planning on putting on 31's. hmmmmmmmm

You guys are running that high of RPM in 5th gear ???Or will the 1.3 not pull it in 5th .

 I've had and built a few sammys with 31s and 5.12s. You run a little high with rpm, but still livable even on the freeway, actually, really spirited on pavement. My lwb has 5.12s with a stock sammy case and a 1.6 with dual cases and 35s. It does the freeway fine with the speedo spot on. Well, before I took the truck apart for a very long drawn out surgery, anyway. With a 1.3, 5.12s work well with 33s.

I have to agree with Zutefisk, just put in the transfer case gears and call it good.  I put 5.12's in my SJ410 and it ran the 33's fine on the road, but after swapping out the rear end for the hybrid and everything else I still didn't have the crawl abilities that the transfer case gives.

Don't forget that depending on the year of Samurai you will have a lower 5th gear for highway driving.