OK, just bought my first sammi about 2 weeks ago, an 88 jx. I have a few issues that need attention. the first two major issues are 1. it had terrible bump steer, we rotated the front axle back to a more horizontal position and fabbed up a z bar, problem solved.  2. the rear springs are shot.

It has the whole tracker drivetrain in it including the auto tranny, and stock sammi axles.  Now, how high can I go with a spoa lift before the driveshaft angle becomes an issue?  A friend of mine has a set of calmini springs that I can get cheap but he can't remember right off what lift they were. I don't want to go so high that I will need a new driveshaft yet.  right now I just want a competant trail buggy that I can drive on the street.  Any help will be appreciated, thanx in advance

since you are running the tracker gear and the samurai housings you have a side angle to  the rear shaft.

I'd swap out the samurai for the tracker to eliminate this. You can lift alot as long as you get the right angles and either install drive shaft spacers of lengthen the shaft. thinking about it your length is probably shorter than stock length of the tracker shaft...just take a stock one and cut it to length.

a basic SOA should give you about 4-5" and if you get the springs re-arched and add a good ply then you can get 6-7". I'd swap in the standard gears ito accomodate the bigger tires and start looking for some t-case gears to make wheeling alot more fun.

You're going to run into the problem that your rear is going to be wider than your front....you can install a different offset on the rear to bring the rims in.

and welcome to the site...

OK, just bought my first sammi about 2 weeks ago, an 88 jx. I have a few issues that need attention. the first two major issues are 1. it had terrible bump steer, we rotated the front axle back to a more horizontal position and fabbed up a z bar, problem solved.  2. the rear springs are shot.

It has the whole tracker drivetrain in it including the auto tranny, and stock sammi axles.  Now, how high can I go with a spoa lift before the driveshaft angle becomes an issue?  A friend of mine has a set of calmini springs that I can get cheap but he can't remember right off what lift they were. I don't want to go so high that I will need a new driveshaft yet.  right now I just want a competant trail buggy that I can drive on the street.  Any help will be appreciated, thanx in advance

While rotating the axle back towards stock will fix any caster-related handling problems, you will continue to have bumpsteer with a z-bar.  See the following webpage for more info:

http://www.acksfaq.com/bumpsteer_explained.htm

Here is a link to an article on samurai suspension lift limits called the "Six-Inch Rule":

http://www.acksfaq.com/sixinchrule.htm

Zukimoo's suggestion about using a Sidekick/Tracker rear axle is excellent advice! You will have to make sure that the samurai front axle has matching ring and pinions as the installed rear Sidekick/Tracker differential.

Check out:

http://www.zukikrawlers.com/showthread.php?t=4215

for details on that process - the real info begins on the second page...  

Except for the drivertrain differences, I have the dealt with the same problems on my DD Samurai with a 4.5" SPOA lift...

I hope that this helps!

adding some info about the steering....get the money and buy a cross over steering arm. It will make all the difference in the world. At the same time you are installing the arm you should take the whole front apart and re-build all the seals and bearings...get the front end really tight.

Yep I agree save up for the cash and do the cross over steering.  I have a Z-bar currently in mine, but 2 of my friends run the cross over steering and love it.  I will be heading that route myself soon, also welcome the the addiction!

Got the springs yesterday. Gonna install probably today, we'll see how it goes, I am definitely gonna need spacers. We'll see how the angle is later.....