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Sam I am

woods said:
I hear yea, and I can relate. I fabbed up some mount for the shocks with the stems on them. Seemed fine at first, but when my tire came up on flex, it actually hit the mount. It was all wonky as shit. Honestly, the shocks and mount were really cheap to do. I tried making the stem shocks work, but it was more of a pain than it was worth.
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You might be right, if I do build a mount, I'll probably make it with much longer eyelet shocks in mind. If that makes sense.

Got it sitting on its own weight, pretty low :laughing:

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I'll probably redrill the rear mounts a little to move the axle back and make the shackle more vertical.

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Its cool to see a build on here that isnt full blown rock crawler or buggy. Ill be following along since mine is going to stay pretty mild as well!
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I think to many people skip over this stage, I think I had the most fun when mine was this size.
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Yeah it’s funny I got into off-roading wanting to build a decently capable overland style rig but then after getting sucked into places like here I started convincing myself I needed an overbuilt rig that probably isn’t even streetable haha
 
Put my 7 1/2 yr old to work pulling a spare axle apart (the one in it was leaking and PO said the drum was stuck for a while) I showed him some spider gears and how if I hold one wheel and spin the pinion only the other side will spin. Then I told him how we can fix that for basically free with the welder :grinpimp:​​​​​​

Man I hate the suzuki wheel bearing design, suck a royal pain to get the axles out, toyota killed them here.

Got it all back together, he even spun the pinion and asked if my side was turning. Made me smile.

We then pulled the old junk and slung the axle back in spua to see how it sat.


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Still trying to get a hang of this board, I accidentally hit "post reply" instead of "upload image" when I hit edit, I can't get my curse to start after the Pic :confused: oh well



Old axle had the perch drilled to move the axle back. I can see why. I'll have to go back 1-1.5"

The height looks decent though. I'd like to see if I can get the front up a bit to match. Might give the ome rear springs a shot. For now I might just make shorter shackles for the rear.
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Suzuki axles and Toyota axles are both made by aisin FYI
 
Got some shocks in the rear, those 14" bilstiens turned out to be 10" :homer: I know the super angled shocks is dumb, but it was what I had on hand, might be a good thing with a light little Sami to have softer valving.
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Changed to some ultra short shackles and it sits decently level.

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Why can I not start typing after I add a Pic sometimes, but sometimes I can :confused:

Anyway, I scabbed the stem top shocks on the front, definitely a temp setup, so no pics :flipoff2:

Hammered the rocker back and fire wall a bit then trimmed the front corner. I tacked in some 1/4" solid rod in hopes that it wouldn't cut the tire if it does rub.

Did some "flex" testing in the ditch on the driveway. Doesn't rub too bad in the front, even at full lock. I have 1.5" spacers on the front and 1" on the rear. I might try the 1" in the front and see if less scrub helps with rubbing. I think if I pull the spacers all together, it will rub the leafs, and I'm not sure the hiems will clear.

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Drove this thing around quite a bit today, even down to the gas station :flipoff2: got a few weird looks and even a 35 mph high 5 attempt from another Sami owner:laughing:
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later took it down to the creek to swim, it's actually pretty neat having a completely unobstructed view. When cruising around in the woods. Safety 3rd :flipoff2:

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so far I'm over the mood with this thing, it's the perfect rig for cruising down to the store, moving shit around the yard, going to the river, ect.

I had a wild idea to do a throw back type of trip. Load up some basic supplies tools and spare parts, drive to the Rubicon, run it through and drive home. I think it would be a total blast.
 
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had a great Father's day. :usa:

We only idled around in low range with the kids back there, but they absolutely love this thing. :grinpimp:

I'm really thinking about just adding some really basic tubes to the existing roll bar. I'd like to do something like I built for Wilson (not an exo) but I'm not sure how I want to do it yet.

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Kinda busted ass today and built a cage off the stock roll bar. The kids love this thing so much. I had to make it safe for them.

Forgot to take pics, I'll post some tomorrow.

:usa:
 
Sandwiched the floor with ~4" square plates. I thought about going to the frame, but it seems to cause cracking in the body when the cage is hard mounted.
 
I wish mine was solid enough to just go to the floor. Ill probably end up cutting out the floor, doing the cage to the frame, and then building a new floor around the cage.
 
Cage looks good. I built a Sami for a customer like 8yrs ago and built the cage off the stock roll bar as well. Its in the correct place to start with and is plenty thick, why not use it. Good thing my customer was short! I didn't even think about putting a bend in the halo near the B pillar like you did. :smokin:

This is the rig I built for him:

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SLOWPOKE693 said:
Cage looks good. I built a Sami for a customer like 8yrs ago and built the cage off the stock roll bar as well. Its in the correct place to start with and is plenty thick, why not use it. Good thing my customer was short! I didn't even think about putting a bend in the halo near the B pillar like you did. :smokin:

This is the rig I built for him:

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I like that rig a lot.

This was a day and a half worth of work. I was kinda going for "old school" style. I may eventually pull it out and build something more like I did on Wilson's, but for now, this will work.

Ya, I definitely needed a little room. It's also not very friendly with the stock targa and pieces that the door seal on, but I'll figure that out when I get there. :laughing:
 
Trying to upload pics, but my internet sucks.

Went up Sunday through just now. Drove the Sami and my wife drove the 4runner.

I really like this thing a lot. Being able to flip the windshield down when we hit the dirt road is awesome. Keeps the dust from swirling into the cab. Plus having an open rig is so much better on the trail.

The only thing that I'd like to improve a little is the ride :laughing:

I think the rears need a leaf pulled.

Or maybe just go to ome rears all around?

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One is free, one costs money. Is the improvement worth the money to you?

I can't imagine those super aggressive tires help the ride either. :laughing:
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
One is free, one costs money. Is the improvement worth the money to you?

I can't imagine those super aggressive tires help the ride either. :laughing:
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Well the free one only improves the rear, and I think the front is the worst.

Ome springs are only $100 ea. So not exactly a huge cost.


The tires are the only thing that make it tolerable. They're actually made for for something that weighs as much as a Sami. Instead of a truck tire where the sidewalls don't budge unless you go down to 1 psi.
 
$400 isn't bad for a complete new set of springs. It sounds like you plan on keeping it for a while so I'd probably do that.
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
$400 isn't bad for a complete new set of springs. It sounds like you plan on keeping it for a while so I'd probably do that.
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I don't know how familiar you are with sami's, but the rear is set up for YJ leafs (~47") with bolt on brackets.

I'm not sure if going to a shorter spring is the way to go or not.

The other thing I'd like to change is the front shackles. They hang way down and stick out quite a bit. I'm not sure how to fix this yet.
 
man, I forgot how much of a monster truck that thing was when it was brought to my shop! I lowered it a bunch and stretched the WB 10" to give it a 0° approach and departure angle. That was a fun build.
 
That's how this was when I got it, yj leafs spring over. I sprung under the rear and put some stock rears in the front with 1 leaf added. Basically what I thought would work best with what I had on hand.

14" coilovers would be like twice as long as what would work on this thing. :laughing: it's not much over stock height really. Top of the cage is about 5'8" below my eye level :laughing:
 
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