SO I am curious as to how long other drivers have had their wheel bearings last on a samurai axle with a 33" tire??   

Is there anyone out there that sells a high-endurance type bearing for the sammy axle??  I want my happy ending.  And replacing wheel bearings every  4 or 5 months is not happy.  (Mind you, I was running offset rims and 33`s, but I drove it gently I swear...)

My Sammy had the stock bearings in until two years ago when I rebuilt them and regeared it. It has had 32" swampers and 1" wheel spacers for the last ten years.

You might have a problem with a bent tube.  I ran stock wheel bearings for 3 years with 33" tires, but then again it wasn't a DD.

im sure alot of you already know this, but there is a set standard to burrings, meaning that no matter what company manufactures them, they are within the same limits as the next. the same size burring is also made in different formats example : you can get a ball burring, tapered roller burring and a non tapered roller burring in the same exact width, inside diameter and outside diameter. you can also get them in different composites, even solid titanium if you have the cash. the burrings that came on the vehicle were the cheapest burings they could find to meet the needs of the application. they werent looking for the best. but im sure they had the option to make it last forever. but then how would they make any money?  but if you think 30.00 is bad be ready for the price of a better burring. 

Hey Dice, it be bearings not burrings. And I believe they all be tapered now a day's.

When I went through the front end a couple of years ago I was not given a choice of different bearing styles. All the bearings were of the same design, which was the tapered style.

And Drone may have something. If you axle is bent it may eat "burrings".

i was refering to the different types available in the same size not the application of the "bearing". it was just to make a point that there are options. alloys,composites etc. thanks for the correction though. bet they think im high at work.

wicked.  So I guess buying brand new QUALITY bearings would be the first thing to do huh?    Mind you, I was running tracker rims that had been CUT and FLIPPED, giving me about 3 inches more offset... ha ha...   
 

burrings...ha ha... I was so lost when I read that... I thought "what the HELL is a burring??"   

you asked about heavy duty wheel bearings so i thought id bring to light that there are different options.

as far as the extreme offset goes, thats hard on the entire axle so im sure there are more issues at play than just the bearings.  could be fighting a loosing battle. 

are you not wanting to upgrade to yoyota axles? it realy is the best solution for running 33s. me and a buddy have been looking for options that will allow him to keep his stock axles while running 33s when he does his coil over upgrade and we cant find an answer. just seems easier to swap out axles.   

Uh..yeah........I thought about it...but I went with a sammy axle on the front of my Kick...  It works great, no gearing change, etc...  BUT I lengthened it on one side...had to lengthen the shaft too...   NOW I am thinking lengthening BOTH sides of the front sammy, one side of the rear kick, getting all custom shafts and birfs, nad turning the rear into a FF....   Not the most economical, but the clearance and strength with 33-35`s should be dandy...

If I was smart, I would just put the stock spare sammy axle I got under there with my birf rings and some spacers....then run 31`s and be happy.    But I want bigger, of course....

The 33`s I alluded to earlier I ran on my old samurai, offset to the max.  I have not had to replace any wheel bearings on my kick with 31`s yet though....  but it is awful hard on the ego to go from 33`s on a sammy to 31`s on a kick...

And toy axles means $$$$$  screwing with gearing, drivshafts, etc...

ok so you lengthened one side of the axle housing and the shaft. not to sound like a total idiot but wasnt that i pain in the |removethispart|@$$? maybe i dont understand the concept here. you lengthened and then re-centered the axle under the kick? thats a sweet little mod if so. you dont happen to have any links for lengthining the housing do you? now i see why youre so stuck on the axles you have.

it was a total pain in the a$$.    but i was thinking that it would solve wheel bearing issues and not harm my steering etc etc....   i really should have gone with spacers and stuck with 31`s ha ha   

  no links on housing lengthening...did it by myself and lined it up using a straight pipe....measured and cut and put in a piece of tube, and i tried everything for the shaft.  i tried dom, heated and pressed over the 2 shaft pieces,i tried "pro" welding...nothing works.  I needed a new custom shaft, and then i would still have the diff in the way of the engine...  should have lengthened both sides and gone custom shafts in the first place....  or just swapped in ANOTHER AXLE ENTIRELY

sounds like you have alot more exsperiance in those types of modifications than i do.

but just asking for refrence to my thoughts, if you lengthened the short end couldnt you have just used another long end and cut it down to size?

as far as the axle lengthening that doesnt sound like a fun little job to tackle with all the balancing issues. i asked a buddy at work if he had ever tried it and he said that he only lengthened the housing himself and sent the axle out to have it done. he said if you were to lengthen the short side all you would need is another axle from the long side cut down to fit the new lengthened short side unless you never cut it. then you could just use the long axle.but if you lengthen the long side you would definatly need a custom axle built. he said that it is done by friction welding. ive heard of it but never seen or read up on it.

i sat down and thought about the possability of creating 4 wheel steering by mating parts from a front axle to the rear axle. maybe using a rack and pinion setup mounted directly to the axle with a servo motor controlled by a self centering 3 way toggle switch on the shifter. then i thought about the wheelbase and the possabilities of it rolling easier. but it would be sweet for parallel parking huh!

i too have thought about putting two front axles under my truck...that would be wicked...but my dear god talk about difficult....

actually, the IDEAL thing would be to steal the link and computer, servo, etc from one of those new Fords or an older hyundai with factory 4 wheel steering...then put in onto the axle of your choice, modding the factory links of course...  could be a great 10 year project LOL 

I think that I definately went the wrong way about this...    If a guy was to mod an axle, then BOTH sides should be lengthened and custom shafts done up....


I even thought about the possibility of swapping rear side gears up front and making a hybrid dana 44 knuckle setup...

i am really obsessed with the ground clearance of a shaved sammy axle...  kind of sad that I had to go leaf spring under when I stuck it on my Kick...coils would have been a better choice there too, but I hate panhards.   I was toying with the idea of a triangulated offset link that would run on the drivers side of the engine, but leafs were just so much easier....   


Anyways, I think that I will just stick with spacers until cash allows, then go Dana 44 or Landcruiser (with factory e-lockers)!!!  And of course, 35`s.   

  That "friction welding" idea might get to me eventually though....    if I could lengthen my OWN housing....both front AND rear...and get FOUR custom shafts....  (oh good god no here we go again....)

Anyways, I think that I will just stick with spacers until cash allows, then go Dana 44 or Landcruiser (with factory e-lockers)!!!  And of course, 35`s.   

Would those go under a Samurai?   I didn't know there was such an option.   What year landcruiser? What would it take?

-Adam  

i honestly dont think that 4 wheel steering would be all that tuff to pull of after searching through the forums. distantsmoke posted a topic about changing the caster to change the angle of the diff, and all it entitled was grinding the welds and setting refrence marks to shift the ball. if its that easy to do (said lightly) then why couldnt the entire axle tube be mated to the rear diff with the same caster refrences as the front axle. only the pinion would be facing foreward along with the steering arms. im sure the math could be a pain but it does seem possable. id want to keep the rear diff in the same location so that could mean having custom axles built, but it would still be worth it to me. of course, knowing that the outside diameter of both the front and rear axle tubes are the same would be a plus??  anybody got the specs??

i found a 150ftlb gearbox-reduced servo motor for 180.00 in a robogeek catalog that operates on 12 volts and has a three wire setup (+-+) one ground and two positive feeds which means it can be controlled by two hot wires and a body ground. as far as centering the steering, it looks like it would have to be done manualy. it also looks like i can get any size sprocket and chain from the same place. so it could easily be chain driven.

im also findig alot of power steering options for a zuk so thats easy to figure out.

it looks like i could end up with a set of axles this spring from when i help a buddy do a coilover/toyota axle setup on his zuk, so i could just grow a wild hair and try this out. im guessing ill have to do some modifications to the rear frame and wheel wells to get the tires to swing but it would be totaly worth it. think of the u turns it could pull off !