Long term jeeper, 1st time sammy owner.
I picked up an '86 with roughly 10million miles on it but runs smoothing after a couple minutes warm up. The body is straight excluding 1 dent on the drivers 1/4 and not a spot of rust on it including the frame.  The interior needs some luv but isn't bad.

With Jeeps the lift options are simple, sua kit.  There are other options but I've never had 5k to convert a Leaf setup to a coil, so really there was only 1 route and it cost $469 including shocks but not shipping


The sammy world seems to be a bit different.  1st it took me a while to figure out what SPOA meant, because I'm retarded and have been talking SOA for years.  Anyway beyond my mental deficiencies...  There are so many different routes and they mostly cost about the same for the basic kits.   The sam will be more or less a DD when I'm not carting clients around(my 'for clients' ride gets about 12mpg).  It will also be a hunting rig, basic off-roading, but no extreme trails or real rock crawling.

It has 235's on it now and I'm assuming no lift.  I'd like 31's, and being I paid $900 for the rig I don't want to spend a ton.  So I'm considering one of the basic soa's or the wrangler spring conversion. 
Some info I've found on the wrangler conversion says 31's are fine, but others say you don't get any real lift only a better ride.  Which is odd being that jeepers always complain about their ride quality.  And on the conversion kits I've seen I see no note about correcting the steering.

So any chance on a definitive answer as far was what would work best and cheapest?

I am not a Sami guy, I wheel a sidekick but I do know that the least expensive lift is going to be a SOA or SPOA lift. Of course this lift requires some fabrication skills and a welder. Oh and a high steer kit will eliminate a lot of problems. High steer is currently being discussed here.  http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=18062.0

Ride quality is not generally used in the same sentence as a Sami!   I have a Rocky Road outfitters 5" SPOA  and 33" s.  The ride is a kidney puncher but I drive it daily and LOVE every minute of it!!!!!  Depending on budget this is alot of options but the full coil conversions still come in well below any Jeep lifts!!!  But YJs with a Spoa would get it done nicely!  But leave a little in the budget for a t-case or some gears some you can commute in style!  Welcome to the insanity!!  Hope this helps!

I'm not expecting a plush ride by any means, but I want to stick around $500 or less if possible on the lift.  I'm already planning on gears etc. but since I bought this to "save $$$ on gas" I have to sneak the fun parts around the wife who wants a vacation in the near future.   

I figured I could probably pick up a set of stock YJ springs for free or close to it which is why I'm looking harder at the conversion.  But I need to find out if stock springs will comfortably clear 31's and whether or not I'll need to address steering with it.  If I need $400 in lift springs and steering anyway I'll probably just bypass and go with the spring over, fab and welding are not a problem fortunately.

At this point 31's are as big as I want to go.  I don't want to get into full width axles etc. so I can stick as close to ATV size as possible for my hunting trails.  After lift/tires I'll be looking at power steering, gears, engine swap etc.  I've got a new 10k winch that hasn't made it onto the cj5 yet, which I think will be enough pull for this rig   Just need a mount for it.  All kinds of fun plans

i have a rocky road 7 inch spring over with 33's  not a bad set up as long as they get you out all the parts for the kit....they were having some shipping issues when i ordered mine earlier this year.
I like trail tough also .....www.trailtough.comor lowrangeoffroad.com low has good prices and great service!  so for 31s a simple spoa should work well. also , go with an over the top steering from one of the companies.It helps.
good luck!

I have had my Sammy for about a month now. Just got done putting in the jp eater kit from RRO. Samurais like most all lifted vehicles tend to ride rough. My sammy had stock suspension when i got it and going to the jeep springs makes the ride ten times better and so far on the trails has been awsome. It takes a couple of days of work to get everything right add a couple more if your rig is rusty but in the end you will like the results. The only thing that got me before i did it was the price but it beats the hell out of staying with the stock length springs.