Ok, just picked up a project 88 Sammy a few weeks back.  Wouldn't start but was trying really hard so I went through the ignition and replaced everything from plugs to battery cables.  A little carb cleaner and a shot of starter fluid later she came to life and sounds better every time I crank her up.  The idle is a little fast but I think the PO might have been making carb adjustments to hide ignition weaknesses.

So I take it for its maiden voyage around the storage lot, parking brake only, and everything seems to be going well, good throttle response, shifting is ok, transfer case seems to be working properly (I can see the shafts turning through the access holes in the floor, HA!)

All is good until I go to back it into the storage unit again.  No reverse.  The drive shaft from the Tcase is spinning in reverse but nothing is moving.  I go from 2H to 4H and get a bit of grind noise, hold the shift lever up in gear and reverse seems to lock in.  But the front hubs are not locked in?  This is how I backed it into storage. My thought was that my front axle pushed me back but the hubs were unlocked so I'm not sure what is going on here.  Obviously I plan to go through the whole system front to back but does anyone have an idea what might be happening?

Also I see the Aussilocker is only available for the toyota axles so  I tuess this would be a good time to swap to the Toyota axles if its in my plans?

Just to verify:

When you put the transmission in reverse only the front drive-shaft spins?  But both drive shafts spin when in 1st-5th?

By default the Samurai is a rear wheel drive vehicle.  The front wheels are only engaged when you have it in 4 wheel drive.  For more information on the SJ 4-Wheel drive system you can view an old video that Suzuki produced for the UK market:

Part One:

Suzuki Four Wheel Drive Techniques Part 1

Part Two:

Suzuki Four Wheel Drive Techniques Part 2

For the Samurai axles you can get the Lock-Right, which is very similar to the Aussie Locker.  The Toyota axles are a bit more work but a lot of people consider them worth the time and money for 33-37" tires.  For 31"-33" tires it might be easier to just pick up a set of heavy duty front axles from Trail Tough.

There are three drive shafts in a sammie, you could have been looking at the intermediate shaft going into the transfer case, you might need to pull the shifter on your transfer case and replace the plastic bushing at the bottom of the hole where the shifter goes in.

Yeah now that I think about it that was probably the intermediate shaft changing directions and spinning.  So chances are the T case just needs some TLC.  the shifter is pretty sloppy, I'll check that bushing.  It looks like it needs new seals and all anyway.

I'll start there, thanks.

First Welcome,
Can't tell what you all have there from the pic posted,
You are hiding alot with that Harbor Freight tarp.
Is that a DIY snorkel, or a periscope?

Seems all your issues are 100% cure---able !!
Your patient will survive, It's only a matter of money...........

Again welcome, there are a bunch of great members, and a few %*&^%$ to round it out to make this site.........
                   A REAL PARTY!!!
Everyone here feels your pain, post often; all will be glad to help!!

CAPT

HA!  Yeah the harbor freight top has been the only thing between my Samurai and torential downpoors and tornados here in Oklahoma the past few weeks.  Surprisingly enough it has survived!

And yes, the PO made some sort of snorkle contraption, its actually welded up nicely and made of a pretty heavy guage steel tubing, for whatever reason he painted it white and it does look like PVC.  I need to source a scoop top for it, he just put a cone filter element on the end of the pipe and called it good.  

After today I think I will have a little cash flow to throw at this thing.  BMW superchargers bring a premium!  

So its sitting on 33's with a SPOA (skeptical about how its installed), no shocks, no top, original everything else.

The wheels are 15x7 with a crap load of back space, so much so that the inside tires rub on the springs when I turn.  Fisrt thing is to get this rubber spaced out with a set of Wheelers 15x8 with 2.5" back space.

Its a project for sure but it will be a fun process...

BTW, does anyone sell those headlight and tailight brush gaurds anymore?  I kinda like them and the rear ones need replacing...

On the light guards,
We don't have many Sammy's left here in Wisconsin,
I always look for them when I am out on a Junk Yard Safari, no luck yet.
I have a set for the front turn signals, and picked up a set of the old wire mesh headlite "Stone Guards" at a Swap Meet.
You can go "On Line" there are a couple of Suzuki Exclusive Savage dealers listed and try there.

Happy Trails,

CAPT

E-bay is the place to get those from.  They were an option on the SJ-410 so you can find them for sale out of the UK.  I ordered a set once, never showed up though...

FYI, LowRange now has the light gaurds...

http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/index.php/suzuki/samurai/exterior-body/suzuki-samurai-reproduction-head-tail-signal-lamp-grille-covers.html

Getting back to my original question, once I dug into both the trans and tcase my shifting problem turned out to be a combination of bad shift sheets in both and a broken shift bolt in the trans, the whole thing was just loosey goosey and would not keep a gear.  Have since rebuilt the tcase with 6.5 gears and did the dual bolt trans shifter mod so that bolt will never break again.

Holy old thread follow-up Batman! 

Pretty cool that Low Range has the guards now.  Glad you fixed the problem!

This is nothing, I brought back a 2006 thread over on the ZU yesterday about header wrap... LOL!

Did the header wrap work? 

Ditto on the CURE,

Also great find on the guards !!
Just curious how the head lamp guards mount?
If they just mount to the plastic grill, They'll look cool, but not much else.
My rear bumper already has the holes for the guards. I am going to check for availability.

CAPT

I have a set of the OEM headlight guards. The mount with 1 side using the 2 outside grill screws and with 2 screws into the frontside of each fender. Once all of the srews are in place they are very sturdy.

You can kinda see this in this photo....

Thanks Tux,
I get it now how they mount up.
I already have "Stone Guards" from an old Austin Healey site. (Vintage Racer)
They are holding up well, even survived playing "Chicken" with a 12 pointer in 2006 !!
By the way Nice Rig, Just curious, what are the 2 little black "Horns" on the windshield frame
above the Zuki windshield decal ?

CAPT