Hey guys, looking at buying a 1990 samurai but its a nice distance away so I was wondering if by some pictures you could clarify some of the suspension mods. The owner is the 3rd owner since they were put on so he's not sure what exactly is done. I know that the gearing is 5:13 and its on 35's. Its got the 1.3L Fuel injected engine. I'm thinking it has some sort of SPOA mod but can't tell alot. He's not sure if they are stock axles and I was wondering the proper steering mods have been done. He says it has a jeep eater kit in it as well. The picture are kinda shitty, but any help would be appreciated as too what mods are there or what would be needed to to complete it. THanks!

Another pic

It is SPOA with YJ's and the Jeep-eater kit as the owner indicated. It has  OTT (Over the top) or a highsteer kit on it as well as an upper stabilizer. It looks to have the OEM pitman arm on it. A drop pitman would be nice and would bring the drag link angle more to its natural position.

It does appear to have Yota axles under it...

How about a peak at the whole rig??? 

Here is a pic of the samurai. I'm planning on stripping it down and getting a paint job and sanding the chassis. I just want to know if this set up would be snapping axles or if I was going to need to immediately buy some more mods. He says its has warm lockers in it? I think he means manual locking hubs in the front. He's really not too sure on the mods. Any info would be awesome. Looking forward to joing the samurai club. Here's a pic

Travis,

Where is this Samurai? The Badlands are here in Indiana west of me a ways (Attica).

It looks pretty sweet form this photo. From the others it is dry underneath which is good. From what I can see it appears to be set up correctly. It looks like its been playing in water with the amount of surface rust under it.

As for the locker I don't know of a way to check this anything short of raking a peek inside the diff or driving it.

                                                                                      Tux...

Hey tux, it came from illinois but is currently near Halifax, nova scotia here on the east coast of Canada. I'm going to pick it up next week. The only real issues are surface rust and a bit of rust around the wheel well or fender flares. The guy who owns it figured those are stock axles. Think I should upgrade to some old yota's?

Southern Illinois is close to Attica so that makes sense.

Diffs..... Easy way to tell... count the number of lugs... 6 = Yota... If not the next best would be 26 spline chrome moly axles.

Your riding on some big meats so the gear ration is important... 5:12 / %:13 & 6:5:1
transfercase will be important features to turn those tires without additional stress.

B.C. huh.... just met some folks from yer neck of the woods while in Mexico. Great folks! We had a great time..

Looks like the right front knuckle is leaking.  Probably the axle seal inside the knuckle is leaking gear oil into the bell and the oil is leaking out through the knuckle seal.
The oil pan has a dent in the front.  Not likely a big deal....but something work mentioning.
To check for a locker, jack one tire on the axle off the ground.  Spin the tire, you should either hear a ratcheting sound , or the tire should lock and you shouldn't be able to turn it.  That would indicate either a locker or spool in the axle.
Maybe the "warm locker" is Warn lockouts?

Hey that was a misprint. I meant "warn". He said warn lockers. Might be some work. Plannin on runnin her for the summer then stripping her right down and doing everything over. Just trying to get an idea of what is done and what will need to be done. Thanks for the input!

It looks to me like a newer stock front Diff with a calmini High steer.

Definitely not toyota axles......

Hey guys, the axles after talking more with the owner more are stock just 5:13 gears I believe. I'm nervous with these 35's. He hasn't had issues and I wouldnt say I'll be wheeling too hard, but after much reading I fear I should run 31-32's. And I won't known until I get it what the ratio of the transfer case is so I may have to regear there too. Thoughts?! Suggestions?!

Travis,

Sorry about misinforming you earlier about the axle... It's been awhile since I had a Yota here. I totally spaced it.... Here is what a front Yota axle would look like:



As far as being nervious about the stock axles with 5:13's it will totally depend on your driving habits and a bit of luck. If you wheel it hard then at some point most likely it will break. But that can be said about 31's too. The likelyhood does increase though due to the size and weight though on a bigger tire.

I have 9.5x34 TSL's on aluminum rims. They are tall, narrow, and light. They weigh less than my old 30x9.5 on steel rims. The tread width will cut through the mud and is light enuff to float higher in soupey stuff.

I ran them for 2yrs on stock gears before changing to 5:13's and another year before installing 6:5:1 transfercase gears.

Most of my driving is daily around town and only on occasion do I have time to go wheeling. No rock crawling, mostly muddy logging trails, creekbeds, and washouts.

I am building it to do just that kind of mutipurpose fun.

I am not saying your set up won't break but I am saying alot depends on what you want out of it.

My theory is get as close to what you want as you can and buy the stuff you need as you go along or when it breaks then make an upgrade.

Hope that makes better sense... Good Luck!!!

That's not a yota axle either, try again.

That's not a yota axle either, try again.

Really --------> http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yhs-frontier-loggedout&sz=all&va=toyota+4wd+axle