A friend came up with the idea of cutting off 8 to 10" of the rear end of the sammy...  I already have 14 more inches from Axel to Axel than a regular sammy.

Any suggestions, recommendations, advises  or ideas?

I'm also planning to take the hard cover and add a nice roll cage and soft covers.

Unfortunately I can't think of a good example off the top of my head  :'( Do a search for "LWB" and "stretched". The procedure for cutting off length is quite similar to stretching out.

Wasn't there a thread on how rare (and expensive) these LWB Sammis were?  Sell it & buy a SWB one.

Your samurai looks similar to the one that appears in the beginning of the Borne Ultimatum. If you do anything to it I would recommend moving the rear axle back to improve your departure angle. If you want a short wheel base you could probably buy 2 or 3 with the money from selling this.

Next to body work the biggest problem you will hit bobbong off the rear of your sami will be getting into the spring mounts. Most people that bob off the bed end up going with coil springs in the back to get awesome departure angles. BUT, like X-90's I would rather see a jewel like that stay closer to stock to save one of a dieing breed.

Zig

Wasn't there a thread on how rare (and expensive) these LWB Sammis were?  Sell it & buy a SWB one.

A bobbed LWB will have a stronger frame than a stretched & gusseted SWB frame.

I would look up information on Toyota pickups, you see a lot of Toy's with bobbed beds.  That being said if you want a longer wheelbase on a short body I would pick up a stock SJ and slide the rear axle back instead.

For wheeling with the longer SJ I would look up khan_sultan's thread from the SPOA on his Gypsy (Long Wheelbase SJ413) and some of the pictures later in the thread from being out wheeling.

http://www.zukiworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=24682.0