So are the axles on a Samurai as disposable as some make them out to be?  I've been told from "not to spend a dime on a Samural axle" to "it would be an upgrade to swap them out with a paper towel roll or 2 taped up toilet paper rolls"...The last being pretty funny actually. Just do a yota swap and be done with it....


Would you spend the money on a ring & pinion install and/or LSD or lockers on a stock samurai axle? guess that question depends on to what extent you're going to use the samurai....so up to what extent are they good to?

 3 question's.....

 What type of wheeling?

 Go fast/use the skinny pedal alot...

 What size tire's?


 I have a buddy that's built a set,front chromo's,detroit's,5:38's,6.5's running true 35"s and he is pretty easy on it.So far so good but I wouldn't trust the drivetrain in the rock's but I like to use the go pedal.

 I built mine with a full yota swap...22RE,rear toy spring's at all 4,mini axle's,4:56's 35"s etc....hold's up great.Next mod's is a dual case and 5:29's.

I ran 34's on my LWB for a couple years with the rear locked and the front open. I did mostly mud, however that thing was constantly on 3 wheels and hitting 6-8000 RPM going through some nasty leaning holes and never broke a thing. If you drive properly and know how to control your skinny pedal, you should be able to make them live a long time. Heck I am doing 38's on stock Toyotas welded front and rear and do all kinds of climbing and have yet to break anything so either I am really lucky or really controlled lol.

I only know of Sammy axles to have a great reputation for durability and "abuse resistance". but that's with anything though...enough stupidity in the mix and pow!

and if you are planning for 42's and a LS1 yea you might want more axle up there.

i also have a question about doing an axle swap..i recently just broke my axle housing..an when i say broke i mean its in two separate pieces laying on the floor of my shop

sami parts are few an far between where I'm at so i was wondering what other axle i would be able to bolt in with little to no modification??

any help with this will be greatly appreciated

Everything will require some modifications.  What type of vehicles do you have in that area?

im finding alot of yota's and trackers..an then just about every other domestic 1/4 ton truck you can think of..im looking for a cheap fix as this is just my weekend warrior and i dont want to put a bunch of money into it

Unless you can fab everything yourself a cheap axle swap is going to cost a bit, even then your looking at around 2-500 hundred in drive-line bills.  I would plan on spending at least a 1000 on top of your axle/locker costs to do a axle swap.  Yes, it can be done cheaper and probably will be, but that way you have the money ready should you forget something.

I run 33x12.5" tires on my SJ, only broken one set of axles.  With Chromoly front axles you should be fine, as LostZuk pointed out it is all in how you run them.

If you want a cheap setup, throw in some lockrights and 31" tires and call it good.  You can hit 95% of the trails out there without a problem.