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samurai lift kit

12K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  lorner 
#1 · (Edited)
hi guys. pretty new here. needing an answer: I want to lift my 88 zuki so it will clear 33's. is the YJ kit the way to go? spoa? reverse shackles or missing link? been looking at lots of options, and there is a pretty huge price difference between certain kits. will a kit like this be a good starting place : Classifieds for Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming | ksl.com samurai&ad_cid=1

or will I have to eventually order all these parts anyways:?http://www.trailtough.com/component...ge/product/Wrangler_YJ_Spri_48caed341c567.jpg

not trying to cheap out, but I have read a lot of people have lifted their sami's for some pretty low bucks. thx
 
#3 ·
first of all welcome. sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this board seems pretty much dead unfortunately. lots of activity over on zukikrawlers.

ahhhh, the age old question, how to lift a zuk cheaply. well, lots of different ways to do so. can it be done cheap, yes, but cheap will also have drawbacks. First of all, you going to be primarily on the road or off road? For a street truck, i personally WOULD NOT have a shackle reverse. its my preference, goes back to my days driving willys cj2's. as the suspension moves, the shackles in the front of the springs allow the spring to decompress on the inside side of the vehicle in a curve resulting in a bit shorter wheelbase overall on the inside track. for a FAST AGRESSIVE driver like me, its very nice. a SR truck doesn't steer as nicely to me. many people wont notice the difference but i'm not the average driver either.

what i discuss below is all talkin about shackle out front suspension set up, not SR set up.

now, what are your mechanical skills? just a oil changer? mild wrench turner? welding experience/capabilities? lots come into play. do you need a *bolt on kit*(usually most expensive). I enjoy building so i'd do it all my self. buying needed u-bolts and parts to extend brake lines is about all i bought last time i SPOA one.

for me to clear a set of wild country mt series 33/1250/15s, i did a basic spoa with generic spring perches, NOT LIFTED PERCHES (((((i dont care for them, puts extra stress on ubolts, ubolts giving under acceleration or braking make for UGLY body repairs and drive train damage))))))...... I also fabricated my own YJ sping mounts and used YJ springs. had to extend the front frame rails several inches to accomadate the extra length of the YJ springs. for brake lines, i bought extra rubber lines that go from chassis to rear diff. connected them to the existing rubber lines with a piece of hard line. so from the chassis, hard line, it went to a rubber line, back into a short hard connector line, back into a rubber line and on down to the diff. shocks, truly do not remember what they were from. Got measurements off my truck for compressed and uncompressed lengths and got my buddy at napa to look shocks up by the measurements. On the front, i used f350 4x4 shock mounts welded to the samurai chassis. thinking it was late 80s or early 90s model. they were $13 each but that was 12 years ago.

something else that will need address is steering. when you lift em that high, the steering needs addressed. z-link is a very common (used to be at least) inexpensive fix. I used to have em, their ok, but bump steer SUCKS. I eventually got a knuckle over conversion from OTT *over the top* industries out of canada i believe it was. might be others doing it now, i truly don't know.

another thing that WILL need addressed is drive shafts. You can run spacers, their inexpensive and get the job done. HOWEVER, if you go offroad into rougher terrain, you will risk the chance of overextending one with spacers and having it seperate. with the super flex you will get with YJ springs, lengthened drive shafts will be the way to go. Flex with yjs is crazy sweet compared to samurai springs.

now you can also do a spoa on the samurai springs if you don't want o mess around with YJs, but when i did this on another rig, I did have issues of not enough lift and tire rubbing. ended up putting on a 2in body lift on that truck.

personally have no idea what kits are on the market now days. i haven't been on a vendors website in over 7 years. got married and now have 2 girls, no time or $$$$$ to mess with samurais.
 
#6 · (Edited)
first of all welcome. sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this board seems pretty much dead unfortunately. lots of activity over on zukikrawlers.
Hi loner and BB, new here also. If you don't already have your Samurai get one already lifted[duh, eh]. The lift parts on mine say "Trail Tuff" on the spring mounts. I could post a picture of the lift if you want. I was told by the po that it had jeep springs on it[don't know this for sure:confused:]. The tires are 32X11.50 R15LT fwiw.

 
#7 ·
thx turnsleft. yep, looking at the market there are some good priced rigs out there, that are already lifted,,, but I already have a sami, so I will deal with it. you have a good looking truck there! looks like jeep springs on the front. that is about the same as I would like mine to look, with the same size tires. thx!
 
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