relative to what?

-Farther

 

dude, that depends on the driver. a pinto that has been lowered 4 inches can be flipped. well, errr, not that i know from first hand experience, but anyways, anything can be done. tooo many idiots out in the world. if you dont stay in the limits of a vehicle, you WILL end up fubar. rekon im just lucky to date huh???/wwwthreads_images/icons/wink.gif
BiLLy bOb

Do unto others as you want done to you!
If you pack it in, pack it out!

 

Relative to a the average Samurai set up. This is a Suzuki forum ya know. /wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

Ofcourse the driver is a difference, but there is a technical starting point I am trying to address.

A 54" long axle with a 32" tall by 13" wide tire. That gives a sidewall to sidewall length of roughly 58" actually touching the ground. That puts the axles roughly 12" off the ground? As I understand, the 2.8 sits low in the engine bay. The specific engine center of gravity is about 16" above the axles?

I am gaining more width than heighth, and adding a great more wieght under the frame than I am above the frame withthe Danas and tires.

Neal the Zukiguy

88.5 Weber carb, header, 4.16 t-case, 31x10.5 M/T's, 2" s/r, 2 1/2" bod lift, front tube, Swift seats, on-board air

 

i know man, was pullin your leg. honestly, dont know how it would fair out though. you makin it taller, but wider too. plus a bigger motor, just cant say personally how it would fair as compared to say a stocker. build it n see. also talk to others who have similar set ups. i just cant say honestly. im stock axled in my P.O.S....../wwwthreads_images/icons/frown.gif
BiLLy bOb

Do unto others as you want done to you!
If you pack it in, pack it out!

 

Hey ZukiGuy,
I know a guy in alabama who has a very, very simular set up. It was great on the trail. It had tons of flex due to the missing links and the much larger axel. Although I felt like the Boggers were a bit unstable for it on the wet trails of NC. I would also be tempted to say that if you went as far as you are wanting to go , it might be better to get a different vehicel. Like a Jeep, or Bronco. They come factory equiped with most of what you want to do.

.02

Jason

I Work to Wheel, because I wheel, I work.
http://www.geocities.com/zuk_tonka/zuk.html

 

Yes and no. Yes, it will be a bit harder to flip on the road but like BB said, it all depends on the driver. The wide dana 44's will be heavy, its kinda like my set-up that I'm building now! Little bit wider and heaver Toyota axles, 4.3L engine, auto trans, 16x35" Boggers on 10" steel rims. All my weight is on the ground. But, when your turning hard on the road, your (vehicle) body leans a bit, witch will cause lots of weight to shift to one side. This happens to any car, truck or van. I see what your trying to say, but you can flip any vehicle!

-Brian

THE ULTIMATE ZUK
http://www.geocities.com/brianconrad1/

 

Well, I'm keeping my 90% stock Zuki body. When I finish this, I will buy the Bronco or Scout I want to build up and go hog wild with that.

As for hard turning on road, I'm pretty conscious of that as it is with my limited existing setup. In that respect, I'm wondering how well the Rancho 9000's come in to play. Is there a better adjustable shock? I'm doing all this, but still plan on driving this rig on road quite a bit.

Neal the Zukiguy

88.5 Weber carb, header, 4.16 t-case, 31x10.5 M/T's, 2" s/r, 2 1/2" bod lift, front tube, Swift seats, on-board air

 

snip
******I'm wondering how well the Rancho 9000's come in to play. *****
===========================
dude, rancho 9000s are the way to go on a double duty driver. you can see pics of my rig in other posts. i run mine on road at outragous speeds accordin to some folks, crank 9000s up on 5 (stiff) and put the hammer down. steady as a 2x8 on concrete.
BiLLy bOb

Do unto others as you want done to you!
If you pack it in, pack it out!

 

Are those the very same Ranchos that helped put you nose down, ass straight up in the air in that one pic from ZukiMelt? /wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

Excellent, you told me what I wanted to hear. Now I just have to do the math (i hate math) and figure out the correct gearing ratio so I can run 33's with the GRSII and the 2.8 v6/c4 tranny combo to make it a good crawler/bogger/street driver. /wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

Neal the Zukiguy

88.5 Weber carb, header, 4.16 t-case, 31x10.5 M/T's, 2" s/r, 2 1/2" bod lift, front tube, Swift seats, on-board air

 

I run a set of heavy custom D44s and 35" tires on my big Zuk. I'd venture to guess that my COG is lower than stock Zuks. With the weight of the tires and axles alone, my COG is likely hovering just above axle level. It feels stable as all hell.

http://www.rocky-road.com

 

just run wagoneer dana44's. they are 61" wide front and 59" rear. alittle bit wider for more stability and you can get them alot cheaper than a custon set. another thing to help stability is to lengthen the wheelbase. did anyone get a picture of langston's samurai at barnwell last weekend??? anyway his frame and body were lengthened 10" and when he swapped in his wagoneer dana44's and wrangler springs it lengthend the wheelbase another 7" so he has a 97" wheelbase. psf4x4 runs about the same setup only we didn't lengthen the body. we lenthened the rear of the frame and moved the rear axle back to achieve the 97" wheelbase. both samurais are alot more stable and they just plain work.

brian wilson
80 cj5 "high 5"
stretched to 100" wb
vortec350/4L80E/d300/d60fr/14br/detroits/4.56/38's

 

Glenn, do you have the 1.3 or a heavier engine? I know the 44's alone will outwiegh the 1.3 easily /wwwthreads_images/icons/smile.gif

Anyone know the wieght on the Ford 2.8? I cannot find this anywhere.

As for stretching the wheel base, I'm doing a coil over and will be pulling the rear axle back 6 inches, the front up 2 or 3 inches depending on what steering setup I go with. (ie what gear box and where to mount the power steering etc.)

I'm going to stretch the body as well to mimic the LWB Sam look, as well as put a winch platform up front by cutting 10 inches from the front of an old Samurai frame and mounting it to the front of my Zuki.

Why am I doing all this work? Why not buy a TJ? Because I wouldn't be bulding the TJ with my own hands. Some else did that on an assembly line. To me, trailing is a challenge to my own engineering, driving, and geometry skills. Not a challenge to my financial status. Anyone with money can go buy a TJ. Where's the fun in that?

Thanks for the info guys, you've verified my thinking. My shopping list is just about complete. I've made some calls, priced all the parts, and check this out:

used Dana 44 front and rear: $350
used Ford 2.8 V6 long block: $250
used C4 auto tranny: $150
coil over suspension parts and fab: $650
Lock-rite locker: $260
33x12.50 SS/TSL x5: $550
15x10 wheels x 5: $145
header: $130
misc flat steel & angle iron, nuts & bolts, band-aids: $100

Just over $3k so far for a monster that will last. I paid more than that for my stock Zuki 7 years ago!

Neal the Zukiguy

88.5 Weber carb, header, 4.16 t-case, 31x10.5 M/T's, 2" s/r, 2 1/2" bod lift, front tube, Swift seats, on-board air

 

On that vehicle I ran a modified 1.6 for quite awhile. Its getting a VW 1.9 TD dropped into it now. With the proper gearing though, a 1.3 would turn D44s with 35" tires just fine.

http:// [URL]www.rocky-road.com [/url]

 

No, no 1.3 for this one. I have certain goals I want to achieve with this vehicle. Such as 75 mph at 2600 rpms, 800 rpms crawling over a few specific rocks near my house, etc.. The next Zook I buy I will retain the 1.3, but this one has 5 years of accumulated goals I want to meet. I'm not just building this one up for the heck of it.

Neal the Zukiguy

88.5 Weber carb, header, 4.16 t-case, 31x10.5 M/T's, 2" s/r, 2 1/2" bod lift, front tube, Swift seats, on-board air

 

just put a suicide bar on the steering wheel get up to about 50 and start cranking on the wheel. give someone else your login password and have them tell us how it went. i feel alot more comfortable on the trail with the d44's and 97" wheelbase. i can't run on the road thanks to high5.....damn square drive shafts. chris

chris "psf"
87 sami, dana 44's fr and rr. yj springs. 5.38 gears, spool rr and lockrite frt. grs 1, 36x12.50tsl/sx

 

what chris, you scared of alittle vibration? you don't have that thing registered any way

brian wilson
80 cj5 "high 5"
stretched to 100" wb
vortec350/4L80E/d300/d60fr/14br/detroits/4.56/38's