Some Ford Guys Opinions of Zuke
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I find that most people who disrespect sammys are people who never wheeled with them, and most of the time they drive large V8 powered,40" tires, and have mud flaps of a 18 wheeler kinda trucks. Either that or they got spanked on the trail by a sammy and don't want their friends to know....
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Nice!
As we all know, the samurai has got to be the most under rated vehicle on the trail. Even stock they can do some amazing things, and once they are SPOA, locked, geared, and have bigger tires, they are unstoppable.
One of my favorite zuk stories :
We camped on the beach in NC a few years ago. When we checked in, the ranger warned us about driving on the beach. She said that because of wind or weather, the sand was harder to drive in then normal, and a lot of people were getting stuck.
We drove a stock Zuk up and down the beach, "floating" effortlessly on top of the sand. We passed Jeeps, broncos, and many other vehicles hopelessly buried up to the pumkins. We got a lot of strange looks that day.
As we all know, the samurai has got to be the most under rated vehicle on the trail. Even stock they can do some amazing things, and once they are SPOA, locked, geared, and have bigger tires, they are unstoppable.
One of my favorite zuk stories :
We camped on the beach in NC a few years ago. When we checked in, the ranger warned us about driving on the beach. She said that because of wind or weather, the sand was harder to drive in then normal, and a lot of people were getting stuck.
We drove a stock Zuk up and down the beach, "floating" effortlessly on top of the sand. We passed Jeeps, broncos, and many other vehicles hopelessly buried up to the pumkins. We got a lot of strange looks that day.
I haven't been respected yet by the guys I wheel with. Most have BIG fords (Bronco's and Pickups with no smaller than 38's and a few jeeps running serious axles and HP) I think they like what I have done with it but don't take it seriously because I don't run the mud bogs like these guys do and they won't wheel where I go because they don't fit. I have been getting joked on for it. We'll see though come spring
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We went 4x4ing with a jeep club on an organized trail run a couple of weekends ago. (Broke a t-case mount, knocked a nerf bar loose and knocked one side of the bumper loose -- good trip, but that's beside the point)
We had a couple guys come up and ask us exactly what we had done to it because after seeing us wheel, one of 'em wanted to get one and duplicate what we had. I know some of the club guys were taking pics of us as we were wheeling the obstacles but, when the pics were posted on their website -- no zuk. Every once in a while you could see us, but only if we were waiting behind a jeep or a hummer while they were doing an obstacle.
I think that's discrimination. I want to make a complaint. Where's the diversity board?
WB
We had a couple guys come up and ask us exactly what we had done to it because after seeing us wheel, one of 'em wanted to get one and duplicate what we had. I know some of the club guys were taking pics of us as we were wheeling the obstacles but, when the pics were posted on their website -- no zuk. Every once in a while you could see us, but only if we were waiting behind a jeep or a hummer while they were doing an obstacle.
I think that's discrimination. I want to make a complaint. Where's the diversity board?
WB
a local 4x4 club held a toys for tots run and over 180 4x4s showed up. to my amazement zuks were second to only fullsizes in turnout numbers. the zuks out numbered jeep cjs and wranglers. there were also tons of built up cherokees.
on the last day of the event, our group (all samurais) were one of the only ones still wheeling in the woods...then we came accross a broke down chevy on 44s stuck in the middle of the creek. there was no one else around that could get to the stranded bohemeth so i drove my bomber zuk on tiny 31s down into the creek and hooked up the clevis and pulled the beast out of the creek and onto dry land. i just wrapped out the weak 1.3 and dropped the clutch and kept it to the boards all the way through the water. everyone that was still left was completely amazed and the zuk earned some respect from the chevy boys. i have two pics of the zuk partially underwater pulling the huge chevy out, but they would need to be scanned onto the computer as i do not have a digital camera.
on the last day of the event, our group (all samurais) were one of the only ones still wheeling in the woods...then we came accross a broke down chevy on 44s stuck in the middle of the creek. there was no one else around that could get to the stranded bohemeth so i drove my bomber zuk on tiny 31s down into the creek and hooked up the clevis and pulled the beast out of the creek and onto dry land. i just wrapped out the weak 1.3 and dropped the clutch and kept it to the boards all the way through the water. everyone that was still left was completely amazed and the zuk earned some respect from the chevy boys. i have two pics of the zuk partially underwater pulling the huge chevy out, but they would need to be scanned onto the computer as i do not have a digital camera.
My very first trail ride years ago was when I had a 2" calmini S/R, 31" tires, rear locker, and everything else was bone stock. I met some nice people but a few of the "hardcore" would look at me and yell at me to get off the trail. I was pissed, I didn't have the gear needed to do anything about it. All that year I worked on the old girl thinking about slappin' down the Jeepers that yelled at me....the next year I had a 4.1 t-case, armour, SPOA, front bumper, new cv driveshafts, and new top added to the zuk and I walked up the Fordyce Trail with ease passing broken Jeeps and Broncos. At that time ('97) not many sammys were fixed up let alone wheelin' +4 trails and not one person gave me sh*t. The problem was I didn't get spotted very well on a couple winch hills cuz these guys never had a sammy come up it. One hill a guy said " A Samurai??....well, just drive up it and the next time a Samurai comes up I'll know what to do....or not to do" I cleaned it
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and drove by a broken Scout with people cheering me on. After that I was hooked.
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