Suzuki TDI Swapped Samurai Truck Conversion

[The_Lobbster]

Between the larger tube and the small shaft, I have a harbor freight 3/4" impact socket I'm using as a reducer. After cutting the weld off, I slipped in some 1/8" strips of steel between the flat walls of the socket, and the flat side of the double D. Ground the weld completely off on the small shaft, chucked it all up in the lathe, used a taper point and a steady rest to keep it all inline. After welding it all up, I drilled it, and tapped it for a 3/8" bolt, I'll use a grade 8 here, mostly for a backup, in case my welds do for some reason fail. This was my first attempt at using a lathe to do something like this, but I think it came out surprisingly well, all things considered.

And finally the video. It's not perfect, but it's a million times better than what it was.

 

[J-mobzz]

Looks good. Nice work.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Finished up and bolted in. I think I need to remake my lower shaft section now, because it is a little bit off, but overall it works pretty dang good! Not super strong, but way better than nothing!

 

[The_Lobbster]

Picked up a set of almost brand new 255/75r17's for $350. Going to run them on Dodge Ram 1500 17x8 wheels. I'm going to run 1.5" spacers, but I still need to open the bore to clear the hub. Has anybody had success using a hole saw to open the bore? The lug holes are tapered so I can run them lug centric vs hub centric, but I'm curious if a hole saw can get it precise enough, that it can still be balanced properly on a machine or not. Or should I just run beads?

 

[The_Lobbster]

Also I'm dropping this rig back to spring under, currently only have the rear done in this picture, front is still SPOA. My wife doesn't want me to spend the money to go yota axles, and I don't wheel very often, or hard, so I figure I may as well make this rig as comfortable and daily driver friendly as possible. Unfortunately my hybrid front leaf packs are sagging bad under the weight of the engine, bumper, and winch, so I picked up some well used YJ packs from Pile-o-parts, to bastardize my packs, and add another leaf to help support the weight. If it's not enough, I will lose the front bumper in favor of something lighter and simpler.

 

[bryson]

I'd imagine you'll have balancer issues if you use a hole saw to open up the bore. About the only way I can see that working properly is on a lathe - and if you've got them on a lathe you might as well just turn them out the right way.

But, running a mud terrain tire on a steel wheel you might not notice the balance issue anyways.

 

[The_Lobbster]

I'd imagine you'll have balancer issues if you use a hole saw to open up the bore. About the only way I can see that working properly is on a lathe - and if you've got them on a lathe you might as well just turn them out the right way.

But, running a mud terrain tire on a steel wheel you might not notice the balance issue anyways.

That's kinda what I'm thinking, unfortunately I don't have access to a lathe that large. I might just buy some bb's to throw in instead. My current 33's are 19 years old, unbalanced, and cut, so I'd imagine anything will be better than what I have haha.

 

[2002maniac]

You do have access to a small lathe, right? Chuck up your wheel spacers and turn down the hub interface to match the wheels.

 

[The_Lobbster]

You do have access to a small lathe, right? Chuck up your wheel spacers and turn down the hub interface to match the wheels.

Aha, now that, is an idea! But I worry I’d weaken the body too much, I would need to remove about 1/4” at least.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Another option would be drive flanges, I wouldn’t need to cut anything at all, but I would prefer the selectable hubs.

 

[The_Lobbster]

I needed to remove 1/2” overall to clear. If I cut the hub face and body down 1/4”, I would be cutting into the threads for the face bolts. Instead I whipped up this little jig and took a shot at drilling it by hand. Took about 15 minutes and almost a whole bottle of Zoom spout oil! But it clears the hub well now! I will just use some balance beads instead of having them actually balanced, or perhaps road force balanced. Only 3 more to go haha!!

 

[The_Lobbster]

Finished all four wheels earlier. Still need cleaned up a bit and painted now.

Front is SPUA once again. Added in a leaf to help my front pack out, missing link shackle angle is much better now. Have to weld studs onto my spring plates now for shock mounts.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Discount tire wanted freaking $21.99 to mount, no balance. Said forget that, grabbed the one tire spoon I had and mounted all 4 in under 15 minutes. Will order beads small enough to fit through the valve stems. Just waiting on amazon to deliver my wheel spacers now!

 

[The_Lobbster]

Spacers arrived late last night, so threw them on this morning. I will have to grind a tad bit on my wheels to clear the hubs, they are close but I drilled them just a hair off center. Love the look though, and am super excited to get this thing driving again!

 

[The_Lobbster]

Decided to do a little re-engineering of my electric power steering setup. Added in another U-joint on output side to help with alignment issues, and I may add another yet on the upper shaft too. Realized my steering box was bone dry too from when I moved a couple years ago and it sat upside down in a box. Also adjusted the tension of the box, and loosened it about 1/4 turn. Seems to steer pretty decent now. Time will tell how reliable this EPS is I suppose.

 

[The_Lobbster]

EPS bracket is welded on, EOS is working pretty decent so far.

 

[The_Lobbster]

Then I found this lovely bit going on. The steering arm is bending under the steering torque. Makes sense, it was never intended to handle the pressure it is, it's actually just part of a suspension linkage that happens to work on a samurai with a tiny bit of modification.

 

[The_Lobbster]

The Mercedes arm is bending under steering torque. Picked up a billet arm. Things heavy and beefy! Pix compared to what I currently have installed.

 

[I Lean]

That flexy arm is a bit scary.

 

[The_Lobbster]

That flexy arm is a bit scary.

No doubt! That's why I decided I needed to ditch it ASAP. It worked okay temporarily, but I wouldn't wanna be stuck on a trail, or on a road when it snapped.