Washington, the state... not that other place

[Warrpath4x4]

I picked this Samurai up 3+/- years ago, I would like to say its done by now (or anywhere near done) but I have really only worked on it for about a year.

Here is the start of it as posted on another forum.

Because of course I needed something else to work on lol, but one of my co-workers is transferring to another state and had to many vehicles. I picked this up for cheap, and it runs and drives. He bought it back in the late 90's when he was in high school, since then he sold it, bought it back, and his kids have been using it moving irrigation water. Its been rolled at least 4 different times (which is why the windshield frame is in the back seat). I don't even know what I am gonna do with it yet but couldn't pass up the price, I may just fix a couple things and sell it, may run it this winter while we still build the Cherokee.

[Warrpath4x4]

Pulled the broken windshield out last week *there was quite a few rust spots that i repaired only to find oout the frame was tweaked and wouldn't accept glass. it is bolted to the samurai in some further pictures but i got a different frame and just have not put it on yet.*

pulled the front bumper (which only had 2 bolts)



and for those who were wondering how much it weighed....



Just spent a bunch of money on this thing, lockers, soft tops (bikini, jammer, duster), 6.5 sumo transfer case gears, updated output shaft, alternator upgrade, extended brake lines, certified machine Toyota 3K carb (when they get some in stock).

[Warrpath4x4]

Saturday we did a bunch of running around and went to Milton Freewater to the drive inn theater, but I picked up a piece of pipe to sleeve the front crossmember in the frame.

Sunday we slept in since we didn't get home till 3AM from the drive inn, got fair entries turned in, moved some firewood. Installing the sleeve was the only thing I got done on any vehicle. The pipe is 1.25 which has an OD of 1.66 and the tube in the frame is 1.75 ID, the frame tube was dented from previous abuse so it made the tube fit nice and snug after driving it in with a 15 pound sledge lol. Only issue was when I got the tube I verified they got me the right size, I did not verify they cut it to the correct length so it doesn't go all the way across like I wanted, its about an inch short on each side but it will work. I sleeved the tube so I can incorporate it into my winch mount since I don't really trust the stock bumper holes in the frame.



So obviously the steering needs to be addressed, they welded the ends directly to the draglink which looks homebrew and moves around a lot.

[Warrpath4x4]

This weekend (and this week) I am working on the roof of our house so not much time for anything else. We did manage to pull the rear seat and seatbelt. Also pulled the plastic side trim in plans of making rocker protection/sliders, as part of that I was going to unbolt these.





Of course though they are welded to the frame, and not very well but enough to make it a hassle to remove. Also found the transmission crossmember has seen better days.

[Warrpath4x4]

Well the whole family came down with Covid so nothing happened for most of the last 2 weeks, were all doing better now and luckily none of us were too bad.

Back to building, first my son and i spent a day cleaning the "shop" and moving all the Cherokee parts out (stored in the Cherokee), moved the cherry picker, engine stands, and chain saws to another shed. There is just enough room to get the Sammi in and work around it.







as you can see, there's not much room, this building used to be an old carriage house, there's a concrete floor and not much else of anything lol.

[Warrpath4x4]

removing the stock carb (with the choke wired) and installing a Toyota 3K from Certified Machine





and since I have the extra space right now we are installing a Chevy alternator. I used the LROR kit, not too impressed with them, the kit includes the lower and upper brackets, belt, alternator, and pigtail. the belt doesn't fit, its too short and there's only about .25-.50" of adjustment before the alt fan hits the water pump pulley. so its not done yet. *dont remember the fix but i got the mounting issue fixed*



But I did get the new carb installed.



while tracing wires I found these behind the battery, so I will fix them before they create bigger issues

[Warrpath4x4]

Got my auxiliary battery tray roughed out last night





battery tray is just about done, I need to drill 2 more mounting holes into the fender, and drill the hole(s) for the hold down. I am planning on using one J-hook and a rivnut in the top flange of the fender for securing the hold down, then shoot it with some paint.





countersunk the bolts







its nothing really special but I threw a beadroll in the hold down, really stiffens it up

[Warrpath4x4]

I was playing with my new spot weld cutter and removed the (not sure what you call it) piece that holds the plastic trim on the side. Not as bad as I was expecting, sometimes there are rust holes behind here.





I kind of bounced around on projects after getting the batteries done, I removed the jack holder from under the hood (again playing with my spot weld cutter) and will be installing the winch controller in that space. I made a bracket to hold the controller and I started working on the winch mount, but no pics of those yet.



the other night I bent up some scrap sheet metal and made a mount for the winch control box inside the engine bay where the stock jack holder was, took a couple nights of shooting it with bedliner and letting it dry. I mounted it last night but obviously the box isn't mounted yet, just sitting there to check out any clearance issues.









Started prepping the frame for the winch mount, I am making bolt on but trying to make it better than the 4 original bolts lol.

sleeved the 4 bolt holes with 1/8" thick tubing



capped the ends *this was a mistake for later*



got the winch plate cut out, bent, and recessed for the crossmember.

its just squeezed between the rails right now, of course my goofball had to be in one of the pictures lol

[Warrpath4x4]

I didn't get much time last night to work on it, had to get hay tarped before this storm that rolled in last night.

I did get the mounting holes drilled for the winch plate and got the grill cut to recess the winch in, I need to come up with something different for the front turn signals.

the winch is not bolted down, once I get the fairlead mounted I will probably slide the winch forward about half an inch giving it more room in front of the radiator, but I like how high and tucked in it sits.



13,000 pounds might be a little overkill for a Samurai lol but I already had it, it was this 13,000 pounder or another 13,000 pounder, an old Belleview winch, or a 2,000 ATV winch.



its not finished but its closer, I still need to drill the mounting holes for the winch, build the fairlead mount, cap off the ends of the tube, and paint.





I pulled the sammi out of the shed to get some better light and better pictures.

[Warrpath4x4]

Sunday morning the kid and I got up early and drove 2.5 hours to go pick up some doors and a windshield frame for the sammi, unfortunately the guy sold the windshield frame before I got there.

Not bad for $60 for both doors, way better shape than my current ones



visited with the locals while we were there also



finished up the front turn signals tonight, just went simple.



3/4" LED lights





Even works with my jacked up fender lol



Changed out the turn signal flasher with a Grote 44892, no more fast flasher. I wish I could remember where I seen this so I could give them credit. I seen people talking about wiring in resistors, but this was just simply changing the flasher relay.

[Warrpath4x4]

I had this week off, started by cleaning the shop up, then my son and I tore the transfer case out, I broke one of my 3 jaw pullers trying to get this flange off



We got it all apart, I came to the conclusion? question? thought? that I don't know how these you tubers always seem to have clean work spaces lol, they must be doing a lot of cleaning in between.



new KOYO bearings installed, 6.4 gear set installed, case is clearance for the gears, but when I measured my clearance from the shafts to the case I needed some shims so I have to wait for those to come in.



waiting on the shims, we tore the front end down, new side gears, and spartan locker. it seems nothing can go easy on this, the shims supplied with the locker were way to thick, I ended up using some thick fender washers that I milled the diameter down to fit inside the locker.*this always bugged me and i fixed this before ever driving it* I don't know if its because of the brand new gears or what. everything fits snug now though. We got the third put back in but then I got a cold and it sucks, so I have not worked on it in 2 days.

[Warrpath4x4]

not your typical store bought nerf bar



this thing is 1/8" thick and welded to the frame, but it hangs down too low for me.

this was the last thing I did for a while on 06-DEC-2021

[Warrpath4x4]

picked up again 21-NOV-2023

I guess we can say i took a vacation? hiatus? pause? laziness? from working on this thing and pretty much all things mechanical. I was also mad at myself for half assing the locker setup when i knew i shouldn't and couldn't bring myself to move on till i fixed it. I was off CK5 for a while but now i am back baby!!

My son ended up joining Boy Scouts and i ended up becoming the Assistant Scoutmaster and that takes quite a bit of time, but a few months ago i started working on this a few minutes here and there, nothing really picture worthy until i got back to work on the axle.

The OEM spider gears in the front need to be removed and you have to use rear spider gears for the longfield axle shafts. I didnt have old spider gears so i bought a set of new ones well the shim that your supposed to remove from the old gear was built into the new ones and made it so my locker wouldnt fit right. I ended up finding a used set of spider gears for free, tore the carrier back apart and fixed my issue. I had been ordering more parts in anticipation so i had a new set of 5.38 gears to install now also.

i love this tool for removing carrier bearings (my kid being a goof ball and almost getting anti seize in his hair lol)



The best way to hold the carrier while torqueing ring gear bolts



Then came the new problem, the housing was smashed when i got the samurai and the size difference of the new ring gear, the third member wouldnt fit back in



I knew this was probably gonna happen and it did



a week or two went by and i found a set of samurai axles for sale for $500 with 5.38 gears, lockers, crossover steering, and armor. The kid and i loaded up and drove 4 hours to go pick them up. some co-pilot



Axles came with spacers on them (not sure i will use or not), extra new Aisin hubs and old and new driveline spacers still in the packaging. I have a different steering setup and didnt want to run heims, so i pulled it off and sold it for $100





while the armor on the front axle looks fine, the rear is kinda janky



you cant really tell from the picture but the "weld" is almost a copper color almost like it is braised on.

[Warrpath4x4]

got the "new" front axle in the shop and torn down, verifying the third member looks good, the hub bearings needed replaced as they were dragging when spinning them and looks like the short side axle seal was seeping. I have an axle rebuild kit but i need new axle tube seals since i already installed them in the broken housing, I will pick those up tomorrow in town. I had to heat the silicone and ripped the rubber off my dead blow trying to separate the third from the housing, i was about to just bolt it into the Samurai so i could use the jack trick lol.



Not sure how I did not see this when I pulled the third member out except I obviously didn't look in the housing



That washer was in there and a ton of metal. The gears look fine and it has a ratcheting locker that seems to be working fine. The previous owner said it had a spartan but I was doing some checking and my longfield axles will not go into the locker gears, so whatever locker it is only accepts stock shafts and i wont be able to use it.

cleaning the grease out to put new axle seals in and this side definitely had a birfield blow up



spent about 30 minutes in the shop tonight, drove the old trunnion races out and the new ones in and got the third glued in place.



put a few hours in here and there the last 2 weeks,

got the front axle put back together (minus some cone washers and bolts for the hubs I'm waiting for )



Also got the frame rail cleaned up, removed the shock mount, bump stop, and brake line tab. Got all the undercoating off and sprayed some weld through primer but its too cold in the shop to wait for paint to dry lol.



the frame is cleaned in preparation for stiffener plates, then i will bend up some shock hoops



It took a little bit to get back into welding since its been (I think) over 2 years since ive done any but I got the frame stiffener on this side done.

[Warrpath4x4]

Little more work tonight

rocker delete started



yes there was a glove in there and it was rock hard



thats a lot of dirt and hay in there



I know i am going to trim the fenders but i dont know how drastically yet, rolled the new tire up to get a better idea





I still need to clean up my cuts, trim the rest of the rocker box hanging below the tubing, drill holes in the rocker box to plug weld the back of the tube.



trying to decide if i want to add a piece of 1" tube to the back to push the box tube out further, bend a tube kickoff, or just leave it