haha yeah serious $runners are way better then sammis and this is yotatech by the way not samuri tech!!!!

 

We did Toyota running gear under a tin top and it was pretty sweet. Sucked to drive around town but on trail was pretty sweet. In the snow and ice it was a bit lite and couldnt bite on anything but in dry rocks it was crazy.


I like toyotas over zuks tho

 

You can't beat the fact of having more girls and beer than everyone else...period

 

Personaly I think your drivetrain Toyota Axles,Engine,T-case... everything, would be AWESOME in a LWB Sami IF you can find one. i don't care as much for the "home-hack" LWB conversions (and I really don't care for the JK-esque 4dr. above although it looks like good work) but a TRUE LWB Sami with that Drivetrain and some awesome body mods would be AMAZING.

I'm thinking section the body down the middle and add however many inches of "width" down the middle to co ver the tires withough having to use (IMO) ugly bushwacker flares or just big flares in general. PLus you'd gain someinterior space/width for added comfort. Huge project??? Yes. Completely AWESOME IF you built it??? OH YEAH!!!!!!!!

There's a guy who built an Expo Cruiser that was a F/HJ45 body on top of an HZJ80 Chasis. THey did a mix of what I'm talking about and it is AMAZING. I just think that sectioning the middle to make it have all the stock exterior body lines (aside from being wider) would look SO amazing.

OR...Why not use the frame and just drop a Sami body (again sectioned in the middle) with an X-cab and an Aussie UTE tray on the back to make kinf of a "minicruiser" X-Cab Pick-up... That would be sweet, maybe even make it Access cab esque or a quad-cab.

...Oh man I need to stop dreaming up these amazing rigs I'll never build...

The main thing is you've got a great chasis/frame/drivetrain to start from so really you just need to re-skin it. THe easy road is obviously the new/replacement Toyota body, but as I've pointed out above there are some neat alternatives IMO Tough choice cause it looks like you;ve got your 4Runner's sus. DIALED. You're getting great front flex out of those leafs. Does it sit level??? and how tall is she overall???

Cheers

Dave

 

It would work well. I had a Sami on 35's it was cool like driving a quad around but light. I didn't have any Toy parts on it though.......some of those conversions work awesome.

 

I knew and wheeled with the owner of this Zook. That pic was after the RRO coil kit was added. He finished it off and painted it "Popsicle" orange. Wheeled it little while longer than added Yota axles to it and a set of 35" Krawlers. I have personally seen this rig continually embarrass much larger and more expensive rigs on every trip out.

Sadly the owner, Msgt Arthur Lilly Died in combat in Afganistan a little over two years ago.

Here is a link to the build. http://bbs.zuwharrie.com/content/topic,32980.0.html


Also the other Zook/K5 is a member on the same BBS. It was gonna be a stretched Zook but he was being moved by the Air Force and had to change plans... So it went on to a K5 frame.


If you want to build a Zook with Yota running gear... I say Toss Yota running gear under it with a 1.6 16 valve Tracker engine and some 6.5 TC gears and call it done. Leave the Runner as is and wheel it.

 

this is what im doing NOW
i have a LWB sammy and its getting yota axles n stuff as we speak.. its older so i dont need a ettest and they are amazing offroad and WAY EASYIER to tow around and SO SIMPLE TO WORK ON!!
fully boxed frame and PARTS ARE CHEAPER FOR OFFROAD STUFF LIKE ARMOR and tcase gears

 

What did you decide to do?

I have a yota and a zuk. I like them both and I'm lucky I guess because I didn't have to choose one over the other.

 

Im working on redoing the rear suspension now. Getting rid of the 63 chevies and going to 5" lift toyotas inboarded a few inches, new housing (mine is bent) traction bar and new shocks and mounts. Still debating on how I want to do the shackles. I want to keep everything up out of the way and have a better departure angle.

I cut the top off the rear behind the doors and i'm going to dovetail the back.

Next will be an exo, Im working on building a gottrikes bender as we speak.

Ive realized I will end up outgrowing the toy axles. I want to go to 42s or bigger in the near future so Im gonna wheel what I got til I get some bigger axles.

So no samurai body swap for me. I think it would be neat, just not as feasable as I was hoping.

 

Should just link it then - same amount of fab pretty much as relocating the hangers and everything, and you never have to worry about axle wrap/wheel hop ever again.

 

Oh man you just had to say that. Now you got me thinking.....

That would give me the best departure angle.

 

Here's how I did it

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...thread-153382/

 

ive owned 10 or so samurais i like them becuase they are different not alot of people have them where i live. locked front and rear and t case gears and 35 inch boggers the thing does everything i tired it with. i do black and red trails at ruasch creek all day long not having a single problem just crawling over rocks. ive never owned a yota but i deffenitly want to get one sometime. im a yota fan and a samurai fan but i hate jeeps with a passion as everyone has them.i would jus keep what you have and build a samurai later its nice to have more then one car. heres a pic of popsicle