Too poor to afford a Tacoma so I bought a Samurai

For as long I can remember I’ve always wanted a Tacoma but they were just out of my price range. A few years ago I bought a first gen tundra I have wheeled that for a number of years. Eventually I got to a point where I was wanting to tackle more and more difficult trails and I was pushing the limits of my tundra. Rather than destroying my truck i instead decided to get a proper trail rig. Ideally I was wanting to get a sas pickup but all of them were just out of my budget. So I decided on the next best thing a 1988 Suzuki Samurai!
The day we brought it home

 

no engine?

 

clutch was shot

 

Oh man, my brother had one of these. That takes me back

 

Couple things the samurai needed right away when I first got it. Number one it was in desperate need of a clutch it also so had a terrible exhaust leak. After that it was mostly cosmetic stuff that I was doing here and there.

 

Those are a GREAT little trail rig! Amazingly short wheelbase!

 

Sweet! Good luck!

 

after needed repairs and cosmetic touch ups

 

Noice!
Have fun!

 

After I got the samurai up and running it desperately needed tires, the tires were so dry rot they couldnt hold air for more than a day or so.

 

The samurai is still on stock axles and and most guys I've seen recommend a 33 being the largest tire to run reliably. So I went with Cooper Evolution MT 33x12.5 r15. So far these tires work great.

 

The samurai had a few goodies that the previous owner did not know about. It has 6.5.1 t case gears which is a huge score and it also has a Detroit locker.

 

Another thing that I forgot to mention about the samurai was that it needed the entire front axle rear built when I got it and while i was in there we decided to go ahead and weld the front diff. Doing this made adding power steering a must so I installed electric power steering from an 08 prius.

 

I traded my samurai for a Tacoma. biggest regret of my life lol.
the samurai is so fun to drive and just an all around beast of a machine.
I mean the Tacoma is nice for long drives but samurai is a way more fun car to own.

 

I'm starting to see that now I am really enjoying my samurai and I'm excited to keep building this thing

 

Low range off road has lots of cool samurai goodies.

 

First trip out in the samurai we went to LBL for a weekend. We only rode a few trails but it was nice being able to ride the samurai for the first time

 

I drove a Samurai over Imogene Pass in SW Colorado from Telluride to Ouray. It had stock tires, too. The reason it worked was the T-case mod you have- that’s a huge score. These little things are fun, but I would not want to consistently have to drive it over 60 mph.

 

yeah fastest ive gone in mine is 57 lol

 

Those things float on mud and can climb like mountain goats over rocks.