Back To My Roots: A Suzuki Samurai Project
- Thread starter stuntnuts
- Start date
melbakid
Well-known member
Is this going to be mostly for the street or are going to run trails and stuff? If the trails are just going to be groomed Forest Service roads I would consider the next size taller tire. If you are going to run it through some nasty stuff 235's are perfect! A street rig, next size taller. As far as rims, stay with the 7" width with the tires you are considering. I have 8's on my Tin Top and 7's on my Soft Top. I now wish I had put 7's on my Tin Top, a lot less issues with rubbing. With the 8's they stick out too far and cause all kinds of problems in the mud and snow. I have already replaced the side view mirrors on the driver side twice and on the pass side once. Rocks from the rear tires get thrown up and break the mirror glass! Not to mention I was pulled over by the Idaho State Police for no mud flaps and no flares covering the tires. Just my 2 cents.
cygnus x-1
Well-known member
$250 is a pretty good deal for that set. Unless the wheels totally looked like poop I would have taken them. They're wheels; they get dirty and banged up after awhile no matter what, so why worry about perfection? Unless you're building a show car it's not worth being anal about wheels.
235/75R15 is about the perfect size though. They were probably LT tires, which is why they were so heavy. LT tires will hold up better offroad but for a street vehicle you will get a better ride (plus better mileage and less power loss) with P rated tires. For that size go with 7" wheels. 8" is too wide unless you're into the stretched tire look.
Between the Generals and the BFGs, I would probably go for the Generals. The BFGs are great tires no doubt; but they cost a bit more, are a little heavier, and have 1/32" less tread depth. Otherwise they're almost identical.
As for painting wheels, I feel your pain. I painted mine (16x7 OEM Vitara) because I didn't like any of the off the shelf options. It was a huge pain but powder coating was too expensive at the time. I used a brush with several coats (phosphate+POR15+black topcoat) and they actually turned out pretty decent. Granted my entire Samurai was painted with a brush, so the wheels weren't going to look any worse than the body.
If I was in your exact situation, I would give serious thought to putting whatever tires you get on the factory wheels. If you want to check fitment, see if you can find a spare wheel and put a junkyard tire on it. Really you only need to check for rubbing in the front when the steering is at full lock. Many people have run that size tire though so I doubt it will be a problem.
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235/75R15 is about the perfect size though. They were probably LT tires, which is why they were so heavy. LT tires will hold up better offroad but for a street vehicle you will get a better ride (plus better mileage and less power loss) with P rated tires. For that size go with 7" wheels. 8" is too wide unless you're into the stretched tire look.
Between the Generals and the BFGs, I would probably go for the Generals. The BFGs are great tires no doubt; but they cost a bit more, are a little heavier, and have 1/32" less tread depth. Otherwise they're almost identical.
As for painting wheels, I feel your pain. I painted mine (16x7 OEM Vitara) because I didn't like any of the off the shelf options. It was a huge pain but powder coating was too expensive at the time. I used a brush with several coats (phosphate+POR15+black topcoat) and they actually turned out pretty decent. Granted my entire Samurai was painted with a brush, so the wheels weren't going to look any worse than the body.
If I was in your exact situation, I would give serious thought to putting whatever tires you get on the factory wheels. If you want to check fitment, see if you can find a spare wheel and put a junkyard tire on it. Really you only need to check for rubbing in the front when the steering is at full lock. Many people have run that size tire though so I doubt it will be a problem.
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Diesel_Zuk
Well-known member
A lot of people paint oil based paint with a brush, if done right, you can't really tell it was brushed on. Hard to tell in the picture, but they still look decent to me.
I ordered one new wheel yesterday to see if I could get the factory painted red and blue pinstripes off without destroying the rest of the finish. It should be here tomorrow. If I'm successful, the used General Grabbers with the brush-painted wheels will be a distant memory.
I also broke the 100 mile mark last night, and tried out its roof carrying abilities. For some reason it is idling slightly above 1000 RPM, so I need to look into that. I ordered new rear wheel bearings, as the sound in the rear end didn't magically disappear. The radiator fans are still coming on right on que, so I'm stoked about that.
I also broke the 100 mile mark last night, and tried out its roof carrying abilities. For some reason it is idling slightly above 1000 RPM, so I need to look into that. I ordered new rear wheel bearings, as the sound in the rear end didn't magically disappear. The radiator fans are still coming on right on que, so I'm stoked about that.
I received my "test wheel" over the weekend. The red and blue stripes are indeed on top of the white finish, no clearcoat on top of the stripes. I immediately went into the chemical cabinet and got to work. Lacquer thinner was the weapon of choice, as I didn't have a 3M Stripe Off wheel on hand, and I avoid the local parts stores at all costs in this day and age. Plus they are $40 each and someone online said that it took 3 of them to do 4 wheels.
The stripes come right off with the lacquer thinner, with a rag and medium pressure. The first pass smudges the stripes, a second pass starts removing the smudges, and a third pass gets it all off. It definitely slightly dulled the white finish, but nothing I can't live with. I put some Wolfgang Finishing Glaze on after I was finished taking the stripes off.
I need to do a test fit on the Samurai before I order 4 more, hopefully I can find some time to do that tonight. According to my measurements of both wheels, the new ones poke out 1-1/8" more than the stock wheels.
Anyways...on to the pics:
The stripes come right off with the lacquer thinner, with a rag and medium pressure. The first pass smudges the stripes, a second pass starts removing the smudges, and a third pass gets it all off. It definitely slightly dulled the white finish, but nothing I can't live with. I put some Wolfgang Finishing Glaze on after I was finished taking the stripes off.
I need to do a test fit on the Samurai before I order 4 more, hopefully I can find some time to do that tonight. According to my measurements of both wheels, the new ones poke out 1-1/8" more than the stock wheels.
Anyways...on to the pics:
Diesel_Zuk
Well-known member
I bet with a little polishing compound and a polishing wheel, you could get buff the powdercoat back smooth again for a nice finish. They look really good overall though!
I received something this week that I've been searching for since the day I picked up the Samurai, 11 months ago. I've been searching ebay for the same model Pioneer pullout cassette deck that I had in my first Samurai, in 1991. My first Samurai was a soft top, so not a whole lot of security for the valuables inside, especially the radio. I decided early on, that the cassette deck I want HAD to be a pullout. I used to remove the radio, place it in the glove box, and lock it, whenever I was parked in sketchy territory. This process worked quite well, as that radio always remained secure.
Being the nostalgic person I am, and a firm believer in period correct audio equipment, I dug out my old Pioneer catalogs and figured out exactly what model I had back then:
It was the KE-3700QR, which was their top of the line pullout cassette deck in 1991:
After nearly a year of daily ebay visitations, I finally found one that met my needs. The seller listed it as untested, and agreed to pay for return shipping if I installed it and it wasn't 100% functional, so I ended up taking a chance on it.
Here is it after a quick clean up, in all its glory:
I bench-tested it and immediately noticed a couple of things wrong with it.
#1 None of the back lighting or screen display lighting was working. The bulbs were all there, but all 3 were burnt out. Not the end of the world, but they are soldered in and I'm not good at soldering.
and
#2 The preset memory was not retained when the radio was pulled from battery power. These units have a lithium battery on the circuit board that is used to keep preset memory when they are pulled out of the vehicle. And this one, being 29 years old, was definitely dead.
I picked up the appropriate battery and tore into the unit:
The dead back lighting bulbs:
The cassette portion removed to reveal the preset memory battery:
To my surprise and let down, the battery is actually soldered to the circuit board, remember....I'm not good at soldering. To add insult to injury, the battery is spot welded to the holder, which is then soldered to the circuit board. I'm screwed, and thinking, this thing is going back to the seller. I figured I'd at least de-solder the old battery and figure out a way to release the spot welds on it. I de-soldered the battery, somehow broke free the spot welds. I was halfway there!
Since I don't have a micro spot welder at my disposal, I tried to solder the broken free positive tab to the new battery and it really didn't want to bond, probably due to it being highly polished, but somehow I got it to bond. Then I tried to solder the negative tab and there was absolutely no way it was bonding, so instead, I epoxied it. I was blown away to see that it actually held. I re-soldered it to the circuit board and tried it out. I reprogrammed the presets and then pulled it off of battery power for over an hour. I plugged it back in and the preset memory was still there, SUCCESS!
Now I'm waiting for the replacement back lighting bulbs to show up so I can tackle that portion. If I can be successful with that, this radio will be 100% fully functional. I contemplated just sending it back to the seller. But, it took almost a year to find this one and seeing that they are all approximately the same age, they'd all at least need preset memory batteries. So I decided to keep and repair this one instead.
Being the nostalgic person I am, and a firm believer in period correct audio equipment, I dug out my old Pioneer catalogs and figured out exactly what model I had back then:
It was the KE-3700QR, which was their top of the line pullout cassette deck in 1991:
After nearly a year of daily ebay visitations, I finally found one that met my needs. The seller listed it as untested, and agreed to pay for return shipping if I installed it and it wasn't 100% functional, so I ended up taking a chance on it.
Here is it after a quick clean up, in all its glory:
I bench-tested it and immediately noticed a couple of things wrong with it.
#1 None of the back lighting or screen display lighting was working. The bulbs were all there, but all 3 were burnt out. Not the end of the world, but they are soldered in and I'm not good at soldering.
and
#2 The preset memory was not retained when the radio was pulled from battery power. These units have a lithium battery on the circuit board that is used to keep preset memory when they are pulled out of the vehicle. And this one, being 29 years old, was definitely dead.
I picked up the appropriate battery and tore into the unit:
The dead back lighting bulbs:
The cassette portion removed to reveal the preset memory battery:
To my surprise and let down, the battery is actually soldered to the circuit board, remember....I'm not good at soldering. To add insult to injury, the battery is spot welded to the holder, which is then soldered to the circuit board. I'm screwed, and thinking, this thing is going back to the seller. I figured I'd at least de-solder the old battery and figure out a way to release the spot welds on it. I de-soldered the battery, somehow broke free the spot welds. I was halfway there!
Since I don't have a micro spot welder at my disposal, I tried to solder the broken free positive tab to the new battery and it really didn't want to bond, probably due to it being highly polished, but somehow I got it to bond. Then I tried to solder the negative tab and there was absolutely no way it was bonding, so instead, I epoxied it. I was blown away to see that it actually held. I re-soldered it to the circuit board and tried it out. I reprogrammed the presets and then pulled it off of battery power for over an hour. I plugged it back in and the preset memory was still there, SUCCESS!
Now I'm waiting for the replacement back lighting bulbs to show up so I can tackle that portion. If I can be successful with that, this radio will be 100% fully functional. I contemplated just sending it back to the seller. But, it took almost a year to find this one and seeing that they are all approximately the same age, they'd all at least need preset memory batteries. So I decided to keep and repair this one instead.
Diesel_Zuk
Well-known member
This one looks like the backlight works
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184287285109
https://www.ebay.com/itm/184287285109
Diesel_Zuk said:
66% of it works, but the bulb responsible for lighting up the left side of the faceplate is out. I went back and forth with that seller several times. He "tested it", but when I asked him if all the back lighting worked, showing him the lack of light on the left side, his response was "I'm not sure, buy it and I'll re-check it after". I also asked about lack of preset memory due to dead circuit board battery (something they all suffer from) and he gave me the same response. He also offered a no return policy, and for his asking price, it was just too risky.
The one I purchased showed up on ebay a couple of weeks ago and the seller listed it as "untested". I made him an offer and he agreed to it and also offered to do a free return if it wasn't 100% functional. It just seemed like a much better deal . When I received and tested it, I did inform the seller that it had some issues, but I was confident that I could repair all of them, so I was going to keep it.
Last night I soldered the new bulbs in and I'm happy to report that it is now 100% functional and looks great in the Samurai, just like my original one I remember from 1991.
![[thumbsup]](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f44d.png "Thumbs up [thumbsup]")
cygnus x-1
Well-known member
Nice job on the radio refurb! Hopefully the epoxy on the battery holds up, but if it doesn't, you could fairly easily wire in an external backup battery. Just find a holder for a 3V lithium cell and run some small wires from the the original battery pads out the back of the case. Attach the backup battery holder to the back of the radio case with double sided foam tape. This way it would be replaceable in the future if need be.
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All the wheel bearing parts showed up, so I started tearing into the rear axle over the weekend. I tackled the passenger side first, as that was the noisy one. It went pretty smoothly, especially after I found a pipe the correct size to hammer on the new bearing.
The first axle is out:
I took it down into the basement workshop and got busy with a series of cutting wheels and grinding discs, as I do not have a press. I tried the gear puller at the splined end with a chain link to the bearing method, but is was just so sketchy, so I just cut it off. Only minor nicks on the shaft, as a result:
The new bearing and retainer installed with the pipe over the shaft and hammered on method:
The new wheel seal installed with a Harbor Freight seal driver kit:
And all buttoned up:
Since I had the rear wheels off and the wheel cylinders disconnected, what a perfect time to replace those too short brake hoses. I ordered standard rubber DOT lines from Rock Auto for other random vehicles that have the appropriate ends and lengths:
Before. You can see the hyper-extended stock brake hoses:
After. New lines with room for easily 7 feet of articulation: :laugh:
Then I tore into the driver side wheel bearing and things got ugly and depressing. First off, I did not think that this wheel bearing sounded bad. The rough rotating bearing noise was CLEARLY on the passenger side. I merely replaced the driver side bearing because I wanted them both to be new, and it wasn't a big investment.
I pulled the driver side axle out feeling real confident, as I just finished the passenger side quite successfully. I figured I'd do this side real quick, then do the longer front brake hoses after that, bleed them, and be back on the road by the afternoon.....well, the car universe had other plans.
As soon as the axle and drum came out, an exorbitant amount of brake dust fell out with it. I looked at the shoes and one of them looked like this: :banghead:
And the drum looked like this: :banghead:
Now, the previous owner told me that he recently did the "rear brakes" shortly before I purchased it. I know this is accurate info because he told me as a result of the rear brake replacement, he couldn't get the parking brake re-connected, so he left it disconnected. When I received the Samurai, I reconnected the parking brake cables with a bit of effort and it worked fantastic. The rest of the shoes, minus 1/2 of that one in particular look great.
Has anyone ever seen this before? Something misaligned? Any advice? I've only done drum brakes once in my life, on my ex's Cabrio.
I went ahead and ordered new shoes......duh. New drums.......duh. New wheel cylinders.......cause I have no idea if one of them is sticking and causing the wear. A spring kit.....duh. And a set of new wheel studs, cause the drums don't come with them.
I'm totally bummed because I took the week off and wanted to get the Samurai all up to snuff before the wheels and tires showed up, and now the damn thing is down for about a week, waiting for parts. I decided to cancel my vacation cause I have nothing to do on the Samurai now but wait for parts and I'm still living in quarantine. I'm just really bummed.
The only good news after all of this was that Fedex showed up with some BFG's with my name on them:
The four remaining wheels are in Fedex transit, somewhere between California and Maine, without an update in several days.
And that's what's happening in my life, folks.
The first axle is out:
I took it down into the basement workshop and got busy with a series of cutting wheels and grinding discs, as I do not have a press. I tried the gear puller at the splined end with a chain link to the bearing method, but is was just so sketchy, so I just cut it off. Only minor nicks on the shaft, as a result:
The new bearing and retainer installed with the pipe over the shaft and hammered on method:
The new wheel seal installed with a Harbor Freight seal driver kit:
And all buttoned up:
Since I had the rear wheels off and the wheel cylinders disconnected, what a perfect time to replace those too short brake hoses. I ordered standard rubber DOT lines from Rock Auto for other random vehicles that have the appropriate ends and lengths:
Before. You can see the hyper-extended stock brake hoses:
After. New lines with room for easily 7 feet of articulation: :laugh:
Then I tore into the driver side wheel bearing and things got ugly and depressing. First off, I did not think that this wheel bearing sounded bad. The rough rotating bearing noise was CLEARLY on the passenger side. I merely replaced the driver side bearing because I wanted them both to be new, and it wasn't a big investment.
I pulled the driver side axle out feeling real confident, as I just finished the passenger side quite successfully. I figured I'd do this side real quick, then do the longer front brake hoses after that, bleed them, and be back on the road by the afternoon.....well, the car universe had other plans.
As soon as the axle and drum came out, an exorbitant amount of brake dust fell out with it. I looked at the shoes and one of them looked like this: :banghead:
And the drum looked like this: :banghead:
Now, the previous owner told me that he recently did the "rear brakes" shortly before I purchased it. I know this is accurate info because he told me as a result of the rear brake replacement, he couldn't get the parking brake re-connected, so he left it disconnected. When I received the Samurai, I reconnected the parking brake cables with a bit of effort and it worked fantastic. The rest of the shoes, minus 1/2 of that one in particular look great.
Has anyone ever seen this before? Something misaligned? Any advice? I've only done drum brakes once in my life, on my ex's Cabrio.
I went ahead and ordered new shoes......duh. New drums.......duh. New wheel cylinders.......cause I have no idea if one of them is sticking and causing the wear. A spring kit.....duh. And a set of new wheel studs, cause the drums don't come with them.
I'm totally bummed because I took the week off and wanted to get the Samurai all up to snuff before the wheels and tires showed up, and now the damn thing is down for about a week, waiting for parts. I decided to cancel my vacation cause I have nothing to do on the Samurai now but wait for parts and I'm still living in quarantine. I'm just really bummed.
The only good news after all of this was that Fedex showed up with some BFG's with my name on them:
The four remaining wheels are in Fedex transit, somewhere between California and Maine, without an update in several days.
And that's what's happening in my life, folks.
I'm noticing now (studying the pics) that where the worn shoe clips in is also not seated the same as the other shoe, differences circled in red:
It looks like PO clipped it in too low and that corner of the shoe was always dragging. So it looks like that shoe is misaligned up to down and in to out. In a fit of rage, I didn't really look at it and just threw the drum and wheel back on to get it off the jacks while I wait for parts. Otherwise, I'd go outside right now and do some more investigating and take some more pics......ugh. Up to this point, I never really had a PO woe, but here's the first. So frustrated. :banghead:
It looks like PO clipped it in too low and that corner of the shoe was always dragging. So it looks like that shoe is misaligned up to down and in to out. In a fit of rage, I didn't really look at it and just threw the drum and wheel back on to get it off the jacks while I wait for parts. Otherwise, I'd go outside right now and do some more investigating and take some more pics......ugh. Up to this point, I never really had a PO woe, but here's the first. So frustrated. :banghead:
I am surprised when the drum was put on and the brakes actived that it didn't self center itself. ???
Spokerider
Well-known member
stuntnuts said:I'm noticing now (studying the pics) that where the worn shoe clips in is also not seated the same as the other shoe, differences circled in red:
It looks like PO clipped it in too low and that corner of the shoe was always dragging. So it looks like that shoe is misaligned up to down and in to out. In a fit of rage, I didn't really look at it and just threw the drum and wheel back on to get it off the jacks while I wait for parts. Otherwise, I'd go outside right now and do some more investigating and take some more pics......ugh. Up to this point, I never really had a PO woe, but here's the first. So frustrated. :banghead:
You bought a used vehicle.......and thus one can expect such mistakes and faulty over-sight's from the owners before you.
I'd be happy to trade my "frustrations" for yours.
The Pioneer radio has been acting up. After a few minutes of off-vehicle power, it forgets radio station presets again. Remember...this is a pull out radio and needs its own "CMOS" battery on the board to retain settings and presets. The original battery itself is soldered to the circuit board and the holder is spot-welded to the battery. I was able to solder the holder to a replacemnt battery on one side, but the bottom of the battery wasn't solder friendly, so I had to epoxy it.
I figured the epoxy didn't hold, so I searched out CMOS battery holders for that specific battery size. The type that the battery clips into and should make a solid positive and negative connection. I found one and ordered it:
The battery fits:
So I de-soldered the battery and will now solder this holder to the board, hoping this fixes the issue:
TO BE CONTINUED
All the rear brake parts showed up over the weekend, so I tore into that. Not much to report, as I still need to replace the front brake hoses with longer units and then bleed the entire system. I replaced EVERYTHING, even though everything looked new, besides the wheel cylinders.
I chose to replace everything because:
A: One disc was toast
B: I want matching discs
C: One shoe was toast
D: I want matching shoes
E: The wheel cylinders looked original and they were cheap
F: Spring kits are cheap and should be replaced, regardless
Passenger side:
Driver side:
And of course the culprit brake shoe that caused all the turmoil:
I figured the epoxy didn't hold, so I searched out CMOS battery holders for that specific battery size. The type that the battery clips into and should make a solid positive and negative connection. I found one and ordered it:
The battery fits:
So I de-soldered the battery and will now solder this holder to the board, hoping this fixes the issue:
TO BE CONTINUED
All the rear brake parts showed up over the weekend, so I tore into that. Not much to report, as I still need to replace the front brake hoses with longer units and then bleed the entire system. I replaced EVERYTHING, even though everything looked new, besides the wheel cylinders.
I chose to replace everything because:
A: One disc was toast
B: I want matching discs
C: One shoe was toast
D: I want matching shoes
E: The wheel cylinders looked original and they were cheap
F: Spring kits are cheap and should be replaced, regardless
Passenger side:
Driver side:
And of course the culprit brake shoe that caused all the turmoil:
