Project Fredurai

The sun was setting as I was putting the jack under Fredurai. I had a beverage and some pizza in my gut, and two pals coming over to help. By dawn I was going to be wheeling.

Last year we told you about our plan to challenge each member on staff to buy and build a truck with a total budget of $1,500. Well, some of us succeeded, and others didn't. I, for one, bought a black '91 Samurai for $450 and had it built under budget ("4x4x$1,500," July '04), but then I blew the head gasket on the first run out and was dead in the water with no rubber duck. So as I rounded up the parts to fix the black Sammy, I was offered a white '86 Samurai. Price? Free. It turns out that a friend of a friend had this little white rig in his driveway, and couldn't get the transfer case into gear, and he quickly got himself a new truck to get around in. Before long his wife was ready for Ol' Whitey to be gone. Luckily, he found me, a poor magazine editor who can never say no to a cheap 4x4, much less a free one. With that, I was back in the game!

Then, as if building a rig on a budget wasn't stressful enough, I decided to add to the challenge by starting the buildup one night as the sun set, and hopefully have it finished by the following morning. Yes, the dusk-to-dawn wrenchfest was in the works, and it almost happened.

This little breadbox of a 4x4 would give me another entry, and I decided to try it down the same trail, but on a different path. Again I would go for bigger tires and some lift, but this time the Sawzall, grinder, and hammer would be my friends. And, since there was no initial cost, I would be able to fix any issue with the transfer case, and also spend a little green on a Calmini low gearset while I had it apart. And since it was a carbureted rig, I also wouldn't have any of the computer problems the '91 had. As for what to call it? Well, since the black Sammy is named after my brother Sam, this one is going to be named after me--Project Fredurai.

The plan was to make just enough room for some 29.6-inch-tall tires and no more. I couldn't afford much of a suspension kit since I bought bigger rubber, so I just went with longer shackles from Trail Tough. These are 13/4 inches longer than stock so it gave me an effective lift of about 7/8 inch. In addition the 1/4-inch-thick shackles are way burly compared to the stamped-steel originals.

Since Fredurai is spring-under with the shackle in the front, going to a longer shackle points the front pinion way up and ruins the stock steering caster. I used a set of 2-degree shims to get everything back to seminormal.

Spring perch, shim, and U-bolt plate to effectively move the axle forward 3/4 inch. Since the shackle is in the front of the spring, the tire will move away from the firewall as it compresses, and the front of the fender will need to be massaged to deal with this. Another issue that arose was the stock shocks hitting the bumpstops. I eventually cut the lower shock mounts off and welded them further back.

In my opinion, keeping the tires turning with a locking differential is the best upgrade for off-road performance, and if I could have afforded one, I would have put one in this little wheeler. But this being the Cheap Truck Challenge, I decided to use a "MillerMatic-traction addict." In other words, we used our MillerMatic MIG-welder to weld the rear differential into a spool. I was warned that this will break axles, and is definitely the ghetto way to do things, but again this was a free truck, and if it breaks I will report it to you. The cool thing is that Suzuki axles have a drop-out third member, and this means all the work can be done on a workbench. If you want to do this yourself, you'll need to pull the axleshafts and then the diff.

Some folks weld the side gears directly to the spider gears when welding their spools, but I chose to try just welding between the gear teeth in the side gear so that there was still some slop in the differential. This will allow a little movement, and in theory, would help when cornering. It may also allow the spider gears to try and step up over the welds and blow the differential apart, or let the diff wind up and put extreme shock load on the shafts. Either way, I will let you know when it happens.

Since complete disassembly is required to get to the side gears, reassembly is important to get correct backlash and gear setting. Durham is an experienced diff guy and works at Drivetrain Direct, and he reassembled the diff to stock after welding, but if you don't know anyone to do this for you, it's gonna cost a few hundred bucks. Be warned--most shops will not weld a differential into a spool for liability reasons.

Every self-respecting 4x4 has knobby tires, and I wanted to run the knobbiest little muds I could afford and fit. I got on the horn to Tyres International and had a set of 30x11-15 Super Swamper TSL/SXs at my door in no time. These bias-plied doughnuts have thick sidewalls with extra lugs for mud and rock traction. I also contacted SpyderTrax for a set of black steel Rock Crawler Xtreme wheels. These 15x8 wheels have only 21/2 inches of backspacing to keep bigger tires out from the frame and suspension. I saved a few bucks by getting my friend Chris Durham to help mount them in my garage using some Tyre Plyers I had from Outback Extreme Products. You can order tires mounted and balanced from Tyres International, but I decided to wait and see what type of balancing problems I encounter by doing it at home.

With the axle welded and assembled, and the truck kind of lifted, we moved onto the transfer case. I did a little research as to why it wouldn't go into gear, and quickly surmised that it was all in the shifter mechanism. It turns out that the shifter sits on a little bushing known as a shifter sheet, and over time it wears out. A stock replacement is cheap, but we chose a polyurethane version from Petroworks that should outlast both the truck and us. This piece can be swapped in without removing the transfer case by working down through the hole in the floor of the truck, but I had other plans.

Since we were increasing the tire size, I also needed some better gearing, but tearing into both differentials was way out of my budget. I talked to the 'Zuki experts at Calmini and decided on their 5.14:1 low gearset for the transfer case. Having a super-low gear is great for off-road use, but the bonus is that this setup also lowers the high-range gearing by 18.3 percent. This effectively reduces the stock ring-and-pinion from 3.73 to 4.41, plenty for 30- to 32-inch tires. Tech Editor Dave Kennedy loves transfer cases, so I volunteered him to do this job. He had never seen a transfer case as small as the one in Fredurai, but he quickly had it torn apart.

Installing the low gearset requires normal metric handtools, a torque wrench that goes down to 9 lb-ft and a gear puller. Dave followed the directions that arrived from Calmini, and quickly had the new gears installed. The kit includes a new input shaft, a high-output gear, a new counter gear, counter shaft and bearings, thrust washers, gaskets, and a quart of gear oil.

Here is where our overnight upgrades hit a little snag. While using the gear puller to remove the old high-output gear, someone didn't notice a tiny pilot bearing that sits down inside the output shaft, and accidentally crushed it. We looked over the directions and saw no note to watch for this bearing, but by then it was too late anyways. So with the transfer case in pieces, we called it a night until I could get another bearing the following day.

Had we ordered the complete bearing kit for the transfer case we would have been OK, but that was another $200 out of the budget. Instead, I waited till dawn to order the $7 bearing from a local parts store and got it the next day. Of course, it would be three more days till we finally got the case back together and under the truck due to other projects and trips, but finally we were in business.

With the lift and bigger tires, I still needed to do a little bodywork to make everything clear the front tires, especially when turning at full stuff. First, we pulled the front bumper and tossed it. Pounding the body seams on the firewall with a 16-ounce hammer was enough, but in the front it would take some serious pounding. We finally decided that the Sawzall was the best answer and trimmed a portion of the front fenders and flares. Keep posted, as we will be hitting the dirt with all the cheap truck buildups in the next few months.

So did we succeed? We think we did, but it was tight, and only worked 'cause we had some tools and good friends to help use them. Building a rig on a budget is rough, especially if you don't know anyone. Take you time, and research everything you can about the vehicle you are gonna build. We spent a bunch of time on the Internet, specifically on Zukiworld Online (www.zukiworld.com) and similar sites specific to Suzukis, but there are sites for all vehicles, and from these sites you can usually find parts, tips, and even friends who will help you wrench.