sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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Had a great day today. Took the Suzuki about an hour south to an army training ground and met up with some friends:
Some people brought bigger toys:
The ultimate winch recovery vehicle - an old and extremely rare Conquerer ARV (armoured recovery vehicle) - looked like a real handful to drive, but the Rolls Royce Meteor V12 27 litre gasoline engine did sound good.
A pretty standard modern army truck (DAF):
From the name "Belarus" I'm guessing this is not local:
There were a few recoveries required in our group:
But the little Suzuki was pretty unstoppable:
Very pleased with the way it performed again.
Steve.
'07 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab diesel + '91 Shadow Cruiser - Sky Cruiser 1
'92 Suzuki Samurai 4x4 1.6
'09 Fiat Panda 1.2
'10 Citroen DS3 1.6 turbo
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sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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I've been struggling to start the Samurai recently. Starter solenoid just clicks but starter doesn't turn. Took the starter out and put it back in again and that helped a bit (dirty terminals probably).
This morning the weather was fantastic so I decide to get the top off the Samurai and use it, but it won't start. Eventually after 20 attempts the solenoid engages fully but I can hear the starter turning really slowly - it eventually starts and I leave it running to charge the battery - but it had a really good run 2 weeks ago and the weather has been warm since. So I'm starting to think the battery is on its last legs. Looks like it is time to change it. This is no bad thing since it resembles a motorbike battery, or possibly even something from a large flashlight  - I'm amazed this thing was able to power the winch (it is a 45 amp hour battery with 300 Amp starting current - I suspect it was designed for use on the 1.0 litre model, but our Suzuki is 1.6 litre with a winch!):
I measure the space carefully and come back from the car parts store with the biggest thing I can fit in the battery bay:
I don't know what the amp hours of this new battery is, but it said the starting current is 680 amps - so a bit higher capacity than the old one!
The battery bay had a small tab welded on in the right place for strapping down the little battery:
So I had to hammer that flat and replace it with a new hole at the edge of the battery bay for the securing rod:
With the battery out I noticed a long piece of wire trailing around that side of the engine bay; it also had a couple of fairly poor joints in it - one where the two ends of wire had just been twisted together and covered with insulating tape:
This turned out to be the wire to the starter solenoid - no wonder that wasn't getting enough current to actuate it properly. So I cut a big section out and re-joined it with proper connectors:
The new battery only just fit in the space:
Next to secure it. The old fittings were too small for this bigger battery. RM2410 to the rescue! You may recall a few weeks ago I built brackets to hold the mud guards in place on my old trailer using the old frame from the Dometic fridge I scrapped last year. I still had some bits of that frame so I cut another bit to size to hold the new battery in place. The rod on one side was long enough to secure the new battery if I used a different hole in the battery bay, but the one on the engine side was definitely too short. A quick hunt around my drawer of useful metal revealed some hexagonal spacer bar that was the same thread as the securing rod. So I cut the securing rod down slightly and re-bent the end, then screwed the threaded end into this rod. I think this spacer was from an old piece of domestic equipment I scrapped, like a washing machine, and had already had a 2nd life on a previous vehicle, so here it was in its third incarnation:
Finally with everything back in place:
There is one heck of a difference turning the key on the Samurai now - the solenoid engages immediately and you can hear the starter motor flying around. The winch seems much more lively too.
Steve.
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Reddog1
El Dorado, CA
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Joined: 03/09/2004
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A bigger battery does help. I think my battery is a group 24, with no battery box modifications. You might consider joining the Zukikrawlers. It can save you from having to re-invent the wheel. There are several things you can do to improve your Samurai 12-volt system. I suggest you look at the clicky starter issue. Simple headlight upgrade using relays. If you run your winch a lot, you may want to upgrade your alternator. Good chance your headlights are dim and windshield wiper are slow. Especially if you turn your headlights, wipers, and heater on at the same time.
Wayne
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sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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I finally got around to doing some work to rebuild the little trailer for the Suzuki.
I removed the old rather pathetic looking axle and purchased some steel to make a sort of sub frame to mount the new axle on (note I have turned the trailer upside down to make the work easier):
I cut some steel plate to make hangers for the springs. I found that the dimensions were such that if I welded a pair of angle steels to form a channel it was just the right width to weld the hangers onto the outside. I then cut all the cross-supports on the bottom of the trailer deck so the new channel could be slotted in and welded to them:
Sally got to learn how to use an angle grinder 
Notice the shock-absorbers above - the old axle didn't have any, but it was a multi-leaf spring so the leaves moving over each other would have provided some friction damping. This modern single-piece spring provides no native damping. The van axle though has mounting points for shock absorbers. Hunting in the garage I found the old front shocks I took off the Ranger (they weren't leaking, but were getting slightly tired having done 60,000 miles) - I found they were exactly the same fittings as the Transit axle, so they just bolted straight on. All I then had to do was fabricate some upper mountings and weld them onto the new sub-frame (in fact I welded them between the sub-frame and the trailer deck):
I then attached the parking brake cable from the axle to the overrun (surge) brake on the trailer hitch:
Next job is to take one of the brake drums off as one brake is not working as well as the other, plus Sally needs to finish grinding off the paint and rust so it can be re-painted.
Steve
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athenaemerson
Elk
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Joined: 10/21/2011
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Happy times, happy times! Enjoy!
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sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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Discovered the downside of a budget winch - not submersible  - a bit of a problem when I need to winch myself out of mud and water filled holes. Used it twice and the water got in and the rust popped the magnets off the inside of the casing (they were only glued on  )
So had to bite the bullet and pay for a proper winch - 9500 lb, fully waterproofed, synthetic winch rope, remote control:
A bit of overkill for a 2200 lb Samurai, but what the heck  - good job I upgraded the battery last month.
Steve.
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sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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Back working on the trailer today. We needed to get steel spacers cut to widen the wheel track of the Ford Transit axle to fully clear the trailer. Sally spent a day driving around all the engineering businesses in town and finally came across one that with a CNC waterjet cutter. 30mm thick spacers - apparently the waterjet would cut much thicker steel with ease. Here are the finished spacers:
In place on the axle:
All that is left now is the mud guards (I sort of left Sally doing the chores in the garden while I spend a happy day working on the trailer ):
Steve.
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Reddog1
El Dorado, CA
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Curb Weight: Manual 2094 lb. (942 kg) plus winch, trailer, and other added stuff on a single axle trailer with wheel spacers would make me a bit nervous.
Wayne
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sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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Reddog1 wrote:Curb Weight: Manual 2094 lb. (942 kg) plus winch, trailer, and other added stuff on a single axle trailer with wheel spacers would make me a bit nervous.
Wayne
Which is why I kept the spacers down to 30mm, and had them cut from solid steel. If I start to feel worried I'll just weld them to augment the bolts.
Steve.
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sabconsulting
High Wycombe, UK
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Trailer is finished (though I still need to paint the supports for the mudguards.
Used the new winch to load the Suzuki with - much easier than driving it up. Obviously I won't leave the winch cable connected when towing.
Took it for a short drive around the local roads. didn't get above 50, but was a good first test run. Also took it down a local dirt road that is full of holes and bumps. Worked well - suspension on the trailer is fairly soft, but well damped with the Ford Ranger shock absorbers (original trailer axle had no shock absorbers at all) - also has quite a lot of ground clearance.
Steve.
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