Talk about your vehicle and vehicle upgrades here. Anza Borrego Off Road
New Bumper
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DRT Lakeside Posts: 62
1/31/2012
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Hi all,
Just put a new bumper on "Bucky" the samurai. We can now hook a towbar to it so we can take him on longer trips now too. It is heavy and I had to take it on and off about 10 times for drilling and fitment. (it only looks slightly crooked because I forgot to close the hood all the way before I took a few pics)
The winch mount may come in handy if/when we need to get that hardcore.
I also just bought 3 wheels ($20) and a cooler rack for the spare tire mount from craigslist. My plan is to try and paint the wheels with a decent automotive urethane paint just for the experience. I priced some powder coat places and it was more than I wanted to pay. I could rattle can the wheels, but want to try "real" paint on something I won't mind messing up too much.
When the wheels are done I hope to get some more capable tires (General Grabber AT2) and go from there.
Here are some pics of the bumper
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Thanks
Dave
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
1/31/2012
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That looks awesome.
I have always liked those Suzuki Samurais. Kind of like mini Land Cruisers FJ40s 
I drove one over in Hawaii for a while and the thing would go anywhere.
Your pic makes me want to pull our old Land Cruiser out of the garage and go wheeling :-)
Me and "MuMu" doing The Squeeze many moons ago
Bob
<em>edited by surfponto on 1/31/2012</em>
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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DRT Lakeside Posts: 62
1/31/2012
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Thanks for the compliment,
It looks better than I thought it would and we were able to kill 2 birds with one stone. Much better bumper AND towability when we need it. I was afraid if I just did the towbar thing it might be in the way if I ever wanted to do a different bumper upgrade.
It will go just about anywhere in stock trim. I am sure I could use a locker and bigger tires, but for us right now it does fine (even with the 20 year old weather checked street tires). The motor is only a 1.3 + bigger tires are harder on a lot of stuff. (like the poor clutch)
Wheels and tires are next, followed by new clutch and tranny rebuild
Slow and steady
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DRT Lakeside Posts: 62
2/1/2012
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We had fleeting thought about doing the "Squeeze" in our stock samurai, but thought better of it for now. Doesn't going through the squeeze commit you to Pinyon Mt. Drop Off or something? I looked on YouTube and decided against it, probably a wise decision. I am always a little nervous heading in somewhere I may not be able to get back out of. We are usually by ourselves too. I almost want to check it out on a motorcycle ahead of time just to be sure.
We did go down the "one way" drop off near the volcanic hills area, a few months back, and that was pretty interesting!
It is hard to hear in the commentary, but my wife is saying "This is where it all started to go south!" and then points out how the wheels were up in the air, etc.
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The samurai is very narrow (and short), so the normal width ruts need to be negotiated a little differently. The little drop off at the top was pretty severe, though it is hard to see in the pic. Fun though
I Like the old cruiser a lot, very cool! A friend of ours had one way back with a chevy motor, we called it the "Chevota" and it would go and go as well.
Dave
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surfponto Administrator Posts: 1364
2/1/2012
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Yep you are pretty much committed to doing the Drop Off a little ways down after you do the Squeeze
I guess I have heard of people going back up through the Squeeze the opposite way but that seems crazy and you are bound to do some damage.
A good spotter helps on a lot of that stuff.
Bob
DRT Lakeside wrote:
We had fleeting thought about doing the "Squeeze" in our stock samurai, but thought better of it for now. Doesn't going through the squeeze commit you to Pinyon Mt. Drop Off or something? I looked on YouTube and decided against it, probably a wise decision. I am always a little nervous heading in somewhere I may not be able to get back out of. We are usually by ourselves too. I almost want to check it out on a motorcycle ahead of time just to be sure.
We did go down the "one way" drop off near the volcanic hills area, a few months back, and that was pretty interesting!
It is hard to hear in the commentary, but my wife is saying "This is where it all started to go south!" and then points out how the wheels were up in the air, etc.
link
The samurai is very narrow (and short), so the normal width ruts need to be negotiated a little differently. The little drop off at the top was pretty severe, though it is hard to see in the pic. Fun though
I Like the old cruiser a lot, very cool! A friend of ours had one way back with a chevy motor, we called it the "Chevota" and it would go and go as well.
Dave
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https://www.anzaborrego.net/
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