I didn't get to test this one out, long term. i sold it about a year after this. But i have been running the Trail Master suspension on others, with both leaf- and coil springs. and i have never had issues with them. and they don't seem to sag over time, either.
To be honest, i hardly remember. But i think it was several things. one being approval of the kit, here en Europe, making it road legal. and also the price. This kit is produced in Germany, a neighboring country. making it much cheaper to get here, rather than something from the other side of the globe. Thanks for watching!
Hey, nice video, I'm also planing to upgrade my sj413 '87. I have already 50mm body lift installed and looking at TrailMaster 50mm suspension lift, will it be enough for 31''' tires?
Hey there. Thanks a lot! The tyres we were running on this, was about 29"-30" But we didn't have any body lift. So im thinking you'll be abel to fit a set of 31" just fine. Thanks for watching!
Is there any difference between a Samurai in the U.S. and in the U.K.? In other words, will the trail master suspension system fit on my samurai in america? thanks.
There are a few small differences in some of the samurai's, but they are more related to production year, rather than the sales destination. But regardless, the Chassis and suspension setup is completely the same, so the kit we used here should indeed fit any Samurai. Thanks for watching!
Get rid of the sway bar. If you ever swap out springs again have a look at OME. Or consider going SPOA. Gives you mega flex and room for 33" tires. But then you go nan need also new gearing :-). To make it much better off road get a locker in the rear. I have lock right in the rear and front of my daily driver and love it!
Dirk Alta There never was a sway bar on these early "410" models, they were first added on the later "413 / Samurai" models. about year '85 - '86. But problem with those brands of lift kits is that they don't have the right paperwork/certificates to be approved in this country, therefor making those kits illegal for road use. We did consider the lockers however, but honestly just never got around to it. But thanks for watching!
if you want a lot of wheel travel just take the swaybars(the front as i do not think the rear has a swaybar) off the 4wd suzuki and you will gain a foot extra of travel even with stock shox thats what we do with our toyota hilux(surf) and nissan patrols(safari's) and mitsubishi pajero's it gives them a lot of extra travel without any mods more chance of tipping but know your 4wd and know what it can and cant do or its limits
Hey, Thanks for watching. Your right, that is a simple and cheap way to get more wheel articulation out of a stock 4x4. However, this suzuki is one of the very first models. so it never had any swaybars. they were added to the samurais at about the year 88 and on. along with slightly wider axels.
samuel miranda He means the anti-roll bars. I always take the rear bars off my shoguns/pajeros but I have to say i prefer leaving the front one on. I find that taking the front off really affects the handling at higher speeds and causes it to be a LOT more unstable. Sure it's great for extra articulation, but most people don't need it to be that extreme. Also on the pajeros/shoguns you need to be careful as more flex = more chance of shredding cv joints on the front as they are not live axles and not designed for the half shafts to deal with the angles.
Thanks for the video, nice looking sj. Two questions if you don’t mind. I’m looking at the kit now and I know you have since sold the sj, but in the months after the install, any issues? Road handling? My sj 413 is a daily driver, so important to me. The other option is OME, but more expensive. Lastly, did you widen your steel rims for bigger tyres? Looks like my steel rims, but mine are 5.5in, which is a bit thin for 30’ tyres? Thanks again
John Armstrong Hey John. The suspension upgrade made the ride Much softer, and Much smoother. So it soaked up the bumps much better, and was a lot more comfortable to drive. However, with it being so soft, i strongly recommend that you keep the sway-bars on it, to make it more stable for cornering and on-road driving (mine didn't have any sway-bars, as it was an early 410) And for this one we were just using stock Suzuki rims, off a 413 Samurai. Hope that's the answers you were looking for. Thanks for watching!
TeamArmyTrucks thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. Was looking at putting 235/75/15 on my 413 rims, but heard not a good idea on 5.5 rims, but have since seen many doing it without issue. Cheers
+TeamArmyTrucks I have got myself a Suzuki sidekick 4 months ago and I am in the process of buying tires. The ones you have on your sj are pretty badass with a military look. What are these tire? Thank you
The tires we put on this were Malatesta Kobra Track NT1. They were chosen mainly because they were cheap. But they actually did really well. Worked great offroad. And i also put quite a bit of road miles on them. They held up great. Thanks for watching!
OME is the suspension company of ARB if I am correct. Would be surprised if they don't have German TÜV certification. But don't know for sure. Would that be legal in Denmark! Otherwise get it road legal in the Netherlands and then import it :-). Here in the Netherlands a lot can be done. Mine has a coil kit from Rocky Road Outfitters (USA) and is perfectly street legal :-)
+gullf1sk In the netherlands you don't need Tüv certification. I have got a coil kit suspension installed on mine. This came from Rocky-Road outfitters from the USA. Welded under my car. No check required. Yearly road safety check no issue. It's on legally on the road for several years now. And now an interesting fact. Once a car has been approved within a EU country and been on the road there. You can sell it within the whole EU. :-)
Thats just a case of inspectors not enforcing it. You are at the mercy of them tho, when they decide to tighten up the standards you could get in trouble.
Well, theres a number of reasons why we didnt do that. First of all, it would'nt change the ride at all, and we wouldnt get any more "flex" as we would be on the same old stiff springs. Other then that, all you get from putting your axels undet the springs, is a little more room for tyres. But since we already had the tyres we wanted, we didn't really need it to be much taller. Besides, moving the axels usually messes up your steering allignment, and tends to make truck quite interesting to drive on the road. And on top of all that, that mod is just illigal here aswell. But thanks for watching.
TeamArmyTrucks I've always heard and seen sprung over flexes better because of how it leverages on the springs. Still, your stock suspension was shot and you didnt need more height, looks like it went well.
Vitara: Faster, yes. Better, probably. Better at off road as the OP asked, definitely not. Even Suzuki themselves admit that the Jimny is more capable due to it's ladder frame chassis and solid front and rear axle.
Enskey yes. At the time of this video, the engine, transmission and transfer were stock. Shortly after, it was given a slightly bigger engine, and a different transmission, but it had roughly the same gear ratio.
Uhm, no? it's really not. we weren't paid anything by anyone, for making this video, everything here was bought out of our own pockets. The reason we say good things about Trail Master, is simply because we like their products. its good stuff, at fair prices. Thanks for watching!
Well sadly, this samurai has long been sold. (This vid. is about 3 years old) so i can't really show more footage of it. But i get your point, and agree, this isn't much of a test, and dosen't really prove much. But we'll try and do some more proper testing, when we make more videos like this. Cheers.
TeamArmyTrucks Thank you. What do you think about Rancho RS5000 Shocks? i just found a 2 inch suspension lift kit including leaf springs and shocks very cheap.