Samurai to Sidekick gear swap.

[holeshot]

I'm just getting started on swapping out the stock Samurai gears for a set of Sidekick gears. Most of you guys know that the rear Sidekick 3rd member is larger than the Samurai 3rd. So it is needed to replace the rear axle housing. The easiest way to do this is with the use of a custom built Hybrid housing.
I have a Hybrid housing built by TT. I ran this housing under my Zuki before I swapped to Toyota axles. Well I started cleaning up the housing getting it ready to put under my friends Samurai, but I noticed that the long side axle tube is bent. I decided to replace the long side axle tube.
I also have a straight never been wheeled stock Samurai rear Axel housing. So the first thing I did was to use the stock housing and build a jig. Had to build the jig so I could hold everything straight,true,and at the correct lengths.

Stock housing jigged up.




The long side tube is located in the jig with the stock spring pad,a center pin and two u-bolts.





The short side tube is through bolted at the backing plate flange.





Once I had the jig built were I thought it would work, I took the saws-all to the stock housing and cut the long side tube end off.



Because the Hybrid housing was built buy TT it already has a coupler piece that is the correct size to accept the Samurai tube. So I just cut off the bent tube end, just inboard of the weld at the coupler and pulled the bent tube out of the center section.

Now I reassembled the Hybrid housing into the jig with the new tube end.



This is just a test fit. I will pull it back apart and clean off all the paint before welding. It is a great fit and the jig is working great.





Tomorrow I will be welding this back together, and then I will get after the actual gear swap part, that this write up is suppose to be about.

[bigflex]

great job so far as usual bud!

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by bigflex

great job so far as usual bud!

Thanks.

The long side tube end went together very well, so I decided that re-tubing the short side would be easer than cutting off all the old coil and link mounts. This axle is now going under a leaf spring Samurai. It was way easer to start with just the stock spring under pads.

Heres the short side tube ready for welding. I "V" notched the coupler piece. This gave me more weld area and made it so the weld didnt just go around the axle tube in a straight line.



After welding.



Both sides welded up and now ready for new spring over pads.



Alot more to come.

[Marshall]

Good idea! Will that jig be usefull if you want to make a couple hybrids yourself? If so you should make a couple before tearing it apart.

[color_country _crawler]

x2 holeshot think i'll vote you as tech. guru you alway splan things in a clear consise way

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by Marshall

Good idea! Will that jig be usefull if you want to make a couple hybrids yourself? If so you should make a couple before tearing it apart.

Not as it sits right now. If I was to build a Hybrid housing from scratch the jig would have to have a way of holding the center section in the correct location. Because this housing was already a Hybrid the center section was already in the correct location and I just changed out the tube ends one at a time, so I never had to measure for the center section placement.
I could now at this point add to the jig and then it would work to build my own Hybrid housings.

[Marshall]

Originally Posted by holeshot

Not as it sits right now. If I was to build a Hybrid housing from scratch the jig would have to have a way of holding the center section in the correct location. Because this housing was already a Hybrid the center section was already in the correct location and I just changed out the tube ends one at a time, so I never had to measure for the center section placement.
I could now at this point add to the jig and then it would work to build my own Hybrid housings.

Well what are you waiting for? Get to building me one BTW your welds look really nice.

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by Marshall

Well what are you waiting for? Get to building me one BTW your welds look really nice.

Just swing by my house tonight and I should have one ready for you.

[Gearhead61]

Why don't you just use a full sidekick axle? Are the samurai tubes better?

[Billjohn]

The sammy diff is offset where the track/kick diff is almost centered. With a Hybrid you get the best of both worlds, strength and no vibes.

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by Gearhead61

Why don't you just use a full sidekick axle? Are the samurai tubes better?

Sidekick housing is wider than the Samurai housing, and the Sidekick has a centered 3rd member. Samurai 3rd member is off set to the passengers side.
Using a Hybrid housing makes the housing a direct bolt in for the Samurai,


Well thats if your housing wasnt bent.

[bigflex]

not to down your skills cause you do great work ! But wouldn't it have saved you a few steps if you would have rotated the tubes 180 degrees, or the 3rd member and just used the stock perches as spoa perches! just a thought! The axle looks awsome by the way! superb welds brother!

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by bigflex

not to down your skills cause you do great work ! But wouldn't it have saved you a few steps if you would have rotated the tubes 180 degrees, or the 3rd member and just used the stock perches as spoa perches! just a thought! The axle looks awsome by the way! superb welds brother!

I cant F...... believe I didnt even think about doing that. You da man! Yes I bet that would have worked.

But at first I was only planing on replacing the long side tube, and I would have had to build the jig completly differant, but that is one hell of an idea you got there.

[zukking01]

Originally Posted by holeshot

I cant F...... believe I didnt even think about doing that. You da man! Yes I bet that would have worked.

But at first I was only planing on replacing the long side tube, and I would have had to build the jig completly differant, but that is one hell of an idea you got there.

ROFL That right there is funny... I dont care who you are.

[holeshot]

So I got the hybrid housing all done today, its now ready to go under the Samurai.
Put on the spring over pads, brake line bracket, all the e-brake cable brackets, new shock mounts, and a diff cap.





So now its onto the gear swapping.

I've heard a lot of people ask "Why cant I run the Sidekick rear 3rd member in my Samurai axle housing" Well this picture should answer that question. Its because the rear Kick 3rd is a lot bigger than the Zuki 3rd, as seen in the picture.

from left to right: Sidekick rear 3rd, Sidekick front 3rd, Samurai front 3rd. The front and rear Samurai 3rd members are the same size only the side gears are different.



Here you can really see how much larger the Sidekick ring gear really is. Also you can see that the Sidekick front unit is made of aluminum and that is the reason why people will swap the front Sidekick gears to the Samurai steel 3rd member housing.



The first step in tearing down a rear end is to always measure the back lash before taking anything apart. I always use a dial indicator for this.
Back lash is how much the ring gear rotates before moving the pinion. Most Samurai rear ends are around .006 to .008 back lash.



On one of the side bearing adjusting ring caps, I like to center punch a mark on the cap and on the housing. That way I know it will get put back on, on the correct side.



I had to stop here for the night. I will most likely be finishing this tomorrow.

[madzukr]

nice write up

[hillbilly]

Originally Posted by madzukr

nice write up

X-2 Now get on with it! Please

[jbzukin]

well this may be a little off topic but while we are on the subject of hybrids..........
now I don't know if anyone has broken a set of front gears so this may not be of any importance here but,
could you not build a front hybrid to take advantage of the larger rear ring and pinion? you could take the stock front tubes and join then to the rear center section, simmiliar to the way you would do a rear hybrid then up grade the axles to TT's double tough to match up the splines?

just a bit of an off question but that is what happens when you read some of these posts and you think what if?????????

[Marshall]

Originally Posted by jbzukin

well this may be a little off topic but while we are on the subject of hybrids..........
now I don't know if anyone has broken a set of front gears so this may not be of any importance here but,
could you not build a front hybrid to take advantage of the larger rear ring and pinion? you could take the stock front tubes and join then to the rear center section, simmiliar to the way you would do a rear hybrid then up grade the axles to TT's double tough to match up the splines?

just a bit of an off question but that is what happens when you read some of these posts and you think what if?????????

Sounds to me like a good idea, I don't see why you couldn't do it.

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by jbzukin

well this may be a little off topic but while we are on the subject of hybrids..........
now I don't know if anyone has broken a set of front gears so this may not be of any importance here but,
could you not build a front hybrid to take advantage of the larger rear ring and pinion? you could take the stock front tubes and join then to the rear center section, simmiliar to the way you would do a rear hybrid then up grade the axles to TT's double tough to match up the splines?

just a bit of an off question but that is what happens when you read some of these posts and you think what if?????????

Yes, I believe this could be done. TT already does this, but uses Dana 44 outers and costom built axles. It called the "Big Suzana" its on there web site.

[holeshot]

So lets get back to this.

Inorder to measure the backlash on the front aluminum Kick 3rd, I used a piece of scrap steel and bolted it to the flange of the housing. This gives the magnet base of the dial indictor something to stick to.



Once you've measured the backlash, just tear down the aluminum housing completely. Everything needs to come apart. Ring gear comes out first then the pinion comes out.



Because the Kick pinion bearings will be used in the Zuki housing, You need to use the races out of the Kick housing. The lower or inner pinion bearing race in the kick case in a real pain in the butt to get out. So what I do is to use a saws-all and cut the case in half, just above the lower pinion race. now that race is very easy to access.



Next is to tear down the Zuki case compltely. This is done the same way as the kick case. The pinion bearing races will also have to be removed from the Zuki case. The lower pinion race from the Zuki case is easy to remove.
Now you can install the two pinion bearing races from the Kick into the Zuki case. I use the two pinion races from the Zuki case as driver tools to install the Kick races. Just take a die grinder and cut completely through one side of each race,(cut the races that your going to use as driver tools, do not cut the Sidekick races.) that way thay will collapse a little while your installing the good races and wont get stuck in the case.

Here is the two carriers and ring gears. Kick on the left and Zuki on the right.





Sorry, But I have to go for tonight. I will try and finish off this write up over the next few nights.

Any Question so far??

[Marshall]

Your just saving the races so you don't have to buy a rebuild kit right?

[zachatola]

Another amazing write up Holeshot.

Very nice job, you are hands down one of the best tech writers i know. Always an enjoyment to read your writeups.

[holeshot]

Originally Posted by Marshall

Your just saving the races so you don't have to buy a rebuild kit right?

Yes, that is correct.
I should have explained this at the start. I don't think it is needed to replace the bearings when doing this job. So when reusing bearings you always need to to use the race that it was running in.


Thanks Zach.

[madzukr]

Originally Posted by holeshot

Yes, I believe this could be done. TT already does this, but uses Dana 44 outers and costom built axles. It called the "Big Suzana" its on there web site.

i have'nt been able to find it on their site lately.it was pretty pricy if i remember right.