1988 Samurai.  Got it to troll around in the woods at our camp.  Cheaper than a side by side!

Still a work in progress, we are going to fabricate a front bumper to put a winch on it... A few minor things to fix, but I think it will serve its purpose quite well.  

Anybody else got one of these little jewels?    

When we got it:


Brought it home and basically disassembled it,
fixed some rust spots (not bad for an '88!), under-coated it, and painted it with bedliner!


And I drove it to work today!

It is a standard trans, right? I knew a guy who drove one for years, IDK how many miles he had on it when some moron crashed it,.He replaced the clutch once, he was laughing at how tiny it was & how long it lasted, & that it held the loads. Fine little vehicle & a winch is a great idea.

You guys do seem to live a great life,, may your health always be good.

Where you been, Piglet?... Missed ya...

Cute Tonka... ...

Yep, standard transmission, 5 speed.  The guy we bought it from was the 2nd owner, had gotten it from his uncle who bought it new.  The nephew just used it on his farm property, taking grandkids on rides on the logging roads.  It had about 86,000 miles when he got it about 6 years ago and he never had it out on the main roads.  The speedo isn't working now, so don't know true mileage, but its low for an 88.  These things must have a great attraction to rust, because the majority of the ones we looked at were rusty.  This one had been garaged for part of its life, so it wasn't too terrible.  

Sorry I haven't been around much lately.  Work has been a bear, and the craziness isn't over yet.  But since I drove the little beast today, I had to post a pic.  I still check in fairly often, just don't have time to post much.

Hopefully we get the winch put on before I learn if they are easy to FLIP!        

Ospho is your rust fighting friend, dont buy the gel,,
YOuve already Learned the are easy to flip.
Dont prove it.

I think you can get spacers that stick the wheels out further to help with their tendency to flip.

My sister-in-law had one for years. Used to to crawl around her Dad's farm in Missouri. That thing could climb a tree!

Boofer wrote on 01/09/12 at 20:10:07:

They do turn over easier than Jeeps and the like. If you look at the old Jeeps the wheels were right inside the body work. They had roll-over problems as well. Their solution was to widen the track with wider axles and add the little fenders to the sides.
A lot of 4WD guys use spacers to get more room for the big tires to turn, and to make their rides more stable.
And don't cheap out on the winch- it will fail when you need it most. (don't ask how I learned this).