Just doing a little mental doodling at the junkyard today. The older Toyota trucks use a conventional axle front and rear which have pretty close width to our cars. You could switch a rear into a Ru with a quad link set-up. R/P sets are available to match all our ratios 3.7, 3.9, 4.11, 4.44. No more busted rear half shafts, real Lockers, etc. The front would be a little harder as you'd need to add a transfer case or a whole tranny/t case set up. The case idea is of course workable. The tranny and t case would require some more doing as in adapter. But of course that can be done as well. Again the benefit is more travel and a front locker Somebody posted pics of the Zuki with quad links and bags for front suspension. That would be neat. Or run a nice 17" travel Bilstein coilover up to the strut tower. Obviously this is some serious fabrication but maybe worth it for the really hard core off road fellows.

suppose you could mount a strAIGHT AXLE TO THE EXISTING SOOB REAR TRAILING ARM (MOUNTS FABRICATED, of course) so it would be sort of like a 5-link rear suspension?

I was looking into running two straight axles for a while, but shyed away from it cause it would be too easy, (yeah, you read that right), least for me anyways, I've made quite a few 4-link setups, and it might take me about 2 days to have the axles in there. Also it kinda takes away from the whole being a Soob without haveing the independant suspension, there are ways of getting around our suspension, jes needs some more work, and trying to figure that out is fun (least to me), so I'll get back to ya'll in the spring when my new suspension is done,

I agree with adam, why not put a subaru motor in a suzuki? Or just a suzuki? IMO working on the independant is more fun, and it's all new territory, everything has been done on solid axles.

 

-Some ideas of mine floating around lately...

For the front, move the inside lower susp. arm pivot towards the middle on the same plane as the pivot point of the cv, then, with a 6"-8" lift, make an upper a-arm, instead of the strut, also on the same plane as the cv. Also, on the trailing arm/radius rod? take away the bushing, and use a ball joint. This way you don't need slip-yokes, and you can use any coilover you want in the front. But then you're in maximum cv angle territory. Also, if you widen the track by lengthening the arms and axles, you will have less angle for the same amount of travel. 3" out would probably give you another 1" or more before you hit max. Also if we could maximize the amount of up travel, it would be good because I think we have more room that way than down.

I hear you ByTheSea. It would be alot of fun putting on solid axles and getting some BIG lift and LONG travel. A project I would like to do down the road is a solid frame, solid axel ORV with an Subaru wagon unibody on top WOuld it be a Subaru? No... Would it be ALOT of fun? HELL YA!

 

I like the older Toyota truck platform. Looks like a good frame design. They are still relitivly small like the Subarus but you can do SO much with them.

 

Ok enough day dreaming; I still have a 4 year project in my garage to finish

Hmmm, Some interesting responses,,,

On the idea of putting a Soob motor in a Zuki,,,why? There must be better candidates than a 90 hp ru. And I'm too old to be getting my rump roast broken driving one of those silly things on the highway where you hit the roof on every ripple.

 

I dissagree mildly on whether a Ru is a Ru if you take away the I/S. I'd say it's still a Ru with a 6 cyl Chevy mill or a Nissan T case. What do you call a Jeep with a Buick motor in it? I do think that a body dropped onto a complete truck driveline would be less Ru-Like but I'd drive it nonetheless My own car is part Pug, part Ford, Part Nissan with a big dose of ghetto cheese added for flavor I'l put in anything that works,,,especially vinyl performance stickers.

 

I do think there are ways around the CV issue. I just wonder if as a practical matter we'll ever get the articulation and traction from an I/S that a straight axle gives.

 

The straight axle appeals to me mainly because I see it as a way to get real travel and lift without having to put a huge Rube Goldberg of bracing and tubing under the car to keep it from toppling off the lift like a drunken stilt walker. My car is heavy enough as it is. If I were using it mainly for off roading then the added weight wouldn't be so bad but for me it's a daily driver that has pretentions of being an off road warrior and WRC rally car Of course a T-case is heavy so maybe it's moot. LOL

 

However we dice it Soobs are cool and silly at the same time but at least we got em!