How would a suzuki samurai have fared in this snow and ice?

[Brothers In Arms]

A wider tire is gonna spread the weight out more over the ice and give you less traction

Traction was mentioned earlier in the thread...what you said here brings it all together now...thankyou.
So...if you had to choose for my wishlist...bad weather driver/bug out/2nd vehicle, would you go bone stock or semi modded but done correctly?

 

[cvpadge]

I would go stock suspension to keep a low center of gravity and maybe a factory sized mud terrain tire. Throw a couple bags of sackrete in the back. Put you a good 3500lb atv winch on it and you should be set. The only thing I can tell that sucks about samurais is the transfer case shifter. There is a plastic bushing on the end of it that is prone to failure. If you get a samurai get and upgraded poly bushing and save yourself some trouble in the long run.

 

[Brothers In Arms]

I would go stock suspension to keep a low center of gravity and maybe a factory sized mud terrain tire. Throw a couple bags of sackrete in the back. Put you a good 3500lb atv winch on it and you should be set. The only thing I can tell that sucks about samurais is the transfer case shifter. There is a plastic bushing on the end of it that is prone to failure. If you get a samurai get and upgraded poly bushing and save yourself some trouble in the long run.

Outstanding....i appreciate it. Any others with experience and feedback such as this...let me know.

 

[bartski]

Sorry if this has been mentioned... but during the news broadcasts yesterday, I saw one with moderately sized off road tires driving past everyone on a hill... so apparently not too shabby!

 

[galvatron]

Keep it low and narrow. 31's are overkill for a stocker. A decent M/S tire in the 235 range is all it needs for "normal" driving. Over 235 and your gonna need to regear it. Buy a decent M/S tire and snap knife, and then sipe the center lugs and it will crawl over anything wet or dry.

 

[wozbean]

My buddy had one and that little thing would crawl anywhere and over anything.

this is my experience as well. it is a tin can though.

 

[Edgee2004]

Mine was great. But like any car on ice you have to be careful. And I drive my 6" lifted 31.50x10.50 BFG's at 74mph (top speed) on the interstate no problem. Thanks to calmini.

 

[Edgee2004]

Mine was great. But like any car on ice you have to be careful. And I drive my 6" lifted 31.50x10.50 BFG's at 74mph (top speed) on the interstate no problem. Thanks to calmini.

Oh yeah 6'2" plenty of room. Working on making aluminum bumpers. And a top and back rack.

 

[Dbodt]

I would go stock suspension to keep a low center of gravity and maybe a factory sized mud terrain tire. Throw a couple bags of sackrete in the back. Put you a good 3500lb atv winch on it and you should be set. The only thing I can tell that sucks about samurais is the transfer case shifter. There is a plastic bushing on the end of it that is prone to failure. If you get a samurai get and upgraded poly bushing and save yourself some trouble in the long run.

Just replaced mine it was 15 bucks and it took 10 minutes. The Sammy is very easy to work on. For its size there is considerable room between the engine and drive train to the body. I have a 6000 pound winch on mine. I have only ever winched other vehicles not myself. The rule of thumb is the winch needs to have a capacity of twice the vehicle weight, which on a Sammy is 1800 pounds.

 

[Dbodt]

A wider tire is gonna spread the weight out more over the ice and give you less traction

Dont think I totally agreed with this statement. It depends on the type of tire, if the tire is wider with taller lugs the entire surface of he tire is not in contact. The lugs are your gripping surface. Bigger the lug the better they flex and grab on the terrain. I know from past experiences my vehicles with knobbies or lugs seem to do better on ice. Just my opinion.