Big Wheel Keeps on Spinnin'

 Enno (left) and Daryl show off The Samurai BBQ.

 The back end will be a huge beer cooler.  

The built-in bottle opener is shown below.

Throughout what we've calling "The Wheel Deal," that line from the Steve Miller Band tune "Jet Liner" keeps echoing in my head.

"I've got to keep on keeping on
You know the big wheel keeps a-spinning around."


So far, I've met five great guys: Sam, Bobby, Steve, Enno and Daryl.  Each Zuk owner has really opened my mind and helped me understand some really cool stuff.  Who knew the search for some wheels could wind up being so danged much fun?

Yesterday "The Wheel Deal" saga continued when I sought to drop off two wheels for Steve and one of his buddies.  I had tried to make the drop at Fry's Electronic on the west side of the valley Thursday.  That didn't work out.  Saturday morning, I got the bright idea to ask the ZOA Forum members if anyone living in the East Valley could get the wheels over to Steve in the West Valley's community of Surprise.  Within a short time, Enno replied and said he could do it.  So, I went out there in the early afternoon Friday.  I had no idea what a great afternoon was in store for me.

Enno and his friend, Daryl, were visiting to talk over some of their ideas for fabricating various Zuk interior items.  Right away I spotted the soon-to-be Famous & Legendary Samurai BBQ.  My eyes about popped when I saw it.  Luckily, Enno and Daryl had time and were in the mood to tell me all about it.  This puppy is the finest such BBQ I have ever seen and is definitely destined for fame & glory.  I'd be willing to betcha real money it will be on a magazine cover in the not too distant future.  It's so awesome it deserves it's own whole blog, not just a mention on this blog post.

After drooling over the BBQ, our talk turned to the various things Enno and Daryl were trying to do for the Zuk People. It's obvious that both Enno and Daryl truly love Zuks of all kinds and types.  We talked over lots of ideas and they were both real receptive to the concepts that I had to offer.  I won't go into detail about them here but I have a hunch one or more of those ideas will be coming soon to a Zuk retailer near you.  It was really exciting to be able to provide some ideas that appeared to be interesting to Enno and Daryl.  It's clear they both have the skill and equipment to turn ideas into reality and that's even MORE exciting!

It was a great afternoon and we can all blame it on "The Wheel Deal."  May that Big Wheel keep on spinnin'!

THANKS, ENNO!  THANKS, DARYL!

Have a great day & Cheers.

SuziQ's New Shoes

We completed the tire swap February 21.  Luckily, two of Bobby's wheels and tires were of the correct size and suitable for use as spares.  Big O charged $20 to put them both back into usable condition.  We cleaned both of those old wheels and sprayed them "rattle can white."  Meanwhile we swapped one tire at a time.  Between the trip to Cottonwood and the various other chores (such as finding a place to store 7 of the 205/70/15's, the job took all day.  The new tires make a noticeable difference in SuziQ's appearance.

We weighed each tire and wheel on a bathroom scale.  All six of the new wheels and tires weigh only a total of 36 pounds more than the former six tire/wheel set up.  We thought the weight difference would be much greater than a mere 36 pounds.

We also measured the distance from the bottom-most part of the front differential to the ground.  It was 7.5 inches with the old tires.  We were please to see this distance increase to 8.375 inches with the newer tires.  That's a net gain of almost one inch.  Back country driving can sometimes be a matter of an inch when it comes to clearance of significant obstacles so this is a welcome development.  We're looking forward to evaluating their back road performance soon.

Above are the 205/70/15 stock tires and wheels.  Below are the newer ones.

The Wheel Deal

Tires and wheels are a big deal for any vehicle but even more so for a Suzuki Samurai.  Sammi's came stock with 205/70/15's.  Over the ensuing years, all manner of giant tires have been fitted onto the Zuks.  The largest size tire that can comfortably be used on a stock Zuk without any lift is a 215/75/15.  Anything larger than that is going to rub on the wheel wells up front.  Our Idaho Zuk has wheels that rub and we're gonna have to do something about that this summer.

Stock tires are OK for general highway usage and they can be used with caution and prudence in Class I runs.  Highway tires have little sidewall strength--they don't really need sidewall strength.  We've learned up in Idaho that highway tires can get eaten alive by the sharp rocks of back country roads there.  It's not a pretty sight.  So, even though we've been on three short runs here so far, we've been keenly aware of the need to get some better tires.

Our first goal was to get a second spare tire for SuziQ.  Sam from Dewey (AKA: yjzuk @ ZOA) helped used get our first extra spare wheel.  We met him at ZOR February 5th and picked up a hood prop road and a white spoke wheel.  We took the wheel to various tire shops and really couldn't find much of a deal anyplace.  We finally washed ashore at D&N Tire in Camp Verde and got a scruffy spare mounted for $20.  We felt considerably more comfortable traveling with two spares.  We've modified our personal rigging to fit well with the second spare.

Our next quest was to begin to set the stage for better tires.  First we needed some more wheels.  We went onto the ZOA members-only forum and posted a note about our desire for wheels.  As chance would have it, one of ZOA's founding members Bobby from Anthem (AKA: zukicidal @ ZOA) sold us five wheels with casings on them for $20.  It was sad but great to see the last remnant of Bobby's famous rig in his awesome garage. THANKS, Bobby! One of the casings is bad for sure but the others might make OK spares.  We've already have one of them checked out and it became out 2nd spare for SuziQ.  The wheel matches SuziQ's pattern.  So, Sam's wheel and the D&N tire and now a 3rd stringer spare.

Meanwhile, we started "doing the math" and realized we still needed two more wheels before we went tire shopping for a second set of six wheels and tires.  Once again we turned to the ZOA Forum and posted a note.  Right away Steve from Surprise (AKA: gassports @ ZOA) replied and said he had four wheels and tires for $150.  Well, by great and happy coincidence, it turned out they were the exact size and tread type that we were looking for in the first place!  We went down the same day (February 20) and bought them.  It was great visiting with Steve about his Zuk.  THANKS, STEVE! Now, we will take two of Bobby's tires over to Big O and have them checked out.  They might make spare and they might not.  And then we will try to get one or both of the other wheels and tires to Steve so he can have another spare for his rig.  The big wheels keep on spinnin' as The Steve Miller Band once said.

If and when we get two spares checked out in the 215/75/15 size, we will swap out the highway tires and stack them in our shed.  We won't put them back on until we're towing SuziQ to Idaho.  That will keep the extra wear off the A/T tires and help us get a little better tow gas mileage, too.

We are finally getting close to getting our "wheel deal" figgered out thanks to Sam, Bobby and Steve.  It's been a fun process and we've learned a lot.  Cheers, jp

Backlog of Blog Posts

Gee, I reviewed the blog this morning and realized I have been totally remiss in posting about our various Zuki projects. I know I photographed them but I've plumb forgot to post them here. I will attempt to summarize them.

The Shimmy

SuziQ had a slight shimmy at speeds between 42-48 mph. I thought it was a wheel balance issue so I spent a lot of time trying to find a "wheel deal" for balancing. No such luck. Prices ranged from $7.50 to $12 a wheel. One day I decided to rotate the tires myself. It's an easy chore if you have 2 jacks or some jackstands or, in my case, a juniper log. Once I rotated the tires and checked the lug torque, the shimmy disappeared. One wheel's lug nuts were not tightened to specs. Well, that took care of that problem and it didn't cost anything.

Stuck Seats

One of the first things we do is get rid of the back seat. While pulling out the back seat, I decided to pull out the front ones, too, and thoroughly clean their tracks. After lathering them up with white lithium grease, they sure do slide back and forth a whole lot easier! Cost for this job was $4.

Door panels

All Zuki owners know how decrepit the door panels can get. SuziQ's panels were just the fiberboard. We toyed with the idea of buying chrome diamond plate panels but my wife, Susun, said, "Heck, let's paint 'em black and see how they look." They actually look surprisingly good and they're "keepers." Cost was $12 for the tools to remove the door handle and panel clips; $3 for some "Jesus clips;" and $3 for some spray paint. While we had the panels off, we used the white lithium grease to lube all the window regulators and various handle and lock parts.

Prop Rod

One of the Zukis of Arizona members sold us a prop rod for $10. It took a few weeks to make a connection to get it but it was worth the wait. Sam from Dewey told us about a great run on the Backside of Mingus and we did it February 11. Click here to read about that run.

Front brakes

I was planning on simply turning the rotors when I did the brakes.  The least cost I could find for turning them was $15 each.  One day I was in a Checker BS-ing with the Manager and he said, "Heck, buy new rotors, they are only $30 a pop."  I thought that was a good idea since I could do the brake job right away without waiting for somebody to turn the rotors.  So, my neighbor Gary and I popped that job out in less than 90 minutes on Saturday morning.  The total cost was $100, including a couple of new tools to make the job easier.

Towing baseplate

Somebody welded some shade tree method of towing onto SuziQ.  It wouldn't fit our Blue Ox tow bar.  I went to various places and got frightful quotes on the cost of adapting the vehicle so it could be used with our Blue Ox bar.  One day I stumbled on a whole Roadmaster tow rig--the kind that retails for around $1000.  I got the whole setup, including a step down receiver adapter for $125!  It cost $100 to get a welder to attach the baseplate to the Zuki.  That's cheap for getting it adapted to tow.

Spare tires

While I was buying that tow rig above, the seller told me the spare tire was flat.  Opps!  Big O re-beaded it and checked it in the water tank and it was leak free.  They didn't charge anything either.  Meanwhile, we went to Camper World in Mesa and bought a nice white spare tire cover for $25.  We don't go anywhere without 2 spare tires so my quest continued.  Sam from Dewey sold us a spoke wheel for $15.  I got a tire guy to give me $10 for the tire on Sam's wheel and then he only charged me $20 to purchase and mount a decent spare on the rim.  Meanwhile, on February 13th, a Zukis of Arizona stalwart (zukicidal) sold us five rims for $20 in Anthem.  One of those rims is a perfect match for SuziQ's rim style.  Amazingly, it has a stock 205/70/15 tire on it.  Heck, I thought "why not" and took it over to Big O.  Bog O once again re-beaded it and checked it and it's fine.  So, now we actually have 3 decent spare tires.

Radiator

The antifreeze in SuziQ was worthless.  Luckily, I added some fresh mix before our major cold snap here.  Otherwise, we would have busted the block.  Meanwhile, there was a lot of sludge in the overflow bottle.  That worried me.  We wound up flushing the radiator twice and it appears to be in real good shape.  Since the temp gauge didn't work, we bought a new sender, thermostat and gasket and installed them while we were messing with the flush.  Total cost for fluid and parts was $30.  I bought a new fan belt but haven't put it on yet.

Misc.

We've replaced the wipers ($12) and put on some cheap seat covers ($18).  We've fixed misc. little loose things here and there inside the vehicle. ($0).  We made a bunch of spare keys ($10) and have one hidden under the vehicle.  Meanwhile, we stamped our PO Box & Zip Code into the key set we use most.  We made a home grown battery retainer out of baling twine and a zip tie.  It works great and is rock solid.  We swapped out the PCV ($9).

Oil

We haven't swapped out the oil yet.  The seller did it two days before we bought it.  It's a cheap-o filter and I suppose the oil was bulk oil, too.  We did buy three Purolator Pure One 10241's down at a Sears automotive in Mesa.  We also picked up a case of decent quality 10-30 oil.  I reckon we better change the oil here pretty soon.

MPG

We continue to check the mpg of SuziQ.  We've had as high as 30.8 and as low as 25.  The average is right around that which we first experienced the day we bought it--27 mpg.

Road Trip Gear Rig

We've done a lot of work messing with our personal gear that we use on back country road trips.  Perhaps the most interesting thing was using two of the back seat bracket mounting bolts as retainers for our tool box.  Well, it's not really a tool box--it's a plastic tub.  We drilled out two holes and used some fender washers and bolted the box to the floor of the truck bed.  It can't shift around now.  Since we have a four ton floor jack in that box, the jack WOULD be shifting around a lot otherwise.  We plan to do the same thing to the second spare tire but will need to buy a different length bolt one of these days.  Hopefully, I will do a complete detailed post on how everything fits and what we carry back there.

2nd set of tires

Right now we are in the process of thinking about buying some high dollar BFG KM2 tires to use as when we get back up to Idaho.  The stock tires are fine for here but won't work up there.  The cost of the tires has given us sticker shock (at least $800!) so we're still just thinking about it.  We need two more wheels so we can have four new tires and two spare tires.

What's next?

As you know, we don't like traveling back roads without a fresh timing belt, alternator, fuel pump, radiator hoses and fan belt.  However, we've decided to hold off on those until we get back up to Idaho in May.  All my tools are up there and I have a much better, cleaner working space in the garage there.  That's when we will do all the other stuff and also the back brakes and fresh gear oil, repack from bearings, etc.  Hoepfully, everything will hold together until then.

Well, I think that catches us up with what we've been doing on SuziQ.  Have a great day & Cheers, jp