This mod netted me almost 5-inches of lift in the front.
Parts needed:
- Samurai front axle with required tracker gears installed in third (5.13s in my case)
- Samurai leaf springs installed SPUA
- Shackles (stock or home brew)
- Samurai tie rod and drag link
- Wheel spacers or offset front wheels (I chose wheel spacers)
- (2) leaf spring hangers for fixed end of leaf spring
- (2) shackle end leaf spring bushing tubes (I used 5/8″ x 3/4″ rod ends instead)
Process:
Step 1 – Cut out out all the IFS, including the crossmember
Step 2 – Remove the “horn” from the frame arch and plate.
Step 3 – Box/plate the frame where the new spring hangers will be welded
Step 4 – Slide the Samurai axle/leaf spring assembly under the front
Step 5 – Bolt up the existing Tracker front driveshaft to the axle, leaving 1/2″ of compression
Step 6 – Plumb the axle in the wheel wells
Step 7 – Weld spring hangers to the newly boxed section of frame
Step 8 – Install front frame side shackle bushing tube. This step will vary depending on what going on with your front end. The existing frame rails can simply be extended 2-inches with some 2×4 box and the bushing tube welded to the bottom. My bumper was already in place. I used rod ends, only because I had them on hand and didn’t have any suitable tubing.
Step 9 – Cut and sleeve the Samurai drag link to the proper length.
Step 10 – Fabricate mounts and install shocks (I used s10 rear shocks, 9-inches of travel. Setup with 4-inches up travel, 5-inches down)
Step 11 – Add wheel spacers and wheel.
Here are the pics. Sorry, they do not reflect the order of the above steps.
