A Simple Twist of Fate

Originally Published: February 2013 Words: Paul Looe Pictures: Steve Taylor

Suzuki’s 2.5-litre V6 was a lively performer in the Vitara, and it gives the Sammy-based buggy plenty of get up and go. It’s mated to a five-speed manual from a 2.0 Vitara V6, and the clutch and flywheel come from the same source – meaning the former is hydraulic rather than cable-operated. Beyond them is a Mk3 Toyota Hi-Lux transfer case, fitted with reduction ratios and twin-stick shifters from Trail Gear

A bespoke radiator, mounted on the back of the cab, has air drawn through it by a pair of electric fans. Good sense simply in terms of keeping it away from mud, obviously, though in the case of this particular vehicle you’d struggle to fit one in the traditional position even if you wanted to

When Rob Butler first built the vehicle, it was notable for using 14” Fox suspension units instead of conventional springs and shocks. These are among the few fundamentals to have been retained from the original set-up

While developing the truck, Jerry added Fox hydraulic bump stops to get yet more from the 14” suspension units. This meant modifying the rear tray to move the fuel tank out of the way

Front and rear axles are located by long radius arms whose mountings come within a few inches of each other beneath the chassis. Between them is a 6mm alloy gearbox bash plate, which Jerry fitted after coming home from Tixover one day with a cracked transfer case

The front axle was moved forward and three-linked using a mixture of Johnny Joints and M20 rose joints in Norris Fabrication radius arms. As you can see here, the top link is pretty close to the left arm, but the geometry Jerry designed is clearly perfectly effective nonetheless

The axle itself is a Mk3 Hi-Lux unit, stuffed with a hi-pin diff from an LJ70 Land Cruiser and, like the rear, running a 4.88:1 Nitro ring and pinion and solid crush collar. The wheels are turned via a pair of standard Hi-Lux shafts coupled to Bobby Long heavy-duty 27-spline CVs, Trail Gear six-bolt hubs and fixed drive flanges

Nothing says you mean business like hydraulic steering. The Samurai runs a Trail Gear system designed for the Hi-Lux, which allows it to be steered just as effectively whatever the angle the front axle happens to be sitting at

The back axle is a Toyota LJ78 Land Cruiser unit, which has the attraction of containing a four-pin locking diff. This is electrically operated as standard, but Jerry’s has been converted to hydraulic operation, making it more reliable in the sort of conditions the Samurai encounters every time he takes it out. The axle is located by a combination of A-frame and radius arms, mimicking the tried and trusted layout of the original Range Rover and achieving epic amounts of travel as a result. The A-frame itself was fabricated in tube, strengthened with plate and, er, decorated with iron crosses. Does someone have a secret VW fetish to own up to…?

The back axle apparatus connects up through a mixture of Jimny bushes and Johnny Joints. The latter are famed for their strength and flexibility, freeing up as much articulation as possible while being fully rebuildable for when the inevitable does finally happen

Service brakes use a mixture of Hi-Lux and Land Cruiser parts fed by long runs of braided hose. At the back, there’s also a set of fiddle brakes using dedicated Hi-Lux four-pot front calipers, operated independently of the rest of the system by a pair of CNC levers

No everyday trailing links, these. Radius arms from Norris Fabrication, again running a Jimny bush and Johnny Joint combo, allow the axle to articulate like nothing else and simply won’t be broken by anything short of a nuclear strike

The Samurai was originally built to run with one winch and no lockers, keeping it out of the most savagely competitve challenge classes. Keeping to that principle, Jerry went to town on that one winch, which is a Warn 8274-50 with a Gigglepin mainshaft and twin-motor top housing running +50% gearing. A Delta-tek air freespool and wide-angle hawse help to get the 125ft of 12mm Bowrope on and off the +3” drum quickly and tidily, while for 2012 the pulls were taken care of by prototype Bowmotor 3s. Each of these runs an Albright solenoid and 70mm cable, with the juice coming from a pair of Odyssey PC1500 batteries charged by a 100amp alternator

Just outboard of the bump stops, the rear of the vehicle now features a standard Warn 8274/50 which was just in the process of being commissioned when we took these pictuers. It runs a narrow Delta-tek air freespool drum and carries 100 feet of 12mm Bowrope. At least, it does now…

The Maxxis Trepador: a properly gnarly tyre for people who mean to really do it off-road, and one which you can get by talking to the man who owns this here truck. Any size is available, so long as it’s 37x12.50x16 or 40x13.50x17

Back in the day, this was the bit where you could still tell that the truck was a Suzuki Samurai. Jerry added in the bar across the side aperture when he got rid of the remaining bodywork: prior to that, it was basically just the tail of a tubular wheelarch. The front hoop was remade, too, and the tree sliders were added in to complete the structure

When the AWDC first announced the XTC series, Rob Butler at Off Road Armoury sold his Samurai to make way for a mid-engined racer. Which worked out very nicely for Jerry Hunt – who’s taken the truck and made it stronger, twistier and better than ever.

Suzuki Samurais don’t have much engine power or axle articulation. But they’re light, short and narrow, making them perfect for fitting through small gaps on ground you can barely walk on.

Jerry Hunt’s Samurai is neither short nor narrow, and it has plenty of engine power and axle articulation alike. Fitting it through small gaps isn’t as easy as it once was, but ground you can barely walk on? It eats that for breakfast.

You might argue that this full-house challenge brute is hardly a Samurai at all any more. Jerry says that ‘everything’ is now different from when he bought it.

Not that it was particularly recognisable as a Samurai even then. See, this is a truck with previous. The kind of previous a truck gets from being built by Rob Butler, too.

Down at Off-Road Armoury, Rob built the Sammy about five years ago and ran it in the 2008 Howlin’ Wolf series, attracting attention by doing away with conventional springs and shocks and replacing them with 14” Fox air units. Jerry still runs these today, so it’s not quite everything that’s changed, even if most has.

Around the time that Rob was debuting the Samurai, Jerry was having a go at winch challenges in a Suzuki with Land Cruiser axles. ‘I was out of my depth,’ he claims now. That vehicle went to a new home between the 2009 and 2010 seasons – which is when Rob, having now built his celebrated Sgt Rock challenge buggy, let this one go.

To start with, Jerry fitted his own winch and tyres and left it at that. The truck was diesel-engined and still ran enough body panels to look like a Suzuki from some angles, but one season was enough to convince him that there were changes he wanted to make.

The big one was the engine, with the old 2.4-litre Hi-Lux lump giving way to a 2.5-litre V6 from a Grand Vitara. Or was that the big one? The front axle was relocated further forward to increase the truck’s wheelbase to 102”, and at the same time the steering was binned in favour of a full hydro system; depending on your views about what makes a challenge truck a challenge truck, you could say that either of these are the real big one, too. Either way, the rest of the bodywork joined the old steering in the skip.

What’s been the result of all this? Jerry’s had to buy a trophy cabinet, that’s what. In 2011, he won his class in every round of the AWDC Challenger series, then last year he won March Madness and the 4x4 Adventures Interclub, and came second in the Mad Monks. Add in a third place overall in the De-Cider Trophy, and you’ve got a year to look back on with pride.

Not being one to rest on his laurels, however, Jerry has been busy in the workshop this winter. The vehicle now has a dual transfer case, giving it three sets of ratios, but he’s keeping quiet about the donor units he’s brought together to create it. The result should be a truck that’s more capable over a wider range of speeds, anyway.

No prizes for guessing, then, that King of the Valleys is on his radar for 2013. Aside from that, he’s planning to limit himself to ‘good two-day challenge events’ that aren’t too far from his Portsmouth base. ‘I like two-day events,’ he says. ‘You get more for your buck. I’d sooner do six good events in a year than ten bad ones.’

That’s quite some level of self-control from someone who didn’t even know what a winch challenge was until he went to watch a round of the Scorpion Trophy in 2008. But Jerry isn’t one for letting the grass grow under his feet, nor indeed for doing things by halves. To have reached the level he has so quickly says a lot for for his abilities, and also for what can be achieved by a determined all-rounder with the right mix of knowledge and imagination.

He’s done most of the work himself to adapt Rob’s old truck, putting some of the fabrication out to Challenger 4x4 (where his co-driver Kimi works). He even imports his own tyres, which is
easier when you’re a branch manager for SETyres.

Getting hold of big rubber from the US is a big problem, but the Maxxis Trepador complies with Europe’s new laws on clean oil and E-marking, and because it’s classed as a competition tyre it’s immune from the need for S-marking.

Maxxis insisted on a minimum shipment, but Jerry says that even with just two sizes in his range he’s not struggling to find buyers. A mark-up so tiny he’s making next to no profit on them no doubt helps here – it’s not a proper part of his employer’s business, really, so much as him making the most of what he does to help out the rest of the off-road fraternity. Good chap.

Also not exactly a detail is the fact that the Trepador is a world-class tyre. Put it on a truck like this, which has been developed to the point where it’s really starting to realise its potential, and you’ve got a recipe for real success. What Rob started, Jerry is looking well set to finish – as one of Britain’s most sorted extreme Suzukis gets ready to make more of a mark than ever.

BUGGY, SUZUKI, TRAIL-GEAR SHIFTERS, FOX AIR SHOCKS, FOX HYDRAULIC BUMPER STOPS, JOHNNY JOINTS, ROSE JOINTS, TRAIL-GEAR HUBS, TRAIL-GEAR HYDRAULIC STEERING, GIGGLEPIN WINCH, BOWMOTOR 3, ODYSSEY BATTERIES, MAXXIS TREPADORS