Does anyone have any experience putting a receiver on a stock sambar? It is a 1991 model. How do these little trucks pull? I think I read that they can pull 1400 lbs. Is this correct? Derekop:
I have a receiver on mine. Required a 4" body lift to make room for the receiver hitch to fall above the bumper/engine cover. Haven't pulled anything yet, but unless you have a SC, I doubt these trucks can tow much weight at higher speeds. But around the ranch, at slow speeds, I'm sure it could pull pretty decent. Can't find any official info on the subject seeing these trucks don't come factory with hitches.
I would be happy to go 50-60 km/h with a load on. I want to hual firewood with the trailer. Lots of people tell me to get a bigger truck, but I figure it should do just fine. I am not to interested in a lift kit though. I would prefer to keep it at stock height and work around its limitations some how. Derek
Actually the factory did make a hitch option for the Sambar, you just won't find it outside of Japan or Germany.
We have a rear bumper with a 2 inch receiver available for the Subaru Sambar. Let me know if we can help. Steve Tri-County Mini Trucks http://www.tricountyminitrucks.com
If you want to get really technical it is the Sambar Van which Subaru built as a LHD known as the Libero. It was powered by a 3 cylinder 1.2L but everything drive train wise was identical i.e. shocks,brakes,tranny, external body was alomost identical except for a somewhat goofy aditional front bumper they added to it. I was looking at some detailed pictures of them online last week and it came to me that a guy could actually buy all the parts needed from a German auto recyler to make a Sambar into a factory LHD with no butchery involved ala Filipino style. All you would need is a dash, steering rack (?) and maybe a floor pan and radiator support. The early 90's Libero aka Allrad looked different but by the mid 90's the body was the same as the JDM Sambar So I learned you something new today Acerguy op:
Timetripper, So then a guy should be able to find one of these 1.2 liter engines and spice up our sambars? 1200 cc wonder what that would be like? Well to start I might actually be the one doing the passing on the highway...
Actually no benefit power wise the 3cyl 1.2L is comparable to the 4cyl EN07 we have in our Sambars The carb'd 1.2L = 52 PS and the EFI 1.2L = 54 PS, the highest output in this engine was the Justy version were it maxed out at 75 PS. For comparsion the EN07 S/C is rated at 55 PS = +/- 58 HP So it wouldn't automatically make a "hotrod" out of it by swapping in a 3cyl 1.2L sorry to say
Can you purchase higher gears for these trucks? I would like to bring my RPM's down at highway speed. I am thinking of bigger tires but wonder if gearing is a possibility. Have you heard of anyone putting a desiel into one of these trucks? Derek
The S/C's have a higher 6th gear than the NA's which would bring down the RPM's but the diff is not much so not shure if it would be worth the $$$$. Also these engines are designed to rev so if you slowed them down to much it would be out of it's torque range. As to diesel - no have not heard of it, two things are working against it. Space for engine and the fact that it has to work lying on it's side.
DO you have larger tires on your truck? If so what differences have you noticed? Is there a loss of power do to the lower rpm's? What is the largest size of 13 or 14 inch tires you can put on ot one of these trucks with out running into clearance issues? Thank you for your input. It is most appreciated. Derek
Yes Around town driving almost zero loss of power [torque actually] with way better handling Again not much difference even at higher speeds - top end is almost the the same once you factor in the speedo difference into the reading i.e. when speedo reads 125km/hr I'm actually going 133 km/hr wheras before it was 135 km/hr maxed out pretty much. Early '90s Sambar can run up to 185/65R14 [Colin has these on his] but rim choice must be just right for this size to work with no lift/ stock suspension. A good 13" tire would be 165/65R13 which is almost the exact O.D. of the stock 12" - 145R12 that comes from factory. The next best combo is 165/65R14 which is slightly larger [just over a 1" bigger O.D.] so it would give a extra 1/2" ground clearance for your truck. This is what I went with, but alot of the decision has to be what is available to you in your area.
I'm learning all KINDS of things today. I hadn't thought about the Libero being the same as a Sambar! Hmmm...how about a TURBO 1.2L? heh heh heh
