I just purchased my first mini truck last Sunday. I bought a 91-93 Suzuki Carry, 4x4, EL, 5 SPD, Axle Lock & Differential Lock. Still trying to figure out the exact year. She is completely stock and only improvements was that she was painted by the previous owner. She has a little over 71,000 km on her and runs great. After giving it a good bath and interior cleaning I started by removing the seats, back rest and head rests. Once I returned from the upholstery shop I realized I had forgot to remove the door panels which were taken as well to get recovered. My task later today is to continue the interior clean out & prep. I will be putting bed liner on the floor boards and will need to prep this area tonight. Also on the list before the rest of the parts arrive next week is the radio and speaker install. Parts on order: 2" lift, HD Springs, Fender Flares, Wheels & Tires Parts to fabricate over the next month: 2 Bench Seats facing each other and a storage rack for hauling decoys, Receiver Hitch and Light Mount, Brush Guard. This is my field (dove & duck hunting) truck appreciate y'all looking and lending advice as my build progresses.
Sounds like a great project.I bought one just like it a while back for my son and grandsons to use as a hunting rig and really like a lot of things about it better than my '95 Scrum.They sure are a great little rig and I'm sure you will really enjoy it.Anxious to see pics when you are done.
Thanks to Trax & Horns for answering some initial questions I had and setting me on the right track. I have discovered that the oil fill cap is missing and in fact there is a cap no breather, thanks again Trax. Instead, in its place, the previous owner apparently placed a cap to a WD-40 can. :frustration: I contacted a sponsor here and a replacement is on the way, which is great because I was looking all over the place for one. While I was at it I opted for a tuneup, so now in addition to the aforementioned parts also in route is a new fuel filter, air filter, cap & rotor also some clips for the front panel near radiator as mine appear to be broken Now it's time to sit back, drink some beer & wait for the parts to arrive.
Well Friday was good. The lift kit arrived along with the new rims & tires. I had them mounted for a few extra bucks which made it nice not having to deal with it. I started off by removing the front tire, loosened the bolts holding strut under the seat and then took the two nuts off the front knuckle. I popped off the brake line off the strut as to not get it hung up and so I could easily work on everything. With the fully assembled strut now out of the vehicle I compressed the spring and then removed the bolt holding everything together. Thanks again to Trax & Horns for some input on this step as I wasn't sure if I needed a key or a large pair of channel locks to hold the strut from spinning in order to remove the nut. Once disassembled I removed the old screen and compressed the new spring and reinstalled. This was tricky with no air tools slow process to keep the spring even. After installing the new springs I reinstalled the strut and put it back under the truck. I grabbed the new tire & wheel and jacked up the front strut to allow clearance. Placing it up there I quickly realized the new ITP stud holes on the rims are smaller than the studs on the Carry. Not only are the holes the wrong side on the rims but the bolts they sent me are the correct size. I wonder what they were smoking out in California? The studs they are beveled to center the bolt on the rim. The lug nuts do not even remotely come close to even fitting in the holes on the rims! :frustration: So no tires and wheels on her yet. The rear lift was much easier and went together quickly. I used 1/2" x 4" Hex bolts for the new shackle bolts. They have the smooth surface for about 3" before the threads start. I probably could have gotten away with 3.5" but I opted for more smooth surface area before the threads. No instructions with the lift made things fun. What she should look like with her new shoes leaning against old ones. After installing the lift kit I popped the cover on the truck bed and looked at the carb. I have been having issues with it revving up to high and not idling back down once it was warm. I think I found the source of the problem but not 100% sure. I gave everything a good coat of Corrosion-X (basically WD-40 on steroids).
Here's a photo of the carb...Not sure what is going on here but there appears to be a wire preventing full articulation of the carb choke or idle? I will have to do some more reading on these carbs and play with it while she's running. Also pictured are the new rims & tires acting as paper weights right now.
Nice work Yea, you can take that wire off of there, someone's idea of a choke bypass. That white arm is the cold engine acc choke actuator. Stepping on the gas before the choke has finished it's cycle...that arm opens the choke butterfly proportional the the throttle. By wiring it down...no choke, ever. ITP's been there, done that, got the T-shirt, said no thanks, right at the desk when they "came in". Research a bit with arctic cat dealer stock. Perfect fit for the 115(114.7) I mean perfect fit, but I needed 12", so I haven't researched any other size. Lot'o fun, and the work never ends...
Spaner, thanks for the reply & appreciate you stopping by I have been reading your posts. Sounds like you are saying I should perhaps scrap the ITP's and hit up an artic cat dealer as the lug bolt size matches thus much easier to grab a set of rims from them? I am staying with 12x8 or at least I thought I was/am? I get the honor of calling the guy on Monday that sold me these to see what his thoughts are. I didn't even get a t-shirt, I just feel violated LOL. Appreciate the comments & I will troubleshoot the carb in the morning.
Yea, just ship them back. Your pic looks bigger, I thought perhaps 14". 12" no problem. Any arctic cat dealer can order the rims you want. You may even find some used in stock at the dealer. I bought a set of four off craigs, two 7s and two 10s, then destroyed one front (a 7). The local dealer had a set of four 7s in the warehouse, I bought two. Two new for the front, one old went for a spare. Get a spare and 5 tires. Where I fubared the one front, in the bush, took one hour to get in. Had to use the old 20" street spare to get out, took three hours and a lot of undercarage damage...lessen learned. I'll try to find you a pic.
They do come in different widths for the "7", which you would put 8" tires onto. That's what the design is anyway. But, the rims are stamped "6.8"...6.7" etc... Yes, bolt on, fit in every way.
The tires I have chosen are Maxxis Ceros 23x8R12. I will take the tires up to my local dealer and get 5 rims ordered and have them swap it all out. Great idea on the full size spare, will the tire size mentioned above fit in the stock location? Not sure what size tires you are running did you have to mount yours elsewhere? I think...(THINK!) that when ordering the rims/tires the guy sent me 12x7 rims on the 23x8R12's... Again I'm not 100% sure my notes are at the office.
4-titan 489s I'm running 24x8x12 on arctic cat 6.7x12 in the front. 24x11x12 on arctic cat 10x12 in the rear. (offset fully modded) Spare is a maxis 24x8x12, "a one-off" new but cheap, on arctic cat 6.8x12. I think you're asking if it fits over the gas tank? No, not even with the tire rack removed.
That is what I was asking. Thanks! Sounds like I just need to keep the spare near me. I think for my first set I'm going same size wheels all around. Not sure about doing different size rear to fronts wheel sizes... Seems very logical though, I've seen spacers in my searches just not wanting to go too wild to quick.
Yea, for sure. The main point to take away is that the Arctic Cat rims fit perfect, they are very light, but still tough. For the DD51t they are the best possible application. As far as spacers, for wider tires, I wouldn't knock them, but like you, for my first go around, I had a professional shop mig in a new mounting for offset; 3/16 plate. I have no spacers. If you're doing serious off roading, then with a wider rear, I like to say that you can't drop all 4 into the same track. The fronts are difficult to go wider, the rears...easy.
Well today I spent the morning grinding and sanding. After a few hours I had the bed prepped for a new coat of bed liner. I applied two coats only to the bed as I will not be using the stock tailgate or sides any more. I would be willing to part with those if anyone is interested. I am in Texas and travel often. I also prepped and primed the front cab floor boards and about a foot up on the firewall or front of the cab where a typical firewall would be. Bedliner was applied as well to help washing out the floorboards that much easier. Truck Bed: Cab Area:
I got in touch with the guy that sold me the rims & tires, he is going to credit my account and pick up the rims & tires so I don't have to deal with it. So tomorrow, because all power sport dealers around the city are off Sunday & Monday, I will finally have a correct set of tires & rims on order.
I took some close ups last time in the shop of the Arctic Cat stampings. Looks like my original fronts were "6.5" and my replacements were "6.0". I new that, just forgot. I seem to forget the details after I confirm the results. Works good, so don't sweat the details kind of thing. BTW, with the 24" titans and no lift, a little rubbing, very minor. With a 1 3/4" lift, no rubbing at all. Can't say for sure how any other tire name brand @ 24" will fit, tread makes a difference.
Well, I received some more items today, a new air filter, spark plugs, oil cap, fuel filter and some clips for the front panel. What's the trick to getting the front panel / radiator access clips out (replaced) so I can get them in the proper place for install. I have removed the two screws and removed the panel itself. I am just trying to get the new clips apart that I had sent to me so I can mock them on the body & panel. Also, I turned on the truck and the check engine light came on. The differential lock light now doesn't work either. Could this be due to the new air filter? I haven't touched anything else other than installing the lift.
If the truck has been sitting things can get goofy.I just finished going through a truck that had been sitting a long time and every time I started it something either wouldn't work or miraculously started working again.The check engine light is just an O2 sensor in the exhaust pipe and probably a bad ground.It grounds through the threads and this is a pretty common problem.I wouldn't worry about it as most of these little things sort themselves out when you get it going.Not sure about the clips but I need some,who did you get them from?
Jim, I ordered them from one of the sponsors here... http://minitruck.ca/parts/suzuki/ They even tossed in a free oil cap and dash piece for me at no cost. I did order the new air filter, fuel filter and cap & rotor from them. I need some more clips as well I didn't order enough! Also, I found that the light was only the parking break sensor, it had never worked for the week I've owned it. The sensor must be dirty so I will clean that. I found a post you made and was reading through some of the other threads. The Diff lock is working just didn't light right away. The light for the axle lock has never worked although I do have 4x4 and it does work. I think it's just a faulty light on the switch. Appreciate your comments. I need to tune this carb after removing the "no choke" wire a previous owner installed she still didn't want to idle down. I didn't let her fully warm up to where the fan kicks on but she was revving high still. Also, that's when the light came on so didn't want to overheat the engine until I sourced the cause of the new light on the dash.
That high idle is usually due to clogged coolant lines in the carb,there are 4 of them,but if the previous owner wired the choke linkage up there is a pretty good chance he messed with something else.There is a thread titled"desperately need tuning help" in this section that is probably the best tutorial you will find for these carbs. Good luck and be patient as they can be maddening.
I dropped by an Arctic Cat Dealership today. The parts guy behind the desk said most of his ATV's are 10MM studs instead of the 12MM that we need for the mini trucks. Some of the Hondas and some of the larger Arctic Cat's have the 12MM beveled stud holes so you can find the rims. So, according to the parts manager not every rim you may select will be a perfect match, but as long as it's 12MM beveled you should be able to make it match assuming the bolt pattern is also correct. I contacted a Mini Truck dealer outside of Houston and I think I'm going to get my rims & tires straight from them. I am still up in the air on which rims and have not be given a straight answer from a reliable source just yet. I have a few more stops to make and have a spare from the truck in my daily driver to get it matched up and to make sure it fits before I pull the trigger again.
Got home and decided to pull the old plugs, replaced with new ones. Also replaced the fuel filter along with the cap & rotor. When replacing the final plug wire on the cap and making the connections the plug wire pulled off the connector/ plug so now I am upgrading to new wires as well LOL. Grabbed myself a beer & called it an evening! I'm done wrenching for 5 days. Old Cap New Cap New Fuel Filter:
Before I order a set of stock plug wires from someone that's going to charge me $20 shipping, does anyone know a part number for US stores like O'Reily or Autozone that stock plug wires that fit the 1992 Carry - DD51T? I was searching through the reference section but couldn't locate any numbers just plugs not the wires. Thanks in advance. I'd rather pick them up tonight or tomorrow then have to wait to have them shipped from Canada.
Haaa, he's right, but mostly...he's wrong. Mine ARE, off of the M10s we do run the M12s.....that's 1.0mm per side of the stud, exactly the tolerance that Arctic cat designed into their M10 stud to rim application. The fit, is perfect. Recommendation; go to a store and buy an M12, go back to the dealership and insert M12 into supposed M10 only hole...
Ordered some new wheels to replace the ITP that didn't fit. I went with the same model tires. They may get here by weeks end. I received the new plug wires in the mail and installed those today. I cranked the engine over after the tune up and it idled great. I then noticed fluid dripping and quickly shut off the engine. Seems the prior owner didn't install a hose clamp on the carb for the fuel line delivery, I need to fix that tomorrow. The seats are done and will be picked up tomorrow. l will post some photos of the finished interior tomorrow once everything is installed. I picked up some Monroe 31000 shocks for the rear. There seems to be some fabbing required as the width for the mounting points on the shocks are wider than the stock shock.
In the middle picture titled new cap, that little orange thing with the vacuum line.. Can you tell me where that vacuum line goes? On my 93 its there but i dont see a vacuum line running to it. What is that thing anyway? thanks in advance
I think it is a ROLL-OVER safty switch, and on my 1993 carry, the vacuum line goes to a vacuum niple on the intake Manifold
Pou is probably correct as I have not sourced where that line runs. I will look this afternoon when I start working on reinstalling the seats and interior. I am very new to the Carry only owned it for a few weeks.
Installed the missing metal strap on the fuel line to the carb. When removing the rear bolt I noticed it was stripped and had been replaced with a standard instead of a metric. I will be trying a heli coil fix this evening so I can reuse the stock bolts. I will update if it holds but I'm confident as I've installed 10+ on my 35HP mower. I'm hoping I will not have to remove the carb completely. I started another thread on that subject and will post some photos of the repair. My idle soared back up so looks like I will be reading the Desperately Need Tuning Help thread over & over until I understand what is all going on. The upholstered seats & interior pieces were picked up yesterday having never been touched! I was furious with the guy and took it over to another shop near my house. I also have a locksmith coming out today to make me a key for the exterior door locks, my key starts the ignition but does not unlock the doors. I sent back the tires & rims yesterday, flagged down the friendly UPS guy. So, the newly ordered tires and rims should be to me by early next week along with a 2" receiver hitch for the rear which will allow me to tow a small trailer of decoys to the fields. I went with the STI HD2 on the Maxxis Ceros, basically the same tires but different rims that actually FIT!
