This mini-articulated was built in a 20x30 shop with a bandsaw,MIG welder,big Pratt Whitney lathe and a couple cases of beer,no real design just looked at lot of machines and took mental notes.
I WOULD NOT use the Samurai axles, even if you have them,you'd be better off to sell them and use the Chevy/GM 3/4T '14bolt Corporate' rear axles. they are bulletproof.easy to find axle shafts for..the Dana 44 ScoutII axles I have broken the axle shafts multiple times when I had a locker in the rear axle..the articulating action of the frame steer drags the back axle around and the torque on the axle was too great for the shafts..When I broke the axle shafts then the outboard wheel bearing quickly gets destroyed along with the seals..after repairing it multiple times I took the locker out of the back axle and went back to limited slip. not as effective tractionwise but still gets it done. My only regret was not using the full floater GM 14bolt axles.
The Scout axle shafts themselves I started welding with MIG ER70-S6 wire(70KPSI) and then went to using old 100KPSI stick rods with the flux scraped off,used DC TIG process at around 220amps to weld them and finally got them to hold up..no post weld stress relief either..weld it up and run it LOL..least to say I bought a pile of the axle shafts when I could find them so I still have 4-5 in stock in storage for a rainy day..old stuff gets harder and harder to find..as you'll see the Samurai transfer cases are fetching about $750 now from what I see, i got mine for $75 along with the driveshafts too back in 2015. Most of the Suzuki transfer cases need a shifter bushing upgrade,the stock ones go bad and lock up the transfer case then..easy to find and install that.
The joysticks are hand fabbed,using some 1/4"rod end joints..I think they are profiled on the MBN pages somewhere..the steer valve is a Prince 1/2flow standard 4way open center valve, but has a power beyond plug fitted to allow flow to the loader valve downstream of it..stops flow to the loader when steering but once you get the hang of running the machine its negligable..left joystick is steer/propel-for/rev and the right valve is a 3-spool valve for the loader. The propel valve is a standard Prince monoblock 4-way cylinder valve,it stops the hydraulic motor pretty abruptly when you let off of it,but once you get the hang of running the machine you learn to let off slow..I didnt build in brakes as the valve holds the hyd motor in place without them..risky yes,kinda ghetto but its worked well for about 15yrs now
