Dave's (Bits4Vits) Jimny 'laner Build...

[Sparks]

I do like the tubular design of those, cant wait to see them powder coated, are you going with black or silver to blend in with the trim? Also do you weld these to the chassis rail?

[jimny-dave]

Satin black like the tree bars... easy to touch up with Smoothrite paint ;)

Yes, powdercoated and then grind it off the plate edges to weld to chassis and then recover with Tetrosyl chassis tar paint...

[jimnymatt]

looks awesome. My next mod will the the castor correction arms as mine drives like poo on the road.
Just out of interest what benefit in there from fitting the adjustable panhard rod as apposed to just a standard one?

[jimny-dave]

Just out of interest what benefit in there from fitting the adjustable panhard rod as apposed to just a standard one?

The panhard rod needs lengthening as the Jimny gets lifted otherwise it will pull the axle to one side as it effectively shortens as the car goes up (Pythagurus' theorum of triangles)

[jimny-dave]

Sill protectors went on recently...



Chassis ground back to bare metal...



And then G-clamped in position and then MIG'ed up...



I also added some ally chequer plate between the front two roof rail tubes to stop it howling when doing over 45mph!



Sidebars and roof rails windy spoiler on...

Almost "finished"... not that they are ever finished?!

Onto the next project then?... ;)

[towsey]

dave shes a honey I must say and congrats on another good build and in depth write up

but I have to ask you...have you fallen out with vitaras or did you just fancy a change

towsey

[jimny-dave]

In all honesty...

I 'laned with a group of 4 Jimnys, and really fancied one...

The other guys said I already had one... the blue one I had as a daily driver, so I bought myself a red NGV SWB diesel (as it has a low box) and lifted it... as you do -







And that left me free to mod the Jimny up to it's current spec'

So I've (gulp) upgraded to a Jimmy... and have never looked back?!

- Post below merged at Mon Mar 30, 2015 11:24 pm - Please edit rather than double posting within 1 hour of last post - Admin -

The Jimny is, I believe, the culmination of twenty years experience of modifying Suzukis, and is the right balance of on-road / off-road capability...

On-road the 235/75/15s and the Rockwatt rocklobster box make the onroad gearing right, the speedo is right, and it keeps up with traffic on A-roads and motorways, doing 70mph at a little over 4,000rpm in fifth. With the JimnyBits ARB-disconnect bolted up, the AVO shocks adjusted, and the diffs 'open' due to the ARB airlocker in the back and the vacuum hubs still fitted on the front, it's got as-normal handling as a 4" lifted Jimny can have...

Off-road though, and it's just a matter of disconnecting the ARB (anti roll bar) and then driving to the 'lanes we're going to do, and then - with out having to get out all the time - I flick one switch to get the compressor running, and then another switch to lock the rear diff... then, when I select 4x4 high or low on the Rockwatt Rocklobster transfer box, that causes the vacuum hubs to suck onto the Rob Storr 26 spline shafts and HD CVs, and that in turn then brings the front LSD into play...

I then have more traction options from within the cab, I can select 2wd-low and have it in rear wheel drive low ratio with either the rear diff locked or open, or, I can have the rear diff open and have the front LSD working, useful in tight cornering offroad...

Then, there's the front and rear winches, both controllable from my bucket seat -



The yellow aircraft switches are winch isolators that have to be 'on' before the in/out switches will function... they are also isolated under the bonnet with winch/battery switches from the Odyssey PC1200 winch battery running of a T-Max split charge system to the main Bosch engine battery...

So it's probably now at a better spec' than even the Superzuki Vitara was at?!

[towsey]

fair enough, it looks like you've done your turn with vitaras over the years and shes obviously logically thought out and a very usefull thing!

we have a couple of jimnys cum out with us sometimes and I quite liked the idea of one for a while until the day I said "rite cum on then lets be having a go in this thing then". well my mate that was in the passenger seat is quite broard across the shoulders (gordy who runs 4xforce) and I aint no runner bean and, now were on runner beans, that's about all you could of got between us haha which sort of put me off a bit.

and they seem to be not quite as reliable as a vit goin on my mates experience of them. but that said he is about as rough as they cum and managed to get the little thing in all sorts of places, including plentyfull portions of places that landies could not get so with these things in mind, I still like the little things

towsey

[jimny-dave]

Up to date photo -



Now running 31"x10.5"s Maxxis Trepadors, with a 4.87:1 low and 1.63:1 high Rockwatt transfer box to get the gearing right on and off-road... Crawls offroad, and 'chases Audis' on the motorways!

It is, i'm afraid to say, a lot more reliable than the numerous Vitaras I've had in the passed, albeit as it IS more regularly maintained... but with an ARB air-locker in the back and the old Vitara LSD in the front with Rob Storr's 26 spline HD shafts and CVs, it has... touch wood... never really let me down

[jimny-dave]

image.jpg

Fitted a 'return-to-centre' (sang in an Elvis voice) steering damper this morning, normally destined for a Land Rover Discovery 1 or a Range Rover Classic, but already having a similar one fitted but without the soring...

it was indeed a tight fit and only just does...

the steering feels very 'positive' now though, and I'm hoping it will help with the inevitable Jimny DEATH WOBBLEs

[jimny-dave]

Better update this...

That return-to-centre (sprung) steering damper never worked out, so I went back to a normal one... ;)

I'm still greenlaning regularly with Brett (Maverick) at least once a month -



And some of the rest of "our little group" (12 members) when they are available...

I've recently fitted some new springs after researching back on here as it happens into what some of you were running on Vitaras -



And that has restored the 4" lift I'm running -



So S200KYS is nice and tall again now -



We're out on the 27th for our annual Christmas 'laning trip, and then out "down your way" Shropshire on the 28/01/18 as my 'laning buddy Alan who has now been coming with me for 3 years / 40 trips has never done the Shropshire run yet...

Since closing the original Bits4Vits store - a new simplified store is up though we now post our blogs here -

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