We had abandoned our trip to the TV4x4 Club day at Speen due to a horrible grinding noise that could be heard and felt through the brake pedal. The usual reason for this is the front pads are worn. So here is a simple guide to this straight forward job.

Fitting the spare tyre on the outside of the car meant I have to move the number plate and the number plate lights. Bad move! - it turns out that the wiring at the rear of the car is dreadful. The wiring is domestic mains cable (huge amounts of it with the spare cable coiled inside the rear door) passing through the rear door rubbers into the car. The wires are joined into the loom with spade connectors protected by Duct Tape and cable tied along the bumper. The water/mud has got into the connections and its all a complete mess and completely rotted out.

One thing I loved about the Sj was its all round disc brake conversion. This meant that I no longer had to mess around cleaning out brake drums.

When I first purchased the Jimny it had a problem where the 4wd switch did not appear to work. This switch is located on the Transfer Box and tells the Computer that 4 wheel drive has been selected which then vacuum locks the front wheel hubs.

Well it had to happen but it was a surprise for it to happen on the first time out on a gentle greenlaning trip on a sunny Sunday afternoon. None of the lanes are difficult, in fact they are all loosely surfaced and easily driven apart from a view scratchy bits.

When we got home James had a quick walk around the back of the car and saw.....