Sand rat

Location wise, 98.3% of my off road driving will consist of sand. Previous cars I've had out here haven't been short of power, so I ran either aggressive AT's or MT's

Red rocket/radio flyer (still can't decide on a name yet) will be set up as more of a mini overland truck, something that allows me to get out into the desert over the weekend where I can chill out by a fire with a nice bottle of scotch, my dog, and whatever can I decide to bring for food.

Current direction:
2" suspension lift- done
Steering stabilizer - done
2"body lift - not yet, but ordering this week
Spacers/large offset rims - done 15x7 +45mm total
High clearance front bumper - done
Awning - done
Drawer - will knock up this weekend
Under roof high storage - will play with it this weekend
Dog barrier - will bolt between the drawer and roof box
275/70 r15 ish tires - once drive train mods are done the wider and softer, the better
Kaiser front and rear lockers - ordering this week

Now the tricky part,
# Do I keep the 27k m13aa motor currently in there and go for the jimnybits hi/low reduction box, or do I keep a lookout for an m15a/m16a and keep stock gearing
# Load index requirements on the tires are pretty low compared to most 4x4s. I realise that load index and a soft sidewall don't necessarily always go hand in hand, but for maximum flotation on sand I need the soft sidewall. Has anyone come across a lovely soft sidewalled tyre? Preferably in HT or even passenger car tread. AT's tend to be a little too diggy for low powered cars on the soft stuff
# desert runs so far have shown she is happiest in low range, gears 2, 3, and 4
# finally, speed limits out here top out at 140km/h, while I don't need to hit that speed, I'd prefer not to be a speed bump in traffic, she currently is comfortable at 110, I'd like to keep that capability at least

Shiny side up

Engine every time! i have a swift 1.6 vvt and it worked very well with the standard 2007 drivetrain using 235/75r15 tyres (29.3" diameter).

Now its all different for green lanes, but will still sit happily enough at 60mph (just under 100kph). it will do 80 but is screaming on the revs and drinks fuel.

The bigger engine makes it much more useable, as said above. if taking it easy its no worse on fuel than many standard jimnys. Aerodynamics are bad so things like a roof rack/tent really drag it down.

I"ve driven lock rites, and air lockers in the front on sand, and they both suck when engaged, reading up on the tech and speaking to people running Kaisers in the front, I'm comfortable rolling the dice as they allow over run but won't let any wheel spin slower than the ring.

I've gone with the rear only for now, along with the 2" lift to give me a range of tyres up to 30" ish.

Speaking to a couple of local tuner guys, on the slow hunt for a swift sport half cut for the doner engine, but the beating my bank balance has taken in the last week means it might be a slow search



At 30p a litre, I'm not really fussed about fuel economy.

Lock rites and kaisers operate in the same manner, although use slightly different mechanisms to achieve it. If you've had problems with one don't expect the other to be any better.

Interested why you think so.

Lock rites use an elliptical cam arrangement to force teeth to lock whenever speeds between the driveline and diffs are different (under acceleration or engine braking.

Kaiser, even when locked will allow a wheel to freewheel, as long as it does not turn slower than the driven wheel

Wokka wrote: Interested why you think so.

Lock rites use an elliptical cam arrangement to force teeth to lock whenever speeds between the driveline and diffs are different (under acceleration or engine braking.

Kaiser, even when locked will allow a wheel to freewheel, as long as it does not turn slower than the driven wheel

Both drive the slowest wheel and allow the faster wheel to freewheel. A properly setup lockright does not lock both wheels under acceleration. As one wheel turns faster, pressure is taken off that side gear allowing the teeth to overrun (characteristic click click noise when turning).

It might be that Kaiser diffs are easier to setup and more reliable in their operation, but in a perfect world both would perform exactly the same.

The problem with any mechanical locking diff is they always send all the torque to the slowest wheel, massively increasing the chance of it slipping and therefore the diff locking. Basically they remove all the benefits of an open diff (equal torque distribution regardless of wheel speeds.) An LSD is a much better compromise as it divides torque equally like an open diff until it sees a big difference in wheel speeds. But you have to do some custom engineering to get one in a jimny.

I've run front and rear lock rites before, installed with correct foreplay etc. They (for me at least) only ratchet when off power.

I don't doubt your experience as that seems to be how most people find them, but it certainly isn't how they should perform. If you think about how the pin and ramp arrangement works it's hard to imagine how it could lock both wheels when turning under power, as one will always be turning faster therefore the pin will not be pushing 'up' the ramp on that side to engage the teeth.

No worries.

I'm going to drive some stakes into soft sand to mark the current open diff turning circle on sand, then try it with the lockers installed to see if there is any push