What could be more harmless than an afternoons Green Laning on a warm October afternoon, partcularly as all the local lanes have been surfaced?

Well all except one and we went alone and we got seriously stuck!  This tiny lane http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?G2M?X=470345&Y=165350&A=Y&Z=3 which is only a few hundred yards long has a "wet" section on a 90 degree bend - a wet section that hid a mud pit. We drove in thinking it was just a wet part of the track, lulled into a false sense of security by the simple surfaced lanes we had been along.

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 of the problems of fitting large tyres is the one of where to fit the spare tyre. The standard mount will not take large tyres as they foul the bumper and obscure the standard number plate fittings.

When I got the Jimny the previous owner had taken the easy way out and thrown the spare tyre into the rear of the car. This just takes up space and creates a hazard inside the cabin.

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.