Shockers

Yep, i needed a pair of rear springs, thought it was worth asking, £250 ... i know where he has them made, i can have them custom made to my own spec and have a full set for that...

I've inherited some of his 'Twister' radius arms, there was that much play in the twister bits that i welded them up and it now drives so much better on the road, and flexes just the same. they'll be the first bits to get binned when i can afford some pukka DG tuning ones. I'll cut them to bits and post them back to him for a laugh, believe me I wont be selling them on, theyre dangerous, very strong, but no castor correction, bushes way too soft for road use....

Gary

Im suprised, I have nothign but praise for KAP and Darren.

Ive used him in the past for the whole lift kit, the re-enforced TX mounts, Towbar ... Plus other odds and ends. Always found him helpful to the extreme.
Price wise ... Never had a cause to grumble, and the parts supplied have been durable (ok, one ProCompE3000 is leaking after 9 months use, but given the abuse its received, Im not going to blame that on him as I drive the vehicle.
Interesting to hear the comments on Bushes though as thats on the list of this summers work to be done.
Caster correction is also on the list of things to do.

I agree i have had no probs with the gear i have got from kap and found the prices ok but then i dont just use kap for all my gear i think the idea is to do your homework and take note of the good advice that we find on this wonderfull forum and then go out there and take your chance

When i bought my first Jimny i rang him up for some prices on some bits, i had a stanard new jimny and £1800 left to spend on winch/bumper/wheels/tyres/suspension (I'd sold my SJ and my road car) Darren told me i didnt need Castor correction, he also told me i needed his stronger transfer box mounts. Now, I'm a time served engineer, i knew i needed to correct my castor, and i was already looking at a Rob Storr T case conversion, so no point spending money on strong mounts for the original transfer case is there. So, £1800 on the tablele, what does Darren do? swears at me, tells me I'm wrong, and slams the phone down. I presumed it was a bad day and rang back a few days later, he was quiet , told me i needed his transfer box mounts, and then put the phone down again.
Now, 4 jimnys ive had, 3 of them have ended up with Rob Storr lobster boxes and fitting kits, 2 of them i drove and hammered off roadfor a while on the standard transfer box mounts and never broke any. Ive had several lift kits, and always needed castor correction.
TBH i think Darren sells stuff for triallers, you dont need castor correction for trialling necessarily, but ive found him rude and unhelpful, especially as i was looking to spend so much with what i thought at the time was the 'jimny specialist' Since then Ive been out and found the people to do business with, Rob Storr for his amazing quality and excellent engineering solutions, if not his delivery times and prices, and DG tuning in Belgium, who despite being foreign have been a great help. ive also had good service from Devon 4x4, obviously here at Martins site, and if you want any custom springs making contact www.springcoil.co.uk , not cheap, but you can just say 'jimny std rate, +4"' or so lol, takes a few weeks for them to get made and go through the process, they used to make all of Pro comps springs - who supplied KAP anyway.
Gary

Interesting to know ... I do have KAP TX mounts ... but then I do tend to give the underside a lot of abuse on rough trails and the Plain ...

Very interested in knowing about the springs ... I suppose I should have a chat to Rino Ray (although he never returns my emails and phone calls) about some of his stuff as he is the closest to me

I Dont have a budget, but I would rather not spend silly money unless I can justify it. I always pay cash and always thank good work if its being done over and above with a crate or Beer or whatever. Its not that Im not capable, its just that I dont have the time to plan and do things myself.

But I think looking forward, reduced gearing is an area to explore

I'm not saying people dont break transfer box mounts, but ive never known anyone to break any, but i dont know anyone that trials a jimny.
I presume that reduced gearing isnt needed in trials as Darren doesnt seem to sell lobster fitting kits, but its by far the best thing you can do to a jimny after fitting bigger tyres, the difference is amazing, plus a lockright in the rear axle makes it near unstoppable. I do greenlaning only, OK i do some pretty severe laning, but nothing stops me, i did Chapel Gate and Roych Clough without getting the winch out with a few inches of snow on the ground before christmas, the next car along the lane was a discovery and was stuck there for a week and a half. nuff said.

Gary