Buying a gen3 for green laning

Thanks so a decent set of tyres will be good enough . Will I be able to fit to standard wheels or is there a popular wheel tyre upgrade to consider. 

Im leaning toward getting a jimny thats pived in the city and has been looked after and slowly modify it as I need 

A decent set of tyres is what I would start with. Depending on what is fitted when you get your Jimny you might want to give those a thorough try first, as Lambert says he used road based tyres for a number of years and that was on a hill farm.

If you want to go for some ATs you can find these at all sorts of prices and tread patterns that vary from what they used to call ‘town & country’ to something more like a mud tyre.

As standard a Gen 3 has 205/70r15 and you can go up to 215/75r15 without a lift or bumper trimming, that gives you loads of choice.

215/75r15 certainly look the part, a bit more ‘BigJimny’ but do weigh a fair bit more and add 5% to wheel diameter. This does make the speedo read 5% less but they usually over read by 5-10%.

Bigger tyres also suck a bit more power and make top gear harder to hold on the hills, plus you will notice a drop in fuel economy, both not a problem for low speed on the lanes.

You won’t need a snorkel, the air box is quite high, just under the bonnet at about 2 foot, but the diff and transfer case breathers are only about 1 foot, although they do have valves. Realistically you should be avoiding water over the axles and certainly anywhere near the bonnet as it is likely to end in tears.

The best advice about water, is don’t go through, but if you really must, go through at a steady (slow) pace in 4WD to avoid a bow wave and don’t stall. If it looks too deep, reverse back out. Also take your seatbelt off and wind the window down so you can get out in a hurry if needed.

I have only ever been through water more than a big puddle on organised tours when the lead vehicle went through first and made sure it was safe for everyone in the group.

Good luck finding your Jimny, they are out there, but prices have gone a bit silly in recent years.

Robin

nutter2 wrote:

Thanks so a decent set of tyres will be good enough . Will I be able to fit to standard wheels or is there a popular wheel tyre upgrade to consider. 

Im leaning toward getting a jimny thats pived in the city and has been looked after and slowly modify it as I need 

It really depends on what sort of lanes you do, if you go with anyone and how experienced you are at off roading.

A Jimny is a fine vehicle, small and nimble. But in stock form they lack suspension flex and ground clearance. This isn't to say they are't capable still. But an obstacle that say a Defender 90 might breeze over, could stop a Jimny.

Overall you should be fine in a mostly stock vehicle. But deep ruts/tram lines could leave you beached and with open axle diffs, no traction control and limited suspension flex, it is possible to get cross axled and stopped.

Likewise with tyres, when it is dry out, road tyres can work well, although always at more risk of getting a puncture. But when slippery out you can quickly go from ok to spinning all 4 wheels and going nowhere. Just in the way you might slip over in mud in smooth soled office shoes vs wearing proper walking boots.

There is also nothing like experience too. And the driver can count for a lot, but even capable experienced drivers can still end up stuck and sometimes you just can't defeat physics.

On the flip side, badly modified vehicles can often perform worse off road than a standard one. So a good starting place is stock and change things as you find the limitations.

I'm clearly a Jimny fan being on this site and for years wanted a Gen 3, although my first ownership experience is my Gen 4. I would say however, at £3k or the lower end of the market you might want to consider some other vehicles too, depending on if you plan to daily it or do longer journeys or not. A Jeep Cherokee or Mitsubishi Shogun would be worth a look. You could even pick up a TJ Wrangler for a bit over £5k with a bit of searching.

And anyone in the UK should also weigh up if a Land Rover is suitable for your needs or not. As there is a huge amount of choice of vehicles for sales and lots and lots of parts and mods and masses of experience.

Certainly not trying to turn you away from a Jimny, if you want small, lightweight and capable, they are a great choice. But there are other great choices out there as well.

I went over the top modifying my gen 3's but for what you want a good set of off-road AT standard size tyres or 215's and I'd go for a limited slip diff, there's not much more you really need then that, maybe diff breathers.
throw in some traction boards and recovery straps and you should be OK.
id definitely put good rubber on it, but hold off on the diffs and breathers until you see if you will actually use them.
remember the jimny advantage is being light weight and being able to go other places and take other lines then bigger vehicles.
You don't have to always follow other vehicles wheel tracks, the jimny can make its own.

Great thanks guys for the helpful comments,
It won't be a daily just a weekend toy really I am
Concerned about the water wading though , are diff breathers an easy install ? I would plan on crossing a few ford's tbh and water splashes along the way so maybe best I look to get these installed

Pretty simple to install yourself, pretty cheap too. But it's great insurance if your going to be crossing a creeks reasonably often, you can just stop and let everything cool down, but that takes a lot of time so the diff breathers are a brilliant option if your going to cross water a bit.