Buying a gen3 for green laning

Water is fine as long as you accept that it comes hand in hand with increased maintenance requirements. Dirty water or liquid mud is essentially grinding paste and is going to destroy seals and bearings, it also dries out on radiators and reduces cooling factor. Clean river water is hardly any better and without breathers will contaminate oils and fuel if you are that deep and unfortunately one of the most susceptible components on a jimny is also the most difficult to protect being the kingpin bearings on the front axle, their outer seal is really only to keep large rocks and nuggets out of the swivel housing even when the seal surface is new but water still gets in and sits in the bottom bearing and kills them. On a road jimny it might take a few years but on a off road jimny it can take months or less if the seal surface is pitted. It's why I don't like getting my rims wet, 5 inches of water is plenty for me.

As for the similarly capable alternatives to a jimny all the live axle land rover products drive too much like a waggon and have similarly wonderful fuel consumption and the independent suspension ones are really too complicated to own without a comprehensive warranty to back them up. As for jeep, I can get a flock of sheep to change direction in a more convincing manner, the steering is just generally vague and it seems to be universal having driven live and ifs cherokees and various versions of wrangler in different stages of modification. As for the big Japanese stuff I have a prado cruiser and yes it's capable but it's also huge, you feel more like you are crushing the terrain beneath it than navigating through it, I'd almost say you feel isolated from the experience it's kinda a bit boring. I would level the same accusation in the direction of the shogun too. As for a pickup they are all capable of doing a green lane but they are so long and awkward that it takes the fun out of it having to concentrate all the time on what the back end is doing or if the middle is about to grind a crest or ledge. I'm not saying that a jimny is perfect or unstoppable because they are definitely not but you can pick a different line to everything else and get every bit as far or further. And then there is the party trick that only a jimny or a side by side buggy can do which is floating on top of the soft terrain rather than disappearing into it.

nutter2 wrote:

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

The diff breathers are straight forward to do and there are a few kits available, more for the Gen3 than a Gen4.  When you remove the  old valves you then have to either clamp the hose fitting or tap and put a fitting in.  I didn’t fancy tapping mine so bought a Des Sol breather kit from South Africa which has some very nice clamp fittings, but it wasn’t cheap at about £100, but then shipping, import duty and VAT took the total up to £150.  The diffs are straight forward to do, the transfer case on the Gen3 has two breathers, one is hard to reach and you might need to drop the TC to do the job.

If you are going through water more than 1ft on a regular basis to the point of needing breathers you probably do want a snorkel, as one day it will be deep enough to go in the intake and then it’s game over.

As for ground clearance, Lambert is right, you can pick your own line and straddle the rutted tracks, just don’t drop a wheel in otherwise you will get stuck.  You might want to think about some under body armour, radius arm protectors (they hang down low and are easily bent) and a transfer case protector would be a good investment, if you bash that on a rock it will be expensive.  I also fitted front and rear diff protectors to mine, but not for the lanes, I take mine to a trial at a local club and regularly run out of ground clearance there, but diff protectors, especially a rear one aren’t really needed for lanes.

The one thing that has been mentioned by everyone is give it a really good try in standard condition first and see the limitations, then do the mods one at a time.  Try to go out with another vehicle preferably with someone who knows the lanes and you can then build up your experience with the Jimny.

Robin

nutter2 wrote:

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

vitmods.co.uk/shop/ols/products/suzuki-j...gearbox-breather-kit

Easy to fit yourself really. And yes, you'll want this if laning in Wales, often lots of water about.

Lambert wrote:

As for jeep, I can get a flock of sheep to change direction in a more convincing manner, the steering is just generally vague and it seems to be universal having driven live and ifs cherokees and various versions of wrangler in different stages of modification.

The ones I've driven all drove and handled great. Certainly no worse than a Jimny or Defender.

At an event a number of years back.

 

 

DrRobin wrote:

As for ground clearance, Lambert is right, you can pick your own line and straddle the rutted tracks
Robin

I'd say this very much depends, there are lots of lanes where you get very little choice on where you can drive and end up having to follow the ruts.

e.g.

 
 
 
 

All the above are Welsh lanes.