Gen4 offroad modification

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wrote:

I’ve removed it and I don’t have any problems with 3 inch lift, but again for me it’s matter of taste, definitely there is no major issues without anti roll bar. So to understand whether you need it or not, just disable it, and have a ride for a week or two. this will give you all answers (remove/install quite easy)

Just my experience, you're going to get into the car and you going to drive it like a Grandma (or Grandpa), and never notice the difference, try a quick right-left-right-left swerve and see what happens...

When would you ever need to do this in a normal scenario?

You're driving down a residential street, there are cars parked on either side, a foot ball comes bouncing out in between cars with a kid in hot pursuit, if you're in the UK, let's say the ball and the kid come from your left, you're going to instinctively swerve right and step on the brake, you now need to straighten out before you hit the parked car on your right, so you're swerving left now - hopefully you weren't going too fast.

With the stabilizer fitted you have a chance of staying on all four wheels, with it removed, you're going over - the combination of the spring rebound from the first swerve adds to the body roll from the second swerve. - I was lucky, you may not be - I almost put my family under a truck.

I've had the stabilizer bar off of other vehicles since then, I have an idea of what to expect, the slight increase in body roll, not too bad, but bad enough that the inside rear wheel looses traction easily, and for most day to day usage, you'll be fine, but that one unexpected moment is what can end up being fatal.

Your choice.

I’m not sure this is an accurate reflection of the physics involved.

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Thanks to you as well 300bhpton
so I understand that since there are no real testimonies of people who have removed it, the only thing to do is to remove it and try....
Giacomo

Any photos of your Jimny? How does it sit with that lift and wheel size?

As for the anti-roll bars, nope not run the Jimny without them. But I have experience in the Land Rover world. And fundamentally the vehicles are not so different with live axles front and rear.

They will lean more in the corners and feel less sharp on turn in due to the more movement, i.e. it'll feel more truck like as you enter a corner. All of this is very easy to get used too however. If the lean is excessive you will need to consider some different shocks. Stiffer shocks will reduce lean and twin tube shocks generally work better again. A friend has a Defender 90 that he fitted a roof tent too. No anti roll bars and it leaned too much, a shock swap solved it and allowed it to remain without anti-roll bars.

The biggest place you'll notice the lack of anti-roll bars is if you are following someone on a twisty road, tight twisty as opposed to open high speed. A vehicle with anti-roll bars will change direction quicker and be more pleasant for the occupants at speed. Discovery 1's were sold both with and without anti roll bars depending on spec/year. Mine had non, but I couldn't keep pace following a Disco 2 on Welsh mountain roads, which wasn't power related. They just could take the corners better.

I also don't think you'll lift a rear wheel. More likely to lift a front wheel, but you would have to try very hard.

The only other thing that springs to mind is. Have you got a rear anti roll bar too? You may need to experiment with if it drives better or worse with or without. Handling is a balance of the front/rear suspension setups and altering the balance may have a more pronounced effect on handling.

Modified gen 3 years without one 
Soft suspension massive body roll 
If you drive accordingly no issue 
Very good articulation 
I would say remove and try it out if you don't like it re fit it 

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I also don't think you'll lift a rear wheel. More likely to lift a front wheel, but you would have to try very hard.


 

Please be reminded that the Jimny is "nose heavy".  On a flat asphalt surface with the stock suspension and wider tires I can get mine to lift a rear wheel enough to break traction.

I'm sorry, you are saying you have driven your Jimny so hard on a flat public road as to have the suspension flex hard enough that continued application of power has resulted in wheel spin? One I worry for the safety of those around you and two is your esp/traction control working correctly? The one and only bit of road I have ever been able to force a Jimny to spin a wheel on is a particular section of a very steep and tight hairpin turn where the elevation change in the road surface is enough to have most normal cars on 3 wheels and is locally notorious for catching the unwary.

I've done exactly that and it doesn't take very much to do it, it's also not a matter of driving "hard" enough - we may have "tighter turns" that you do, but here, pulling away from an intersection and turning at the same time is all you need to break traction in a Jimny - you can do it at less than 10 mph - the same holds true for any short wheel base RWD vehicle.

As for the traction control working correctly, you need to remember the traction control does not activate until the wheel spins - it's reactive not proactive.

I grew up in the days of rear wheel drive cars with cart springs, traction control wasn't a thing, and I had to learn to "moderate" my right foot to keep the car pointed in the right direction. I also learned at an early age how to "opposite lock" my way out of a slide, skills that have both been lost with today's ubiquitous front wheel drive vehicles.

The "electronic nannies" may have made the world a safer place, but they have also made for a generation of less capable drivers.