Suspension advice.

Hello!

This is my first post in the forum, so I guess I can introduce myself before asking tons of questions. Name is Alberto, I recently moved to Queensland, Australia, and I got a Jimny 4 GLX to explore the continent a bit and do the daily chores. The Jimny is my only vehicle, but since we are just my partner and me, it is totally OK. We only use the front seats and use the rear as cargo bay.

At the moment I only have installed radius arms protectors, a bash plate for the transfer case, a frontal underbody bash plate, and differential protectors, just to cover the most vulnerable parts. On top of this I would like to add some recovery points, all terrain tyres, and a roof rack. Finally, I would like to upgrade the suspension, so I can load our camping stuff on the little guy and have a bit more clearance. I find the stock suspension very soft and bouncy, so I was thinking to do this next.

Regarding the lifting, I was thinking that no matter how much I lift the vehicle the differentials and axles will be always the same until I change the tyres. Therefore, I was considering something really mild, around 20mm. My current shopping list is:

- H&R springs, 20mm lift.
- Koni Heavy Track 4x4 Shock absorbers.
- Hardrace Front Sway Bar/Anti Roll Bar – 30 mm
- Tough Dog ABS Relocation kit
- Tough Dog Extended Braided Brake Line Kit
- SuperPro Front Lower Crossmember Brace
- SuperPro polyurethane caster increase bushes (8 in total, for both axles)
- HardRace Healight Leveling Bracket.
-  And since I need to change the brake fluid, something decent that is DOT 4 or 5.1. 

Alternatively, I was considering mounting the same but replacing the Konis with raised Height Bilstein B6 shock absorbers and the H&R 40mm springs. However, I feel that the car is going to be better behaved with less lifting and the Konis.

How does this sound in your opinion?  Should I add something else? Maybe remove something? My idea is to get a no-nonsense setup, but I would like everything properly designed and to consider all the details. I prefer not to spare money at this point, since it is a new car and I am going to use it for many years.

Thanks!

If you are only lifting it 20mm, you don't need anything except the springs and shocks. 
The rest is just a waste of money. If you lift it 50mm then you need most of that stuff.

If there will only be the two of you and you will only use the back seats for cargo, consider removing them and fitting something that will be of more use to you such as a box system or a plain cargo system such as is fitted in the LCV Jimny. You can save a wee bit more weight if you also remove the rear seat belts although you will need a couple of resistors in the belt wiring loom to stop the warning light on the dash from coming on. Also remember that the roof loading is 30kg total (from memory) and that includes the rack.

Roger

Hi and welcome.

If you are only lifting 20mm, you probably don't need most of the other bits unless the shocks you are choosing are long enough to give you more droop.

The Jimny has a relatively low gvw, so it does limit how much you can carry. I know this is more of an issue in Oz. Some suspension kits like the Ironman4x4 one can give you an official increase in payload, which you might find useful.

But it depends what you intend to do. The stock Jimny isn't bad off road, but it can be massively improved. More flexy suspension will make it more stable and rely less on the traction control. But they also suffer ground clearance.

Ground clearance seems to cause confusion to many people. It isn't just the clearance under the diff. You have ground clearance with anything that is above ground. The diff is just your minimum clearance, due to the axle design having the diff at the lowest point. Not all vehicles are designed this way.

In general the Jimny lacks ground clearance under the transfer box, the radius arm mounts, the front bumper and some other places. So lifting can bring benefits in ground clearance in general. However if all you plan to do is drive gravel tracks, clearance will not be an issue anyway. But you probably don't need the under body skids and armour you have either. If you plan to tackle more technical terrain, a lift IMO would be very worth wile to increase clearance on all the other bits that easily hit the ground.

wrote:

Hello!

How does this sound in your opinion?  Should I add something else? Maybe remove something? My idea is to get a no-nonsense setup, but I would like everything properly designed and to consider all the details. I prefer not to spare money at this point, since it is a new car and I am going to use it for many years.

Thanks!

If this is your first foray into the off road world, rather than cobble something together on your own, I would suggest you have a look at the Old Man Emu suspension offerings, you can get yourself a suspension system designed & engineered to work together and complement each other, trust me when I say the advantage of having shocks/struts valved to work with the springs makes for one heck of an improvement in ride quality.  I've walked the "off road suspension upgrade path" both ways, and unless you have the experience to make your own choices, getting a "package" from someone who knows what they are about is going to serve you better than your attempt to "pick & choose" based on recommendations from strangers (and that includes me).

I don't recommend polyurethane bushings for off road use - let me rephrase that - I recommend you don't use polyurethane bushings for off road use, and you also don't want upgraded sway bars, they will limit articulation.  Caster correction (increase) bushes are totally unnecessary at the rear, caster is a steering function (it's related to the angle of the kingpin axis), and there are no kingpins on the rear axle because it doesn't steer, at least not a stock Jimny.

In terms of ground clearance, the best thing you can do is ditch the differential guards. The diffs are the strongest part of the car. They don't need protection and the guards reduce clearance, increasing your chance of getting stuck quite significantly. A transfer case guard is the only underbody protection I'd bother with, and then only if you're straying well off the beaten track.

I'd say that might depend on the terrain. In the UK there is less need for diff guards, but in some parts of Australia it is quite rocky and you stand more chance of damaging the diff pans.

I've worked and travelled around a fair bit of Australia. Initially in a Volvo 740 which was great, very comfy on dirt roads and proved quite robust. Then in a Nissan Patrol which was obviously fine but a bit less fun. My overall impression was there really aren't that many places you couldn't take a standard Jimny. Yes there are some tough rocky tracks if you go looking for them, but in terms of getting about, travelling and being able to get to where you need to go then essentially all the roads are passable in a standard 4x4.

Thank you for all the advice! I am currently travelling, so I won't be able to properly reply until tomorrow or the day after, but all your help is greatly appreciated! 

wrote:

In terms of ground clearance, the best thing you can do is ditch the differential guards. The diffs are the strongest part of the car. They don't need protection and the guards reduce clearance, increasing your chance of getting stuck quite significantly. A transfer case guard is the only underbody protection I'd bother with, and then only if you're straying well off the beaten track.

Let's be realistic here, how much ground clearance is a sheet metal differential guard going to cost you?  Three or four mm?  The "outer" portion of the differential housing IS strong, there's no arguing that, you can jack the vehicle on it, but the pan is thin sheet metal and dents easily.

You can opt for a diff guard that protects the diff pan without fitting under the differential - if I remember correctly the trick with Samurais was to cut an 8 inch cast iron pipe cap in half, notch a vee to allow the fill plug to be removed and then weld them on to the differentials. 

Many of the bolt-on options available for the Jimny are substantial fabricated items that reduce clearance by much more than a few mm, and have a much bigger frontal area too compared to a smooth rounded diff housing.

 

 

this is what is needed to protect the front differential and not lose ground clearance