Suspension advice.

There are plenty of other kits in Australia beyond just those three. A quick braindump summary which I've posted in various versions onto the various FB groups are as follows
OME if you aren't carrying much weight beyond standard. Has excellent ride quality on and off road, and works well. Would get the panhard relocation bracket for the back (FK96) as an accessory.
Tough Dog if you are carrying a reasonable amount and want flexibility of 40 or 60mm. Much stiffer spring rates than the OME so more suited to a fair bit of weight. Now available as a GVM upgrade.
Ironman was the first GVM upgrade available, but it's exactly the same kit for a lot cheaper through them. The constant load springs are *very* stiff. Variable load rear springs are comparable to the Tough Dog, though. Would only get this or the GVM upgrade if you're routinely having the car at or above the factory GVM.
If you want a different option, the Dobinson IMS kit is quite good. The IMS shocks are very high quality.
Fulcrum also have a very high quality 50mm lift; I've not got my hands on the springs to determine where they sit but suspect it'll be a good middle of the road option.

I actually went the Black Raptor Premium lift out of Jimny Bits from the UK and I rate it very highly. The adjustable shocks work very well and the spring rates suit a lot of uses, too. The GBP/AUD rate isn't quite as favourable to us Australians now but it's a high quality kit with excellent components. I added in my own extended brake lines (I wanted coloured braided lines cause why not) and the panhard relocation bracket from Taniguchi, but it's a very good standalone kit too.

Although in theory there are more ARB dealers than others, they won't have a Jimny's shock in stock in the outback anyway. I do think it's a kit which suits a lot of people. They did have the original production JB74 in Australia to do all the product development on and I think they did do a very good effort of making it work well.

There are more specialised choices out there for particular use cases, but the above applies to almost all gen 4 Jimny owners in Aus wanting a sensible lift.

Well, the car is not loaded most of the time, usually it is either me or the two of us. It has a few underbody protections, though, and in the future it will carry a roof rack, recovery points and, possibly, rock sliders. I plan to get the lightest accessories available, but I would not be surprised if I ended adding around 75 kilos to the weight of the car. Then, a few times per year it will be heavily loaded with fuel, water, food, the tent, gear, etc.

Considering all the above, I originally thought that it would be good to take this into account and get something that is rated to constantly cope with 100-200 extra kilos, even if this means a stiffer ride in normal situations. That is the reason why I thought that Though Dog could be my kit to go. However, I could be wrong, I never tried a modified Jimny myself and I don´t have first hand experience with any of the kits…

In terms of warranty, reliability, etc., is there anything that is clearly better than the rest even if it is more expensive?

wrote:

Well, the car is not loaded most of the time, usually it is either me or the two of us. It has a few underbody protections, though, and in the future it will carry a roof rack, recovery points and, possibly, rock sliders. I plan to get the lightest accessories available, but I would not be surprised if I ended adding around 75 kilos to the weight of the car. Then, a few times per year it will be heavily loaded with fuel, water, food, the tent, gear, etc.

Considering all the above, I originally thought that it would be good to take this into account and get something that is rated to constantly cope with 100-200 extra kilos, even if this means a stiffer ride in normal situations. That is the reason why I thought that Though Dog could be my kit to go. However, I could be wrong, I never tried a modified Jimny myself and I don´t have first hand experience with any of the kits…

In terms of warranty, reliability, etc., is there anything that is clearly better than the rest even if it is more expensive?
 

Nah there's nothing that's a standout in terms of longevity etc. I am seeing more 2ish year old Ironman GVM upgrades with leaking shocks but they're also all being driven hard so hard to say it's an issue of the kit so much as people new to 4wding overdriving.
I think for what you describe I'd get the Dobinsons IMS kit. The springs probably cope better without excessive sagging laiden over the OME, though I would have that as the 2nd choice. I wouldn't get the Tough Dog as a default as it is a reasonable bit stiffer. Having followed people with the constant load springs when they are not sufficient laiden the ride is not good and it's compromised offroad.

Hello guys,

Sorry for not replying in a few days, I got my first Australian throat infection and I was in bed taking antibiotics. It is a bit crazy for me to have the typical winter disease in Queensland, with almost 30ºC. I did not know if I was boiling due to the fever, the temperature outside or what was going on.  Luckily, I am starting to feel better.

Thing is that I was rumbling all this for a few days, watching some videos and reading a bit when I was able to stay awake and I think that at the end what I am going to do is to go for something very mild, like 15-20mm lifting springs and a good set of shocks and all terrain tyres. The idea is to compensate for the extra weight of the accessories more than anything else. I definitely don´t want to have the Jimny lower than standard because of the extra 50-100Kg in permanent accessories (protections, roof rack, recovery points, blah, blah) but I also realized that if I install 215/75/15 tyres, that will raise the vehicle a tiny little bit, and I keep the original height, it is going to take me everywhere I want (understanding this not as rock crawling exercise, that I don´t intend to do, but being able to tackle a very crappy dirt road even if it is muddy). I have seen plenty of videos of the stock version going through places I would definitely avoid even if I had a 80mm lift.

Things like this, I was thinking about either going for the 20mm H&R lift springs or the 15mm King Springs. This last brand is new for me, and I have read good and bad things about them. Initially the King Springs offer a lower lift, but spring rate is 20% higher, which I think could be good, and warranty is for life (if such a thing exists for a spring). The H&R have a rate similar to the original ones. Both springs should work well either with the Koni or the Bilstein shocks. Additionally, I guess that if I am lucky I may be able to skip castor correction with such a small lift, particularly if the accessories shag the car a little bit. I guess it would be a question of installing them and checking where it sits...

Then yes, I think that if I went for the 40mm kit, I would totally get the OME. But things get more complex at this point, and I risk messing more with the car in general.

Soooo... after long time checking here and there, today I could try a Jimny with a Dobinsons IMS 40mm lift kit. It had a very nice ride, being the front spring prepared for a constant frontal load of up to +40 kilos and the rear one for a constant load of +60 kilos, which fits, more or less, with the overall constant load I think I will have at the end. I liked the shocks quite a lot too... they seemed very high quality and they can be rebuilt, which I like.

I was pretty sure to go for just a 20mm lift, but I think I may stick to this kit and order it. Dobinsons is a totally unknown brand for me, but it seems that in Australia they have a decent reputation, more or less like OME.

Now I only need to prepare the shopping list, order the parts and find somebody to install all this...