Install manual hubs on 4WD, impact on value and handling?

But if you are out in the snow or mud in 2 wheel drive having to get out of the car is the universes way of reminding you to plan ahead next time. You are going to know that your route will take you on roads likely to not be gritted or cleared, in just the same way that you are aware you are planning going to drive off a sealed surface. After all its why you have bought a jimny in the first place is the certainty that you need to be prepared in some fashion. Otherwise you would have bought a swift.

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But if you are out in the snow or mud in 2 wheel drive having to get out of the car is the universes way of reminding you to plan ahead next time. You are going to know that your route will take you on roads likely to not be gritted or cleared, in just the same way that you are aware you are planning going to drive off a sealed surface. After all its why you have bought a jimny in the first place is the certainty that you need to be prepared in some fashion. Otherwise you would have bought a swift.
 

Agreed!
I forgot in the Series III once, luckily I was younger and more nimble.
I had to climb over the door to get on the wing and then dangle down to reach the hubs hanging onto the spare wheel. Looking back I can't imagine how I could ever have done it, but it was that or paddle in what was probably raw sewage.......

(You don't buy a 4x4 to walk in the mud....)

You are reading my mind. Is there any drawback on locking in the hubs in 2WD except for fuel consumtion?

Increased wear and tear, fuel consumption and slightly worse performance but it's all negligible. If you want to go down the locked hub route you can permanently lock the vacuum hubs using a 20mm self tapping screw. It's quicker and cheaper than installing manual hubs.

I never wanted manual hubs, I wanted the convenience of the three push buttons on the dash, that was until I spent two mornings last winter under the car trying to unblock the the vac lines all to no avail. Buying manual hubs was the quickest way to get my Jimny back to working correctly, essential as I had a 200 mile round trip over the moors in snow last Xmas.

Now when I think back there has been a few instances over the years when I have put my car in 4wd and got a steady green light only to find the rear wheels spinning and no drive to the front, clearly one or more front hubs didn’t lock.  After each time I jacked the car and checked the hubs, perfect.

What I am saying is the vac hubs don’t always work and to me if you can’t guarantee that they will engage every time, then the time you really need Themis when they will fail.  You just don’t get that with manual hubs and to me that’s more important than switching the hubs to the lockposition before I set off.

We have a few cm of snow here and t is -4C, I switched the hubs over two days ago and they are still in the locked position, but I only engage 4wd when needed, like getting up the hill from where I live.

Regardless of which system you use, check your car goes in 4wd and 4wd-L now before you need to use it for real.

Robin
 

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Regardless of which system you use, check your car goes in 4wd and 4wd-L now before you need to use it for real.

Robin

 

Actually my first experiance with Jimny 4WD was a non locking hub on a muddy beach.  The plan was to pull up our boat on a trailer. The focus quickly shifted from the boat to get the car back on the road again with 2WD.