Finally I got my JB43 Jimny - I NEED A LIFT NOW

I got a 2003 JB43 Jimny to work with. Its a decent car for its age. Ive been fixing all the regular issues.Previous owner did not understand much of this car I could notice. They complained about how awful it was to work the manual transmission (this is latin america). I found it the car has had its transmission changed and the clutch wire actually soldered to the gearbox so some half hazard "adaptations" where made previous explaining why the clutch is not the smoothest. Some work left on the front axle etc. But I need to choose what lift to do and source the parts.

I took it up a hill today for a test. I will use it in this particularly hilly terrain around here for work. And first trip I tree root that "came out" of some soft dirt got stuck under the rear suspension Arm. I had to give it a chop with the chainsaw I was carrying in the back of the car to get it out of there.

So that made it pretty clear I need a lift and I need it now. I was very sure a 2" "non aggressive" lift was the easy route I was going but seeing how little it takes to get stuff stuck under this car I am now thinking 3" or 4". So there I need your input. The car will be purely for offroad use from now on, so I dont mind whatever issues my mods will cause on the road.

Also I need to improve its articulation, again not to get stuck in this terrain. Is that as simple as removing the sway bars? 
I will be roaming around in hilly terrain we are clearing a bit to get in with this car for a start. I already have fitted 235/75/R15 MT tyres.

Looking forward to hearing your experiences and in what direction I should go. Ive had a good look a the Raptor and Old man Emu kits from Jimnybits.

Excited new owner.

K

I'm not going to say a lift has no benefits in your intended use as it will get more of the chassis out of the way of obstacles. However the axles are still going to be in the same place relative to the ground as you have already fitted it with the bigger tyres that the gearing will reasonably take. What however the taller lift will do is negatively affect the centre of gravity which is less than ideal in hilly terrain. If it were mine and wasn't expecting any road mileage I might be looking at bodywork modifications to fit big wheels under it and spend the lift money on gearing it to work with say 33 or 35 inch tyres as they would get everything higher off the ground including the axles.

Hmm.. yes that is a very valid argument that did not really sink into my mind until just now. Did not really think of that, even if its pretty obvious. Thanks for that one!

So now the lift is at max 2" and that avoids a lot or problems.I have no issues with cutting into the car to fit the bigger wheels if it serves a purpose. Now the transfer case mods Ill order asap. Now the current suspension is way past its life expectancy so I need to get new shocks at least and I guess a moderate lift is needed for the tyres anyway so I do both. 

Now I found a previous post where you talk about just this issue. There you wrote about the need for a bigger axel or extending the current with some spacer I guess?? That goes for any "big" size or will I be good if I stay with say 31 inch? My AI helper say going from 31 to 33 is a breakpoint for the axels and more so 31 is the easy one. Going from 235/75 to 31" adds about an inch of clearing and 33" ads a bit less than an inch on top of that.

Good thing the tyres I got where the cheaper ones, but it was urgent. I bought this old Jimny with "slicks" that would puncture at any point offroad.
Anyway, thanks for that input, this was quite helpful.

K

Axle trusses are a good idea with bigger tyres as they preserve the integrity of the axles cases. That is always going to be the compromise though, you make something bigger that causes something else to break which you then strengthen which in turn causes the next weakest thing to break. You can go mad with it but it's also sensible to consider something easy to replace as being a fusible link, eg using standard cv joints in the front as when you kill one of those you have not hurt your differential etc. Also is worth remembering that the harder you use your jimny the more you have to allow to maintenance and breakages.