Clarification on manual hubs

Just make sure you get the Jimny specific ones 
Cheap ones work just fine, I had tyrex for 6 years with no issues 

Only advice I can give is cover the torx screw heads with some waterproof grease, this will help you remove them later 

On my LC I removed the manual hubs and fitted solid 80 series flanges. This meant permanent drive to the front diff. via the front wheels. The drive to the front diff. for 4 wheel drive is part electrical - electric switch in cab to pneumatic switch in engine bay to activate locking ring in T-box -. If I need 4 wheel drive on a sealed surface for a short period I would just operate the cabin switch. Also I converted the T-box so that 2 wheel drive was available in low range. Again, only for short periods.

Roger

I'm not sure what we are talking about, other than voting to fix the vacuum system, but if you want 2wd low on a Gen 3 with a lever transfer and vacuum hubs you take the console out round the handbrake and wire a switch into the wire that goes out through a grommet below the handbrake to the 4wd switch on the transfer.

With the switch off the 4wd signal never gets to the controller, so the hubs (and the dash light) don't activate in 4wd high or low. (and you never drive the front wheels)

With the switch on it all works as normal.

It is now possible to drive on tarmac in low gear.
You actually won't know you are in low until you notice it only does about 40mph in top gear- I managed to forget once and didn't notice 'till I got to the main road and the engine was revving like crazy to keep up with traffic..

With the push button transfer the 4wd switch is used to control the motor and it might have a fit of the vapours if you try to select low when it can't tell it is in 4wd.


In a Gen 4 you'd likely have to break the wires to both the 4wd and low range switches with a double pole switch, I don't have a wiring diagram to check.

MrandMrsHart wrote:

so am i right in thinking that basically on the transfer leaver (2003 car so not a switch). With them in the unlocked position both 2WD-H and 4WD-H are 2WD-H and 4WD-L becomes 2WD-L and in the locked position 2WD-H is 2WD-H, 4WD-H is 4WD-H and 4WD-L is 4WD-L 


 

Yes, that is correct.

But consider that fixing the broken vacuum pipes is cheap and straight forward. I use PVC hose with an inside diameter of 4mm. 10m is more than enough to do the whole lot and costs about £10. You will also need 2 t-pieces and a bag of small cable ties. You can either cable tie the new hose to the remains of the old metal vacuum pipes, or my preferred option is to follow the brake hoses around the engine bay and bring it down to the hubs that way.

Another possibly useful modification is to unplug the 4wd connection on the transfer case and add wires going up into the car to a rocker switch. This gives you manual control of the vacuum hubs and the option of 2wd low range.

As a side question.

With the vacuum hubs, do they need to maintain vacuum pressure to remain engaged (or disengaged) or is the vacuum only used to perform the switching?

The vacuum provides the impetus and magnets do the holding