Eating Parts...

Martin, I was looking at your list of consumable parts, and, last night, I did a quick spot check (wheels off) on our Jimny.
so far, since 03 Feb, I have had to fit the following ..

1x Door Catch ( broke off whilst extreme articulating, and I tried to use it to close the door!)
1x Clutch - Recovering a Disco (new clutch was fitted when car was purchased in feb 09)

and thats about it.

Ive checked the breather caps and all are currently working, and drained ( and re-used ) the diff oil & TX case oil .. no signs of water contamination.
Brakes (front) will need replacing in about 2000 miles, maybe more and rear shoes look almost as new as the day they were fitted. (Lubbed up all the linkages with copper grease, and re-assembled the drums)

Now I cannot comment on the state of the Kingpins or the Hubs, but both Vaccum hubs are working.

Im either not trying hard enough or have been quite lucky. Given the abuse ours has had and the extreme conditions it has been in, I was expecting to have to replace the brakes as a minimum. - I guess our Jimny isnt that hungry at present !!!


I did discover a week from the sump plug, so will make sure there are a few more copper washers on it bext time I do an oil change

Jason

Jason,

I suspect the key difference is the locations we off-road in. As I understand it, you do all of yours out on Salisbury Plain which is in general a hard chalky surface with very few locations where your axle is rotating under mud and sand.

I do all of my offroading on either army sites (Deep abrasive sand) or Pay and Play sites (Mud!). Therefore I spend a lot of time with the entire wheel submerged and rotating. My record was with the previous SJ which manage 29 miles on a set of rear brake shoes!

I terms of driving I tend to be gentle on my cars so I think its environment thats the issue.

My Jimny has also spent most of its life off-road. According to the records I have it was sold brand new in June 2003 and was converted to off-road use by KAP Suzuki in September 2003.

Its got 22,500 miles on the clock and I would suspect a very significant propotion of that is off-road use meaning that everything has had a hard life.

Martin

Sand .. Ahh that explains it !!.. Yes, The Plain is our usual stomping ground, where the mud is thick, but chalk or clay based.
Our Jimny has 63,000 miles on the clock, and as I might have said to you when we met, the Low Range feels tight and new so I guess its seen 99% of its life in the citys and has only ever been in 4WD for its servicing.
I suppose looking at it in terms of the conditions exposed, Im probably going to break the suspension or kill another clutch before the pads wear out !!