LandCruiser Replacement Jimny

Thank you Robin! 

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Last Saturday we managed to find babysitters for all of our kids and took part in an off-road rally. It's a navigation course with a roadbook plus challenges in a quarry.

You get the board attached to your passenger grab handle with a metal line. And there are numbered stamps attached to trees, also with a metal line (safely, not harm to the trees).

With around 25 cars we managed to take home 5th spot. Jimny did exceptionally well. Got myself stuck twice, both times not listening to my pilot over the intercom.

Finally had a chance to get that rear locker working and boy does that thing make a difference.

Couple other points to fix for future were hanging bumpers collecting mud, no jacking points whatsoever, and I need to organize my roof rack better. Recovery boards fell off on a timed section and it cost us 4th place for sure.

We lost to three Samurais and a Pajero, which felt like a slap to the five part grill. 



 

After 10 rallies (and 5 podiums) in the last season, this year we're switching gears a little and Jimny has become a camper  
We're going to Bosnia for 9 days with two identical Jimnys. Here's how we modified the back: 

- The whole back is covered with double floor with some boxes neatly sitting on the left. 
- Both cars have the one rear sit folded down and other removed. There will be three of us and need be, we can jump in the car together. 

 

Here it is with some stolen cutting board and our mini fridge (17L). 
The other car has this whole space for storage. 

 

I also had a need for one extra switch, but I went overboard a little designing and printing this whole airplane-inspired panel. 
I will open source it once I am done. If you have the printer, you could design your own facia. 

 

Other than these things, we have a list of 247 items that needed checking, replacing, buying, or otherwise thinking about. I am slightly ADHD and building lists while hyper focused helps me. 

Carpet and switches are stolen from the crashed LandCruiser project, so on brand for this thread  

Open-sourced model for this mod.

Panhard mount repair in another thread: www.bigjimny.com/forum/7-jimny-technical...-rod?start=12#258732

The Bosnia trip went really well, we're planning it again in 2025 to see the rest of the beautiful county. 

Jimny as a mini camper made the terrain look easy and camping comfortable.

In Bosnia we camped out of a ground tent but a month later we renterd a pair of rooftop tents to test this as well (for a long weekend with kids). 

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During 7 days of the pavement roads I managed to break exhaust mount (used a wire to replace it, still there to this day) and my panhard started to wobble on the way back. Link to the fix in the prev message.

The other Jimny had leaking axle seal in front, which caused major trouble as the oil was sipping on the disk brake. We cleaned it periodically and managed to safely get back home.

We both have 30" tires but the other Jimny has Samurai transfer case swap, which made the hill climbs much easier. To the point where even on the black stuff I had to stop and engage low range. To my defence, it's VERY hilly in Bosnia
The higher gearing was a blessing on highways where I comfortably sat at 3.5-4k revs compared to 4-4.5k for the samurai tcase.

After experiencing this, my suggestion would be to get 1.6 swap for overlanding and the lower gearing for harder off-roading.

We visited in May and was rather cold, so we didn't notice the lack of AC this time around.

Looks like you had a good trip, thanks for sharing.
That switch panel is very cool