Dave's "S200KYS" Jimny 'laner Build...

That's you sorted for the minute then Dave .... .....

you will soon need a v6 with all that heavy metal on there lol

love the mud scoop er sorry diff guard pmsl

Tadpole wrote: That's you sorted for the minute then Dave .... .....

Ummm, yes, there's not much else I can bolt onto it now...?

Rockwatt wrote: you will soon need a v6 with all that heavy metal on there lol

love the mud scoop er sorry diff guard pmsl

Nah, I've had the gearing sorted by this bloke who's not bad at gearing...

Took it out for a spin the other day and got 80mph out of it...

It fits my needs perfectly, I wanted MY ultimate Suzuki greenlaner... and I think it's almost there

So you did get a diff gaurd

Did the shock gaurds fit well??

Daniel30 wrote: So you did get a diff gaurd

Did the shock gaurds fit well??

Don't finish in the shop 'til nine... then joining the rest of the family in the hot-tub, and then tea... blog and build-thread update after that with a beer, so you'll have to wait Dan'

Daniel30 wrote:

Sorry, fell asleep writing it!

On the 11th June (Yesterday when I'm writing this!) I noticed JimnyBits had listed a new product in the store... Some front shock absorber strengthening brackets / guards -



A few days previous, they'd also listed a new front diff guard...



And when they mentioned it on their Facebook page, I cheekily posted "Want someone to field test one? We're off to the Lakes for the weekend of the 20th/21st... I could give it a good battering on some nice gnarly 'lanes?"



So, I mentioned - above on here that I was ordering the shock guards (and was also ordering a fuel tank guard) and Daniel30 had asked whether I was ordering one of the new front diff guards... to which I answered as above...



The following day - cracking service a parcel arrived from JimnyBits* and in it I found the above* - a fuel tank guard (top), front shock guards (right)... and... a front diff guard! So... I emailed Rus (the owner of JimnyBits) and jokingly said that he should sack his order packer as they'd included it by mistake

*I also order some parts for the Bits4Vits store from JimnyBits, and have bought a lot of parts from them for my own Jimny, so I can only assume the front diff guard came for that reason, and that it's good advertising for them when I blog it here and on other forums...? Anyway, very grateful for that!



After coming back from a hospital appointment, I eagerly set about fitting the new parts...

A jack and an axle stand holds the axle and radius arm in place as I remove the bolts...



And then you can see how the strengthening bracket / guard will fit onto the radius arm bolts?...



A few minutes later and it's bolted to the radius arm and the AVO adjustable shock is bolted into the strengthening guard so that the end of the shock is protected and the shock mounting bracket is strengthened at the same time... a neat idea!



With the spanners out of the way you get a better view...



From the front...



Flash!



So the guard also strengthens the bracket and saves this happening -



So, onto the diff guard...



It too bolts to the radius arm bolts, on the other side of the arm to the next shock strengthening guard...



As mentioned here on the BigJimny discussion board, I didn't initially order an axle guard as I was concerned at losing ground clearance... So before I started, I lay under the Jimny to take some measurements...



9" (a smidge over) to the bottom of the ORA (OffRoad Armoury) radius arms, and you can just make out in the dark next to it the shock strengthening guard a little higher than that...



And 9.25" to the bottom of the oil drain plug on the diff's casing...



9.25"



A bit more spannering... and the other shock strengthening guard is fitted to the radius arm bolts, and the diff guard is fitted to the other side of the arm...



On the nuts of the radius arm bolts, and a bracket clamped around the axle tube, very neat again... (It needs tightening a bit more in this photo)



And, the all important measurement... 9" to the bottom of the diff guard, so I've 'lost' just 0.25" from my ground clearance... I can certainly live with that!



And, again, there's the shock strengthening guard a quarter of an inch above the bottom of the radius arm...



And the oil drain plug safely out of harms way...



Looking back down under the diff guard... you can see the JimnyBits rear shock guards I've had on for a good while to protect the bottoms of the rear shocks in the same way...



And lying behind the front axle you can see the diff and shock guard in place

Next job, after a bit of lunch, was the fuel tank guard...



Bloody typical... the first bolt sheared off in the captured nut on the chassis



The rest came out alright though, these are the little 10mm nuts above to get the old thin tin sheet original fuel tank guard off...



And the other by the rear spring...



Then the old thin tin guard is removed...



And I found a drill and tap suitable sized to fix the broken mounting bolt...



There, drilled and tapped out to M10...



And the new guard is soon bolted in place...



Just a little bit more substantial?!



Looking forwards and you can see the new front axle's armour too!



And there's the oversize bolt in the newly tapped mount...



Looking backwards and there's the rear shock guards again too...

All ready for next weekend's trip to the rocky lanes in the Lake District then!



One last addition... a JimnyBits sticker! Joined by a Bits4Jimnys (Not just Bits4Vits) sticker, and a BigJimny one too of course!

Thanks for sharing Dave, great write up as always, long may you have trouble free 'under belly' issues .....

Just a quickie today...



I stripped out the rear panelling and the rear seat belt towers, to free up some storage space for our impending weekend trip to the Lake District... with me and my mate Alan having overnight bags to stow in the back, it was a timely quick mod'!

Nice one Dave look forward to the blog and what you think of the new amour when you've tested it although from your previous trips I think you should be attaching an out board!!! I

TESTED the front diff protection skid! -



It's not bothered about big rocks... it just converts them to dust!



And it's not bothered about pushing it's way over mud either

A+++ from me then

Got some SERIOUS death wobbles on day two of our greenlaning in the Lake District weekend, see www.jimnyjaunts.co.uk

Traced it too -



The ball joint on the end of the steering bar to the pitman arm on the steering box... think it happened when I was getting winched sideways out of marshland -



So I had to drive at 20mph or over 40mph, and going between them at around 30mph was painful, shaking wheels on the front like a demented shopping trolley... going faster was ok as you just accelerate through it, but slowing down was frightening!

At least we finished the day and got home safe... and at least I know what the DW's are caused by this time, so time to strip the front end down and again and check everything else after the wild shaking...

Dave