Dave's la(te)st buggy build...

At 51 I would be tempted to say you're still a pup Dave. But I do understand the ill health.

The talent that you, Keithy and several others on this forum have in working with your hands has always made me envious. I for one will be sad when this build ends, knowing that I can't look forward to the next one.

Thanks Zukebob

So today I had a spare hour to begin looking at the front wheel bearings... I was supposed to be doing this Sunday, but ended up going out for a "few quiet pints" with an old mate on Saturday night... you can guess the rest!

So I read the writeup on here - www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php?tit..._bearing_replacement

And began following the suggested steps today...



I popped the oil seal out with a screwdriver, fought with the circlip to free the bearing, and then "two or three swift blows" turned into a damn good beating with a 2lb lump hammer and a bodylift aluminium block! I wasn't as 'lucky' as the original author and it took some considerable force to get the old bearings out...



BUT, out they dd come, without the expense of using a garage's labour or buying a press...



And the new bearings are bagged and in the freezer ready for the next step tomorrow - don't tell the wife!! :lol:

Mrs. Dave, Mrs. Dave! He's putting bits of car in the freezer again! Mrs. Dave! :laugh:

Lambert wrote: Mrs. Dave, Mrs. Dave! He's putting bits of car in the freezer again! Mrs. Dave! :laugh:

:lol: HaHa, you're as mad as me...

m off today so she won't see me abusing the pven

Things people do to hide there new shiny parts :evil: :whistle: :woohoo:

I think the wife might find them in the freezer though Dan'

Carrying on following the BigJimny bearing guide - www.bigjimny.com/mediawiki/index.php?tit..._bearing_replacement

My day off today, so the wife is in the Post Office, so it's probably safe to...



Oven bake a couple of Jimny front hubs! :lol:



Leave them to 'cook' whilst I got on with rebuilding the front brake calipers...

What a fiddly job! :evil:



Done! Meanwhile... the wife had popped home fr something and came out to the garage saying there was a funny smell in the house! Busted! :lol:



And with them 'cooked' for probably an hour whilst I was messing with the calipers, they simply fell into place! Incredible! BIG thanks to Martin for the tip!



Both in an allow to cool And have a cuppa in the meantime



And then reassemble everyting!



NOOOoooo! I went to put the shafts back in and realised... the Jimny was too close to the wall!

:lol:



Managed to shift it over with the use of the Hi-Lift to shuffle it 9" to the left, and get the long shaft in :lol:



And then re-assembled the offside... and then decided to call it a day, not enough time to completely do the other-side so it'll wait for another day, happy with what I'd done today so time for a shower and walk the dogs being as it's stopped raining! (in August?! )

Note the fixed hub inside the wheel spacer, which was holding the disk in place

More soon!....

Back to the buggy build today! Last Sunday we were out greenlaning, and Wednesday I was recovering from injections in BOTH eyeballs!... So I naturally gave myself the day off! LOL :lol:

So this morning I rebuilt the nearside hub, rebuilt all the steering, got the wheels back on and pushed the buggy back out of the garage and into the sunlight...



And then set about the alignment...



First I set the panhard rod so the front axle was correctly positioned in relation to the chassis...



And with the steering wheel setstraight, I set the front steering bar up and then used a long length of aluminium box section to firstly get the front wheels parallel to the back wheels, and then added a slight bit of toe-in...



I was chuffed that the strenghtened (sleeved original) steering bars cleared the diff!



And that by setting the castor correcton bushes to push the front axle a little forward, there seems bags of room between the 30" tyres and the engine firewall...



All new everything



Happy with the rebuild I decided to add the steering damper.. a bit early, but it finished off the transmission, suspension and steering rebuilf



A good match for the back that was all rebuilt last year before I fell ill/// there's a lunchbox locker in the back and Trail Gear HD shafts (the fronts are stock).



I'm pleased with the ride height, it's "only" got about a a 1.5"~2" lift, new front springs on the rear, and new front springs on the front with black polyurethane spring spacers, rear shocks are Jimny Monroe Adventure with shock spacers, fronts are Monroe Adventure rear Grand Vitara shocks...

The tyres are 235/70R16 (29"*) Malatesta Kamels on Grand Vitara 16" alloys...

Next job is to start shaping the body into the buggy look I want, so I'll lock myself away in the garage for a few weeks... especially as our next planned 'laning trip is not until October! :kiss:

Looking great Dave!

What you got planned for the rest? Tube buggy?

You need to see my inspirational board Riccy -



A mixture of the two... bearing in mind it has to be suitable for the British weater and greenlaning - so t needs to be able to wade too

Daniel30 wrote: Things people do to hide there new shiny parts :evil: :whistle: :woohoo:

Do you mean like having all sorts of expensive bits delivered to your work so the wife never see's them?

Build a Warthog Dave....I was gutted when they cancelled that!

Why did you not remove the stone guards from behind the front discs Dave?

Kirkynut