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

Nice writeup, thanks for sharing!

A little job to do today...

When I was out locally the other day I felt the front springs were too soft, and I felt the bump stops hit the axle prematurely a few times...

 

Current setup, or previous by the time I've written this :lol: new OE spec Supflex front springs with some of my old spring spacers on the top, and a RW machined bumpstop extension with a polyurethane bump stop... Note the curvature of the spring too, this is partly as I'm currently running SuperPro castor correction bushes but they are set to push the axle forward away from the bulkhead, so the front axle is probably 10mm further forward than it should be...

 

Spring out, and I had to twist the carbon canister out of the way on it's new mount to get the bumpstop spacer out...


 

Comparison of the springs - on the left the Supflex spring and spacer, in the middle a new Supflex spring (off the lil'bugga parts pile) to check the spring hadn't sagged, and on the right the new +2" JimnyBits lift spring...

 

Comparison of the bumpstop / spacers, original one on the left, JimnyBits one on the right... you can see the cone is deeper and made of softer rubber than the quite harsh and somewhat blunt polyurethane cone... 

 

New bump stop spacer and cone installed...

 

New spring installed, on a new rubber spring seat... that's sitting much better, and is wound from thicker wire so we shouldn't hit the bumps prematurely now, and when we do hit the bump it'll be a softer landing and a lot less harsh

 

The nearside should be easier to do, as there's nothing in the way...

 

Yup, quick swap out...

I then spent some time chasing an annoying rattle, I found a few loose nuts and bolts so tweaked them up... but the rattle is still there?! But nothings about to fall off?! I still think it's the passenger door... I'll have to slam a sponge in the door jam and go for yet another test drive...

This week my attendance pack for the BigJimny Meet arrived I'd assumed the "rally badge" was going to be a sticker... but when I opened the pack it was a nice plastic sheet one with two big ty-wraps... but where was I going to attach that on the front of the buggy?

Hmmm...

 

Enter some aluminium chequer plate, and a cardboard template ("CAD" again... Cardboard Aided Design! :lol: )

 

Now you can see where I'm heading...

 

"If a job's worth doing, it's worth doing right" !

 

Aye, that'll do

 

IISY? (What Brett and I always say... "Is It Sunday Yet" ?

 

For the final test drive of the day, a quick trip to my Dad's to drop off some of his favourite Ale...

Only halfway there the weather changed, it went dark, the clouds went black, a thunderstorm / cloud burst, the roads filled up, the buggy filled up, I was wearing scruffy pants and a t-shirt, so I got wet! :lol: So I dropped the beer off and apologised to my Dad saying I won't stop, I and the buggy need to get home and dry off...

July?!   I hope Martin's booked better weather for the coming weekend... See you there folks!


 

Big Brother 

Nice

Love the colour scheme!


 

Great day today! BigJimny Meet at Parkwood 4x4's site at Tong, near Bradford...

Not many photos from me (for a change!) as I was too busy enjoying myself, both driving the routes and socialising in the parking area, and supporting the bacon / burger van ...

 

Following Brett, after meeting him at the start of the M56, the weather was mostly kind, apart from a bit of drizzle, and some mist over the top of the moors heading for Bradford...

 

All parked up ready for the event, I think Martin said 76 of the 86 Jimnys turned up / made it?

 

Martin, making the introductory speech..  WELL DONE that man for organising such a successful event!

 

YOU / Us lot, assembled and listening to Martin's every word, errr, and heckling too!

 

Off we (our little group) go, and my winch is soon called into duty for the first time... Parkwood (Tong) is a multi-use venue, and it seems we've turned down a motorbike track?! VERY narrow through these trees, so I give Brett a little tug backwards...

 

And we all eventually circumnavigate the offending tree...

 

Later in the day I managed to rip some of my front nearside / passenger mudguard off, and thankfully James (Lines, Martin's son) was passing and gave me some ty-wraps to perform an emergency fix... THANKS James!

Later in the day... on my own, I strayed onto another bike track... I'm sure there was a red arrow (the routes were marked blue, red, black in order of severity)...

 

And dropped down a very steep bank and then had no-where to go so I looked around on foot and decided the only way to go was back the way I had come (down that big bank)...

 

So a tree was called in to assist as a ground anchor, and I winched / revved my way back up the bank...

 

Thankfully back at the top, so I made my way back to the central area to get myself a(nother) cuppa!

 

On the way home, going the right way! The M56 and A55 were clogged with holiday / day-trippers coming back out of North Wales as I was heading back in...

 

Back home / outside the shop, and my missus and both daughters were still out having drinks and Tapas...

 

So I shot up to my favourite car wash, washed the buggy, and then went home again to walk our twin Labradors, getting home just after the rest of the family staggered in...

THANKS to ALL for a great day, well organised, well supported, great to put some forum names to faces and meet up with some old and new friends...!

A more lengthy version of this with more detail of the actual event lead-up is now also here on the Jimny Buggy Blog -

jimnybuggy.com/2021/07/12/bigjimny-meet-2021/

 

Whilst some of the other "Jimny Jauntz" group members were spending the weekend going east to west coast across Yorkshire, I was a little closer to home continuing with "Project 116"...

jimnybuggy.com/2021/07/18/project-116-18-07-21/

Enjoy!

Looks like you had a good day out.

wrote:

Looks like you had a good day out.

Thanks, yes, a nice leisurely pace …

I didn’t finish my full planned route, so those ‘lanes will get popped onto another run out soon

Yeah! A good day today, and it's only one o'clock :lol:

I've spent a good few hours recently, culminating with a late night last night and an another hour after walking the dogs this morning... "finishing" my Project 116... this was . is a long time goal to drive all the rights of way possible on my local OS Landranger Sheet 116, but now re-written to being drive them all in the buggy, not just counting ones I've historically driven! So the map and spreadsheet of all the RoW are now complete -

 

LOTS of map pins -

The big yellow one is my house..
The (big) green ones are one's I've driven so far in the buggy (36)
The (big) red ones are one's that aren't driveable according to my research so far...
The (big) blue ones are Fords, some big, some just streams... (8 to date but need to check wetroads.co.uk)
The little yellow pins are ones I still need to visit and (attempt to) drive! (83*!)  

* I think!... job to count on the map itself, but I bought a bag of a 100 map pins and there's 17 left in the bag! :lol: 

Then, out into the garage (as it's persisting it down here) and an hour lying under the buggy to find the source of the annoying rattle I've had the last few trips... finally traced it to a loose shock absorber guard on the rear passenger / nearside, a couple of nips with the spanners and all good again... A weird one to trace, as every little bump caused a rattle when driven, but with the buggy stationary no amount of shaking and cycling the suspension at each corner would replicate it! :lol: Sorted now though, that will save my sanity, as I've been thinking "is it this, is it that, are the wheels about to fall off..." :lol:

Next job is a shower then, and then sit down and plan a route for Sunday if and when the weather clears up
 

You might like to try www.rowmaps.com , this site has links to the 'Definitive Rights of Way' in each council area, downloadable as a kml (Google Earth) or GPX (most mapping systems). Download as different types and you can just select the BOATs.

Then install OSMAnd app, that allows you to import 3 map areas for free and you can then import the GPX file in to OSMAnd and hey presto, you have all of the BOATs in your area overlaid on OpenStreetMap. OSMAnd also works as a SatNav, to help you get to the BOAT quickly.

Robin

Thanks DrRobin, but that only shows a fraction of he Rights of Way in my area... just the BOATS (Byway Open to All Traffic for anyone new to this out there), where as we can also drive ORPAs (Other Routes with Public Access) mostly on UCRs (Unclassified County Roads), if we take a look at my area of interest (OS Landranger Sheet 116) on the GLASS (GreenLaning ASSociation) "Trailwise2" website resource -



The red routes are BOATs, but they are far outnumbered by the blue ORPAs...

If I filter to just BOATs -

 

It wouldn't take me long to catalogue and drive them...

And with my local knowledge, 8 of those BOATs are not currently driveable... some are Bridleways on the ground, and some are closed / impassable, despite being on the council's definitive maps...

 

1. Locked steel girder gates each end  
2.  Bollards either end
3.  Currently "Road Closed"
4.  Closed for ages due to subsidence
5.  Ditto, don't think it'll ever get repaired...
6.  Tarmac access to a farm!
7.  Blocked by farmer on the south side, and nature on the north side
8. Across a field, but there's no way out of the field...

LOL :lol: So the definitive map (data) is never right / up-to-date...

Dave