Need info on Jimny's (compared to Landy's) - help?

Hi all. Just wanted to say hello and ask a few Q's.

I've been into off roading as long as I can remember, but its always been with Land Rover's of some description. I'm also a huge Jeep fan.

But got involved in a thread on Piston Heads recently about 4x4's and the Jimny for the first time really intrigued me. I'm genuinely very interested, as I'd like to get a newer, smaller more fuel efficient 4x4 for daily duties and weekend off roading.

However I've been quite disappointed with the lack of info I've found via Google about Jimny's and modding them with intent to use off road.

Hoping you guys might be able to help me out?


The sort of info I'm interested in:

-Places to buy suspension and other off road mods?

-Which mods are worth doing and which are a waste?

-Tyre sizes and amount of lift?

-Off road reviews



I'd also like to know how good is a Jimny as an off road platform?

As I said I've been around Land Rover's all my life, I've got a Series III and a Disco, also had a D90 and a RR. I'm fully aware of their limitations and weak points.

Is a Jimny any better or are the prone to breaking all the time? Such as axles, diffs and hubs?

Is is a mistake to look at one of these? I hope not as I'm really rather keen on the idea, I even test drove a red one at my local dealer last week and was perfectly happy with the interior, pace, handling and ride quality.

Thanks for all your help


Here's some pics of my current Disco, just so can see some of the stuff it has to cope with

Hi,
Jimnys are a great little car, but theyre not terribly good on fuel, and can be expensive to modify. Same as a disco its lifted springs and shocks about £300 for 2 or 3" (jimnybits on ebay), but it will need castor correction bushes (jimnybits on ebay) for the 2" lift, or castor corrected radius arms for the 3" lift kit (DG tuning Belgium amongst others) at £400 ish. Upgraded panhards front and rear. The low box isnt terribly low, and your going to fit huge tyres anyway to give you some clearance, so the gearing will be way out, you need to fit a 'rocklobster gearbox' to get over this, its a modified SJ transfer box and fitting kit to go into the jimny, replaces the jimny transfer boxand props etc. Various ways of doing it with differing prices, but gives decent on road gearing for large tyres and a huge reduction in low box for true rock crawling capabilities. I have a TD5 disco and a jimny, Jimny goes everywhere (its got a rear locker too) it'll go places most land rovers wont due to the size/wheel at each corner style/etc but does get stuck in ruts from people with 35" tyres..... see www.k9rdj.co.uk/laning201209.html and www.k9rdj.co.uk/laning030110.html to see my jimny and others laning over christmas break. (mines the one with the BAA numberplate!)
PS: the times weve met LR drivers who have said 'you wont get up/down there, took us hours' weve nipped up/down in 5 minutes flat.

Gary

300bhpton .. That would be us, well My other half, Jason (JVaughan on Pistonheads).

Were on our second Jimny and to be honest.. well, Weve been out with G4 Defenders and others from PH and other forums and the Mighty Jimny always suprises people.

Jason even admits whilst he is a big advocate of V8's ( we have a 400SE too ) the puny 1.3 really holds its own.

KAP Suzuki ( www.kapsuzuki.co.uk ) are probably the most well known Jimny modifiers, as well as Rino Ray and Off Road Armoury

KAP run trails with their Jimnys and from what I have seen, they are really competative. Check out youtube for KAP Suzuki Vids too.

Their website has a parts section to give you an idea of the most common mods.

If you wanna venture down to Salisbury Plain, I would be happy to take you out with some Mates in various offroaders for a play and show off the jimnys abilities

Kerry

Mines essentially standard and i've took it places that better equipped stuff is tackling. The only time i've struggled is with really deep ruts.

I've also found that when its in deep mud sometimes its too light and will get no drive, if i've had to stop it sinks and i can get some traction and drive out!

They're not particularly cheap to run either in my opinion, i'm lucky if i can return 28mpg and i dont normally break 45ish on the way to work! Tax is dear really considering its only a 1.3.
Parts are pricey and aren't as plentiful in supply as landy stuff. I was desperate for some new rear shoes and i phoned every dealer from Hunstanton to kettering and nobody stocks them(just as well at dealer prices) Most factors were quoting 3 days to get them in. I had a bit of a whinge to the bloke in my usual place about the problems i'd had and they got them that afternoon for me though.

I've also had to replace rear bearings and kingpin bearings on mine so far and a CV, the bearings were wear and tear and the CV was my fault, having a heavy right foot and trying to pull a stuck jimny out! It took 2 disco's to pull him out so i had no chance.


I think you'd be surprised how well even a standard one gets on but judging by your current truck it would need to be a properly sorted jimny to convert you off road! What they lack in out and out power they obviously make up for in low weight and size.

I'm always quick to tell people how much i love mine!! I like how easy it is to drive generally and i love showing up better equipped stuff off road! My only criticism on road is that it can be tiring on a long journey trying to keep up with other traffic ie off roundabouts and slip roads and it can feel quite nervous on slippery roads because its so light and short, its been a nightmare with the icy patches lately in 2wd.

funkyjimny wrote:

Hi,
Jimnys are a great little car, but theyre not terribly good on fuel, and can be expensive to modify. Same as a disco its lifted springs and shocks about £300 for 2 or 3" (jimnybits on ebay), but it will need castor correction bushes (jimnybits on ebay) for the 2" lift, or castor corrected radius arms for the 3" lift kit (DG tuning Belgium amongst others) at £400 ish. Upgraded panhards front and rear. The low box isnt terribly low, and your going to fit huge tyres anyway to give you some clearance, so the gearing will be way out, you need to fit a 'rocklobster gearbox' to get over this, its a modified SJ transfer box and fitting kit to go into the jimny, replaces the jimny transfer boxand props etc. Various ways of doing it with differing prices, but gives decent on road gearing for large tyres and a huge reduction in low box for true rock crawling capabilities. I have a TD5 disco and a jimny, Jimny goes everywhere (its got a rear locker too) it'll go places most land rovers wont due to the size/wheel at each corner style/etc but does get stuck in ruts from people with 35" tyres..... see www.k9rdj.co.uk/laning201209.html and www.k9rdj.co.uk/laning030110.html to see my jimny and others laning over christmas break. (mines the one with the BAA numberplate!)
PS: the times weve met LR drivers who have said 'you wont get up/down there, took us hours' weve nipped up/down in 5 minutes flat.

Gary

Thanks for the links and info. I’ll check them out when I get home tonight.


ooky_123 wrote:

300bhpton .. That would be us, well My other half, Jason (JVaughan on Pistonheads).

Were on our second Jimny and to be honest.. well, Weve been out with G4 Defenders and others from PH and other forums and the Mighty Jimny always suprises people.

Jason even admits whilst he is a big advocate of V8's ( we have a 400SE too ) the puny 1.3 really holds its own.

KAP Suzuki ( www.kapsuzuki.co.uk ) are probably the most well known Jimny modifiers, as well as Rino Ray and Off Road Armoury

KAP run trails with their Jimnys and from what I have seen, they are really competative. Check out youtube for KAP Suzuki Vids too.

Their website has a parts section to give you an idea of the most common mods.

If you wanna venture down to Salisbury Plain, I would be happy to take you out with some Mates in various offroaders for a play and show off the jimnys abilities

Kerry

Thanks for the offer. I’m often down Salisbury way (Wilton, HQLF) so might have to take you up on that!!

mcjimny wrote:

Mines essentially standard and i've took it places that better equipped stuff is tackling. The only time i've struggled is with really deep ruts.

I've also found that when its in deep mud sometimes its too light and will get no drive, if i've had to stop it sinks and i can get some traction and drive out!

They're not particularly cheap to run either in my opinion, i'm lucky if i can return 28mpg and i dont normally break 45ish on the way to work! Tax is dear really considering its only a 1.3.
Parts are pricey and aren't as plentiful in supply as landy stuff. I was desperate for some new rear shoes and i phoned every dealer from Hunstanton to kettering and nobody stocks them(just as well at dealer prices) Most factors were quoting 3 days to get them in. I had a bit of a whinge to the bloke in my usual place about the problems i'd had and they got them that afternoon for me though.

I've also had to replace rear bearings and kingpin bearings on mine so far and a CV, the bearings were wear and tear and the CV was my fault, having a heavy right foot and trying to pull a stuck jimny out! It took 2 disco's to pull him out so i had no chance.


I think you'd be surprised how well even a standard one gets on but judging by your current truck it would need to be a properly sorted jimny to convert you off road! What they lack in out and out power they obviously make up for in low weight and size.

I'm always quick to tell people how much i love mine!! I like how easy it is to drive generally and i love showing up better equipped stuff off road! My only criticism on road is that it can be tiring on a long journey trying to keep up with other traffic ie off roundabouts and slip roads and it can feel quite nervous on slippery roads because its so light and short, its been a nightmare with the icy patches lately in 2wd.

Cheers.

Have to say the Disco has been fantastic in the snow, but it’s getting on a bit now. Also it only seems to be doing about 20mpg too. So 28mpg would be a marked improvement!!! Lol



Have to say I kinda of see the Jimny as a modern coil sprung Series 1 in terms of size and ability and that really appeals as the Disco has a huge dent in the side were we met a tree last Autumn while off roading.



Being a Landy fan, I just have to ask about reliability and running costs?

It not that I think Landy’s are unreliable, but they sure do like the TLC and diffs are made from glass?

If I was to pick up a ~2003/4 Jimny with low mileage on the clock, is it likely to turn into a money pit??

Thanks.

Ahhh Ok, I know HQLF quite well, I work @ AAC MIddle Whallop, We live in Andover (Nr DLO / Andover Station)

The JImny isnt that bad for reliability ... it only has 1 grease Nipple on it so maintenance is quite easy.
The only downside is you pay for the low maintenance when things do eventually go wrong as parts do tend to cost more ... Our Landy Mates are forever changing UJ's ... We bought a 2001 Hard Top with 62,000 miles on the clock. aside from Blowing the clutch up recovering a stranded Disco .. and a starter motor and battery needing to be replaced, thats really all we have done to ours.

Ive had 4 jimnys, never really spent anything on them, just get in and turn the key before i go laning. Parts are expensive from the dealers, but thankfully ive never needed anything other than wheelbearings (£45 each from this site), modified parts are dearer than land rover bits, but if you buy something a couple of years old with 30-40k on the clock you'll get a lot more for your money than with LR. Martin on here keeps changing bits left right and centre, he seems to play in the mud too much and is constantly changing bearings brakes etc or so it seems, I have a rear disc kit which helps, but stay out of the mud and you shouldnt wear through parts like that. Martins broken a CV i think, ive never broken anything axle wise, no diffs/shafts.CV's etc, but i do have a light right foot.

Gary

mlines wrote:

As Gary says mine seems to eat parts. Its been off-roaded since day 1 of its life, the original receipts seem to show it going for off-road conversion at Kap Suzuki 6 weeks after it was bought brand new. It basically spends its life off-road apart from the trips to the off-road sites. Therefore I think that mine reveals the weak points of a Jimny, basically the wheel bearings and brake shoes.

If you look HERE you will see the list of parts changed since I have had it with wheel bearings, kingpin bearings and brake shoes high in the list. This is probably because the off-road sites in Berkshire and Hampshire have a very high sand content, with my old SJ I once managed 29 miles between rear brake shoe changes!

Once you get serious about them then CV joints are the next week link, on guy on here runs one in one of the Southern challenge series and basically gets through a CV joint at every event. The leading and trailing arms are comparatively soft and can bend.

As mentioned before, if you get serious about them then the low gearing will need working on as it is not low enough as standard.

Do everything you can to keep it light (mine is too heavy) as this is the advantage of Jimnys. If it is light then keep the tyres narrow otherwise with a light car and fat tyres it just sits on the surface and spins. Everything is easier to work on than a heavy landrover product (you can single handedly lift the gearbox off without killing yourself)

Martin

Thanks for that.

Don't really want to go extreme, just make it look good and be capable. I really like the idea of it being small and lightweight and would want to keep it that way.

I think all I'd want is a snorkel, a lift of some kind (not too much), some decent tread tyres and a front bumper.

Browsing the web I found this, and really like the look of it and wouldn't mind attaining something similar:



Any idea where I might find this bumper?





Thanks

Bottom Pic is just a cut away / looks like the KAP modified one.
Top pic I dont know, but Ive just been looking to get someone to fabricate a very similar item for me

Same design, just move the horizontal bar up, and have a more pronounced "A" in the middle