The Nugget - Questions on a 2000 Jimny

After years of hankering for a small off-roader I finally got my hands on one . Already named 'The Nugget' due to the gold colour and the bargain basement money I paid for it, while it runs it pretty much can't depreciate. All it's had so far is some extra chunky Insa Turbo tyres. I've gone up in diameter from the stock tyres with 195/80 R15 to add 1/2" to the ground clearance without the need to do anything with the suspension. Nothing rubs in normal use with this tyre size, though certain steering angles combined with extended suspension can get the tyres to touch the mudflaps on the front. My aim with this is to keep it road legal but bias the setup towards off road use while not spending a fortune on it.

It sailed through the Irish NCT (MOT) without a problem, but it definitely needs a new clutch (The bite point is in the last inch of pedal travel) and since I have no service history in particular and it's got 97,000 miles on the clock I figure it's no harm to change out all the fluids and filters.

So I have a few questions:
How difficult is it to change out all the fluids on the car in your driveway? Engine oil, power steering fluid, diffs and coolant look straightforward, how accessible are the gearbox and transfer box to change the oil?

I would also like to source and fit retrieval points to the car, and possibly a winch in the next year or two. I'm not sure what's out there in that line as the Jimnys I've seen with them tend to have heavily customised bodywork. What is needed in towing points to meet the standard for off-road events for example? Do you need to drill the chassis to attach them?

I'd also like to fit a locking rear and/or front diff and a possibly a reduced low ratio to the transfer box eventually. Is this worthwhile off road with tyres that are only 3.4% bigger than stock?

Is there a way to test the function of the stop valves in the axle/transmission breathers? There's at least one water crossing I know deep enough to just about submerge the diffs that I don't want to hit until I'm happy I'm not contaminating my oil.

Is there any other routine maintenance item I should look at?

Sorry for the long read, this is the first time I've bought a motor vehicle for fun rather than for transport, and part of the fun will be doing as much of the work on it myself as possible.

Here's a picture from far enough away that the state of the paintwork won't annoy anyone...

Hi and welcome.
I'll try and answer a few of the questions for you.
The clutch is cable operated and has an adjuster on the R/H side of the gearbox but given your milage and intended use a fresh clutch may be a good idea. The clutch is easy to change (it took me around 4hrs) but you do need to drain the gearbox oil before you start. This brings me to my next point yes the gearbox and transfer case oil is not particularly difficult to change.

The valve thingys on the diffs won't keep much water out, I'd look at a breather kit.

Jimnybits sell bolt on recovery points.

Rhinoman's portal will give you access to the manuals

I hadn't seen the jimnybits site, lots of nice bits there. A set of recovery points will cost about as much as the vehicle itself - especially if I go with the winch mount at the front... Which is likely .

The breather kit is out of stock on the website here. It looks like off the shelf push fit pneumatic fittings and 6 mm tubing, so I should be able to sort these out myself. I probably have the right tap already too. Looking at the size of the breathers on the axles, I'm surprised the threads are so small though.

Draining the gearbox oil before replacing the clutch is exactly the kind of thing that would catch me out badly if I had a go at that job without checking the forum - many thanks for that .

Cheaper recovery option? Around £15, rated to 5 Tonne and comes in any colour you like.

Nice . Where would I get my hands on some of those? Are the mounts drilled into the chassis rails? I suspect I'll need a bigger drill than the long suffering battery powered one I have to make mounting holes no matter what I choose anyway.

Mine is bolted on using one of the towbar mounting points. It comes with the metal bracket pre drilled
ready to bolt on. On ebay, under recovery points. A camo one comes up 1st but other colours are cheaper.

psycholist wrote: Nice . Where would I get my hands on some of those? Are the mounts drilled into the chassis rails? I suspect I'll need a bigger drill than the long suffering battery powered one I have to make mounting holes no matter what I choose anyway.

I'd be wary of using that type of loop attached to the standard "recovery" (tie down) anchors. The way 1066boy has his attached works because of the tow bar attachment. Afaik the rear jimnybits mounts bolt on (to the chassis rails) with no additional drilling required. Their front ones do require drilling but I don't think there's a kit for the front that doesn't require drilling or welding.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationI've bought a couple of straps here: and I'll initially see about attaching one at each end of the car to begin with, but the winch tray with recovery points included on the jimnybits website is in my medium term plans.

If I thought the built in towing points were up to the job I wouldn't be looking for proper ones or asking about drilling the chassis . I suspect they'd tear straight off or fold over if any forces beyond towing it on smooth ground were applied. I was considering a towbar for the rear initially as it would make mounting a scissor type bike rack very convenient, but it looks like it would drag through everything off road.

i used 2" of good garden hose to fit on the axle breathers, then fitted a smaller bore pipe with a small piece of copper tubing inside to stop it crushing from the hose clips...
Front and rear axles are so easy to drain and refill. Gearbox or transfer box (cant remember which) was a little more tricky to fill as filler hole a little awkward to get to , so used an electric £12 ebay oil removal pump to suck it from the bottle and into the gearbox or transfer case !
You do need to drill the chassis to fit the winch tray/recovery points, but its easy to do as very accesible.. 2 holes on a rail at the most.
Ive got same size tyres and can get up any gradient in 1st without changing the gear ratios..