[honour]

Hey all -
I just posted this on someone else's thread, but thought I'd move it to my own as to not hijack theirs.
Anyway -

I finally had my Bighorn 235x75x15 MT's put on yesterday (on 15" -15 offset Peco Stars), and they are hitting really quite hard on the cabin side bottom corner of the front wheel arches (2" OME suspension lift).

In order to make it drivable for a few days, I just cut the corner off the bottom, and wedged it back into itself, with a single rivet to hold it in place, then siliconed it all up. Dodgy as.

The corner cut -


Siliconed up -


It still has big hitting problems whenever I go over potholes etc, let alone taking it offroad. I have a family 4WD day in just over a week, so I need to get this fixed up ASAP.
I was considering doing a BigJimny chop, but I have no idea about what to do for splashguards (Simply not having them isn't really an option for me), plus I'm not too keen on doing anything irreversible.
So the other alternative is a body lift. Will a bodylift give me the body clearance I need in order to avoid scrubbing?

Thanks guys!
Scott.

[Jezza86]

not dogey at all, seriously thats a good way of doing it.
if you want more time, just pull the outer plastic guards off for your 4x4 day.
as for bodylift, yes it will make some difference, and yes its reversible, but a 2" bl will need steering shaft spacing as well. tht means cuting the old rivits and replacing the stock spacer with a longer one.
there's legal issues with running a body lift depending on where you are, meaning even if you got a kit off justcruzin or someone within a week, you should probably get it approved before putting it on the car, theoretically.

what offset are the rims?

[honour]

I actually just sent you a PM before reading this. Thanks Jezza!

The rims are 15x7" -15 offset Peco Stars.

[honour]

From what you've said, it seems as though the bodylift might just be opening up a can of worms.
There is no chance I'll ever go bigger than 235's, so what would be the easiest solution do you think?

[honour]

Also, in terms of removing the plastic guards for the 4X4 day, I would still be faced with the problem of the steel hitting the tyres. (Tested in the backyard. haha)

[Jezza86]

you can trim the steel on the rears then replace the plastics no problem. with the -15 you'll need 2" of springs to raise the cog/ axis point/radius. this makes the edge of the tyre tuck under the guards negating the need for bump stops to limit upward travel when flexing. firm spring selection and fairly firm shocks prevents the Tyre up travel blasting the guards off when you hit a bump going quick.
2"+1.3"=3.3" overall lift with big jimny chop
2"+2"+1.3"=5.3" OL with minor choping, still minor scrubbing when massively crossed up
3"+2"+1.3"=6.3" OL with minor choping, handles like a boat, but doesn't scrub
Portals+1.3=?" OL with no scrubbing. will probably still handle like a boat

[honour]

Thanks heaps for that Jezza. I currently do have the 2" OME suspension kit installed. What is the 1.3" reference to in your equation? (sorry mate, new to this)

[honour]

The rear also doesn't seem to be presenting an issue as yet, but will probably trim anyway to keep it consistent.

[Jezza86]

1.3" of height from a 235/75R15 vs a 205/70R15

[honour]

Ah ok, makes more sense to me now.
So if I do go ahead with the chop - what do I do for splashguards? I guess that really is my main issue now.

[Jezza86]

keep as much of it as you can.

the entire rear splash guard can stay. your only cutting the metal on the far right at most. my thoughts are you could also cut the metal shorter then flair it up to meet the body plastics, stoping rocks geting thrown forward
rear right forward splashguard pictured


the front of the front splash guards are still cliped to the top of the engine bay. note the gap between body and chassis a bodylift causes.
front of front right mud guard pictured


the rear half of the front splashguard is cliped on at multiple points. its only the raised part where you can se mine is cut that you would be removeing completely with the bigjimny chop. most of the splashgurard is retained with only minor trimming. gaps caused by trimming could be fixed with the black fabric '100mph tape'
front right rear half of splashguard pictured

[Zook2510]

hi honour would be really interested in the results of your guard chop (if you go ahead with it)
We have 30s and will be doing the guard chop but trying to decide between a 2" or 3" suspension lift so would like to know how yours end up with your 2" lift

[honour]

No worries at all Zook2510. Will get into it in the next couple of days, and document it as much as possible. Will let you know!

[MikeyS]

Hi Honour, i did the chopping of the metal and the plastic guards from Big Jimny and i had no scrub with my 235/75/15 Cooper ST. (i had a 2" OME lift kit)
If you want i can put up a picture of what it looks like?

[Jezza86]

MikeyS what offeset are you runing?

[Zook2510]

honour wrote:

No worries at all Zook2510. Will get into it in the next couple of days, and document it as much as possible. Will let you know!

Sounds great, cheers

MikeyS wrote:

Hi Honour, i did the chopping of the metal and the plastic guards from Big Jimny and i had no scrub with my 235/75/15 Cooper ST. (i had a 2" OME lift kit)
If you want i can put up a picture of what it looks like?

Not hijacking but would be interested to see this too!

[honour]

Yes Mikey! That would be great! I have no problem with the chop, but it is the inner splash guards that worry me. Although I may have an idea of how to get around it... will have to have a looksie tomorrow.

[zukenutter]

Do you still have your stock rims? If so you could swap your tyres onto them as a temporary fix to save you rushing in and hacking stuff off. Buy 4 20mm coil spacers and it should all fit. Have you done caster correction?

[honour]

Hey ZN. Yeh, I still have the standard wheels and tyres. It's not rubbing during daily drive, with the little corner trim I did. How do the corner spacers work? Aren't they essentially to reduce up travel, thus the tyre cannot physically reach the guard? I haven't done caster correction. That's probably well beyond my technical knowledge though... Haha.

[zukenutter]

I'm a graphic designer so it's all relative

Coil spacers sit above on top of the coil and basically just add a bit of extra height without increasing travel. I've run various sizes over the years with no complications. Fitting them is much the same as fitting coils

[zukenutter]

This is where I got mine
http://www.outdoorauto.com.au

This is a 50mm spacer in place

[honour]

Interesting.... Would I need to consider panhards etc with these? Or would this be ok just to pop in? (I say that so casually - truthfully anticipating the hours of swearing and punching invisible car demons)

[zukenutter]

I ran 40mm coils and 20mm coils for years with stock panhards. I also ran the same coils with 50mm spacers for a few months although not ideal and axles were off centre.

You really need to sort your caster and any additional suspension height including spacers will be very noticeable in the steering, and dangerous at speed.

[honour]

Ok great, thanks for that. The OME lift was done before I bought the car, so I am not 100% sure the caster hasn't been done. It is hitting a lot more prominently on the driver's side than the passenger's though - would this suggest castor correction is yet to be done?

[Jezza86]

ome is 40mm, and dosent need castor correction unless the kingpins are causing death wobble. in which case fix the kingpin bearings. add 20mm of spacer, and youll be geting into dubious territory.
one thing modifying a jimny has taught me, no matter how much i spend, doing things the right way is cheaper in the end
keep it low and you keep it capable. new guards from a wrecker are cheaper then a 3" kit with front arms panhards, springs and shocks.

[honour]

Yeh, it seems like there is a fine line with the Jimny - small lift and minor upgrades seem to be ok, but as soon as that line into slightly bigger modifications is crossed, things start to skyrocket exponentially. So my plan was the keep it relatively tame, for the moment the tyres will be the last major undertaking for a while. There is no death wobble, and feels very stable at 110km, so I don't want to compromise that at all.

[zukenutter]

Take a photo of the bushes that connect the control arms to the axle and we'll be able to tell you if caster has been done.

As a Jimny is lifted the axle will start to go off centre, the more you lift the further off centre. Hence the need for adjustable panhards. This is why your driver side hits more.

[honour]

Alright cool - will do tomorrow.
Thanks as always ZN.

[MikeyS]

Sorry couldn't find the close ups on the cut guards but this is some pics with and without the cut guards and a 2"OME lift kit (ill try to find some better pics)

Sorry i have forgot what offset they were just stock sprayed black

[honour]

Thank you so much for that Mikey. It completely changes the look of it.