[seighcret]

Hi all,

I have a 2013 model Jimny. it is completely standard at the moment. next week it's going to Adelaide for a new steel bar and winch to be fitted. The car mostly travels on outback/desert roads between Wanaaring/tibooburra and Broken Hill as we'll as for the occasional family trip to the East coast.

I would like to know what your opinions are re suspension for long corrugated desert roads with a winch/bar setup.

Also, the steering can be quite jumpy with the bumps, so I'm considering a steering damper. The issue of whether or not to fit one seems to polarise most forum users, however the arguments for and against seems to centre around steering wobble issues and not corrugated road driving.

Im not looking for miracles, at the end of the day a jimny is going to be a more "live" ride that a larger 4wd on desert roads. I have a patrol and a pajero to choose to drive also but I do enjoy the adventure of driving the little Jimny out here - I also listen with amusement at the comments over the uhf as I pass 4wd groups in my little machine.

Tyres are standard at the moment and I don't really want to go much bigger - I will eventually go for an all terrain I guess. I actually thought the standard ones would have given up by now but they are actually going quite well. not sure how they will go when summer hits!

Thanks in anticipation - I'm keen to know your thoughts.

Brian

[Jezza86]

seighcret wrote:

Hi all,
I would like to know what your opinions are re suspension for long corrugated desert roads with a winch/bar setup.
Also, the steering can be quite jumpy with the bumps, so I'm considering a steering damper. The issue of whether or not to fit one seems to polarise most forum users, however the arguments for and against seems to centre around steering wobble issues and not corrugated road driving.
Brian

the corrugations up here are prety bad, and we have a lot of them... i found the old man emu springs were quite good, both on standard 205's and also on my 30's. they are a pretty soft spring, and i went the diesel springs so they could take some extra weight in the front.

i have a steering damper, a pro comp non- return to center one. i honestly cant tell the difference off road, but i dont have power steering either, in case that changes something...

[Mike57]

Seighcret

Suspension is another topic for which there is no straight answer and many different opinions. All I can say is that I have the OME 40mm lift from ARB. The bad thing about it is that it is very soft and the good thing about it is that it is very soft. If you are doing a lot of corrugated roads then soft is probably good. I have no problems with sag but I did put 10mm spacers in the back as it was a bit low when fully loaded compared to the front.

I had a return to centre steering damper but took the spring off so now its just a damper. I find it useful but not to cover up a wobble just to add a little stability.

On tyres you can go up to the 215/75/15 size with no other modifications (except the lift is a good idea).It gives you just a little extra diff clearance.

For the winch bar I have the ARB bar and this is useful for attaching sand flags, UHF antenna and the winch and spotties etc. If I was doing it again I might look at one like Shep has but I think he fabricated that one himself. Take a look through some of the Jimny build threads. I think another factor is that ARB may not have a bar for the 2013 model so you might have to look around but I think others have addressed this problem.

Mike