[Kimtown]

G'day guys, first time poster here!

Just went out and put a deposit on a second hand jimny eariler tonight, interestingly enough it was the first one I looked at as well, I just couldn't fault one bit of it though. It's a 2001, automatic soft top, burgendy with under 140km's, stock as a rock, which I got at a reasonable price I'll post some pics once I have it in my posession

Anyhow, I'm looking to turn it into a bush rig play toy, not an every day car. I've got a couple mods I want to do asap so I can at least get it on the dirt and off the bitumen, which include some muddies and suspension lift kit. later on down the track when I say a few more pennies, I'll have my mate fab up a bullbar, I'll fit a snorkel, full exhaust, winch etc and probably more, but for now the tyres and lift is what I'm after.

For the tyres, I was thinking 31x10.5 Silverstone mt-117 xtremes on 15" Sunraysias, now I know very well that Jimnys don't exactly have the strongest axels and CV's as well as not the most powerful vehicle, will this little baby be able to turn these alright without doing to much damage and without losing to many ponies? Or should I be looking at something a little smaller, such as 29x7.5 Simex ET centipedes? Or is there any other great 'mud terrain' tyre out there that I have overlooked? Not really into Swamper TSL's...

As for the suspension lift kit, I have been looking on ebay, and a full Tough Dog 80mm/3" kit (includes coils, shocks, panhards etc.) seem fairly well priced @ $1295.00 no? Trouble is I don't know to much about the brand, other than its a fairly major sponsor of most 4x4 comp events. How do they shape up in terms of handling, flex and would 3" be plenty of clearance to run up to 31" tyres? Or should I be looking at other brands such as Rancho RS5k shocks with king springs or something? I'm not too sure...

Anyway, any help is greatly appreciated! I can't wait to go pick this baby up and start tinkering with it...

cheers,
kimtown

[Gwagensteve]

You haven't mentioned lockers or gears. None of that stuff matters at all if you're not geared right or have open diffs.

There's a number of excellent Jimny builds on here. 31's are a major ask for the stock driveline. CV strength is a MAJOR issue.

Steve.

[Skippy]

Nice one mate, I've only ever seen 1 soft top.

Tyres.
Gears, gears, gears!! Sierra t-case and then low range gears ( someone will mention what particular ratio you will need).
Also guard and bumper cutting involved with 31's

Suspension.
Jimny bits all the way or look around on overseas sites (particularly UK ones) there is some really good stuff that i think alot of jimny owners haven't found yet... but that depends on what coin you want to spend.

Just my 2 cents. We all love pics

[KEENSY85]

http://www.offroad-armory.com/store/ind ... path=20_69

I'm not an exspert but this site for ideas might be handy.


I would like to have 1 for project. And if it was me I would like muddies 3 inch lift, sj transfer case 4.16.1 reduction gearing. And defently aftermatket control arms similar to off road armoury maybe pm some one like fatzook or similar to see if u could get some made also strength ur diiff housings and mounts maybe even sj diffs

[Kimtown]

I will more than likely have it locked down the track, but for now its free spin baby lol (and probably a lot of snatch strap). What ratio gears would you suggest Gwagensteve, and also if you's believe 31's are trouble, what would you suggest instead?

Thanks for the replies and yeah Skippy, for all the searching I did, I didn't come across any soft tops, plus the auto tranny in it.. I had to have it lol.

KEENSY85 wrote:

http://www.offroad-armory.com/store/index.php?route=product/category&path=20_69

I'm not an exspert but this site for ideas might be handy.


I would like to have 1 for project. And if it was me I would like muddies 3 inch lift, sj transfer case 4.16.1 reduction gearing. And defently aftermatket control arms similar to off road armoury maybe pm some one like fatzook or similar to see if u could get some made also strength ur diiff housings and mounts maybe even sj diffs

Thanks man, I'll check out that site, helps a lot!

[Gwagensteve]

Depends on your terrain. Any available reduction gears will be a huge improvement, whether you use gears that fit into a jimny case or swap to a sierra case with gears in it.

You'll beat your car up without lockers. You don't need to try and chase the lift and travel or tyres with lockers and gears- you can slow down, take you time, and pick smart lines. 31's are pointless if you have a wheel in the air.

Lockers don't look cool though.

Steve.

[Kimtown]

Gwagensteve wrote:

Depends on your terrain. Any available reduction gears will be a huge improvement, whether you use gears that fit into a jimny case or swap to a sierra case with gears in it.

You'll beat your car up without lockers. You don't need to try and chase the lift and travel or tyres with lockers and gears- you can slow down, take you time, and pick smart lines. 31's are pointless if you have a wheel in the air.

Lockers don't look cool though.

Steve.

Pretty steep rutty stuff. Any ideas where I can find gears? and what sort of prices are you looking at? To be completely honest, I would have thought L4 would have been enough lol, shows how much I know about these things

Call me crazy, but having a car with lockers, and no tyres/lift seems a bit backwards? Isn't tyres and lift what everyone does first to their car? :/

[kristov]

what ive done is got some slightly bigger tyres 225/75 15 just for the bigger footprint(makes a huge difference), gearing is still pritty good still on stock suspension, now going to get a rear locker put in as with open diffs they are useless with only 2 wheels spinning in hard bits

[Kimtown]

kristov wrote:

what ive done is got some slightly bigger tyres 225/75 15 just for the bigger footprint(makes a huge difference), gearing is still pritty good still on stock suspension, now going to get a rear locker put in as with open diffs they are useless with only 2 wheels spinning in hard bits

Sounds sick man, but how the hell do you fit them wheels under factory lift?

[kristov]

fit easy only scub a bit on inner guards, ull be surprised what u can do with 215 or even 235 tyres i would recommend getting tyres around that size without gearing unless will be gutless even in 4L with 31s

[Skippy]

KEENSY85 wrote:

And defently aftermatket control arms similar to off road armoury maybe pm some one like fatzook or similar to see if u could get some made

I wonder if fatzook would be interested? I'm sure people would rather buy local then send it overseas.

[ellis]

ive got 225/75 r15 on my stock jimny they do scrub a bit i cut the front guards a bit aswell i broke 2 cvs and striped an axle the frist time going off road with these tyres it was manly from doing stupid stuff but i wouldnt really want to be running 31s as i think even going pretty easy you would be braking cvs

[Kimtown]

kristov wrote:

fit easy only scub a bit on inner guards, ull be surprised what u can do with 215 or even 235 tyres i would recommend getting tyres around that size without gearing unless will be gutless even in 4L with 31s

Thanks for the tip then, so do you think 29"/7.5" simex centipedes with a 3" coil lift would be a good start? Then work on the gearing, lockers, after that?

[kristov]

Kimtown wrote:

kristov wrote:

fit easy only scub a bit on inner guards, ull be surprised what u can do with 215 or even 235 tyres i would recommend getting tyres around that size without gearing unless will be gutless even in 4L with 31s

Thanks for the tip then, so do you think 29"/7.5" simex centipedes with a 3" coil lift would be a good start? Then work on the gearing, lockers, after that?

yeh illd think you be ok with that , once u got the gears and lockers sorted after your jim will be unstoppable pics are good too

[Kimtown]

kristov wrote:

Kimtown wrote:

kristov wrote:

fit easy only scub a bit on inner guards, ull be surprised what u can do with 215 or even 235 tyres i would recommend getting tyres around that size without gearing unless will be gutless even in 4L with 31s

Thanks for the tip then, so do you think 29"/7.5" simex centipedes with a 3" coil lift would be a good start? Then work on the gearing, lockers, after that?

yeh illd think you be ok with that , once u got the gears and lockers sorted after your jim will be unstoppable pics are good too

cheers, legend, that's what I want to hear! don't worry mate, pics will definitely be up as soon as I pick up this bad puppy.

edit: I'm worried 7.5" wide might be a little to thin, but on the plus side they will be a fair amount lighter than 10-10.5"... I suppose centipedes don't need a great deal of foot print to get traction though...

[zooky08]

Once your locked, it wont be unstopable, because you will be stuck out in the bush with a brocken diff.

[Kimtown]

zooky08 wrote:

Once your locked, it wont be unstopable, because you will be stuck out in the bush with a brocken diff.

a rear locker should be fine though if your half sensible, touch wood.

[christover1]

Thinner tyres work better on light cars, in my experiences.

[Kimtown]

christover1 wrote:

Thinner tyres work better on light cars, in my experiences.

good to hear, thanks for the reply!

29 simexs locked in then

I'm thinking Sunraysias might be a little heavy for the old girl. Is it possible to get alloys with the jinny stud pattern that will fit these tyres? Ive had a look but can't find to much. Black would be lovely if possible..

[Skippy]

Kimtown wrote:

christover1 wrote:

Thinner tyres work better on light cars, in my experiences.

good to hear, thanks for the reply!

29 simexs locked in then

I'm thinking Sunraysias might be a little heavy for the old girl. Is it possible to get alloys with the jinny stud pattern that will fit these tyres? Ive had a look but can't find to much. Black would be lovely if possible..

Hah! Goodluck.... there are some around, not the best looking. When you find some, let me know cause i'm digging around at the moment for some. What offset are you looking for?, i can get good prices on pro comp look alikes but they are either 0 or -25 offset or -44.. way to much!

[kristov]

Quote:

Hah! Goodluck.... there are some around, not the best looking. When you find some, let me know cause i'm digging around at the moment for some. What offset are you looking for?, i can get good prices on pro comp look alikes but they are either 0 or -25 offset or -44.. way to much!

couldnt u get a blank rim and get jimny patten drilled out ?

[Skippy]

Probably....... i've just bookmarked a handful of sites that have jimny pattern wheels. Mostly places in the uk, the places in aus don't have much or they are quite expensive.

[kristov]

worst thing about australia.. soo bloody expensive

[Skippy]

Replica bathurst globes, biggest offset is -6..... $300 each

[Kimtown]

Skippy wrote:

Replica bathurst globes, biggest offset is -6..... $300 each

[Jazzor]

Yes alloys are several times the cost of sunraysias , they are not "that" heavy. I haven't heard the weight argument on here before, most people get alloys for the looks.

Sounds like you on the right track taking peoples opinions about gearing and lockers into consideration! Does anyone with a suzuki of any description live near you?, perhaps going for a ride with someone with a few upgrades like that would be a good idea.

I probably have the same engine/auto, and its much nicer to drive on and offroad with lower gearing on 31's. 4th/overdrive is very gutless .

[Skippy]

I found a handful of sites with nice wheels that are correct stud pattern but are funny sizes like 16x6.5 or 16x8 and have either no offset or are positive offsets... it's driving me nuts!

The best I've found that come in -13 and are 16x8, they mob don't ship out of europe... FFS

[atari4x4]

Kimtown wrote:

christover1 wrote:

Thinner tyres work better on light cars, in my experiences.

good to hear, thanks for the reply!

29 simexs locked in then

I'm thinking Sunraysias might be a little heavy for the old girl...

a 15x7 sunny weighs 11kgs

[christover1]

Kings do or did a -13 offset 16 x 7 rim in zook stud pattern.

They were fitted to my Vitara by previous owner.
Bugger kept them, though.

[KEENSY85]

Skippy wrote:

KEENSY85 wrote:

And defently aftermatket control arms similar to off road armoury maybe pm some one like fatzook or similar to see if u could get some made

I wonder if fatzook would be interested? I'm sure people would rather buy local then send it overseas.

I hope so other wise he will be pissed at me for name droping.