[Xtreme]

Have been looking through as many threads as possible and found numerous snip bits of info, many conflicting arguments and am now more confused then ever.

I understand Wilso has put a 3 link in the front to make for better articulation.

I have not been able to find much on making the rear have better articulation.

My personal build:
* Have chopped out the arches to fit 31x10.5 on -13 rims. (Still some scrubbing but will work that out with a hammer)
*Have some Joe Blow axles and a rear full floater set up going in.
* Currently has OME 2 inch springs and Shocks
* Rear has as much flex as the chassis rail.
* Front seems to flex ok, (Have not put on sway bar disconnects yet and assume this will improve it more) but does scrub out pretty hard, so I understand about putting bump stop spacers in.

My main questions are:

1. Is there a system/method to improve articulation of the rear?
2. 3 link/4link are both possible on the front and pros/cons?
3. After fitting bump stop spacers is it a matter of getting longer shocks to allow the wheel to drop further? If so I assume you need something to keep the coils on or is that where coil overs come into play? If I were to go the path of coil overs and longer shocks would that mean extended shock hoops?
4. If possible I do not want to go more then the current 2 inch lift fitted I want to keep it low as possible and just allow the wheel to drop further if that makes sense?
5. Do you need extended arms to allow the axle to drop further? which also pushes the axle out further forward?

Hitting a few hills I also found a huge lack of power (which I take as torque) very limiting. I have the 1.3 motor.
Would a turbo or small super charger help with torque? I will eventually go an engine upgrade when I have some money to put into it.

Thanks
guys.

[atari4x4]

i'd be looking at fixing the front before re-linking the rear, have a look at what 31zook did & it's proved to be quite balanced flex wise rather than making the rear do all the work and gearing before power.

[kenn]

A: What do you want the car to do ?
B: Will it be a daily driver or trailer queen ?
1. Yes there are a few different ways, depends on how much you want to spend.
2. Yes again it depends on how much you want to spend.
3. Coil overs are a shock and spring in one so you won't need shocks if you use them.
No matter what you use you will need to extend the shock mounts/hoops if you put seriously longer shocks on.
4. Yes it does make sense, put sway bar disconnects on.
5. Not necessarily, How far do you want them to droop ?
If you can afford to turbo/ super charge it then you can afford a bigger engine with less headaches, depending on which engine you choose.

I'd invest in gearing and lockers first then see what you need from there.

[Xtreme]

Hi Kenn

A: I am building the car to try and take on as hard a track as I am comfortable doing and just really see what it is capable of. Mainly very deep/badly rutted tracks in mud, or some very tough hills combining dirt and rock. I am not expecting it to be like a full on rock crawler with Hydraulic gears etc and I am not interested in doing comps with it.
B: no trailer its not a daily driver just a weekender but may be a daily driver for a little while at some stage while I swap other cars around.
1. Dont want a huge amount on it, mainly just want to use it as a skill builder to do as much as possible myself but still invest in quality equipment and mods.

It already has ARB air locker in it (thought it was the rear but have not checked it out yet). I have a sierra WT transfer to put in and a going for 4.15 gears for reduction.

[macguyverjimny]

In terms of the rear, the fuel tank is in the way for a 3 link setup.

If you want the front axle to drop more then you need longer shocks and brakelines, but if the shock compresses too much make sure if doesnt bottom out , perhaps use some shock extenders.or ger some compitition shocks from bilstein orfrom fox,

Also when your axle drops too far the coil will easily dislocate, so perhaps try to secure your coil to the axle by bolting it with a piece of plate to the axle.

If you alter the radius armsinterms of length your caster might change,

If you are looking for more articulation , investigate softer coils longer shocks , and smaller tires or perhaps a body lift.,

[kenn]

I do t know your fabrication skill level so I'm going to assume the worst and go with very little (it's safer that way).
If you are going to drive it on public roads with the rest of us then keep it safe, the kind of suspension mods you are proposing could kill you and others around you if they fail, so if you don't have the skills to do them properly then pay someone who does, not to sound harsh but that's the simple facts.
Mods cost money one way or another. If I had of just dropped my car with Joeblow and said build me this he would have given me a bill of close to $80.000 most of that would be labour. So keep that in mind when you get quotes.
I'd be talking to Wilso's Customs first and then go from there. Other than that, just drive it and learn how to out drive what you've got, then go the hack.
Good luck.

[tanshi]

get a geared transfer for it, you dont need more power.
you dont need more flex, put lockers in it and it will take you way past where you will be comfortable driving it.

[Xtreme]

Kenn,

Safety is a top priority, I take my kids in it and I value their lives and my own above any modifications or taking short cuts - Rest assured I am happy to pay the right people to do the right job where it exceeds my skill level. I aim to engineer everything I can and ensure safety, handling and legality is all taken care of.
I am not very knowledgeable in the area of modifying the suspension hence the questions so I can have a think about it all and see if its worth doing. I do talk to Josh, and also Joe has sent me axles and full float set up so I am trying to do this build in the right order and right the first way around.

Tanshi - I have 1 locker in it already I thought I had read on here somewhere that putting a locker in the front will end up breaking things eventually but hopefully Joes' axles and the CV set up will take care of that. I have a WT Sierra Tcase for it I just need to put the gears in and install it.

It could be a case of since I have not put in the axles and CV's I have been trying to not get too much wheel spin and bite on the 31's as I didnt want to break the Stock CV's so I am sure when I change out the front end and dont worry about babying it as much that I will find it getting me where I want.

I still would like to give the suspension mods a go so I will keep asking and looking over everything I can find before I make y mind up.

Thanks for the suggestions so far

[31zook]

The rear radius arms are located on the bottom of the chassis. They act as a giant rock anchor and are about the most debilitating thing in the rear end. Problem is, as soon as you lift the rear the Anti-squat shoots through the roof and would make it fairly unstable on climbs. So just lifting up the front mounts to above the chassis line would be a first step I believe in fixing some factory problems.

Relinking is another option, you could have room for custom raduis arms with bigger softer bushes, or a jeep Y-link, or a 3 link with notched tank... or most other options are possible. But I don't think that a jimny (due to WB and being a top heavier shell) need the rear to work more then it does. Jimny timmy has a set of Bruces bushes in and he gets his rear end to flex well enough. Im running flogged out stock bushes and standard rear arms and it does the job for me.

As others have said. Make the front work well before you mess about with the rear.

[Gwagensteve]

^That.

There's a few things to consider when adding travel. Jimny springs only offer about 7" of travel, so you can mess with the suspension as much as you like, but once the springs go loose, you're in a grey area as to whether the car is going to drive better or worse, so potentially, you could be making the car less trustworthy to drive by adding travel.

The back end of Jimny's travels quite well, has reasonable roll stiffness, but they also have quite high COG, so changing the link arrangement to dramatically reduce roll stiffness might just result in a spooky car.

I firmly believe that low front/high rear roll stiffness makes for a more trustworthy car. My car currently has low rear roll stiffness and high(er) front roll stiffness, and I'd much rather it was the other way around, so I'll be adding a rear sway bar. Kind of defeats the purpose of re-linking the rear end if you then want to put back the roll stiffness you've just taken out, and then limit strap the car to stop the springs going loose.

Steve.

[Xtreme]

I just find mine does not have much in the rear, could be the old man emu springs I'm not sure so I will have a look at that first. I have a rear arb air locker and will look at doing front also. First mod I will do for now is concentrate on the axle, cv and rear full float install and then the sierra transfer with 4.15 gears install and see how it feels.

Thanks for the input

[got_bar_work]

R u running rubber bushes in the arms

[Gwagensteve]

"Does not have much" compared to what? Another Jimny with OME stuff in it? A stock Jimny? What you thought it should have?

I was talking to a member of the vic club the other day who is planning on using rear Jimny radius arms in an LJ50 project he is planning because they look very well designed to him. (I agree with 31zook, they are badly mounted in stock form, but that's not what we are discussing here)

I think the stock radius arms have no problem exceeding the travel of the springs or any shock that can be fitted into the vehicle without modification, so linking the rear won't help, but it will almost certainly give you whole range of drivability problems to deal with, on and off road. Rear suspension needs roll stiffness.

Steve.

[Xtreme]

Just the Stock bushes in the arms. What is the comparison to nylon?

Steve - It does not have much flex as to what I thought it would have, I will upload a picture of it but basically when I look through images of other Jimny's testing their articulation the rear has a whole lot more flex the what it looks like mine has.

I assumed that better flex in the rear would keep the traction on the ground and hence be better. I do have a rear locker though.

I did not know that decreasing the rear roll stiffness would give problems driving on road - definitely not something I would try to bring about with a modification. Perhaps I can come up with something like you suggested in the previous post and make a quick disconnect rear sway bar and play with the shock/spring set up to get something that is a bit better then stock but still maintains safe road handling. I was just asking as I was thinking about future mods I have a lot to do on it yet before I get to that stage.

[got_bar_work]

Rubber bushes flex heaps better
Nylon will bend the arms