[vet 180]

JuniorJoel wrote:

I like to think that one can be made reasonably reliable and a half decent performer. Im running 33x10.5's on mine, 6.5's, fair bit of cutting and hammering of guards and a lot of bump stop extension and along as your willing to work around things anything is possible. But like everyone says you have lots of panels, not much wheel arch to work with but along as your keen with a grinder and a persuader (hammer) you can make bigger tyres fit.

Wow 33's on a Jim. Do you have a build thread?

[shep]

Yeah jimnys are crap. It's much better only driving 50km between breakdowns like sierras do.

If the op wants jimny info then AZ isn't the correct place to find it, big jimny and Facebook are much more reliable.

[vet 180]

shep wrote:

Yeah jimnys are crap. It's much better only driving 50km between breakdowns like sierras do.

If the op wants jimny info then AZ isn't the correct place to find it, big jimny and Facebook are much more reliable.

But yet many guys on here have jimnys that would out wheel a lot of sierra's on this forum.

I think it comes down to the fact that people are far more willing to cut up a Sierra, and people call a complicated modification such as extending the chassis and ruf a simple mod because it's been done many times before.

A jimny running chopped guards and defender flares, 2 inch lift, 31's on -15 7inch wide rims locked and geared and maybe an m18 would be an awesomely capable rig. People are just more willing to customize sierras and stick to what they know and what's proven.

I have had 2 sierras in the past and loved them. But I will say stock/very mild mods car for car the Jim would go further.

[monley]

vet 180 wrote:

shep wrote:

Yeah jimnys are crap. It's much better only driving 50km between breakdowns like sierras do.

If the op wants jimny info then AZ isn't the correct place to find it, big jimny and Facebook are much more reliable.

But yet many guys on here have jimnys that would out wheel a lot of sierra's on this forum.

I think it comes down to the fact that people are far more willing to cut up a Sierra, and people call a complicated modification such as extending the chassis and ruf a simple mod because it's been done many times before.

A jimny running chopped guards and defender flares, 2 inch lift, 31's on -15 7inch wide rims locked and geared and maybe an m18 would be an awesomely capable rig. People are just more willing to customize sierras and stick to what they know and what's proven.

I have had 2 sierras in the past and loved them. But I will say stock/very mild mods car for car the Jim would go further.

This.

If i just wanted something to go wheeling on the beach and maybe drive through some small ruts id take the jinmy every time. Factory efi, a/c, p/s and alot nicer to drive/ live with on a day to day basis, but if to you want to drive over large rocks and 2m deep ruts buy a sierra. Pick the car thats fit for your purpose. I couldnt live with a seirra as a daily again, but a jimny i would do that with ease again

[vet 180]

monley wrote:

vet 180 wrote:

shep wrote:

Yeah jimnys are crap. It's much better only driving 50km between breakdowns like sierras do.

If the op wants jimny info then AZ isn't the correct place to find it, big jimny and Facebook are much more reliable.

But yet many guys on here have jimnys that would out wheel a lot of sierra's on this forum.

I think it comes down to the fact that people are far more willing to cut up a Sierra, and people call a complicated modification such as extending the chassis and ruf a simple mod because it's been done many times before.

A jimny running chopped guards and defender flares, 2 inch lift, 31's on -15 7inch wide rims locked and geared and maybe an m18 would be an awesomely capable rig. People are just more willing to customize sierras and stick to what they know and what's proven.

I have had 2 sierras in the past and loved them. But I will say stock/very mild mods car for car the Jim would go further.

This.

If i just wanted something to go wheeling on the beach and maybe drive through some small ruts id take the jinmy every time. Factory efi, a/c, p/s and alot nicer to drive/ live with on a day to day basis, but if to you want to drive over large rocks and 2m deep ruts buy a sierra. Pick the car thats fit for your purpose. I couldnt live with a seirra as a daily again, but a jimny i would do that with ease again

Bingo. Suzuki are trying to sell new cars, not build comp rigs. And let's face it at 20k for a new car they are great value. Buy new. Throw on a set of 215/75 AT's and you have a very fun car that is great on the beach, can hit the trails, has suspension that articulates better than anything in it's class, be reliable, reasonably economical for a 4x4 and will go a lot further than most will expect due to lack of weight, good articulation of stock suspension and now has low range TRC added all for less than a yaris.

Suzuki have done what they needed to do, they care not for comp trucks and aftermarket mods as most of the world will I just buy a wrangler...

Over here they sell so well you can not even test drive new. They could have put an AUX plug in the radio though!! Would have cost them all of 20c and is a feature many people would want.

[shep]

I bought a jimny as I was sick of trying to keep a 20year old car reliable and haven't once regretted buying it.

[Marko_SJ]

You say that, but my sierra brought me many a adventure, it let me down once in the 40,000km I did in it when it tore a rag joint.

Yes the carb played up until I sorted it out, never left me in the bush.



My brother has about 20,000 km on a jimny. He's not enjoying it and is a lot more invested in it than I was.

Each to their own.

Edit: Tanshi, I'd do the same but with a Vitara. Not sure though, the H series seems to have its issues.

[tanshi]

if I wanted a car that I could drive every day and wheel reasonably hard on weekends it would be a GV.
power comfort and mods hands down stronger from what ive seen of jimnys in stock trim.

[shep]

I have owned a GV. Was a piece of crap. Nothing about the car is suited to off road use.

Turns out that jimnys have shit suspension because gwagon once saw a jimny with aftermarket suspension
getting coil bind and mark has a brother with a poorly built Jimny.

I know more jimny owners then sierra owners and can't think of one person that has had non mud driving issues.
The mud issues are the same for all cars.

[AckerDackerly]

Dang!

Youse guys are having ALL the fun!

From the land of NoJimnys, I remain

[MrRocky]

Cant think of 1 jimny in W.A. that has or does regularly wheel decent tracks the list of broken/rolled jimnys that have tried is endless. Im at 64,000kms of 1 wheelin trip a week with minimal issues in the sierra.
Sure there have been jims that have driven hard stuff but seems to take them 12 months to recover.
Im only speaking of wa i have no idea what the rest of oz is driving.

[JuniorJoel]

Yeah I do, if you search in rigs it'll come up. I think that cutting up a Jimny for most people isn't really the reason they bought them. Most people with that intention do buy sierras and with less panels and glass to destroy why wouldn't you. But that doesn't mean you cant do it to a jimny

[vet 180]

tanshi wrote:

if I wanted a car that I could drive every day and wheel reasonably hard on weekends it would be a GV.
power comfort and mods hands down stronger from what ive seen of jimnys in stock trim.

I went through this exact decision process recently and choose the jimny and have not regretted it. The GV gets the power and comfort boxes ticked, but the Jim is much better offroad, more reliable and a little bit stronger. It also is better for mods.

Some people might come to a different conclusion but that's what I came to. The cars that's at offroad in this country are the gu patrols, jimnys and wranglers.

[tanshi]

Not sure where you figure the jimny is stronger or better off road.
Gv will fit bigger tyres stock. Can strengthen the the front diff. Has better diff gearing options. Has transfer gears. CaN be twin locked. Can upgrade axles both ends. Has heaps of suspension options.

[monley]

I think vet 180 is talking about a new current model GV

[vet 180]

tanshi wrote:

Not sure where you figure the jimny is stronger or better off road.
Gv will fit bigger tyres stock. Can strengthen the the front diff. Has better diff gearing options. Has transfer gears. CaN be twin locked. Can upgrade axles both ends. Has heaps of suspension options.

Referring to a NGV. I also own a se416 but shep's comments are valid comparing one of them to the Jim.

[jez]

I have a Jimny on 33s, 33.13-50.15 on very offset rims. I also have a plasma cutter and i'm not afraid to use it.

[Jezza86]

Any pics of what you cut out of the firewall? Cabin space? Floor? My 30"s touch the fire wall so I've hammered it flat. Cant imagine trying to find another 1 1/2"

[top jimny]

Interesting discussion, probably endless, but nice to hear personal experiences. I've also considered swapping the Jym for a 2nd gen GV as it's only for small duties. But how to compare them? The Jym seems to climb better not to mention the approach and specially departure angle (compared to a 4-door at least). It's hard to imagine having to deal again with struts and ripped cv boots. The GV may handle a little better on the road, but Jym has much less camber / alignment issues, it's completely peace of mind (can be beaten harder).

GV has more power, but off road it's more about gearing i guess, so let's call it even there. On the motorway, a Jym with stock 205/70 tires you can reach 170 km/h on the flat (been there once) and i believe it will follow a GV if proper revved.

One "small' detail that may matter is room and cargo. Jym can only carry 400 kg so not the best touring, specially if loaded with under-body armor and heavy steel bumpers. Room also can be an issue. If you need to carry things up in the roof, the Jym will suffer more pendulum effect due to the long travel suspension and on road mileage and performance can decrease quite a bit.

About Jym vs Sierra can't comment much, never had big tires either (but do they need anything past 33"? and even Sierras would still require new axles and/or heavier drivetrain bits, right?).

Sierras are cheaper vehicles and engineered stronger. the Jym is more confortable and more expensive, but still tough and fairly easy to mod, specially if you're willing to use mr. A. Grinder.

One thing that was a great loss from sierras was the mechanical 4wd lever and free wheel hubs. People here are solving with aftermarket stuff, you can get rid of both t-case actuator and vacuum hubs (but not need to get out of the vehicle to engage) and earn a Neutral. The chain driven transfer case some may say it's weaker, but I've seen it fails only once or twice, so couldn't say.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUYTFaB4a3w

cheers

[top jimny]

oh and are live axles that much cheap to engineer as Steve claims?

Reason i ask is that To me they are stronger, trouble less, and flex more off road being the handling the only CON but if Jimnys are meant to be light small urban as Steve says, the live axles needs to be much much cheaper to be adopted.
?
ps. I'm also curuous about the steering as one is fitted with recirculating spheres (same as agricultural machines). Is that stronger or just cheaper too engineer too? Serous questions guys, I'm not on the automotive business...

cheers

[Mike57]

top jimny wrote:

Interesting discussion, probably endless, but nice to hear personal experiences. I've also considered swapping the Jym for a 2nd gen GV as it's only for small duties. But how to compare them? The Jym seems to climb better not to mention the approach and specially departure angle (compared to a 4-door at least). It's hard to imagine having to deal again with struts and ripped cv boots. The GV may handle a little better on the road, but Jym has much less camber / alignment issues, it's completely peace of mind (can be beaten harder).

GV has more power, but off road it's more about gearing i guess, so let's call it even there. On the motorway, a Jym with stock 205/70 tires you can reach 170 km/h on the flat (been there once) and i believe it will follow a GV if proper revved.

One "small' detail that may matter is room and cargo. Jym can only carry 400 kg so not the best touring, specially if loaded with under-body armor and heavy steel bumpers. Room also can be an issue. If you need to carry things up in the roof, the Jym will suffer more pendulum effect due to the long travel suspension and on road mileage and performance can decrease quite a bit.

About Jym vs Sierra can't comment much, never had big tires either (but do they need anything past 33"? and even Sierras would still require new axles and/or heavier drivetrain bits, right?).

Sierras are cheaper vehicles and engineered stronger. the Jym is more confortable and more expensive, but still tough and fairly easy to mod, specially if you're willing to use mr. A. Grinder.

One thing that was a great loss from sierras was the mechanical 4wd lever and free wheel hubs. People here are solving with aftermarket stuff, you can get rid of both t-case actuator and vacuum hubs (but not need to get out of the vehicle to engage) and earn a Neutral. The chain driven transfer case some may say it's weaker, but I've seen it fails only once or twice, so couldn't say.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUYTFaB4a3w

cheers

So I just took a look at this and what I can't work out is how you can add a neutral position to the transfer case? Can anyone explain how this works?

Mike

[pete_79]

There's no 'true' neutral position on the push button transfers.
The actuator drives the 2 selector shafts in a set sequence.

2h, push main shaft to 4h, push both shafts to 4l. Then it's just reverse order back again to 2h.
No actual stop position for a neutral.

[Mike57]

That is what I thought Pete. Thanks.

[vet 180]

Tbh if your the type that like te convience of the push button auto then a jimny or GV would be more your type of car than a Sierra. Sierras are awesome and I would like to do many mods, but to convert to auto hubs and push button auto would be the last.

On the Jim it's nice to be able to easily switch between 4H and 2H on the fly and not have to get out the car or reverse to unlock the hubs, I use this all the time and it does come in very handy often, but I would never think of converting a Sierra to this system. The simplicity of the manual hubs and leaver auto has it's place also

[top jimny]

Thanks for the reply. They are actually using the same lever for several vehicles. So no Neutral for Jimnys then... I hope no one is buying for flat towing long distances, but company who sells should advice about that.

pete_79 wrote:

There's no 'true' neutral position on the push button transfers.
The actuator drives the 2 selector shafts in a set sequence.

2h, push main shaft to 4h, push both shafts to 4l. Then it's just reverse order back again to 2h.
No actual stop position for a neutral.

[top jimny]

Sorry mate, my point was that the modern actuators and vacuum hubs were losses in terms of reliability over time (from Sierras to Jimnys). The old system is actually more reliable as you can "feel" it engaging.

cheers

vet 180 wrote:

Tbh if your the type that like te convience of the push button auto then a jimny or GV would be more your type of car than a Sierra. Sierras are awesome and I would like to do many mods, but to convert to auto hubs and push button auto would be the last.

On the Jim it's nice to be able to easily switch between 4H and 2H on the fly and not have to get out the car or reverse to unlock the hubs, I use this all the time and it does come in very handy often, but I would never think of converting a Sierra to this system. The simplicity of the manual hubs and leaver auto has it's place also

[vet 180]

top jimny wrote:

Sorry mate, my point was that the modern actuators and vacuum hubs were losses in terms of reliability over time (from Sierras to Jimnys). The old system is actually more reliable as you can "feel" it engaging.

cheers

vet 180 wrote:

Tbh if your the type that like te convience of the push button auto then a jimny or GV would be more your type of car than a Sierra. Sierras are awesome and I would like to do many mods, but to convert to auto hubs and push button auto would be the last.

On the Jim it's nice to be able to easily switch between 4H and 2H on the fly and not have to get out the car or reverse to unlock the hubs, I use this all the time and it does come in very handy often, but I would never think of converting a Sierra to this system. The simplicity of the manual hubs and leaver auto has it's place also

Ah that makes sense now. I still think it's pointless as the system posted looks just as, if not more complicated than the standard push button set up.

[top jimny]

vet 180 wrote:

Ah that makes sense now. I still think it's pointless as the system posted looks just as, if not more complicated than the standard push button set up.

You're wrong, its purely mechanical (no more electric actuators).

[top jimny]

"Jezza86"]or falling out all together. [/q u o t e]

Just got a reply from ARB

028 and 030 shocks do work with factory coil springs (no lift). Good to know beforehand.

The showl can carry on now folks!

cheers

[vet 180]

top jimny wrote:

vet 180 wrote:

Ah that makes sense now. I still think it's pointless as the system posted looks just as, if not more complicated than the standard push button set up.

You're wrong, its purely mechanical (no more electric actuators).

I could be wrong, but it looks as if the leaver just converts the electrical signal. It's all moot anyway as I would much rather just install a sierra box that that leaver an have the option of cheaper reduction gears