Bent Jimny Radius Arm

[Mike57]

I knew that the Jimny radius (suspension) arms were weak but not this weak. I serviced the car today and spotted that the front right radius arm is bent and twisted.

You can see the bend in this photo


The result is that the front mount is not sitting straight.

Right hand side front mount


Left hand side for comparison


I am pretty sure this a result of the flexing exercise on the ramp at Bills Block as it was not like this the last time I serviced the car and I have not done much driving since, certainly nothing that would have caused this.

My question is whether this should be urgently replaced or whether it can wait for a while. I have a long trip planned and so far this is not affecting the drivability of the car. If the only issue is additional pressure on the rubber (and poly) mounts and there is no chance of it falling apart in the medium term then I am inclined to leave it this way while I research options.

Any opinions welcome.

Thanks

Mike

[gwagensteve]

You'd be surprised, according to one of Australia's leading Suzuki experts, jimny radius arms never bend

I don't think that looks all that bad. I think I'd run it, and keep an eye out for a spare.

I'm deeply concerned if the arms can bend on a ramp- the car didn't even reach the bumpstop on there RHF, and it was only under load when the car went up the ramp forward, so it wasn't even bearing 1/2 the cars weight. I'm pretty sure when it was backed up it was the LHF that was fully compressed.

I'd put my money on bending it at Robe. Sand is waaaaaay hard on cars. So many diff housings get bent in the sand.

Steve.

[Mike57]

Thanks Steve. Yes, it could have been at Robe, I just thought sand would be easy on the car. I will run it like this for the next trip and aim to replace it early next year. Preferably I will look for a stronger replacement but as I don't have a huge lift I need something close to stock. Would be good to get rid of the caster correction bushes though and add the correction in the arm. More research needed.

[gwagensteve]

I don't think I'd go with aftermarket arms. The consensus seems to be that they're too stiff- they don't flex like stock arms, so they transfer too much load into the brackets on the axles and chassis and induce cracking. Definitely worth careful research.

Sand is murder on cars.

Steve.

[greyghost]

As do poly bushes. Replace these with rubber.
In all the places that I drove my Jimny I NEVER bent an arm.
The guys in NSW were bending them, but they ran unlock cars and I suspect that they were "falling" off stuff.
On the other hand I have heard of several arms breaking, but I've only seen the pics and the car was "jammed" into a steep ditch that it was crossing

[Mike57]

I have rubber at the body mount and poly at the axle. The poly bushes are caster corrected and this did help after my small lift. I have ordered a replacement second hand stock arm for the moment.

i think Steve is correct about the sand and after thinking about I think i know when it happened as well.

Better to bend the arm than crack a mount I agree.