Suzuki 4WD Club of Victoria

Hi Everyone,

I picked up my new 2015 Jimny about a fortnight ago. It's a weekender for me, I've also got a road car. Having said that I still want it to be okay on the roads so I can get to where I'm going.

I was hoping to pick some brains for some tips? This is my first 4wd and I'm not going to be looking for the deepest pit of mud just to see if it can make it but I want to be able to take it up any reasonable track I find just to see what's on the other side. To go out on my own and get to locations I couldn't make in my CCC, spend some days and nights way out there. It's currently stock except for the floor mats and the cross bars on the roof.

I've pinged a few people about it and have a bit of a short list:
- Steel rims (preferably 17") with A/T tyres
- Some sort of bull bar, hopefully light weight
- Probably a snorkel just in case
- A little ~2 tonne bull bar mounted winch for emergencies
- Rack on the back with an extra fuel can
- Something to chop through fallen trees, probably a bow saw
- Aluminium roof cargo basket
- Window tinting (for glare and heat not looks)
- Basic recovery kit of snatch strap, skids and med kit (and whatever else the kit comes with!)

It'd be great to get a little more performance out of it cause it does struggle on steep tarmac but from what I can tell there's nobody who does this sort of thing specifically for Jimny's so a custom fit out of a turbo or supercharger probably isn't realistic? I don't know how realistic the rest of the stuff is. The 17" rims was a suggestion from someone I ran into to gain some extra ground clearance for free, I suppose there's not much downside to it. I've only been out a few times on some simple tracks, it's still on road tires, but I've already encountered two fallen trees that forced me to turn around Not a great hassle but if anyone has any hot tips for these situations that'd be welcome.

I've got a relative who can pick me up limited amounts of parts at a discount so the cost of big ticket items might not be such a big issue as it could be.

Thanks for reading and for your time.

Cheers.

Hi mate,

I'll weigh in with some thoughts. I'm not personally a Jimny owner but we have (and have had) several in the club. I'd recommend you come along to the tech weekend which is in three weeks - a lot of this stuff is a lot easier to demonstrate and discuss than to explain on here.

I'll work though your list, however, the overriding thing to consider when working with a Jimny is that the cars don't have very much payload. Anything you add to the car (including fuel, water in the washer bottle, and those floor mats and cross bars) reduces your payload. Overloading the car reduces its offroad and on road performance, and, critically, reduces the reliability of the vehicle.

Other than your list, these are the things I'd be fitting straight away.

A compressor and tyre deflation/inflation kit
Tyre levers
Extended diff breathers
First aid kit and fire extinguisher

Then, more substantially:
215/75/15 off road tyres of your choice, these go on standard rims and require little to no other work to install
A hand winch
A bolt in 2" suspension kit like an OME kit, mostly to improve performance when loaded.
A rear differential lock such as an ARB air locker.
A cargo barrier behind the front seats.

To go out on my own and get to locations I couldn't make in my CCC

I would very strongly advise against this, at least until you are very familiar with your vehicles capabilities and are very proficient with self recovery. Despite almost 25 years of driving offroad, going anywhere that requires low range by myself (single vehicle) makes me very nervous. That's why I'm in a club and I basically never go 4WDing without other cars with me. The number of people we have encountered over the years out by themselves that require assistance is very surprising.

- Steel rims (preferably 17") with A/T tyres

There's no reason to run 17" rims - the only offer disadvantages at small tyre sizes. Improving traction when off road is all about reducing tyre pressure to allow the tyre to conform to the terrain. With standard tyres, a Jimny already has a tyre that's quite low profile (short sidewall) moving up to a taller rim will only make this problem worse. Stick to a 215 75 15 tyre which is about 2" taller than your current tyres, (but still legal) This allows 1" more sidewall to deflect to improve traction, is a readily available size, and fits on your standard rims. If you wish to retain your road tyres and alloy rims for road use, you can fit 215 75 15's to standard steel Jimny or leaf sprung Sierra rims which are easy to find and very cheap.

I don't see the point for AT tyres if you aren't daily driving the car. the performance difference off road between AT and MT tyres is substantial, and if you're not commuting with the car the increase in road noise isn't much of an issue.

- Some sort of bull bar, hopefully light weight

If you are planning lots of travelling at dusk or dawn I completely agree with the idea of adding a (strong) bullbar. If you travel is mostly in the day I'd move it down the list. The stock plastic bumpers are light, and absorb a surprising amount of impact. The current trend of running without bars around the headlights makes the added protection of these styles of bullbar for animal strikes pretty limited - if you hit a roo at dusk and it takes out your headlights despite your bull bar, what was the point of the bar? you're still sitting beside the road needing a tow.

I guess I'm suggesting really critically analysing the need for any accessory, and weighing up what's an accessory and what's actually required. For example, a compressor is required to get the most out of your tyres. A bull bar isn't required to do anything if you're not travelling when/where animal strikes are likely.

- Probably a snorkel just in case

If you feel like it, but you should never be driving into anything remotely near the depth a snorkel is required for by yourself. When assessing water depth, don't assess whether it requires a snorkel or not, assess how bothered you'd be if the water was that depth inside the car. If the idea of 6" of water inside the car is impossible to consider, then you shouldn't be going anywhere that requires a snorkel. Snorkels are great and all, but if you have to stop because you've become bogged or rutted out in a crossing, and/or have to reverse, the car WILL fill wither water. It's inevitable. Also, theres not currently a snorkel made to fit a late model jimny - some adaption is required to the pillar brackets to adjust the fit for the different guard profile.

- A little ~2 tonne bull bar mounted winch for emergencies

I don't believe this is a good idea. A Jimny used for one-up travel when laden requires a 6000lb winch in my opinion. There are a lack of quality, large frame (standard Warn mounting pattern) 4500lb winches on the market, as they are predominantly designed for ute tray mounting or UTV use, not for vehicle recovery. The small frame winches have smaller brakes, less rope etc and are lighter, but will struggle to pull a Jimny thats, for instance, on it's diffs and unable to assist the winch at all. I dislike electric winches, I think they impair decision making, especially when you're travelling alone. I think hand winches are great. They're very versatile, but because they're slow to set up and use, you'll drive the car in a way to avoid needing it. This is safer than driving into situations because you know you can winch out and then finding the winch kills your battery/doesn't work/you break the rope/you can't find the hand control/it melts the battery terminals off the battery/the winch brake fails and you slide back down the hill.

Just sayin'

Rack on the back with an extra fuel can

This is illegal. Petrol cannot be carried on the rear of the vehicle in a jerry can holder. It's also a way to add a LOT of weight and complexity (the rack will need to be a swing away as the rear door can't take the extra weight) to gain a small amount of range.

- Something to chop through fallen trees, probably a bow saw

Sure. Good call.

- Aluminium roof cargo basket

Not a fan of any roof load at all on Jimnys. The centre of gravity is already pretty high, and even a seemingly small amount of weight has a significant effect when it's that far above the cars COG.

- Window tinting (for glare and heat not looks)

Sure

- Basic recovery kit of snatch strap, skids and med kit (and whatever else the kit comes with!)

Sure. Also, Jimny's don't really have adequate recovery points front or rear. I believe there are sources for bolt on recovery points that a far more robust than the factory tie downs.

It'd be great to get a little more performance out of it cause it does struggle on steep tarmac but from what I can tell there's nobody who does this sort of thing specifically for Jimny's so a custom fit out of a turbo or supercharger probably isn't realistic?

No there isn't. CAPA in SA might have offered a supercharger at one point but I don't know if anyone fitted one or if they are available for the 2015 car. The more common upgrade is a larger M series motor from an 1.8 Ignis, 1.6 swift etc, but the cost of this swap using new parts (to match your brand new car) would be prohibitive. I'm also not aware of anyone that has done this swap and had 100% success. it seems most live with a wonky idle or slightly strange power curve or poor economy or something. It's a tinkerer's sort of job, not something for a brand new car. The best advice for performance is keep the weight down.

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

Steve

I guess my strongest advice is to get involved in the club, come on some trips, come to the tech weekend, and learn how to get the best out of what you've got. This will direct where you need to spend your money. You might be surprised.

Thanks Steve. That's all very useful stuff and a lot I didn't know about, I appreciate it and will take most of it on board.

I'm not so sure about not using the roof space but you've made me certain that I'll not want to put anything heavy up there. That means that I'll have to think about how to make the most out of the boot space, possibly removing the seats, and of course the cargo barrier will be important.

Is the tech weekend 30-31st Jan? Where would it be held?

Thanks.

Yes, the tech weekend is the 30-31 Jan, it's at my place in Kinglake.

I can PM you the address if you are keen to attend.

Yes, removing the seats is required to gain interior volume.

On road, the weight of what you carry on the roof is less important than the volume. The effect on aerodynamics and therefore cross wind stability and fuel consumption is significant. Off road, any weight at all on the roof should be avoided, even the weight of the basket itself.

I was shopping around for some 215/75 R15's and noticed the Toyo ATII which looked good despite being AT rather than MT. I called Kmart tyre and auto and apparently the regulations have changed? The helpful chap on the phone said that increasing the tyre size by that amount would cause issues because of the ESC. Apparently legally the tyre can only be increased in size by 15mm without re-mapping the ECU. The 215's would be a 35mm increase.

I was back at him with the "are you sure?" and he's come back with "yep, I just completed my roadworthy certificate training and that's what I learned". I haven't researched it myself, but it sounds like it might be new regulations that came in for cars manufactured post 2012 with mandatory factory fit ESC?

The upshot is that new 15" steel rims are only ~$50 each which is cool. Second hand rims would probably be half the cost, but hey .. it's a new car and it'd be nice to scratch up the rims at the same rate as the rest of the car

Anyways, perhaps some useful information.

Cheers.

Okay, now I have researched it myself.

There's something called the "VSB 14 modification code LS" which has two different models depending on vehicle type. 4WD passenger vehicles (ADR categories NA, NB1, MC, MD at least in Victoria) can fall into options 1 or 2. Option 1 allows a tyre diameter increase of 50mm option 2 allows a tyre diameter increase of 15mm. So the chap I spoke to was talking about road vehicles and the info isn't applicable. Unless the Jimny isn't categorised as a 4WD, which would seem terribly silly but I'll make sure of it.

So I'll call Vicroads tomorrow with the direct question "can I increase the diameter of my tires by 36mm?" and see what they say.

50mm tyre diameter increase is legal.

I would also strongly suggest that you get along to the tech weekend. I will have my Jimny there and can go through things with you. Things I would do differently next time and some I am happy with just as a sample.....

I may not go with the ARB OME suspension or at least the shocks - they are too soft. You can drive mine and see what you think.
Adding the ARB bull bar and winch has exceeded the front axle allowable load. I discovered this when I stripped everything out of the car and weighed it for the Simpson trip - I might not add all that weight to the front again.
I don't have a rear bar and again you can't afford the weight.
Cargo barrier is a must in my mind.
Hankook 215/75 tyres are great value. I have the MTs which are not very aggressive or noisy. Put them on the standard rims that came with the car even if they are alloys.
There is no performance upgrade worth doing. If you have a manual you just need to work the gears.
I have an aluminum roof rack and love it but it is ugly. I use a roof pod on it when needed and it is very aerodynamic but anything on the roof will slow you down.
Removing the rear seats and adding a flat floor was one of my first mods. My rear seats will never go back in.
I have an aluminium rear draw which is really useful.
You should extend the transfer case and transmission breathers as well as adding the diff breathers.
Hand winched are heavy but more importantly they take up a lot of space. I would go with a small front mounted winch over a hand winch or nothing at all.

I will be there on the Saturday.

Mike

Thanks Steve, I'm going to check tomorrow anyway. I'm pretty anal to a fault.

And thanks Mike, it's great to know that the Hankooks are a realistic tyre so I won't be worried about having the MT's. I'd been tossing up whether to keep the alloy rims or switch to steel. Since the steel rims were so cheap, it seemed a no brainer. I'd thought that the steel rims might be heavier but I suppose that once the MT's are on I wouldn't use the highway tyres and rims ever again?

I hadn't considered upgrading the suspension, I suppose I'd only do that out of necessity. It's REALLY good to hear that the front ARB bullbar pushes the weight of the front end over the axle limits, that's a damned head turner! I guess that replacing the front bumper is going to be something I won't be rushing into. I'll definitely not bother with any rear bumper replacement.

I might need the rear seats from time to time. I popped the headrests off and now they sit flat. They're above the boot height, but I was thinking of finding / making / having made a box that sits over the seats to create a flat floor and building a drawer into the rear section. That'd give me a flat floor in back whilst not losing that much storage space and having a storage drawer in back. It's just a thought, I may remove the seats anyway. I picked up a compressor, tool bag, tyre lever, small med kit, tyre deflation tool, miniature bow saw, fire extinguisher and a toolbag for it all over the last few days. I velcroed the fire extinguisher to the carpet on the passenger side, seems to stay well enough. Also picked up one of those luggage nets in lieu of having the cargo barrier which I'll have to figure out down the track. I'll still find a roof basket but will pick one up that I can easily pull on and off. My other car isn't very utilitarian so I could really use something I can lug large things around in from time to time.

The hand winch has been a head turner. I'd expected it to be a bit of gearing with a short steel cable to attach to a snatch strap that would weigh 10-20kg and be good for 4 tonne. The only one I've found weighs about 50kg, is gigantic and only supports 2.5 tonne. I'm going to keep looking. The surprise was the electric winches which are only a hundred or so for ~3 tonne (if memory serves) and were quite petite. That purchase can wait a while, it's summer so I think the deepest mud I've hit has been about 2 inches. I can see what everyone has in January.

The diff breathers seems like a simple and sensible mod. But here comes the surprise (which for you guys is probably not much of a surprise), I'm nearly completely mechanically illiterate! There, I said it. I guess the tech weekend is going to be a bit of an eye opener for me. But I couldn't not come, it was a bit of a surprise to find out that Steve is up here in Kinglake but hey, I suppose it's just the place for tracks and forests and mud and such.

Cheers guys, and thanks for the help.