New Jimny project - a few questions!

A bit more progress this weekend.


This is a JD2 bender which I mounted on a trolly and added hydraulics from an electric gate opener I found at an auto-jumble! It works tremendously well and produces beautiful, smooth bends.


First bend the internal B-Post hoop. The hoop was designed on a piece of software called Bend-Tech. You just measure the vehicle as accurately as you can, feed in the numbers and it spits out the length of tube you need plus the locations and angles of all the bends. It's a little nerve racking as while you are bending it, it never looks right - you just have to trust the numbers!


Moment of truth - and not a bad fit!


It is within 1cm of the body on each side - so actually a very good fit.


Add some cross bracing and tack-weld them in place. The hoop is made from 46mm by 3.5mm wall CDS to comply with MSA regs. This plus the two rear stays used about 10m of tube and is unsurprisingly heavy! The rest of the cage (external bits) do not need to comply with MSA - so will be in 2.5mm wall CDS.

I removed the rear axle and slid one of the Toyota 80 Series axles underneath to see what it looked like.


Quite wide, even with skinny tyres is the answer.


Originally, I'd thought I'd need to move the axle back about 100mm to fit neatly. The picture shows a 120mm displacement, but with a bit of measurement, it only needs 70mm assuming I widen the arches as much as is feasible. Bear in mind, the tyres I have measure 36.5" - so fitting was never going to be straightforward.

I had originally intended to go for Inverted A frame, also called 'Single link' (even though it has two links if you count the panhard rod). However, once it was in place - it spoke to me! It said it wanted to have a 3-link setup (actually 4 inc Panhard) using the original mountings on the Toyota axle. This just seemed to fit both the axle and the layout of the Jimny better.

For the front, I'm going to have a go at 'X-Link' suspension. There's a thread about it on Pirate Here


Si

NIce bit of kit that tube bender, it is all looking good!

A bit more progress this weekend. I fitted the rear axle, having made all the mountings etc. I have moved it 7cm further back which seemed to avoid most of the things it was likely to hit as it moves.

It would possibly have been better even further back as this photograph shows. These are my Fedima 36.5" tyres I'm planning on fitting:


I made the mountings for the Fox Air Shox:


But, unfortunately found they clash with the Caliper - How did I miss that????


I stared at it for a while and decided the best option was just to rotate the caliper mounting plate. Fortunately they un-bolt and the left and right hand side are the mirror image of one another. By simply swapping them from side to side - it moves the caliper to here:


I also fitted the Auto shift lever (assisted by plasma cutter!) as well as the shift levers for the two transfer cases. Fully welded the internal cage, made (shortened) the rear prop shaft, made a Toyota to Land Rover Prop shaft adaptor (I'm using Land Rover Props as they are strong, cheap and easily available) and started making the metalwork which will cover the big holes I had to cut in the floor for the cage. A couple more rear axle brackets to make for brake pipes and the like - and it should be mobile again ready to turn around and start work on the front axle.

Si

wow

can't wait to see it on the floor sitting on those 37"s

Looking good,

Quick question, I think it looks like the cage hoop is welded to the chassis, yet you say it is a close fit (1 inch) in places. Do you think that the body will flex and hit at some points. (my external hoop has been hit by the body in the past)

Martin

It's within 8mm of the body in many places!

It's had a 2" body lift in a past life which is made from solid bar and doesn't seem to suffer from much movement. Eventually the internal and external cages are going to bolt together through the body which should hold it rock solid. Before the external cage is built (sheduled for October), I will probably just buffer it with some conveyor rubber while I test the suspension.

Si