New Jimny project - a few questions!

I wasn't being funny, I was just surprised to see it being used in the same application again... but I thought you must have done a bit more development to prevent that happeneing again...

It's all part of development, I've had more than my fair share of silly breakages and TOTAL fails over the years, but it's just all part of finding out what does and doesn't work.... but as a result of all the smashed parts, we now have a much better understanding of what works for us...

If we didn't play around with diffeent setups and materials, try anything new or think outside of the box, we'd all be driving bog std motors with 195 colways on them...

RB

No worries Rob.

We were surprised at the failure mode on Nicks - and to be honest, the joint itself didn't fail so much as it came unscrewed and I guess that could happen to anything. It was useful experience though.

Since then, when people have said they are going to do similar, I have just suggested tacking the lock nut in place and as far as I'm aware, Nick is the only person it has happened to. I guess though that people are more likely to put single link on the front than back - and as I said, the cyclic motion tends to make the ball tighten rather than loosen (on Nicks truck at least).

The freedom of movement of the joint makes it almost ideal for this application - and hence the further development of the ball.

This is the modified ball:



Si

g187eev wrote: If we didn't play around with diffeent setups and materials, try anything new or think outside of the box, we'd all be driving bog std motors with 195 colways on them...

RB

Ah yes Rob but my old SJ410 on it's 195/80/15 Colways gave me some of my best offroading days!

Being able to get that thing round where cars with much better spec went and having to use momentum to counteract the fact we had no articulation with HD springs I foolishly bought was pure fun.

I have a massive respect for the engineering brilliance of Simon R, Rob B, Richard W etc... but I also have a hankering after the standardish motors we all started out with.

I watched an old TV programme a few months ago which had the original Devon 4x4 winch challenge truck on a Winch Challenge. That truck is what most people have developed theirs to within a year of ownership now - because they have to.

The rise of the 35" Simex has made it necessary to have larger tyres to get round a fair few sites, let alone do a challenge event.

I shall continue to watch this build with great interest and will continue to marvel at the "outside the box" ideas and solutions you come up with Simon - but there's nothing wrong with an SJ on 195's either though!

Kirkynut

Unlikely as it might seem, I totally agree!

It's surprising how well people do in competitions in largely standard vehicles. I think many of them start modifying and upgrading to maintain their position.

Obviously that's good for the likes of Rob & I though!

To be honest, my main interest in building stuff is for the enjoyment of it. It often leads to new ideas and products. I'm also a sucker for gadgets! I can't resist adding complexity to the things I build. With this build I'm having to be very strict with myself not to add stuff!

Si

A little more progress!

I gave the front axle a bit of a shave with the plasma cutter - just leaving the brackets I'm actually going to use.

This is one of the seats I bought from Whitbred Off Road - it's not mounted yet but you can see how appropriate it is for the vehicle.

Added some new knobs to the twin transfer box and 'adjusted' one of the levers so they do not hit one another.

Then mounted the Toyota LJ70 steering box. It only fits in one place - but it's almost perfect there! I sleeved and tubed the chassis / bolt holes and incorporated the new panhard rod mounting into the steering box bracket.


As you can see in the above, the front cross member 'fell off'. It will be replaced with something more suitable for winching & recovery points.

Lastly, though no photos, I finished gusseting, welding and painting the front A-Frame axle mount. If I get home early enough one day this week I'll mount it all up.

Si

cool

has the local pub noticed it's missing two pool balls yet - I used to have a number 13 on my MG way back when