Uprated CVS and shafts

As these only accommodate up to 32 inch tyres Rob Storr will be getting my hard earned shortly. Shame really as I like the stock side gear idea, But there must be a reason to change them. Maybe the side gears themselves are prone to some sort of failure.

As they so go bigger or go home?

jimnydms wrote: I understand what your saying about the shocks it's not that the RC shocks are stiff they just don't give a very good ride on or off road IMO maybe to do with the bump/rebound how they are built from factory. I fit bilsteins to Porsches all day long and they are one of the best kits out there to work with. It just whether they would do something to accommodate a 4" lift.......

I was thinking the with the shafts RS does a 4 pin conversion to go with the 26 spline toughening the whole axel up. Hmmm food for thought eh

You can use a donor rear diff for the 4 pin and 26 spline side gears.

jimnydms wrote: I understand what your saying about the shocks it's not that the RC shocks are stiff they just don't give a very good ride on or off road IMO maybe to do with the bump/rebound how they are built from factory. I fit bilsteins to Porsches all day long and they are one of the best kits out there to work with. It just whether they would do something to accommodate a 4" lift.......

I was thinking the with the shafts RS does a 4 pin conversion to go with the 26 spline toughening the whole axel up. Hmmm food for thought eh

I jacked the Jimny up on stands, lowered the front axle down just so both front springs were sitting fully extended. Then measured the total length between upper and lower shock mount.
Then it was just a matter of going through the complete list of Bilstein 5100/5125 shock on summitracing.com. First I needed to find shocks that both had correct and mounts (upper pin). Then to find a shock that suited the Jimny's weight. This was the tricky part. So it was a bit if a trial and error. Thankfully the shocks I ordered were a superb match for the Jimny's weight.

Jezz wrote: As these only accommodate up to 32 inch tyres Rob Storr will be getting my hard earned shortly. Shame really as I like the stock side gear idea, But there must be a reason to change them. Maybe the side gears themselves are prone to some sort of failure.

As they so go bigger or go home?

First let me just say that there no doubt that the RS shafts and CVs are stronger than the standard Jimny ones.
But the RCV ones are not more of less suitable for +32" tyres than those from RS. Warranty is just voided if you go bigger than 32". How much warranty is it RS provide? None.

Also, as far as I know. RS don't make the CVs themselves. They only make the shafts.
In Comparison RCV is one of the most well renowned manufacturers of HD shafts, CV joints and so on. They also used to make stuff for Trail-Gear and Longfield. But stopped doing it after TG bought Longfield.

So, RS may be 26 splines shafts. But that says nothing about the strength. And as I said on more than one occasion. When was the last time you saw a Jimny shaft break at the diff end ?

I know the RCV stuff is more expensive. But comes with a 5 year warranty. Why not stick with 32" tyres? It's not in any way better offroad with 33" tyres. But sure, I know 33" looks better down by the pub

Or maybe wait a bit and see what Rus@Jimnybits comes up with. He's testing RCV stuff now and mentioned a price around £500 for a full set. Don't know about warranty though.

Many users on this forum tends to only look a the numbers. 26 splines surely must be better than 22. 5" lift surely must be better than 2" and so on. Not a lot look a the quality of the components being used. They just want bigger.

TomDK wrote: Many users on this forum tends to only look a the numbers. 26 splines surely must be better than 22. 5" lift surely must be better than 2" and so on. Not a lot look a the quality of the components being used. They just want bigger.

This is true of most British 4x4 enthusiasts! Bigger wheels, more lift, wider spacers, more lights, heavier bumpers. All things that look cool at the pub, but relatively few fit traction aids or put thought into suspension or consider clearance, approach and departure angles.

Busta wrote:

TomDK wrote: Many users on this forum tends to only look a the numbers. 26 splines surely must be better than 22. 5" lift surely must be better than 2" and so on. Not a lot look a the quality of the components being used. They just want bigger.

This is true of most British 4x4 enthusiasts! Bigger wheels, more lift, wider spacers, more lights, heavier bumpers. All things that look cool at the pub, but relatively few fit traction aids or put thought into suspension or consider clearance, approach and departure angles.

Exactly.
You'd do a lot better in terrain with a diff locker than some cheap 3-5" suspension lift. And good quality shocks makes it possible to go faster offroad. Long cheap shocks does not.