Wide tyres

I'm just pulling your leg in jest. Obviously there's loads you could do, just giving ideas.

Added lightness is always a good idea but ultimately it is never going to be as light as a covered quad or side by side. Also if you are determined to get floatation tyres then be prepared to pay regular attention to the wheel bearings and kingpin assembly as the additional leverage the floats apply will have a detrimental effect on the service life of the bearings. That being said I use my jimny in much the same way and it is definitely better than a quad but I have to take mine between sites so it has to be road ready hence being fairly much standard but equally we try to keep of the land at this time of year as it is really too wet for anything other than a hovercraft to not make a mess of the grass.

Thanks! That's well worth knowing! Do you have any idea of that widest size? Or even just a guess?

If you are not using it for the road then basically whatever you want though I would guess that sakes as a 13.5 inch width would probably need quite a lot of arch cutting to get the steering and compression cleared. It is really dependant on your comfort zone for carving the car.

And I just thought, has anyone run tractor grip tyres under a Jimny? I might ring my local tyre dealer and see what sizes they come in. Brutal for the road but the best off road by... A country mile?

What you really need is a set of proper flotation tyres like these: www.bigtyres.co.uk/31x15-50-15-8-ply-bkt-tr-315-tl.html

You might be able to find some in smaller diameter than 31 inches, and this would help a lot. You will, however, need to butcher most of the bodywork or fit a 4 inch lift to make them work without rubbing everywhere. And you might struggle to find rims for them.

Sizes that fit without any modifications are 195/85 R15 and 215/75 R15. With a set of 2 inch springs in the front and the original front springs in the back you can fit 235/75 R15 with a bit of scrubbing but not too bad. Any taller and wider than this means more work to make them fit.

A decent tyre at low pressure (i've run my 215 BFGs at 12psi on really soft peat without problems) will work ok, but you won't get down to the low ground pressure of a quad.

Towing 500kg won't give you any issues, especially if you've been previously towing it the same places with a quad. In fact, the Jimny has about 500kg on each axle, so the amount your trailer sinks in will be a good guide as to how much damage a Jimny on road tyres would do.

As far as weight saving goes, you'll be a long time saving 40kg of weight, and you'll quickly make it an unpleasant place to be. Remove the back seats because you won't need them but that's about the only easy saving you'll make. Trim is practically weightless.

I don't know the weight difference between a convertible and hard top but I imagine it to be small- 20-30kg maybe.