Honeymoon expedition to Kazakhstan and Nordkapp in a Jimny

[expeditionhoneymoon]

A quick update on the recent work and plans.

The crates arrived and fit really nice so we use them instead of a heavy wooden drawer system.

We also wanted a small door table to put our stoves on for cooking. First I thought of making a new backdoor panel, but after removing
the plastic panel and thinking about adding extra weight again we decided to make an instant / pop up table.
I used a alloy U profile and a sheet of triplex wood, two steel cords, hooks and securing pins to keep te plate in place.

The almost finished result:

We changed our plans on a dual battery system and are looking into a small additional battery pack to run the fridge in the night.

The only upgrades we need to do is indeed like all you guys mentioned do something about the springs for the load compensation.
And we need to find a place to store a jerry can for fuel.

Keep you posted, we're leaving the 1st of may so that's coming quite quick now

 

[thijs404]

Sounds like an awesome honeymoon!

I got a message I'm not allowed to post links...? But here are some sites you can search and might find useful:
This is an english forum for jimny's:
- bigjimny.com forum

I see from your license plate your are also from holland so here's some useful dutch websites you probably already know:
- modderpoel.nl
This one is a forum for vitaras but about half the members have replaced them with jimny's by now...
- ploeteraar.nl

I had plans to prepare my jimny for simular trips but stumbled upon an old unimog which was already complete and had just come back from journey around africa, so bought that instead...

I saw on your website that you already visited suzi's place, I haven't met anybody yet who knows more about jimny's than Arno so I asume he has already given you some advise for your preparations.

As for the springs, I would finish the rest of the car first and load it up with everything you want to take and then see how you like the ride. Original ground clearance on a jimny is 190 mm (chassis to ground). Everybody who has ever owned a vitara, samurai or jimny knows how rock hard the rear suspension is. I know a lot of guys who always drive around with a bunch of weight in the back just to get the springs to do something... and you have the hardtop which is 25 kg lighter then the convertible so you've already saved yourself a bit of weight there

I definitely would not install a steel bumper, I drive technical trials with my modified jimny but still use the standard bumpers. Have already crushed them several times but they just bounce back ! But the original towing eyes are completely useless and will tear off just looking at them. In the front I would weld a strong eye to the chassis. At the rear I see you already have a towbar, I would keep that and weld a strong eye to it. The towbar will make the departure angle even worse but can work as a protection for the fueltank.
The electric socket for the trailer hitch is in the original position, I would put that away somewhere behind the rear bumper if your not going to use it. Reduces risk of damaging it (as I found out the hard way, a lot of after market towbar installs tap straight into the wiring loom that goes from the left side of the car to the right, this means that when you damage the socket none of the lights on the right side will work anymore...)

The standard jimny jack is not very tall en in mud often not tall enough. If you are considdering a highlift jack you can use the rear towbar as a jackup point and at the front you can use the chassis if the bumper is removed.

Weak points:
They are pretty strong little cars and very easy/simple to work on. Couple of things i've read and found myself are:
- Leaking crankshaft oil seal, I got so tired of replacing mine that I just fill it up with oil every 1000 km orso...
- wheel bearings: they wear out quick with bigger tires, (so doesn't really apply to you but I would check them before setting of on a long trip with bad roads)
- rear axle: I've heard of overlanders having the axle broke where it is welded to the diff after driving on washboard roads for long periods. (I have spoken to the guys at suzi's place about it and they had never seen it, but in holland we don't have washboard roads.

Some other weak points, but should not be a problem for you if you keep the drivetrain original:
- Propshaft wears out quickly at extreme angles, after having replaced mine 3 times in 1 year I replaced it with one that has u-joints on both sides. Never had a problem sinds.
- half shafts, they break easy with bigger tires. Stronger after market are available.
- transfer case, original is chain driven which tend to brake or become slack.
I have not had any of the problems with the last mantioned above and mine has a 4.5 inch suspension lift, 2 inch bodylift, 5.14 reduction gears and sits on 31" tires. So it mostly depends on your right foot I guess...

Last, Fuel consumption:
When my jimny was standard I got on average 12.4 km per liter. With all the modifications I still get 10 km per liter. My gues is you will get about the same as mine after the mods...

Try some of the dutch offroad events, they are cheap and you learn a lot (especially what not to do by looking at some of the other drivers)
That's about all the bull.... I could think of.. Enjoy your jimny!

 

[thjakits]

Hey Thijs404,

your BIGJIMNY link gets you to the "Wokingham Air Training Corps webpage!!"

I believe you meant this one:

http://www.bigjimny.com/



Cheers,

thjakits

 

[thijs404]

That's the one I meant

 

[expeditionhoneymoon]

Hi Thijs,

Thanks for all your input!

We indeed found our way to Suzi's place, we asked Arno for advice and the Jimny is in maintenance with them.
Almost finished with the build and we're going for a test weekend next week to see how everything fits and handles.
This week somewhere we go to Suzi's place all loaded up to see if we need to do something extra to compensate for the weight.

I think we need to go for the airbag helpers that thjakits and others mentioned, because when the fridge and stuf is in it's
indeed hanging low on the back.

Keep you all posted on the next steps, today I finish everything in the back, need to fit some more hooks to the top plate to strap everything down.

 

[expeditionhoneymoon]

We want to carry a extra 20 liters around Kazakhstan and North Cape.
Anyone ideas or experience with a 20liter jerrycan holder for on the spare wheel on the back?

 

[thjakits]

Hi all,

being Europe as it is - I am certain one or the other country will NOT allow jerry-cans on the OUTSIDE of the car. So - either go for a extra tank installed underneath (or a replacement tank with increased capacity - ...well, you won't do that as it is expensive as hell!) or get a really good jerry-can (...or better yet 2 of them) and find a place INSIDE!

[I believe there are add-on tanks for Jimnys available, I am SURE there are higher -capacity tanks available in Australia - what you might want to look into, IF you could mount a second standard Jimny tank underneath! I think (don't have a Jimny available to look at...) the Jimny tank is sitting only along ONE side of the car - the other side being occupied by the exhaust system. Have a look underneath, if there would be enough space for a second Jimny tank, you could have a muffler shop cut the exhaust system in a manner so the exhaust exits juuuust behind the door (I believe there is some law that requires that - looking at my Amarok, the exhaust does NOT exit at the rear of the car, but on the passenger side just in front of the rear axle.... - I think the legal part is, that the exhaust has to be behind the last door or open-able window - don't know how that works with the Jimny REAR-door though).
IF I am right and the tank sits just back there, it should be possible to fit another standard tank - either backwards with the filler wherever it comes out on the "other" side or you rig the filler over the existing tank to have TWO filler ports side-by side. Then a little basic electric wiring work and voilá: TWICE the standard capacity for fuel!! :victory: .....you still can take a 5-gallon jerry-can or 2.... :friday:

For the added spring capacity, do yourself a favor and add a 1-inch spring spacer too (These are really cheap, put them in all around)!! It doesn't alter things enough to need caster-correction bushings (although these are fairly affordable too...) and it doesn't lift the rig enough to become trouble with stability, BUT you will quickly appreciate the added ground clearance!!
IF you go the airbag route, don't forget to buy a few spares (valve inserts, tube-repair kit, air-hose, etc..... - you see, IF you are prepared for all that trouble, it will NEVER happen!! .....works without failure!! )

Cheers,

thjakits

 

[mattv94]

We changed our plans on a dual battery system and are looking into a small additional battery pack to run the fridge in the night.

Which brand battery pack do you have in mind?

 

[thjakits]

Dual pack of identical batteries is okay in parallel and no changes to the charging system.
If you will have different type batteries - you will need some kind of charge-CONTROLLER...

I suggest you check your available space, quote the biggest dual-bat-pack that fits and then compare to "whatever you already have or have in mind" + the charge controller!!
A good controller won't be cheap!
[Something that will monitor all your batteries, select which one needs charging and modifies the available current from your generator to whatever the current battery needs.....]

thjakits

 

[Jeepinaaron]

For your extra fuel needs check out Roto Pax as opposed to a jerry can. You can mount them directly to your spare tire in one of two ways.

Or with this ratchet strap mount.

 

[expeditionhoneymoon]

It's been a while, so time for an update... We are only two week away from our departure.
We're both very busy with our last weeks at work and the final preparations so it took a while to post again.

Since our last post we had two test weekend, the first one with our parents in Arnhem and the second last weekend in Limburg.
The main goal was to test the mattress in the tent, the portable battery solution, the fridge and the tarp solution.

The mattress and the portable power pack did not worked like we hoped, so we needed to improve those two items.
For the mattress we stuffed the original mattress with extra foam.

The portable power pack had an 18Ah battery, that lasted almost 20 hours, but the power pack was quite big and 20 hours where not what we hoped for.
So we decided to go back to our original plan and fit an full dual battery system.
I bought the biggest possible deep cycle battery that would fit under the bonnet, sourced the cables, connector, fuses and an intelligent battery separation controller.
Made up a frame for the battery with alloy L profile. Attached it to the original mounting points for the screen wash bottle.
To fit everything the bottle for the screen wash needed to be replaced, I choose to fit it right behind the headlight unit and extend the cables and hoses to the bottle.

The second weekend we slept like a charm, the extra foam in the mattress was enough to give us some real comfort.
The fridge kept running al the time on the second battery and everything was charged back up again when we arrived home, that worked just fine as well.

Here are some pictures from the test weekend and the dual battery setup.
Now we head back to work and we will probably post again when we are on the road, we leave the 1ste of may.

Our first test weekend

The dual battery setup

The second test weekend spot.

 

[Thomas_ZA]

I read this and I'm jealous. The topic starter will know what I mean when I say that I've been looking at Jimnies (or should it be Jimny's or Jimnii?) on Marktplaats. Have a safe trip, and "rij veilig en kom heelhuids thuis". I'll be following you on Facebook.

My wife and I toured Sweden and Norway last year with a Discovery, also with a rooftop tent as well as a Fridgerite cooler Unfortunately the Disco and RTT has since been sold, and we're back to a car and caravan.

Cheers,
Thomas

 

[thjakits]

LOOKING GREAT!!

Questions:

1) Why the long way around (to the front and then back again ...) with the red cable - it looks like you could have saved nearly 1 meter of "resistance"...?

2) What did you decide on the suspension?
Leave it? Lift it? Airspring helpers?

3) Hi-Lift jack ???

Cheers,
thjakits

 

[expeditionhoneymoon]

The red cables is a bit long because of the location of the battery switch. The thickness of the cables makes it a bit hard to get everything connected with the fuse in between.
Did some measurements every now and then but it seems to work, so don't think the length is causing any problems.

For the suspension we fitted a spacer on the back to see what happend, the back came up nice and the ride is level again.
Everything handles fine (we did not do any serious off road, but we not intend to) so after the test and some riding around we decided to keep it like it is right now with the spacers on the back.


Tomorrow our last day at work, when we come home we have a small farewell drink with friends and family and then we leave this sunday morning..
Excited!!!

First stop is in Germany somewhere half way to Prague, the second stop is Prague for 2 nights..

 

[thjakits]

FANTASTIC!!

The simplest solutions are always the best, as long as you don't exceed their limits. What you are planning to do - GOOD ENOUGH!!

Have fun!!

thjakits