sideways wrote:
FWIW I went from extremely heavy 28.5" tyres to lighter 30s and I think it might have actually been a little peppier with the 30s, though that could be anti-placebo from how bad I thought it was going to be.
Interesting to hear your thoughts on gear choice. For any sort of decent dune my pre-VVT auto jimny was firmly stuck in 1st low, it couldn't pull anything higher though it wouldn't have needed much more power to do so. You just kind of slowly dropped revs until it dipped low enough that it had no power. Obviously the VVT auto is lower geared in low but I still couldn't pull 1st high. Maybe our sand is softer. Also the lesser flexibility of the pre vvt engine didn't help, it had nothing under 4000rpm and made max power at the highest revs. It would have been much nicer with a better dune climbing gear, it was pretty capable on sand but more momentum would have been great, it was really just relying on traction. You'd go up at like walking pace doing 6749rpm because the limiter is so aggressive you'd lose to much momentum if you touched it.
I found the lack of top speed in low pretty annoying (it wont shift into 4th in 4wd), VVT would be even worse!
Interesting your experience with the 30’s. Thanks for sharing. How was either option on the highway/road?
Regarding gearing, don’t get me wrong, if the revs drop below 3000 I am stuck, below 4K I start to get worried. From my experience the beach sand in south Australia is a lot more corse and generally a lot harder. I have had stucks here where I have gotten out and literally sunken past my knees (getting 3rd degree burns in the process). But there are so many variables, time of day, time of year etc. The same dunes continually change. What it does sound like we have is more space and changes in elevation to gain momentum. If I run the speeds you are talking about I won’t be able to drive anything, I wouldn’t even be able to make it up a small dune in first low. But sounds like the environment around you is not allowing you to build momentum to get higher speeds. I am assuming is rather flat, choppy and soft?
Regarding limiter, I bash it often and find it not too bad. It’s my favorite thing about the jimny auto, the fact you can manually change gears. Bashing limiter will happen in a scenario where I am between dunes, I.e, just after the down hill of one and entering the base of a new one and if you change up you lose too much power and then need the revs to drop low enough to get back into the previous gear, by then it’s game over. Much better to keep speed and revs by smashing the limiter for a few seconds.
The no 4th in low range drives me nuts! If anyone has a crack or fix for this please post!
