Suzuki Jimny


The Suzuki Jimny is a series of four-wheel drive off-road mini SUV, manufactured and marketed by Japanese automaker Suzuki since 1970.
Originally belonging to the kei class, Japan's light automobile tax/legal class, the company continues to market a kei-compliant version for the Japanese and global markets as the Jimny, as well as versions that exceed kei-class limitations. Suzuki has marketed 2.85 million units of the Jimny in 194 countries through September 2018.

History

The history of Suzuki four-wheel drive cars began in the latter half of the 1960s, when Suzuki bought a Steyr-Puch Haflinger to study with the intent of building a kei-class off-road vehicle. A better opportunity presented itself in 1968, when Suzuki was able to buy bankrupt Japanese automaker Hope Motor Company, which had introduced a small off-road vehicle called the HopeStar ON360. The tiny Hope company had been unable to enter series production, and only about 45 were manufactured.
The first Suzuki-branded four-wheel drive, the LJ10, wasn't introduced until 1970. The LJ10 had a Kei-class sized 359-cc, air cooled, two-stroke, in-line twin-cylinder engine. The liquid-cooled LJ20 was introduced in 1972 with the cooling updated due to newly enacted emission legislation, and it gained 3 hp. In 1975, Suzuki complemented the LJ20 with the LJ50, which had a larger, 539-cc, in-line three-cylinder engine – but still two-stroke – and it came with bigger differentials. This was originally targeted at the Australian market, but more exports soon followed.
The Jimny 8 / LJ80 – updated from the LJ50, with an 800 cc, four-stroke, four-cylinder in-line engine, the final version of the original LJ series – was followed by the second generation Jimny 1000 / SJ410, and Jimny 1300 / SJ413 1.3 litre. An updated version of the SJ413 became known as the Samurai and was the first Suzuki officially marketed in the US. The series from SJ410 to SJ413 was known as the Sierra in Australia, and remained the Jimny in some markets.
The third generation Jimny was released in 1998, and since then has acquired the same name in all markets. The 1998 release used the G13BB Suzuki G engine with electronic fuel injection, which was replaced by the M13AA EFI Suzuki M engine in 2001 and the M13AA engine with variable valve timing in 2005, in conjunction with a minor interior redesign.
In late 2018, Suzuki launched an all new fourth generation Jimny, which was received with great enthusiasm by Jimny fans all over the world. For export, the engine displacement rose to 1.5 litre; and for the first time in history, the power output could exceed. Just like the second generation, the fourth-gen Jimny is again available with a stretched wheelbase – only this time, it has five doors.

Common design characteristics

Overall construction

All four Jimny generations have a separate body and frame, a. The body is legally not a structural carrying part of the vehicle. Originally, It served only as a cabin to protect the occupants from the elements, provide comfort – and yet, on later models, it is strong enough to protect occupants in case of a crash. It is legal to own and drive on public roads and highways in the majority of countries in the world.

Suspension

All four Jimny generations have dependent suspension both at the front and rear axles. This used to be a common suspension design for all-terrain vehicles up to 1990s, but has become a rarity in vehicle design in the 21st century. Dependent suspension is particularly well suited for all-terrain duty, both from the durability and performance perspectives.
The first two Jimny generations used leaf-sprung suspension at all four wheels, with the third and fourth generations using coil-sprung suspension at all four wheels. The late second-generation model called SJ800 Coily had coil-sprung suspension, as well.

Steering

All four Jimny generations have recirculating ball steering mechanism, which is particularly well suited for all-terrain duty, but relatively imprecise on-road compared to modern rack-and-pinion steering construction.

Transmission

All four Jimny generations have manually user-selectable part-time four-wheel drive transmission, where the default transmission mode is two-wheel drive. Rear-wheel drive can never be disengaged. The user, however, can engage the front-wheel drive manually at any time under certain operating conditions. When FWD is also engaged, this provides 4WD.
Jimnys have no centre differential. This has a positive effect that at least two wheels, where each wheel is on a different axle, have to lose traction for the vehicle to lose traction when in 4WD transmission mode. However, the negative effect is that 4WD transmission mode must not be used on any surface not rather slippery, especially if having to steer. In other words, 4WD transmission mode should be used only on rather slippery surfaces, like snow, ice, mud, loose gravel, wet grass, and sand. Wet asphalt, wet concrete, and hard-packed gravel are not considered slippery enough.
All four Jimny generations have manually user-selectable dual-ratio gearing mechanism. The two ratios or ranges are called "high range" and "low range". The overall transmission gearing ratio is exactly halved when the vehicle is in low range transmission mode. This has the effect of the vehicle moving about half as fast, but with double torque at the wheels in any transmission gear. For example, the fourth gear in low range behaves similar to the second gear in high range, and third gear in low range behaves similarly as "1.5th gear" in high range. The transmission gearing range is selectable only when the vehicle is in 4WD transmission mode. Therefore, low range cannot be used for on-road towing.
The engagement of 4WD transmission mode and the switch from one gearing range to another is performed by a dedicated transfer case mechanical unit, which is separate from the regular gear box unit. All four Jimny generations have a transfer case with an attached selection lever protruding in the cabin between the main gear box lever and the handbrake lever. The lever allows the user to select 2WD-H, 4WD-H or 4WD-L transmission modes at will. The only exceptions are later production years of third-generation Jimnys, which do not have a selection lever, but instead have servo-actuated mechanism to perform the same actions when invoked by the push of certain buttons in the cabin.

HopeStar ON360

The vehicle was originally developed by the Hope Motor Company of Japan in 1967 and available as the HopeStar ON360 from April 1968. It used a Mitsubishi air-cooled, two-stroke ME24 engine, which produced at 5,500 rpm, and of torque at 3,500 rpm. Brakes were Daihatsu units, the rear axle was sourced from the Mitsubishi Colt 1000, and the wheels were sourced from the Mitsubishi Jeep. It was a very basic two-seater vehicle with no doors, but a sturdy 4WD system allowed it to go off-road. Top speed was, 30 km/h in four-wheel drive mode. The tiny Hope company sold very few ON360s, only 15 in the domestic market and another 30 exported to Southeast Asia, although 100 ME24 engines were purchased. Hope proceeded to sell the design to Suzuki in 1968, after Mitsubishi declined to take over production.

First generation (1970)

The compact off-road capable Suzuki Jimny was Suzuki's first global success, lending it name recognition and a foothold in markets worldwide. The Jimny occupied an unfilled gap in the market.

LJ10

Suzuki's first move on acquiring the rights to the ON360 was rebodying it and replacing the Mitsubishi engine with an air-cooled Suzuki "FB" 2-stroke Inline 2, which produced. Since the new unit remained smaller than 360 cc, and Suzuki placed the spare tire inside the truck to keep it under 3 m in overall length, it was classified as a kei car, conferring certain tax privileges and other benefits. When it was introduced in April 1970, it was the first four-wheel drive kei car to enter series production. The LJ10 Jimnys had 16-inch wheels, weighed, and had a top speed of. The engine was soon uprated to, but the claimed top speed remained unchanged.
The original Jimny was an unexpected hit, with nearly 5,000 units selling in its home market in the first year, immediately outselling the market leader at the time, the Mitsubishi Jeep. Over 6,000 were sold in 1971. Production was initially subcontracted and was carried out mainly by hand, but Suzuki soon realized that the Jimny needed to have a dedicated assembly line to allow production to be ramped up. Transmission gear ratios were 3.68:1 1st 2.21:1 2nd 1.47:1 3rd 1.00:1 4th and 3.68:1 rev.

LJ20

The LJ was updated in May 1972 and renamed the LJ20. The grille bars were changed from horizontal to vertical for the LJ20. The engine was replaced with an updated, water-cooled unit called the L50; its enabled the LJ to reach. With production brought in house, Suzuki could now build 2,000 cars per month.
A special version with the spare tire mounted behind the passenger seat allowed for two small rear seats, facing each other. The introduction of left-hand drive signaled Suzuki's worldwide ambitions for the truck. The Hard Top was also introduced when the LJ20 arrived, equipped with smaller, 15 in wheels. Suzuki did not export them to America; a US company called International Equipment Co. imported them. Export Jimnys had the spare tire mounted on the outside, as kei regulations on length did not apply.
Towards the end of LJ20 production, a cleaner engine was introduced, a result of having to meet ever more stringent emissions regulations. Top speed was reported as, payload was . Transmission gear ratios were 3.96:1 1st 2.38:1 2nd 1.52:1 3rd 1.00:1 4th and 3.96:1 rev.

SJ10

The LJ50 engine was first introduced in September 1975 for export only, with at 5500 rpm. For the home market, it first appeared in June 1976 as the Jimny 55 and reflected the changing kei-car rules and stricter emissions standards. The three-cylinder engine remained a two-stroke; while power was reduced to, more low-end torque was on offer. The vehicle could now hit 60 mph, and the spare tire was relocated outside the rear door, allowing for a fourth seat. The SJ10 Jimny originally used the "LJ50" name in most export markets; this was then changed to LJ55 with the introduction of the LJ80 to align the names.
In May 1976, the low-production LJ51P long-wheelbase pickup became available for some export markets. The home-market Jimny 550 received a facelift in 1977, introducing rear wheel-arch metal flares and a bigger bonnet or hood with cooling slots above the radiator, while the export LJ50s were instead replaced by the LJ80.
In Australia, the LJ50S and LJ50V were available as a soft-top with soft doors and rear-mounted spare wheel or hardtop with full metal doors and external spare wheel through distributor M.W.-Suzuki with and of torque. The LJ50 became the first Suzuki automobile to be assembled in New Zealand, starting in late 1976 at an initial, modest rate of four cars per day.