I installed Tough Dog suspension on my Maruti Suzuki Jimny

I was in touch with Toughdog company as I saw the 60mm kit that got recently updated in their website and I thought I shall give it a try as reviews on Tough Dog on Thar is pretty good

BHPian MithunSathianat recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi All,

Its been quite some time I wrote about my Jimny as I was enjoying it silently. With the arrival of Jimny, usage of Thar has been reduced especially in the city.
I feel Jimny is just perfect for the the city and offroad.

I was very comfortable with Jimny's ride quality and suspension even though its bit soft. I never had plans to upgrade the suspension, but the stock suspension started sagging with heavy 235 tyres and I felt a suspension upgrade is necessary. Moreover I started participating in few off-road competitions which had Jimny category.

From my research I could identify that below are the options available for 5 Door

1. Ironman 40mm kit (not sure if this is for 5 Door Jimny)
2. Oldman EMU 40 mm kit
3. Toughdog 40 mm kit
4. Toughdog 60 mm kit
5. Tanabe adjustable 40mm kit

I have got a chance to test drive few of my friends Jimny's that had Tanabe and Oldman kits and I liked those.

I was in touch with Toughdog company as I saw the 60mm kit that got recently updated in their website and I thought i shall give it a try as reviews on Tough Dog on Thar is pretty good.

I contacted the dealer in India for this kit and there was no response from them. Hence I decided to purchase directly from Australia.
As my friend was travelling back to India, I ordered the kit to his address and he carried it to me.

The kit contains the following parts:

1. Foam Cell Shock Absorber (FRONT and REAR)
2. Coil Springs (FRONT and REAR)
3. Caster Correction Bushes
4. Rubber Brake Hose Kit
5. Front Panhard Rod
6. Rear Panhard Rod
7. ABS Relocation Kit 
8. Crossmember Drop Kit 
9. Front Coil Spacer
10. Bump Stop Spacer Kit 
11. Radius Rod to Diff Bush Kit

Front Coil Spacer need to be installed only if we plan to fit a metal bumper and winch.

Apart from the above, I purchased Return to Centre Steering Damper.

The kit:

I could not take complete pics of the installation as I also was involved in the installation, I shall post all the ones I have here.
The stock rear right spring in shorter that rear left one. It was a surprise for me.

Before the install:

Removing the stock castor bushes:

Castor correction is very much needed here. The correction bushes correct the castor angle by 2-3 degrees.

Castor correction bushes installed as per manual:

Radius arm to rear differential bushes:

Shocks and Panhard:

With the lift (beyond 40mm), the differential will definitely shift from the body to the right side which has to be corrected.

It took one full day to install all the components.
I did a wheel alignment next day and checked the lift measurements and compared with the measurements which I took before the kit installation and identified that the measurements are not in sync all four sides.

On careful inspection I could notice that the spring was not properly seated.
Also all the bolts and nuts where tightened while the Jimny was at lift/ jack stand which is not the right procedure. The nuts and bolts has to be tightened on the ground.

Both issues where corrected and did a wheel alignment again and rechecked the measurements and it was all in sync.

Few pics after installation:

I have not taken it for long drives after the install.

Below are the immediate observations from short drives:
1.The stance look much improved. Jimny is a taller boy now.
2. Ride quality and comfort is almost as same as stock. No firmness. I was expecting the coils to be bit firm. I doubt the TD set up a bit more softer than stock.
3. Steering has become much lighter after installing rtc damper and rtc is working like a charm.

Few mods in pipeline:
1. To install a front and rear panhard relocation bracket which will correct the suspension geometry bit more.
2. Now that the 235's look bit skinny, I have the option to go for bigger tyres with slightly wider alloys.
3. With bigger tyres, of course reduction gears

If anybody would like to know the cost of the kit, please refer the tough dog website as I purchased it in AU dollars.

Special thanks to fellow Bhpian Manoj (Bibendum90949) who accompanied me during the installation

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