Controls

so, my mind wanders next to the controls for the lil-bugga buggy…

Lets look at (one of) the ultimate buggies first then for some inspiration, Lasernut’s Pretty Penny…

I’ve labelled some of the controls in the cab there –

G – Gearbox
T – Transfer Box it’s an Atlas box so there’s two levers to select front and rear drive separately! On the top of each stick are switches to control the ARB air lockers in each axle too, giving the ultimate options for controlling the traction of the buggy at the drivers fingertips.
F – Fiddle Brakes – (aka Cutting brakes);note there’s four cylinders, each wheel can be braked individually!! Fronts too! So push forward for front brake, pull back for rear brake, presumably.

Then not labelled, it’s also got (somewhere?) suckdown winch controls, rear steering, power, etc, presumably all in that box on the right side of the cab…

So, with all that in mind, applying all that to a homemade / home engineered / budget / smaller / UK build using as many standard Jimny parts as possible…. I’ll need :-

• Steering Wheel – for front steering… I’ve got* the power steering box, steering bars to shorten to suit and then sleeve them, steering column and shaft and a standard steering wheel, although that will need replacing with a smaller diameter version later in the build, maybe derachable to allow extra access too.
• Accelerator Pedal – I’ve got* a Jimny one that will need connecting via a cable to the (motorbike) engine in the front eventually… I might also fit a hand throttle for precise control, and considering the recent medical attention to my foot. but we won’t think morbidly about it.. yet!
• Pedal Box – I’ve got* a Jimny one that has the brake and clutch together in the pedal box… the clutch will need connecting via a cable to the (motorbike) engine in the front eventually… The brake pedal will need connecting back to the master cylinder I’ve got* too. The brake pipes from that will go to all four disk brakes (I’ve got* four brand new calipers too), with the back pipes going through the two Hillman Imp brake cylinders set up as rear fiddle brakes….
• Gearstick – this will somehow need connecting to the (motorbike) engine in the front eventually… I can’t see it being used that much offroad in low box though, select and forget.
• Fiddle Brake Levers – I’ll have to make these, pretty simple though (see photos of a similar one in the fiddle brakes post earlier in the blog).
• Winch Controls – simple in / out switch(es) that will control the rear mounted winch that will work the same as my bigger greenlaning buggy, which can winch forwards and backwards using the one winch.
• Transfer Box Lever – to the left of my bucket seat – the transfer box is a Samurai ”rocklobster” low geared unit.
• Handbrake – I’ve got* a standard Jimny one, this will run to the 410 transfer box drum brake, as the four wheel brakes are all disk brakes since I’m running front axles both ends, which obviously leads on nicely to…
• Rear Steering – I’ll have to make a gated lever for this, I have it all in my mind, but dont want to digress here, suffice to say a long steering shaft will go back (possible through gearing to make it quicker) to a rear mounted standard steering box I’ve got* for the rear steering, again usint shortened and sleeved steering bars, yup, I’ve also already got*. A single power steering pump will run both power steering pumps plumber in parallel, as the rear won’t be used that much…?
• Reverse – hopefully this won’t be used much either! LOL… I’ve sourced a 12V (starter motor based) kit to do this (again there’s an earlier blog post on this). So to reverse the buggy will have to come to a halt, clutch in, and a push button switch to engage and operate the electric powered reverse motor. This will be connected to the input flange of the transfer box / intermediary shaft from the engine.
• Front Hubs – I’ve also recently been trying to get my head around the front drivetrain, I need to decide on this before rebuilding the front narrowed axle. I think I’ve settled on welding up the front diff and using the standard vacuum hubs but using a standalone 12V vacuum pump(s) to either switch both hubs on and off together, or possibly separately so I decide where the traction goes, ie left / right / both / neither…
• Then there’s all the minor bits… horn, rear single brake light, LED light bar(s), starter button (to motorbike engine), kill switches, battery disconnect switch, winch disconnect switch, rev counter (if the bike engine has one), engine temperature gauge, warning lights (reverse engaged, transfer box in low ratio, handbrake on, hubs on or off, LED bar(s) on, etc, etc)

All the got* references are to Jimny standard parts sourced from good mate and occasional Jimny Breaker, James Priestley.

So there’s a lot to think about! How they’re all going to work and where they’re all going to fit in the cab and within easy reach…

Apologies for a very wordy blog entry, I know we all prefer photos… they’ll all come in good time… 😉