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79 series s/c chaos and slow progress

PeteG

New Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2022
Messages
7
Country Flag
zambia
Hi all,
I've just joined here and as i said in the intro, i will post up my story for some feedback and hopefully get some help finishing off this minefield i walked into 6 months ago!

So i bought a 2015 s/c from a mate who had the vehicle out at his game ranch. The car started out before he bought it as a v6 petrol, it had been converted to a 1hdt when he bought it and took it up to his game ranch to be used as a hunting vehicle for clients etc.

I had driven in it and seen it a bunch, always looked good and felt good.
A couple of years ago though, it gave them some trouble, the motor packed up and the youngster who was driving it brought it into town to get it looked at.
This is what they found
1x con rod bearing rotating on the crank, 2 oval bores, cracked pistons, valves hitting pistons, cracked cyl head...


The cruiser sat in my yard in town for almost 2 years, through this, the owner decided that he would rather invest the money for the repairs into the game ranch and the other vehicles there than to try rebuild this one. So i decided to make an offer on it and bought it as is.
I was under the impression that the vehicle was good to go with a replacement motor and that was it.

How wrong i was!

The list of repairs and fixes basically reads from the headlights to the rear bumper and everything in between. It was a lot more extensive than i expected.
Almost every mechanical part has been looked at, serviced or fixed.

In any case, i will be using the cruiser to get around and as a hunting vehicle, so it needs to be reliable and i need to be confident that all is working right.
I still have to attend to the front hubs, front brakes and the gearbox.


So problems i still face...
1. Front brakes are still binding lightly and getting the hubs way too hot when im driving long distance
2. Front left hub makes a nasty noise when in 4wd, it sounds like the shaft is bent and on every rotation it is touching the housing somewhere. I will be getting new kits for this and then will strip down and rebuild the hubs.
3. I will be looking into the gearbox, i have a major power loss somewhere in the drivetrain, i battle to maintain 120km/h on the flat where in my older '05 1hz cruiser, i would be flying along merrily without the engine working too hard. in this one, you can hear the engine is under extreme load. i dont know why, or where this is coming from but it there is certainly a massive power loss somewhere.
I even swapped engines with my other cruiser in case the rebuilt engine was not right, this did not impact the speed or performance in any way.
I am all out of ideas here and any input would help on this.

So what could be causing the noise in the front hub? And could this also be the culprit for the power loss or should i be digging into the gearbox and replacing the input shaft, cluster and bearings?
i have already opened up the gearbox and not seen anything that looked untoward. all gears look good, no wear, no heat marks etc.
Perhaps the transfer case? i have not looked at that yet.

From what i have been told and seen, they were definitely a bit rough on the car and the lack of maintenance is evident.
Any input would be great.
I will look for a few pics and add them up shortly.
 
Wow Pete, seems like you are right in the deep end with this one.

Ref your questions - maybe I'm asking the obvious, but are 1 and 3 related? You say the brakes are binding lightly, but are they heating up with use/speed and then dragging more severely, hence the apparent lack of power? Before doing anything more invasive mechanically, I would be looking to sort out the brakes and see how she runs then. Just a thought....

Good luck!
 
Wow Pete, seems like you are right in the deep end with this one.

Ref your questions - maybe I'm asking the obvious, but are 1 and 3 related? You say the brakes are binding lightly, but are they heating up with use/speed and then dragging more severely, hence the apparent lack of power? Before doing anything more invasive mechanically, I would be looking to sort out the brakes and see how she runs then. Just a thought....

Good luck!

Definitely could be related. I will tackle that first before diving into anything else in the drivetrain.
I'll be travelling out of country next week so going to plan a few tasks then get them done when i'm back in town.
 
Seems to me like someone lifted the bonnet seen and read Maintenance Free on the battery shut the bonnet then you bought it several years later it sounds like you are well versed in truck repairs and hope you find and sort the problems soon
 
So a little progress history on this, will follow up with some pics later on.
Replaced headlight bulbs, fixed front bumper that was loose, New fog lights, Fixed LED that was letting water in. New rear bulbs and resealed housings that were letting water in.
New Radiator cowling, cap and flushed radiator.
New Belts all round, New battery, accelerator cable, replaced water pump, power steering pump, vacuum pump. New lift pump
New shocks, suspension bushes and rubbers.
Added a LAS snorkel
New exhaust from the mid flange back. Had to make a new exhaust to fit the 1hz since the old one was a 1hdt engine and exhaust.
Rebuilt a 1hz (should've gone with another 1hdt!) New crank pulley/balancer.
replaced intake pipes and filter housing.
Skim front brake discs, replaced pads and replacing the brake lines today. New rear brake shoes done.
Front and rear wheel bearings and seals done.
Dropped the gearbox and checked it out, looked ok. oil (what was in there) looked okish. Opened up the rear diff, cleaned and checked that, no issues. oil also a bit dirty and looked like it had water/silt in it from water crossings and such. New breather pipes all round and lifted these higher than standard.
Straightened torsion bar and steering arm that had taken a serious impact. Roughly a 4-5" deviation from standard!
New clutch plate, pressure plate, pilot bearing and thrust bearing.
Sorted out some wiring issues that were "interesting".
Tried to incorporate the pre heat system, but failed with that, now running a manual button. Couldnt get this to work right off the ignition. It'll work for now until i can focus on it again later. The 1hdt was running with no pre heating system at all.
New thermostat, oil and water sensors.
Dropped and cleaned fuel tanks and lines.
6 new rims and tyres. old rims were ok, but some had damage to the holes.
partial fix on aircon. someone had fitted a button to switch the aircon on and off, the dial wasnt working. Waiting on a replacement currently.
Added some 12v outlets, dash cover, roof rack, made some changes to the hunting frame and seat.
Built a toolbox for the tray, that doubles as a walking platform when youre in the hunting seat.
Bought a winch control for the front winch, old toyota winch that i remember from the old 80 series we had way back when.
added a winch to the tray and cross member with a pulley behind the seat to help when loading.

There's probably a couple other small things that have been done, but thats pretty much most of what i can remember off hand.

Still to do
Replacing brake lines today
Service front hubs and cv's.
Reshape and retension rear spring packs next week.
Isolate the cause of the power loss once all this is done.

Getting there slowly. Been a busy 7 months on this, looking forward to getting to the end of this all!
When i look back at it all, i wonder why the hell its taken so long! :flushed::angry-banghead:
 
Good on you Pete, truck should be spot on by the time you've finished!
 
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The new flexible front brake lines have helped a bit. The front brakes are no longer binding like they were.
So one more tick in the right box.
Replaced the rear brake pipe that had been bent at 90deg, possibly by a rock or something in a water crossing at some point.

Still have this massive power loss somewhere along the line.
Next step is removing the front knuckles, servicing them and then a recheck on how its running.

Getting there, one small step at a time.
 
Bit late with the pics but here are a few.

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B3934F12-110C-465F-8983-A73C597964C4.jpeg

082B08D2-6CF0-4871-9B08-A6FE9E09AAC2.jpeg
 
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