G
Guest
Guest
Lubo,
I will not go into any help with your current problems as Gareth,
Roman et al are helping you out admirably. But you seem to have
similar problems to our old mate JB, and what's more, you seem to be
trying to cope with a close relative of JB's Yaris technician as well.
We all feel for you and wish you were a little closer. Even though JB
is in another country, he is at least able to come into the UK and we
all now know him personally as a good friend too. You may have
noticed that he has been regally (and mechanically) entertained by
Gareth as he is close to the Welsh ferry port which JB uses when he
comes over.
So how can we help a fellow TLC owner in a country where Toy did not
officially sell the marque? The usual advice would apply to you too,
either find a good 4WD mechanic who handles any Jap made vehicles, or
a plant fitter who is used to working on larger diesels and complex
transmissions and driven beam axles, or a good agricultural mechanic.
(Don't laugh, I know a TLC is no tractor, but have you seen the
sophistication of agricultural equipment these days?).
I might have an alternative, but it will involve you chasing-up some
contacts. In my industry we have high regard for 'Norwegian People's
Aid' (NPA). I had never come across them till I got to Bosnia in
1999, but am I impressed with their capacity, especially when it
comes to equipment. Standing out from other agencies they have heavy
plant and landmine harvesters as well as the more usual trucks, buses
and 4WD's. Their vehicle of choice is fortunately TLC. They use 75
troopies for crewbuses and also landmine clearance ambulances: 80's
and 100's for general work, and more lately the 90 Prado. Only a
small amount of their fleet are Patrols and the odd Frontera.
Their Toys seem to be supplied exclusively from Toy Gibraltar
stockholding, and they keep the Gibraltar reg plates on them too.
Although they have a good workshop on their various overseas missions
(I have a mate working for them in West Africa even), I wonder if
they also have a 'home' depot where they refurbish the better
vehicles for further missions in other hotspots round the world. As
an example, when the UN left Bosnia, although they sold-off 5000
vehicles locally - mostly 4Runners - they retained the best vehicles
for refurb and re-allocation. They shipped a large number of vehicles
to Italy for this work prior to shipping them to Darfur and other
places. The international Red Cross has such depots around the world too.
So it just may be feasible that they (NPA) take the best vehicles
home to Norway to get them prepped to go elsewhere. For all you know,
there could be a good workshop handling purely TLC's. Maybe like all
workshops, the mechanics are not against doing outside work, plus the
fact that they know of a source of spares. Of course Toy are the
official source of spares in Norway, and if you knew how to bypass
your Yaris specialist you may be able to acquire spares quite easily,
they only have to come from their European depot in Rotterdam. Toy
are committed to supply spares for any of their vehicles worldwide as
long as they have official representation there. (Not so easy for me
when you consider that Toy has no official importer in Bosnia, so you
can imagine the problems I have had in the past - till I found the
chief mechanic at the Red Cross depot ;o).
I appreciate that if they do have such a facility in Norway it may be
500km from you and not too convenient. But its always worth trying to
find out more, even a web search about their set-up in Norway.
Just a thought anyway.
Cheers
Jon
Herts UK
'92 HZJ80 ex UN Bosnia surplus
I will not go into any help with your current problems as Gareth,
Roman et al are helping you out admirably. But you seem to have
similar problems to our old mate JB, and what's more, you seem to be
trying to cope with a close relative of JB's Yaris technician as well.
We all feel for you and wish you were a little closer. Even though JB
is in another country, he is at least able to come into the UK and we
all now know him personally as a good friend too. You may have
noticed that he has been regally (and mechanically) entertained by
Gareth as he is close to the Welsh ferry port which JB uses when he
comes over.
So how can we help a fellow TLC owner in a country where Toy did not
officially sell the marque? The usual advice would apply to you too,
either find a good 4WD mechanic who handles any Jap made vehicles, or
a plant fitter who is used to working on larger diesels and complex
transmissions and driven beam axles, or a good agricultural mechanic.
(Don't laugh, I know a TLC is no tractor, but have you seen the
sophistication of agricultural equipment these days?).
I might have an alternative, but it will involve you chasing-up some
contacts. In my industry we have high regard for 'Norwegian People's
Aid' (NPA). I had never come across them till I got to Bosnia in
1999, but am I impressed with their capacity, especially when it
comes to equipment. Standing out from other agencies they have heavy
plant and landmine harvesters as well as the more usual trucks, buses
and 4WD's. Their vehicle of choice is fortunately TLC. They use 75
troopies for crewbuses and also landmine clearance ambulances: 80's
and 100's for general work, and more lately the 90 Prado. Only a
small amount of their fleet are Patrols and the odd Frontera.
Their Toys seem to be supplied exclusively from Toy Gibraltar
stockholding, and they keep the Gibraltar reg plates on them too.
Although they have a good workshop on their various overseas missions
(I have a mate working for them in West Africa even), I wonder if
they also have a 'home' depot where they refurbish the better
vehicles for further missions in other hotspots round the world. As
an example, when the UN left Bosnia, although they sold-off 5000
vehicles locally - mostly 4Runners - they retained the best vehicles
for refurb and re-allocation. They shipped a large number of vehicles
to Italy for this work prior to shipping them to Darfur and other
places. The international Red Cross has such depots around the world too.
So it just may be feasible that they (NPA) take the best vehicles
home to Norway to get them prepped to go elsewhere. For all you know,
there could be a good workshop handling purely TLC's. Maybe like all
workshops, the mechanics are not against doing outside work, plus the
fact that they know of a source of spares. Of course Toy are the
official source of spares in Norway, and if you knew how to bypass
your Yaris specialist you may be able to acquire spares quite easily,
they only have to come from their European depot in Rotterdam. Toy
are committed to supply spares for any of their vehicles worldwide as
long as they have official representation there. (Not so easy for me
when you consider that Toy has no official importer in Bosnia, so you
can imagine the problems I have had in the past - till I found the
chief mechanic at the Red Cross depot ;o).
I appreciate that if they do have such a facility in Norway it may be
500km from you and not too convenient. But its always worth trying to
find out more, even a web search about their set-up in Norway.
Just a thought anyway.
Cheers
Jon
Herts UK
'92 HZJ80 ex UN Bosnia surplus