Who is doing what maintenance today?

[yogi]

My God Andy how many have you got??????

On a similar vein, I fixed all the holes in the roof of a shed today (second hand cladding is cheaper but its really more hassle than its worth in some ways) so when I sort out the floor a bit, hopefully in the next couple weeks I'll actually have an indoor workshop that the rain doesn't come into.

For a while, til I fill it with calves anyways!!

On a more serious note, plumb a radiator into it if your serious about using it for long term storage and insulate them from the concrete floor. I had rust issues in my HOUSE from a lack of central heating, and it only takes a tiny bit of heat to keep the damp out.

 

[grantw]

Picked up mine from Overland cruisers on Saturday after front axle, intercooler and a/c rebuild. Intercooler, fuelling and turbo boost fiddling hasn't quite delivered as much power as was expecting/hoping but certainly more power

Andy - I did manage to have a quick chat to Julian about the Safari intercoolers 12v vs 24v apparently they are identical but one of them has an additional plate/spacer.

 

[clivehorridge]

My God Andy how many have you got??????

On a more serious note, plumb a radiator into it if your serious about using it for long term storage and insulate them from the concrete floor. I had rust issues in my HOUSE from a lack of central heating, and it only takes a tiny bit of heat to keep the damp out.

Not only, air circulation is also an issue, a low consumption fan will help, or an electric fan heater on a low setting, but it can get expensive of course!

 

[Red Oktober]

Mine passed it's mot this morning ....

 

[fridayman]

I replaced the Superpro front sway bar bushes after 50k miles as the left one had a small amount of play. I also fitted Superpro drop link bushes in front - the rubber bushes that came with these Pedders drop links are already starting to crack after about 6k miles (about half was rough). I still have an annoying creaking sound when going over uneven surfaces though... I will replace the panhard rod bushes next to see if that cures it.

 

[Gary Stockton]

MOT and service time - just under 4k miles last year - not good so just on 56k miles at 8 years old now!

On the bright side MOT passed without any hassles at all - even the handbrake works

 

[Shayne]

Got a shock today when the Mrs said my M.O.T just ran out ! First time i've ever had to do an mot and it wasn't a pleasant experience i felt like i was waiting outside the delivery room for someone to tell me its a boy or girl !

She passed advisory front pads are worn and deteriorated front lower suspension arm dust cover , so all in all a happy result . I guess the dust cover will have to come from MrT at a ludicrous price unless someone can point me in the right direction ?

 

[Gary820]

Got a shock today when the Mrs said my M.O.T just ran out ! First time i've ever had to do an mot and it wasn't a pleasant experience i felt like i was waiting outside the delivery room for someone to tell me its a boy or girl !

She passed advisory front pads are worn and deteriorated front lower suspension arm dust cover , so all in all a happy result . I guess the dust cover will have to come from MrT at a ludicrous price unless someone can point me in the right direction ?

If it's for a ball joint I've used www.Balljointboots.co.uk for various motors, quality always been good and not silly prices.

 

[AndyCook]

Shayne

if its the lower balljoint I would be tempted to replace the whole thing if its the original - since they have been known to fail suddenly...

google "prado lower ball joint failure"

 

[Shayne]

Cheers for the heads up Andy both will be replaced forthwith . Stock Toyota parts demanded here me thinks (they have lasted 18 years) anyone know if Milners or Roughtrax supply genuine parts for ball joints or is it hit or miss i may get copies ?

 

[AndyCook]

I know milners and roughtrax sell pattern parts for these balljoints, not sure if they also do genuine

i got local toyota dealer to replace them for me with toyota parts, they gave me a nice discount. they were checking my vehicle over prior to morocco and noticed play in one of them.
i didnt want to faff about with splitting the tierods etc myself, and they had a bolt shear holding one of balljoints on, so have to take the whole steering knuckle off to drill it out etc

 

[Shayne]

Enough said Andy i can't use this as a learning curve to get it wrong would be just as catastrophic as abrupt failure if it happened at motorway speeds . Might take a chance on emailing my local dealer "Toyota World" and mentioning recall's and known failure etc before requesting a price you never know i might get some sympathy

 

[Rob Cowell]

Cheers for the heads up Andy both will be replaced forthwith . Stock Toyota parts demanded here me thinks (they have lasted 18 years) anyone know if Milners or Roughtrax supply genuine parts for ball joints or is it hit or miss i may get copies ?

Not sure about the 90, but Mr T wont sell you a ball joint for a 120, have to buy the whole lower wishbone. Roughtrax sell ball joints for about 2 quid less from that Mr T want for a new rubber boot.

 

[Rob Cowell]

Bushes on passenger side control arms on my 120 today. Much more awkward that driver's side cos top arm front nut is part surrounded by fuel tank, so you can just get your fingers on it. Took a lot of awkward wire brushing to get a ring spanner to fit it. Wales v Boks game started before I could take it for a test drive - but if it's like the driver's side bushes I'm hoping it will remove the slight tendancy that's crept back for the steering to pull if you blip the throttle from no throttle on the motorway. Bushes were must less wrecked than driver's side, oddly - but car was quite unstable with those shot.

 

[grantw]

I had bit of a nightmare on the weekend trying to replace a few bits and bobs. Firstly I bought a set of wiper control arms from Milner (price had come down to £110 so I thought great.) The old ones came out fairly easily showing the massive amount of wear the LHS has been subjected to. The RHS is still pretty much perfect. So with it all out I started fitting the Milner supplied Toyota genuine part and noticed that none of the bolt holes were lining up and the angle of the shaft to the plate that attaches to the body is different. So that one has to go back. Last night I have filled all the wear in with some metal epoxy so will see how that goes.

So then onto the rear springs/shocks which I think is serving as a learning curve to working on old cars in the UK. I.e learn how to deal with rusty and seized nuts and bolts. I started earlier last week giving the lower and upper bolts a good spray with plus gas. Fast forwarding to Sunday. Wheels off, start undoing the first sway bar bolt and it's a bit stiff but comes out. Onto the second one same story, starts stiff ... but then snaps almost without warning. I move onto the LHS much more cautiously using a propane torch to try and heat as much as possible and then spray with plus gas. Let it cool/soak for a bit but they both snapped clean off.

I then moved onto the shocks. Lower bolts come out fine after a bit of heat. I then start the upper shock bolts heating and spraying, heating and spraying but they don't feel like they want to come out and at this stage I'm quite worried they are also going to break ... given how hard they are to access I want to try everything possible before I do that. So I've just bought a rothenberger super fire 2 torch and some MAPP gas, hoping this will get the bolts hot enough to actually free them up. I feel the propane torch I have just wasn't getting anything hot enough to do anything.

I drilled out one of the sway bar bolts but have been waiting for the mapp gas before I try with the easy out again.

I'm going to give it one more shot on Sunday mainly with the top shock bolts, loads of heat (until they are cherry red?) and loads of plus gas but failing that it will be off to a local garage to sort my mess out.

Any tips and advice always appreciated

 

[Chris]

Grant, save yourself the trouble. Just saw through the top of the shocker, then stick the new one in. Unbolting the top of the unit is hard, unbolting the upper mounting plate is sometimes a sod too. Use a long extension to get the breaker bar below the chassis if you decide to go that way. Try to tighten them first. This breaks the crust a bit. Then back and forth rather then just wind them out. The effort heats them up and of course they expand getting tighter. But like I say, cut cut the dampers off! Don't wind too much at a time.

C

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Weld a nut on to get the stubs of sheared bolts out. If you can get a drill to it you should be able to get a MIG torch in there. Drilling too often ends up in either compromised threads or worse and takes much longer than cranking up the MIG especially for a run of bolts If you can't weld then find someone that can and pay them to do it.

 

[Chris]

Agree. But if you do have to drill out the two captive nuts on the upper plates, then can be replaced with stand nuts and bolts. They don't need to be captive. But trust me, just CUT THEM OFF at the upper spindle. Job jobbed. If they are old and weak, you can just bend them back and forth with gorilla action until they give in.

 

[grantw]

Awesome tip thanks Chris. Shocks will be sorted.

I don't know anyone who has a welder so will try heat and more plus gas on the anti roll bar bolts. Shouldn't be too bad if I have to pay someone to just have these removed ... or even tapped out to a larger hole.

Whilst on the subject of taps. How much do you have to spend to get a set that is worth while buying?

Jon, with welding the bolt on is it the heat or just a stronger connection with the remaining bolt that is so effective in releasing bolts?

Thanks guys

 

[Chris]

Again with the anti roll bar bolts made by Cadbury, you can if all else fails drill bigger and put a bolt and thinned nut behind to recover the situation. Not the perfect solution but I have had to do the in the past.

Answering the question aimed at JW, welding a new head onto the stump deep heats the old threads at the same time. It all helps. But do let it cool first, or cool it rapidly. Obviously, whilst hot, it's expanded.