Hilux MK6 Chassis and Rear Tub

[Jelly_Sheffield]

thats a posative though as none of your work was mentioned eh.

That is gratifying...

But hard to take too much of a positive from it when I really need the truck working and to get my "free" time back.

 

[OJCar]

At least the cat cares about me, even if he does demonstrate it by licking my moustache...

Having once had a part of me licked by a Tom Cat,
( that I did not want licked by anything other than the wife ),
be grateful it was your moustache.

At that point I feel we really need to move back to the topic being about the Hilux ...

 

[arther dailey]

That is gratifying...

But hard to take too much of a positive from it when I really need the truck working and to get my "free" time back.

understand that, good work done though just one more thing eh.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

thats a posative though as none of your work was mentioned eh.

Yeah, and because they were being externally assessed they were really giving it the once over with their little test hammer.

I was confident that the chassis welds would be fine as they ended up pretty much indistinguishable from factory.

But did have a niggling concern I might have somehow missed a sharp edge on the body, but thankfully not.

 

[arther dailey]

Yeah, and because they were being externally assessed they were really giving it the once over with their little test hammer.

I was confident that the chassis welds would be fine as they ended up pretty much indistinguishable from factory.

But did have a niggling concern I might have somehow missed a sharp edge on the body, but thankfully not.

you should be pleased as that was a bang tidy job you did there .

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

So all four CV Boots changed this evening, not a bad job all told, but phenomenally messy.

I fitted extended PU boots which should reduce the strain on them from the suspension lift, but the old ones were all original 17 year old rubber and perishing so it was just a matter of time.


Continuing the tips for anyone coming after me:

• It's way easier to get the front diff filler plug out if you have a 10mm hex key that's at least a foot long, and then put a 10mm spanner on it, otherwise you need to loosen the diff mount to get clearance.

• When splitting the steering knuckle, there's an order of operations that works best:

1) loosen the 19mm castellated nut on the steering linkage but don't undo it,

2) drive that taper out with a copper hammer and do the nut back up hand tight,

3) use a breaker bar to crack the two 19mm bolts that connect the ball joint to the steering knuckle and remove them,

4) then fully disconnect the steering linkage.

If you do it in any other order, one of the two tasks becomes a floppy nightmare.

• Toyota's advice to remove the driveshafts with a slide hammer is terrible, much easier to get at them from underneath with a blunt chisel or wedge shaped brass drift.

• When disassembling the driveshaft, it's best to work over a catch-pan, putting a sheet down on the bench won't cut it.

• I found it easiest to cut the clips off the inboard CV Boot, then cut it off with a Stanley knife, so I could fully disassemble it and degrease all the parts before moving to the outboard one.

• I'd do the outboard CV joint in the same way, but you can't disassemble it, so you need to do several rounds of massaging the grease up by moving the joint through it's full range of motion and wiping out before you switch to a degreaser spray (diesel works well) or parts washer.

• removing the snap ring that retains the tripod of the inner CV joint is easier if the shaft is held vertically upwards in a vice, it really wants to fly off too, holding a marker pen or something vaguely fat in the middle whilst you open it with snap ring pliers makes this a non-issue.

• Driving the tripod off it's spline can be hard work, but it's a lot easier if you can get a brass drift that's longer than the driveshaft (I have loads of brass bar as stock so not too difficult), I ended up working up to using a size 4 thor hammer to get enough force, and would definitely go for a 3 or 4 lb lump hammer to drive the drift if I did it again.

 

[arther dailey]

do you not use double hammers to release the taper ? or is there not enough room

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

do you not use double hammers to release the taper ? or is there not enough room

The only place to get the bottom hammer on it is a 1" gap between the body of the ball joint on the linkage, and the ABS sensor, with the sensor wire running through it.

Sensor — Blue,
Sensor Wire — Green,
Linkage Ball Joint —Orange.

If you have the sensor out (like if you're doing the wheel bearing at the same time) it would be fine, but with it in place I'd be concerned about damaging it.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Failed again.

NSF track rod end play, and fog lights bulb colour (in fairness the red bulb had sorta turned amber).

I have just replaced said components in the car park of euro car parts, and am back for a retest in an hour.

I can't keep going like this.

 

[DanZac]

Failed again.

NSF track rod end play, and fog lights bulb colour (in fairness the red bulb had sorta turned amber).

Should they not have picked up the extra bits at the original test?

I thought that the tester didn't just stop looking and fail it on the first thing, but must list everything that needs to be done to pass?

If that's right, then they should have put the track rod and bulb on the original failure report?

Or is my understanding of the process wrong?

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Should they not have picked up the extra bits at the original test?

I thought that the tester didn't just stop looking and fail it on the first thing, but must list everything that needs to be done to pass?

If that's right, then they should have put the track rod and bulb on the original failure report?

Or is my understanding of the process wrong?

I used a new test centre because the one who failed me on the CV Boot wouldn't give me a retest slot for over a week... The new test centre was clearly more thorough.

I am beyond **Language**ed off with the process though, as you're absolutely right this stuff should have been picked up at the first test, so I could address it in a one-er.

Nevertheless it's all stuff that did need fixing...



Even worse, when it went up on the lift for retest, it was immediately my other track rod end had burst (also a fail) on the way back...

Credit to the new test center they just said they wouldn't formally submit it as a retest, and I should come back once I had found a part for that side (having already fitted the only one available in the city and surrounding region today).



Oh, and if you didn't yet believe I had the luck of jonah...

My partner went out to her MX5 with a plan to drive a 100mile round trip to Lincoln to get the next closest track rod end for me (she's a star)...

Her OSF tyre has delaminated, only 3 months old, so we will be trying to get that warrantied.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Even worse, when it went up on the lift for retest, it was immediately my other track rod end had burst (also a fail) on the way back...

Perhaps this is the Toyota Production System at work?

Consistency of manufacture so good that paired parts fail at bang on the same time.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Finally!!!

There was more drama, but I didn't post anything until I had it tested today, for fear of jinxing it.

When it went for the second track rod end retest, their center jacking system on the MOT lift, fractured a corroded point on the subframe... So it was another decline to test.

After a bit of back and forth the tester at that centre said that I was correct that because the subframe in question was a welded assembly from manufacture (it's about 7 separate pressings welded together), the wording of the MOT test manual† that:

"Welded repairs to highly stressed components are not normally acceptable, other than where the component is made up of sections that are welded together. To pass, the repair should appear to be as strong as the original design."

Would make a welded repair to known good metal acceptable, but he as a tester did not feel qualified to judge what constitutes adequate structural welding, so would always decline to test.

I still had a retest at the place that failed me on the CV Joints, so I figured that I would cut out the corrosion to see if it was weldable...

The worst that could happen was I deem it too far gone once opened up, and end up replacing the whole subframe (£216 from Toyota, but 12-14 hrs prep work, 2-3 hrs welding, and about 8-12 hours reassembly).

However, I was fortunate and found good metal pretty close to the original failure point (around a captive nut).

Plenty of good metal and a nice tight fitting repair plate cut.

All the original features cut out/drilled, and the three captive nuts tack-welded in at the back, all positioned using a wax rubbing of the original part I took as a template before cutting.

Fully welded out and ground back. this was the first pass, there were two spots where I saw the puddle didn't quite burn in fully, that had to be back gouged and re-welded to get full pen all the way round.

Tidied up the edges of the two holes that were original features with the die grinder, cleaned up the welds with a flexible sanding disk, and gave that subframe, the forward crossmember, and all the suspension mounts a quick wire-wheel and a generous coat of (and injection with) waxoyl to hopefully prevent a reccurance of corrosion.

The repair isn't really perceptible from the outside now but you can feel the welds penetrated fully if you put your fingers through the holes.

The tester today supported the whole vehicle on that repair (not super chuffed with that trend, as Toyota says explicitly not to jack on that subframe, but hey ho) to test the suspension and steering, and it's neither deformed nor cracked.

I will have to keep a watch on it for signs of fatigue, and may replace the whole thing with a new one just to be sure, once the Landy is running again and I have breathing room to work on this.


† Which is by the way amongst the worst written standards I have ever read.

 

[arther dailey]

 

[chrismac]

Good repair, interesting to read not to jack from the sub frame, I notice mine looks to be slightly deformed, probably with jacking there previously, I am very soon going to give the underside of mine a blast with the grinder and wire wheel to try and hold back the rust, its been a battle, 14 plate with no welding yet....

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Good repair, interesting to read not to jack from the sub frame, I notice mine looks to be slightly deformed, probably with jacking there previously,

It's a very thin pressing, only 2mm steel, all it's rigidity derived from the overall shape of the hollow section it forms.

Jacking with a conforming pad that spreads the weight over the whole member is probably fine, but otherwise it's asking for deformation when you put ~1 tonne of weight on a small circle of sheet steel... Hence the Toyota advice in the workshop manual.

I am very soon going to give the underside of mine a blast with the grinder and wire wheel to try and hold back the rust, its been a battle, 14 plate with no welding yet....

Good plan to do it now whilst it's still in good nic, I would strongly advise you to then slather in cold galv and waxoyl/dinitol.

If you have the time, getting at the fuel tank crossmember is worth it, as that was an utter pig to replace and has an incredibly obvious rust trap where mine originally failed.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

And we're back, heard a slight rattle, then a bigger rattle, then the steering went funny, thankfully at very low speed as I was doing a turn in the road.

I have searched high and low for the bolt around the area it went, but it's nowhere to be seen, possibly fell into a sewer grate.

I know for a fact that pinch bolt was torqued to spec, then MOT checked, then torqued again to be extra sure because of exactly this eventuality.

Currently waiting for Green Flag, hopefully whoever they send just happens to have two CV joint clips and an M14×0.75 high tensile bolt... A man can dream eh?

 

[arther dailey]

hope you got it back safe , least you were nt tobering down the motorway...

 

[dobbslc]

Looks like you're torque wrench might be the same as my old one!
Lucky escape there!
Thread 'Torque wrench failure.' https://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/torque-wrench-failure.139218/

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Toyota wanted £168 a side for the CV boots, I think I offended the guy on the parts desk when I said "that's a completely ridiculous price for new boots!".

But it is, because I can pay the same price for a whole new driveshaft assembly manufactured by Toyota's OEM supplier.

Bought 4 new pinch bolts from Toyota though, as if I'm doing one, I'm doing all of them, those will arrive Monday at the earliest.