Hilux MK6 Chassis and Rear Tub

[OJCar]

And I thought I was a certifiable Looney.
Clearly I need to up my game!

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Installing the OEM front fog kit was a bit of a faff to say the least.

The instructions state it should take around 1hr to fit...

This might be accurate for it's intended purpose as a dealer-fit option (HL2 and HL3 spec didn't get them as standard) but if you don't have the required de-pinning tools*, it's not nearly so fast.

Nevermind on an older vehicle with a winch in the way of removing the bumper.


*You have to de-pin the main ignition connector to install an auxiliary loom and relay, doing it without the special removal tool feels like you're constantly one wrong move away from rendering the vehicle inoperable, which you absolutely are.


By far the worst part was feeding wiring through the bulkhead grommet, it has a protruding tube that you're meant to slit at the end and feed the wire through to maintain the seal.

Unfortunately when you do that it's so tight that it takes forever and when you finally manage it the blade connector on the wire you're feeding through has been mangled by the pressure from the grommet.

This is all made worse by the fact the engine-bay loom already has the connectors installed for front fogs, but accessing the required wire from that loom to hook them up would mean splitting the entire main wiring loom under the dash...

So it still makes sense to fit the new auxiliary loom from the kit, but you know it's a redundant exercise the whole time you're struggling to do it.

Once you get the wire in from the engine bay, you then discover it's too short to connect up without it fouling on the pedals unless you lie on your back in the footwell to painstakingly feed it over the top of everything then bring a loop of the internal loom up through a narrow gap to meet it.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Found my annoying rattle!

It's the front prop-shaft spider at the transfer case end, it's way too loose and has about 6mm play (Toyota says to assemble with no more than 0.05mm of play).

I suspect that one of its bearing cups is failed to allow that much play, but it's like £18 to replace them all and the spider.

I also realise now why I didn't spot it previously, because it's the side of the joint that you don't put any pressure on when you grease it, so it always felt solid, until I just happened to see it move when I was pulling the grease gun off.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

So I eventually got round to fixing the front prop, as it was sounding noticeably worse today whilst I was driving to buy paint thinners.

Kinda hard to show play in photos, but if you look at the change in the gap at the top between the two photos, and then remember these should have 0.05mm (about 2 thou) of play according to Toyota... The issue is obvious.

Once I got them apart on the bench and compared to a new bearing cup, the issue was obvious:

Reassembly went fine, with zero drama.

The only issue was torquing up the bolts which is not difficult per se just awkward.

I did manage to leave the torque wrench on a bold whilst trying to push the truck forward to rotate the prop...

I couldn't understand why it wouldn't move but kept clicking every time I pushed, and thankfully looked underneath car before trying to drive it forward.

 

[sako243]

14mm / 9/17ths bolts? If so there's a tool sold for Land Rover props which has a very thin edge and is designed in such a way to fit in between the UJ.

If they're the same size bolts it might be a useful addition.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

14mm / 9/17ths bolts? If so there's a tool sold for Land Rover props which has a very thin edge and is designed in such a way to fit in between the UJ.

If they're the same size bolts it might be a useful addition.

Yeah the very same...

The props and spiders are all Dana-Spicer who (as Salisbury) I believe were also responsible for the rear running gear of the 101, newer Series 3, and Defender.

As is I was able to get in with a deep drive 3/8 impact socket, but it's awkward.

 

[sako243]

Yeah the very same...

The props and spiders are all Dana-Spicer who (as Salisbury) I believe were also responsible for the rear running gear of the 101, newer Series 3, and Defender.

As is I was able to get in with a deep drive 3/8 impact socket, but it's awkward.

Propshaft bolt removal tool

Britpart DA1119 Propshaft bolt removal tool (usually 14.50GBP)

www.paddockspares.com

Makes a hell of a difference.

 

[Robotstar5]

Propshaft bolt removal tool

Britpart DA1119 Propshaft bolt removal tool (usually 14.50GBP)

www.paddockspares.com

Makes a hell of a difference.

I think I still have mine, if I can find it @Jelly_Sheffield welcome to it for postage.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Had to repair the little tab on the bumper that holds the trailer socket, as it finally succumbed to fatigue from getting knocked when backing the trailer into the only spot I can park it in.

After doing that, I figured I would do something that's been a long term "get round to it" task and paint the rear bumper.

I picked garishly bright orange (the photos don't do quite how bright it is justice) because I have had several close calls with other drivers almost scraping the side of their car on the towbar trying to get round me when stationary in car parks, or tailgating me and not clocking that they were about a foot closer than they thought.

No excuses now, but also hopefully a deterrent to not get so close.

It took a little bit more work, but I was able to preserve the type approval tags for the bumper and towball.

Type approval isn't strictly necessary due to the age and type of vehicle, but I already had it, and if it saves me having to explain it to an overzealous MOT tester, then worth the extra 10-15 mins.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

It's been a while since we had a Hilux update.

MOT is due in a few weeks, and I had a few jobs I wanted to do oday in advance.

- There's a couple of areas I wanted to wire brush and Inspect proactively,
- replace the brake adjuster mechanism in the rear brake drums (works but not as well as it should, resulting in constant adjustments)
- replace the OSR light cluster with one that has a red fog light lens.



Unfortunately on the way to york for the Canada - Fiji rugby game on Saturday, the engine management light came on and we went into limp mode...

We limped to York in the nick of time, watched the rugby, went out on the lash with some very happy Canadian ladies who were on a joint WRWC trip / rugby tour, recovered Sunday morning, and watched Spain - NZ before driving home and remembering the EML...

Although actually driving fine by that point, it's still an MOT fail, so at about 0900 this morning I set out to find the diagnostic equipment and sort it... By 0915 I had found the cable on my desk... By 1230 I finally located the tablet with techstream on it... And by 1430 I found the clip on keyboard with a usb port for the cable.

Must be more organised!!!

Anyway it was a P2006 fault, apparently still active... However a drive round the block with live data logging showed the supposedly jammed actuator behaving just fine, so I reset the code, did another 10 miles, no bother...

One of life's mysteries I guess.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

And here we go again...

Went to replace the brake adjusters tonight, and began to notice that the wheel cylinder looked to be weeping ever so slightly...

Gave it a good jiggle when disassembling the shoes, and sure enough it has a leak.

Inspecting the drums, they're technically in spec but only barely.

Off to Milner's in the morning to collect two new wheel cylinders, but they're out of drums...

I hope this is my bad luck done, and the welding doesn't turn into a huge job too.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

I hope this is my bad luck done, and the welding doesn't turn into a huge job too.

So the welding didn't turn into a huge job, because the brake lines had been re-installed by a gorilla.

Had to cut the line off the wheel cylinder, felt less bad when I realised I couldn't get the existing one out with a ½" breaker bar and the wheel cylinder held in a vice, found the right size of flare nuts in the wall of fixings™ and tried to remake the flare fitting under the car but didn't have enough tube left.

So trying to remove the flare fitting for the other end from the t-piece, also pretty much impossible, so at this point I have to cut off both brake lines and remove the t-piece from the Flexi, which was only possible by clamping the t-piece to a bit of wood on the leaf spring and really applying a lot of force.

Took the t-piece into the workshop, and after loosening them in the vice, was unable to get the fittings fully out without simultaneously pulling up with pliers and turning.

Threads totally knackered, with so much force applied by the person installing them that the flare nuts had actively splayed outward.

Finally getting the brake line clips off they were so rusted on that an assistant had to hold a bit of wood as a lever for me to push against with the ratchet to avoid snapping the brackets off.

I should be able to re-make it all tomorrow,
but might need to cut that t-piece off and braze it's replacement on to the bracket... I am not waiting a week for a Toyota part, and it looks like it might be hard to get a through-bolt one to align correctly to fit the brake flexi.

It's going to need the full system bled, and probably for me to hook up the laptop and do a bleed cycle on the ABS pump too.

FFS.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

I should be able to re-make it all tomorrow,
but might need to cut that t-piece off and braze it's replacement on to the bracket... I am not waiting a week for a Toyota part, and it looks like it might be hard to get a through-bolt one to align correctly to fit the brake flexi.

Bad News: it's not a standard M10×1 Bubble Flare 3-way, or a standard 3/8 -24 Inverted Flare union... Instead it uses M10×1 threads and an inverted flare...

Every motor factor I tried doesn't have one, most were surprised they existed.

Because it has to go onto the brake flexi which I can't change, I can't substitute a normal one and use different flares, and it would be sketchy at best to make an adapting pipe without any support.

Good news: Toyota can get me the part for tomorrow 9am, and because I use them regularly have decided I can now have trade discount, even though I'm technically a private customer.

Bad news: With Discount, it's £45 for a 3-way brake union.


It's now obvious how the previous person ended up putting the wrong flares on, cinched it down real tight to get it to seal and destroyed the fitting.

I guess I can get it all bent up this evening, and re-assembled onto the car ready for that very expensive union tomorrow.

This all feels like bad luck, but in actuality is pretty predictable given the age, corrosion, and small elements of weirdness

 

[mageych]

Toyota use SAE double flares in their brake pipes. Part of having had affiliations to the US, I guess.
European vehicles use the DIN/ISO bubble flare, American and a lot of Japanese vehicles use SAE. My guess is that someone made DIN flares then overtightened the junctions to stop the inevitable leaks.
It took me a while to wiek tgat out when redoing the lines to the brake proportioning valve on mine.
BTW, thank you for this thread. I am approaching replacement of the fuel tank cross-member myself. It has totted out entirely where the tank touches it...

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Toyota use SAE double flares in their brake pipes. Part of having had affiliations to the US, I guess.
European vehicles use the DIN/ISO bubble flare, American and a lot of Japanese vehicles use SAE. My guess is that someone made DIN flares then overtightened the junctions to stop the inevitable leaks.

Exactly I was a bit surprised looking at the hardware when I finally got it out, but someone blindly forcing a DIN flare over the mating cone for an SAE flare, and accidentally flaring the DIN flare nut into the bargain makes
complete sense.

Dumb mistake considering it was only worked on by one garage before it got to me (I could probably identify the date of the **Language**-up if I look through the paperwork it came with), but how it happened makes sense.

It took me a while to wiek tgat out when redoing the lines to the brake proportioning valve on mine.

Yeah I was thrown by the metric threaded nuts, and SAE flare at first, but mixing standards seems to be a theme on Japanese vehicles.

BTW, thank you for this thread. I am approaching replacement of the fuel tank cross-member myself. It has totted out entirely where the tank touches it...

Hope it goes well for you, I didn't find it to be a particularly bad job, but it is time consuming to do on stands.

The higher you can get it up the easier the awkward welds underneath will be.

Oh and re-fitting the fuel tank alone is an absolute pig of a job, two or three people and at least two jacks will make it a lot easier.

 

[mageych]

Hope it goes well for you, I didn't find it to be a particularly bad job, but it is time consuming to do on stands.

The higher you can get it up the easier the awkward welds underneath will be.

Oh and re-fitting the fuel tank alone is an absolute pig of a job, two or three people and at least two jacks will make it a lot easier.

Thanks. I have got past the really hard part, I hope. That was separating the tub from the chassis.
The front left bolt was so corroded the head was 13.5mm instead of 17mm across the flats. I opened up a 30mm hole in the base of the tib immediately above it then drilled the head off. The front right captive nut had separate from the bracket, there was enough room there, and it was loose enough, to cut the bolt through with a hacksaw. Lifting the tub gives a lot more room to work. I can now do it in a morning, or afternoon , using the tractor front loader to lift the tub off.
I managed the fuel tank alone using Jenga type blocks of wood to raise and lower each end a bit at a time . Crap design of the hanger straps.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Progress in a positive direction:

And they fitted and everything:

Whoever designed that pipe routing was either a genius or a madman, but it all goes where it should and avoids where it shouldn't.

Gonna try to reassemble the shoes onto the new cylinders next.

I got new drums from the FedEx man today, but may hold off on assembling those so I can spray the outside with High Temperature Paint... Depends if I think I have the time I guess.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

Thanks. I have got past the really hard part, I hope. That was separating the tub from the chassis.
The front left bolt was so corroded the head was 13.5mm instead of 17mm across the flats. I opened up a 30mm hole in the base of the tib immediately above it then drilled the head off. The front right captive nut had separate from the bracket, there was enough room there, and it was loose enough, to cut the bolt through with a hacksaw. Lifting the tub gives a lot more room to work. I can now do it in a morning, or afternoon , using the tractor front loader to lift the tub off.
I managed the fuel tank alone using Jenga type blocks of wood to raise and lower each end a bit at a time . Crap design of the hanger straps.

Tractor loader would make things a lot easier.

I could have separated the tub with my neighbours gantry crane, but decided the time taken to do that was likely longer than the additional faff of just getting in under it...

Conceptually I think the hanger straps are quite clever, but there's obviously a knack to it, and I strongly suspect the design is one that's easy to use if you have two people and the vehicle up on a lift.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

I have also figured that I might as well go ahead and install the cruise control unit I have had sitting around...

It was never offered for the single cab, but it turns out all 4WD ones were fitted with a cruise control ECU (it shows up on techstream and functions normally).

According to NewHilux.net (useful site, but currently only accessible by setting your country to Australia with a VPN) all the UK spec ones are apparently pre-wired so you don't have to add additional wiring between the spiral cable and ECU... But I know those pin-outs too if I have to do it.

One slight rub, you have to drill a hole in the steering wheel cover to fit the stalk... Like such:

Measuring up, I think I can do a neat job with a 32mm hole saw which will allow me to fit an open grommet to make it look neater than that example, whilst giving just enough room for the stalk to move normally.

Gonna finish the brakes first before attempting a second project though.

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

It's Bright Zinc Plated and has spanner flats...

Neither of which are things I would have believed looking at the old one.

Here goes nothing.