Manual Lock-Up Torque Converter

[SteveMc Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SteveMc]

[QUOTE=Rusty62;289071]Any chance of a photo of the plug and it's location?

Sorry Rusty cant get a photo of that at the moment, heres a pick of the ECU diagram,
only 4 plugs on my ECU not 5. Hand written letters relate to my ECU.

Hope this helps

Steve

[damonat Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close damonat]

thank you very much.
i know this will come in handy soon,
when we finish Matts rig, and get the most out of his valve body

[gunmetal Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close gunmetal]

Did anybody get any way towards finding a torque converter lock-up solution for the prado? I have been going down some steep washed out hills and would like the low range first to descend at a slower rate so I don't have to rely on the brakes as much...

[Syzprado Member Find all posts View Profile Close Syzprado]

Hi guys,
I am also very interested in if you've come up with a solution for the D4D.
This sounds like a great addition for when serious engine breaking and gear holding is required.

[BirdMan Member Find all posts View Profile Close BirdMan]

Did anybody get any way towards finding a torque converter lock-up solution for the prado? I have been going down some steep washed out hills and would like the low range first to descend at a slower rate so I don't have to rely on the brakes as much...

From my understanding, the Prado's already have a lockup torque converter which activates in low-range. Therefore, when descending a hill, there is no converter slip. I wouldn't think you could make any impact without changing your transfer ratios.

[gunmetal Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close gunmetal]

From my understanding, the Prado's already have a lockup torque converter which activates in low-range. Therefore, when descending a hill, there is no converter slip. I wouldn't think you could make any impact without changing your transfer ratios.

I think it does 'lock' but not until a it revs over a certain point. This is of no help when having decend very steap washed out trails at crawing speed. If it was constantly locked in low range first the engine would stall when stationary I think???

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

I have found the engine braking to be very good on low range first.

It depends on what you mean by locking up at low speed. Obviously the
convertor has to slip when the car is going very slowly ie rock crawl else
the engine would stall, therefore locking up the convertor at a speed that
equates to idle speed or below will be of no advantage as you will be fighting
the engine and or stall it.

Cheers
LeighW

[Syzprado Member Find all posts View Profile Close Syzprado]

I find when trying to go down hill very slowly the auto transmision has a tendancy to go into a "neutral". ie 30km/hr in 4wd low.
I often find this to fast. My old 4runner used to crawl at about 10km/hr but then I had a manual trans so things may be different.

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

Yeah mine dous that for about a second , then locks up Ok

[double_d69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close double_d69]

I just installed all 3 kits from Wholesale Auto's... Lockup switch, Valve body and Temp Gauge. Their kits are good, instructions ok but need pics I think would be a big help (not just diagrams). The lockup switch was fairly easy, just a bit fiddley tapping into the ECU wires. I haven't been offroad or done any towing to test this yet.



The Valve body was a sh*t job, mainly because I snapped 5 bolts holding the sump pan on... had to drill them out and re-tap the holes. I replaced all 20 bolts with new high tensile ones. I did the whole job on my back so it was painful, removing 4 of the solenoid plugs was trickey, you need to use a very tiny flat head screw driver to push them down. The other 3 connectors had clips you can just squeeze to undo - don't know why they didn't just make them all like that. Care must be taken when you drop the valve body out, there is a ball float and a spring in a piston that will drop out - remember which way they went in. I thought i'd drained all the oil out earlier, but no about another litre came out with the body (another oil shower for me). Swapping the solenoids over was easy, then reinstalling wasn't too bad - I used Vasoline as suggested by the instructions to hold the 3 new seals and ball valve in... a mate held that spring piston thingy inplace while i bolted it back together. I used a sludge pump to refill the tranny, expect to be covered in more oil doing this. All up took me the whole day, the longest part was drilling and tapping 5 holes.



It's made a big difference to drive, you can feel the extra power, and the gear shift appears to be quicker, but not as smooth as it was. maybe because of the extra power when the gear changes..not sure, but it's not too bad at all. I installed the temp gauge kit last night, that was realitively easy - i'd recommend using a 17mm flare spanner on the oil line nut that goes into the elbow joint... otherwise you will round the nut with a normal spanner. I removed the gauge from the mount they supply and used the pillar pod i bought from ebay, then just wired it into the acc power and dash lights (i used the wiring from my lockers to tap into). Works well, i haven't had the temp over 70 yet. Notice the boost gauge... blower coming soon ;D




Double_D

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Extra power from changing the valve body? How does that work?

[double_d69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close double_d69]

In reality you don't, it's the faster shifting response that makes it feel like you are getting more power. It's really quite amazing the difference it's made to drive now. Also I haven't had the temp over 70 degs yet, and i had to really flog it around town to get it up to that. I'll be towing my boat on Sat so there should be some improvements there too.

[timmay5.7 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close timmay5.7]

Would you recommend the valve body upgrade, or diff gears as a better bang for buck upgrade?

[double_d69 Member Find all posts View Profile Close double_d69]

ahh that's a trickey one - the Valve body mod is a lot cheaper - $895 and you get faster shifting, cooler temps, better fuel ecomony and can handle more HP - feels a lot nice to drive. The diff gears is a $2k exercise (unless you install yourself which will save you a grand)but you get more tractional force with the gearing which makes it very zippy off the line, much better low range when 4x4ing and I've found decent fuel savings too. I guess if you had plans on going to a 33" tyre it would make sense to do the gears... if not do the auto mod first. With both mods 1st gear basically doesn't get used unless you have the foot to the floor. I have 33's on order so that will even things out a bit.

[timmay5.7 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close timmay5.7]

Fair enough.. Sounds like the trans kit it is... I have 32"s and probably wouldn't go higher.