Torque Convertor lock up instal

[chardo]

MRW82 Hi Mark are you still on the air???? How is the lock kit working???how many KMS have you put on it now??

Jamie, Sounds like you did a good job in the first place mate and is good to hear that everything is holding together after so long. I have great faith in my beast every time we go on a trip. I am coming up to 160,000kms and have only changed one noisy injector and cleaned all the bloody gunk out of the intake system. I recently replaced the big cat converter with a 200 cell free flow one. It makes a bit of difference to pick up and a tiny bit more noise, but I have noticed that there is a fair bit of gain on the fuel usage on a trip. I am really hoping to get a lock up kit in soon then I might be a happy chappie. OK Mate take care and keep that converter locked. Cheers Bill

[Davis Dieso]

FYI,

Back from our annual trip up north and another 5,000km towing our heavy camper trailer through some of the roughest tracks you could possibly tow through. Thought a bit of feedback should be given. My lock up is still working better than ever. I could not imagine towing without it. Second, third and forth gears get changed the whole time with the convertor locked while towing (and not towing). The trans is still good as ever, no difference to the way it shifts and oil clean.
I now have no apprehension about the longevity of the trans.
Some great work being done by others on this thread for the 5 speeder, well done guys. I read with interest.

Cheers, Jamie

[chardo]

Hi Rusty, Sounds like the holiday went off like clockwork( and the lockup kit). I have been driving with my nephew who fitted a kit to his 200 series for heavy towing. It has been in now for a couple of years now and he loves it. The kit was from Wholesale Automatics I think. What I am getting at is what you and some of the other boys have done is amazing compared to the heavy pricing of the bigger companies and you have proved that your kits are safe and reliable as well. I think with the Kms you and the other boys have done without any mishaps that you have a good kit so why not have a go at the sales bit. Im sure there is a few out there waiting. Safe driving. Cheers and take care. Bill.

[Rusty62]

Back from annual leave. 11000km from Brisvegas to Broome via Gibb River and Tanami Desert to Alice, Mt Isa via Sandover Hwy.

The lockup worked great, able to hold 5th gear when the ecu wanted otherwise. Going into headwinds the ecu would want to unlock and change to 4th a lot. Heat is now a thing of the past, even better with the cooler fitted.
Looking at building a new version unit with a pulse width modulator so we can have a 'soft lock' instead of the abrupt lock we have now. Don't think we will build for sale as if the unit hurts the ecu who pays?

Rusty.

[Rusty62]

so far the lockup downhill has not been very good, what i mean it doesn't slow the car a lot. Would not use it in first as this will be bad for the gearbox.
Not hard to change our system to button on / off just use the brake wire input to a push button.
What is really good is climbing toowoomba range in 3rd gear no slip and low temp in the gearbox. Down from 125 TC and 100 gearbox to 85 in both when locked.

Cooler fitted.

Rusty.

[chardo]

Hi Rusty, That sounds great, A lot of work going into it I see. Would it be possible to have it without the brake release system for down hill towing with a van where the system was being used for braking and odd times you would need to be using a small amount of brake as this would keep switching the lock up off. Looking forward to hearing more as it progresses. Take care, Cheers Bill.

[Rusty62]

Bill. our 5speed kit so far has been reliable. Not ready to do a kit just yet but may look at after our trip in June July.
The kit we made has a push to lock and to release a touch of the brake light circuit. Two wires from the ecu need to be used, one for the ecu the other for the slu solenoid on the gearbox. Also required is fused power and earth. Will need to do a lot more research on any difference in models as well.

Rusty.

[chardo]

Hi all, where is everyone?????? Has anyone done anymore testing on the 5 speed auto lock up kit. I would love for a few inventors out there to chuck out a little bit more in on their finished products and maybe a price to build and supply a lock up kit as I'm sure that there are others out there that have been watching these conversations as I have that would gladly purchase. Thanks and Cheers Bill.

[Davis Dieso]

Thanks Mick, glad to help. Enjoy your travels with the locked convertor.

Anyone interested to see what its like with the convertor locked, on the dash?? (RPM and speed). Check the links below. Sorry one of the vids sound is a bit sus!

Slow take off
https://www.dropbox.com/s/k2ul7o7y8n...0slow.mov?dl=0

Medium take off
https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmrvnpiuvk...edium.mov?dl=0

Fast (ish) take off
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bw6y4o96ex...0fast.mov?dl=0

How slow can you go?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sa8987u8n7...0down.mov?dl=0

[delicar]

Hi all Delicar here and my car is an 03 120 4speed diesel with 189 ks on it, anyway I have been following this blog with a great deal of interest and have included some of my opinions in some of the earlier posts, well last Friday I bit the dust and installed my own home made locker consisting of one change over relay and a switch with LED lights in it showing on/off which is stuck to the gear lever within the comfortable thumb reach zone.
The reason I went with this simple manual method is because I am driving the earlier model car which doesn't have the computer problems of the 5 speed models which the gurus are currently trying to address and besides in this case I reckon that the best on board computer my car has is ME so with this simple system I have perfect and very easy control over the shit gear box these cars have been blessed with.

Prognosis
For some unknown reason the missus and I decided to go and visit my mates dairy farm some 150 ks out of Adelaide and this involved a trip of about 50 odd ks through the Adelaide hills then the rest is flat, well what a buzz the old PLAY DOUGH as we call it is a completely different car, locked up and cruising thru the hills with out revving and roaring it's silly head off and the two times it changed back to 3rd whilst in cruise it didn't hang on to 3rd for ages before changing up, all in all I'm very impressed with the set up and the change it has made to the car and keep in mind that I am treading very carefully at the moment on how much and when I use it (evaluating) how ever time will tell, today I was driving around the local area effortlessly cruising at 60 ks on 1300 rpm locked up only unlocking for corners and roundabouts the big test comes next week when I head off towing my Cub camper of 1200 kgs and will have the car loaded up to the teeth over to the West up to the North and back to Adelaide in September for the start of the good weather, this is a trip of some 10.000 odd ks so I shall keep you all posted.
For anybody contemplating going down the same track as me it was the second plug down on the ECU and the pink /blue traced wire was the 4th one down on the clip side
My many thanks go to Jamie (davis dieso) who in the last couple of weeks has been and endless source of information and support during this project.
Cheers Mick

[Davis Dieso]

Damn drop box,

Hope this link works,

Prado 120 4speed auto lock-up wiring.

Cheers, Jamie

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x7karsquuv...p%20.docx?dl=0 to access the link.

[chardo]

Simmo79
Hi mate, I have a 07 model and have the same problem when towing pop top van. Mine is mainly from 4 to 5th. If it doesn't change up when I want it to, I just move the stick back and forth between 4>5 and tell the computer what you want it will change up. I watch the tacho a lot when towing and can see what its up to. Hope this helps. Works for me. Cheers Bill.
PS, Rusty, Im watching quietly. Great work mate.

[Rusty62]

Hi all, I know this is an old thread but does this cut out the "takes forever to change from 3rd to 4th after kick down on a hill" problem? Im new to auto 4x4 as I have upgraded from a falcon and the wife owns a manual diesel vitara, thanks in advance

Simmo. What year and model. The 120 I have is slow at the up change 3-4 sometimes depending on the hill. The lockup helps keep the revs down.

Rusty.

[BrettYourTripRight]

I am really interested I just paid $380 for a lock up kit...

I had trouble downloading the attachment is said no longer in service is it just me?

Brett Toll

[Simmo79]

Hi all, I know this is an old thread but does this cut out the "takes forever to change from 3rd to 4th after kick down on a hill" problem? Im new to auto 4x4 as I have upgraded from a falcon and the wife owns a manual diesel vitara, thanks in advance