Is the 150 showing any signs of cracked inner guards

[rwo]

snip...

Having said all that, the patch kit is ridiculously simple to fit and eliminates the problem. If Toyota hadn't fitted it I would have paid to have it fitted. I think even out of warranty or with a bullbar, for a known problem it should be possible to get Toyota to at least cough up the patch kit even if you pay for fitting.

Has anyone had luck purchasing the kit or getting it fitted to a non cracked vehicle as a preventative measure?

I would be happy to just pay for it in hope of avoiding more expensive problems down the track!

[retroenduro]

Add to this the fact that we naturally favour the right side of the car because that's the side we drive from. The left side is always going off into the rough, dropping off the road onto the verge when giving room for passing, etc. I always notice more scratches and branch impacts on the left side of the car.

Interestingly on this theory in the UK you would always find the left side of any car had more rust than the right...again due to this side being exposed to puddles in the gutter, build ups of salt in the gutter etc...

[Bushbasher]

Seems to be more people with cracked LH guards than RH, probably because that's where the battery lives on a diesel.

Add to this the fact that we naturally favour the right side of the car because that's the side we drive from. The left side is always going off into the rough, dropping off the road onto the verge when giving room for passing, etc. I always notice more scratches and branch impacts on the left side of the car.

[krypto]

unless i'm going blind, my petrol 150 has the battery on the left (passenger) side ?

My mistake, I thought they had them on the other side. Or maybe your's is a special edition

[rob_macca67]

Mine Cracked on our Desert Trip back in 2012, but it's been good since then and we have done Central Australia in 2013 and Cape York this year..... I know another that has not done any desert trips yet his has still cracked & he's done the Cape Twice.....

I have a different theory on the inner guard cracks so would be interested to hear whether it stacks up against other peoples experiences.

Several years ago I did a trip from Qld to WA via the Plenty Hwy and Great Central Road, up the CSR, down the Tanami, then along the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks. We covered 10,000km on that trip of which about 7000km was off road. I came home expecting the guard(s) to be cracked based on what I'd read on here, but they were fine. I kept checking the guards from time to time and there was no sign of cracking, but the vehicle had done very little off road work since that CSR trip.

Last year I then did a trip across the French Line and the Madigan Line. The only dirt road driving was the short stretch between Windorah and Birdsville each way and a little bit between the end of the French Line and Mt Dare. Got home and one of the inner guards was cracked. The big difference on this trip though was the extremely rough dunes along the French Line (dug up by a bunch of vehicles towing camper trailers in front of us) and then the true off-track driving along the Madigan Line. There was lots of full suspension compression work and I even noticed where the front tyres had been rubbing on the tops of the inner guards.

So in my case I think the cracking wasn't from corrugations but was from the severe suspension flex and contact with the front guard. For those of you with the cracks do you think this sort of thing might have been a possibility for you, or you have never put your vehicle through that kind of driving?

[maulbeagle]

unless i'm going blind, my petrol 150 has the battery on the left (passenger) side ?

[krypto]

In getting my guards fixed got to speak with some senior Toyota technical guys and I'm also a mech engineer. After a lot of research the bottom line is that generally sustained vibration rather than one off shock loads seems to cause the cracking. Anything you can do to reduce vibration will help. So tyre pressures and suspension play a part. I have also mounted my battery on a high density rubber.

Putting a high load on the guard (heavy battery) only adds to the stress. My 150 had a much bigger main battery straight from the factory than my mates which also cracked. We both do trips once a year on a badly corrugated road that rattles the s%$t out of the car and I suspect that this is where the problem started. Will be checking other Prados up there for cracks this year.

Seems to be more people with cracked LH guards than RH, probably because that's where the battery lives on a diesel. Also haven't heard of any petrol 150s with cracked guards, they have the battery on the RH side.


Having said all that, the patch kit is ridiculously simple to fit and eliminates the problem. If Toyota hadn't fitted it I would have paid to have it fitted. I think even out of warranty or with a bullbar, for a known problem it should be possible to get Toyota to at least cough up the patch kit even if you pay for fitting.

[andoland]

I have a different theory on the inner guard cracks so would be interested to hear whether it stacks up against other peoples experiences.

Several years ago I did a trip from Qld to WA via the Plenty Hwy and Great Central Road, up the CSR, down the Tanami, then along the Oodnadatta and Birdsville tracks. We covered 10,000km on that trip of which about 7000km was off road. I came home expecting the guard(s) to be cracked based on what I'd read on here, but they were fine. I kept checking the guards from time to time and there was no sign of cracking, but the vehicle had done very little off road work since that CSR trip.

Last year I then did a trip across the French Line and the Madigan Line. The only dirt road driving was the short stretch between Windorah and Birdsville each way and a little bit between the end of the French Line and Mt Dare. Got home and one of the inner guards was cracked. The big difference on this trip though was the extremely rough dunes along the French Line (dug up by a bunch of vehicles towing camper trailers in front of us) and then the true off-track driving along the Madigan Line. There was lots of full suspension compression work and I even noticed where the front tyres had been rubbing on the tops of the inner guards.

So in my case I think the cracking wasn't from corrugations but was from the severe suspension flex and contact with the front guard. For those of you with the cracks do you think this sort of thing might have been a possibility for you, or you have never put your vehicle through that kind of driving?

[Prone]

Interesting ideas in last posts regarding suspension firmness.

Now I am wondering are cracks more likely with firmer aftermarket suspensions and stiffer sidewalled aftermarket LT style tyres? A lot of pages to read through to see if there is a correlation.

Are there many cracked guards on vehicles with standard tyres and suspension? I suspect that standard vehicles don't get used on corrugated tracks as much as the modded ones so may be hard to draw conclusions.

For the record my 150 Altitude has standard suspension and tyres and has done a large percentage of it's 60,000 on corrugated outback roads towing a camper trailer. Roads include but not limited to the Tanami, Gibb River, Cape leveque, Finke roads, Oodnadatta track, Dalhousie tracks. I also let tyres down to mid 20's on corrugated roads.

I was contemplating LT style tyres in the future. Now...?

Cheers
Prone

Oops, should have read a bit more. The 150 cracked inner guard thread mentions some stock standard vehicles with cracks. Still it is worth thinking about maybe?

[spikegorman]

Prado crack

Yeah.... I was running that also... until I got a crack in the inner guard on the RHS..... Since putting a battery tray in and then modifying it with more support, & installing a smaller, lighter battery I haven't had any issues..... but I think it comes down to a number of things like where you're driving (ie corrugations, etc); tyre pressure; speed, and a few probably a few other things we don't realise either.......... or it just comes down to it was a Friday built car

After reading this discussion and looking at my crackless,almost standard GX I wonder if my plan will change with this vehicle.
I sold the 1990 GQ much to my inner souls disdain and bought the white Auto 4WD that Wifey could use for work and I would prep for some trips in future. The hand grenade GU didn't get me !!
I realise at 40,000 Kms the suspension is roly and will[would]have to change.
After reading I have checked and see no cracks,also spot a very soft rubber chassis mount, very soft.
I changed on my GQ with Nissan originals very different in compound.
I wonder if we could get a survey on here to see percentage of 150 with cracks on guard?
Corrugations seem to be the common denominator but hey this is 4WD ?
My urge to buy bulbar has diminished.
Prado GX TD first 3800KMs as a Cairns rental all under bodyguards were bashed, replaced with ARB
It had been offroad as bits of bush were jammed under! Otherwise clean.
Great vehicle yet to take off road.
I would have made my own bracket for dual battery but now may buy box type for back of truck.
What to do? lightest bar no winch? HD suspension or bad selection of set up couldn't help!?
I know other vehicles have issues the question I suppose is can this be rectified before it happens?
my maintenance background says reinforce.

[Symo]

Just to clarify this is for pre facelift models with both battery on the LHS?

[rob_macca67]

I'm still running a 270mm long battery WITHOUT a battery tray and still don't have any cracks. Something to think about.....

Cheers Brad

Yeah.... I was running that also... until I got a crack in the inner guard on the RHS..... Since putting a battery tray in and then modifying it with more support, & installing a smaller, lighter battery I haven't had any issues..... but I think it comes down to a number of things like where you're driving (ie corrugations, etc); tyre pressure; speed, and a few probably a few other things we don't realise either.......... or it just comes down to it was a Friday built car

[ttmx83]

I'm still running a 270mm long battery WITHOUT a battery tray and still don't have any cracks. Something to think about.....

Cheers Brad

Hi Steve,

Do you have any photos of this patch? Does it go inside the wheel arch side? Is it like a second 'skin' for the guard?

Cheers,

Ken

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...l=1#post461903

[ko7624]

Hi Rob, was never able to find out the part number. Both of our vehicles were stock suspension and no bullbar so the cracked guards were fixed under warranty. It does seem that Toyota are trying to keep the existence of the patch kit a secret.

The job doesn't take more than a few hours as it only involves cleaning under the guard, fitting the kit which is an exact match of the guard and then bolting it into place.

As to the other posts, the weight of the battery plays a big part in the problem but changing the design of the bracket really doesn't help. I spent a lot of time looking into this. Patch kit eliminates the structural weakness.

Hi Steve,

Do you have any photos of this patch? Does it go inside the wheel arch side? Is it like a second 'skin' for the guard?

Cheers,

Ken