Kevdebbi's 120 V6 Grande

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Great long weekend up at Chichester State Forrest, followed by a day on Stockton Beach.



We went up Friday afternoon and stayed till Sunday night, we camped at Currawong camping area which is a beautiful flat grass camp site right next to the river. 4WD access only so keeps most of the trouble out, also dog friendly. Lots of great tracks in the area and only an house or so from home.


Stockton Beach on the Sunday, perfect weather. There is still a few sand dunes that you can drive on but none of the really big ones, still a great place to spend a day out though. We took the dog down there for a swim after he ran amuck up in Chichester. Nothing like salt water and sand to make him white again

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Repco CV shaft

Last night I changed both CV shafts. When we were up in Chichester something has torn a big hole in the CV boot which has filled up with sand and mud. I didn't notice the damage till washing the car Sunday night. My mechanic told me 12 months ago that my CV's had slop in them and suggested replacing them but they weren't making any noise and seemed fine so I never got around to it. Now with this damage I figured that as they had done over 185,000km it wasn't worth fixing it. As a bonus Repco had 20% off when I went in yesterday so they were only $210 each for their own brand CV assemblies, they also come with a 5 year warranty so I got both. I though this was safer then the cheap eBay ones. Both CV are the same part number which is good as they are interchangeable, I will keep the undamaged CV as a spare.

[geoffmc1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close geoffmc1]

Wow, $210 for the complete assembly. Almost worth buying one for a big trip spare!

Cheers
Geoff

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Wow, $210 for the complete assembly. Almost worth buying one for a big trip spare!

Cheers
Geoff

Not wrong Geoff,

Thats why I replaced both CV at the same time, the passenger side was fine so I will be keeping it for a spare. Way back when I first got the car I needed to replace one of the rubber boots because it had split, I went to Toyota and brought a new set of boot, around $180. I have learnt to shop around since then.

Kev

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

What does this mean?

I just noticed this sticker on my front diff, it looks like it has the date 03.04.09. My car is a 2003, maybe some work was done to the diff?

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

Don't think that is a date code, just some random coding from the factory that meant something to someone somewhere along the lines. I have seen these under all types of vehicles and often wondered what they told someone about the part.

[Guest Close Guest]

Read it backwards. 9 Apr 2003.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Nice, that makes much more sense, although I was hoping I had had a new diff fitted

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Here is a little trick I just learned for fitting the front hub weather seal. I just changed my CV shafts and one of the hub weather seals needed replacement. After trying to tap the new seal in with a hammer and drift I was getting no where fast as the seal kept moving around and not seating properly. I needed something around the same diameter as the seal to spread the load of the hammer.

Light bulb moment The dust cover for the CV nut is nearly a perfect fit and allowed the seal to be hammered in quickly and easily. Just don't hit it too hard or you will damage it.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

Well there you go AMTS, I've learnt something new also.

Good thinking Kev, I love those lightbulb moments. Rigs looking good, are you getting posted to Amberley soon? I'd love to see this rig in person.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

Well there you go AMTS, I've learnt something new also.

Good thinking Kev, I love those lightbulb moments. Rigs looking good, are you getting posted to Amberley soon? I'd love to see this rig in person.

Thanks mate, maybe Jan 16. Is there any good 4WDing up there within an hour of Ipswich? Im keen to try Morton and Fraser, but Newcastle is just so good. Great State forrest within 10 min, boat ramps 25min and great weather, very hard to beat.

[AussieAndy Find all posts View Profile Close AussieAndy]

You are right, it is hard to beat. There are a few 4wd parks which are good, other than that there is glasshouse mountains and a few others. I like the 4wd parks because there is no worry about trespassing and all that stuff. Will have to have a chat when you get up here, there are a few 120's and alot of Hilux's on base so you'll fit right in.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

You are right, it is hard to beat. There are a few 4wd parks which are good, other than that there is glasshouse mountains and a few others. I like the 4wd parks because there is no worry about trespassing and all that stuff. Will have to have a chat when you get up here, there are a few 120's and alot of Hilux's on base so you'll fit right in.

Looking forward to it, my parents are up in Landsborough glass house central. Just got to try and pull some strings to get me there

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

I ordered my rear Eaton E-locker the other day and to save a few dollars I am installing the wiring myself. I also wanted to utilise the factory dash light for the rear locker so I wired it up at the same time. To activate the light it needs to have earth applied. My car did not have the factory wiring fitted to do this so I needed to add a wire to the plug on the back of the instrument cluster, right hand plug (C12) pin 17. I removed a pin from an unused plug leaving a small tail to solder too. This wire was hooked to a relay to provide earth when the locker is activated.

See 120D4D post on how to do this. http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...598#post480598



I'm not entirely happy with the current position of the locker activation switch which is currently next to the centre diff lock switch, I am thinking of ordering the factory switch and hooking it up. That would give a nice factory look to the install and prevent inadvertent operation.

[kevdebbi Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close kevdebbi]

We went for a Sunday drive on the weekend up past Ladies well in the Chichester State Forrest, from there we headed up to Mount Allyn and had a BBQ lunch. From here we headed down and tried a few tracks but most were really overgrown of blocked by big trees. We finally found a main track which we followed for a while, we then took a small side track which went up Mount Cabre Bald. This track turned out to have some really big washouts and ruts. I even had the wife out the front as spotter for a while, I am always amazed at just how capable the Prado is. We finally called it quits when I thought I was about to roll it, all the wife could see out here window was ground, I later measured the angle as 28Deg, felt a lot more not sure how much more before a roll over but It felt really bad. The rear wheel ended up in a rut causing the front to really lift, we were going really slow so it was controllable but still quite sudden. Good to take your time.