Kevdebbi's 120 V6 Grande

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

Bugger! where did that bracket go? Looks like the bolts may not have been tight enough and the rough tracks on the weekend have shaken it loose. I installed the new rear heavy-duty sway bar so no one to blame but my self



Drivers side missing bracket

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

Some of the fellas from work and I went for a quick spin around Wallaroo State Forrest this afternoon after work. Wow, some crazy tracks in there, massive washouts and ruts. One of the guys had just got a newish 79 series cruiser wagon wand wanted to try it out, the outer was some monster jeep thing with 35" and all the gear, insane articulation.

I was amazed how well the Prado handled everything thrown at it. Obviously I had to choose different lines to the others but I got through everything unscathed. The new heavy-duty front and back sway bars had very little negative effect on articulation which I was very happy about. I had to break out the winch a few times due to lack of ground clearance in some of the ruts, still waiting for the rear diff lock to arrive.

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

Heavy duty Sway Bar Upgrade

About six months ago I fitted heavy duty sway bars, Whiteline 24mm rear and Superpro 30mm front, both are adjustable. I have them both set on this firmest setting and I have found the handling improvement to be fantastic. Im not talking about driving it like a WRX!!! But I figured that after all my mods, 2" lift, steel bull bar, winch, dual battery, steel rear bar and drawer system the car is a lot heavier than standard and I wanted to return it back similar to standard handling and improve the safety.

In reality the majority of my driving of on road, the improvement here has been great, the car had much less body roll and feels more stable and predictable. Not that I thought it was a real problem before, its just a lot better now. I have done several tracks lately that have really tested out the suspension travel and car is still blowing me away with how capable it is. I was worried about the loss in articulation off road, so far I haven't really noticed any real difference. My testing and measurements of before and after fitment show very little actual reduction in articulation if any.

Being adjustable I can change the setting to the softest which is close to standard. To adjust just move the sway bar link between the three different holes.


Front bar

Rear bar

[prado2004 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close prado2004]

some really well thought out mods there, you should be making those rear bars mate I would buy one as I am wanting to do something similar as my back bumper is stuffed. I am in the same boat as your all others are too expensive

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

some really well thought out mods there, you should be making those rear bars mate I would buy one as I am wanting to do something similar as my back bumper is stuffed. I am in the same boat as your all others are too expensive

Thanks prado2004, not wrong about the price of rear bars. Aj120's is probably the best on the market and is very reasonably priced compared to the others, but it still is a lot of money to spend. I was lucky at the time I had access to a great workshop at work where I could build mine and only had to pay for materials. Sadly my workshop at home is very limited and my new workplace is also very limited in what I can do there

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

My Eaton E-locker finally arrived and is going to be installed Friday by Opposite lock Newcastle can't wait. $1810 installed was the best price I could get, took a while to save up but hopefully worth it. Now I need to plan a camping trip for this weekend and do some more exploring.

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

Eaton E-locker installed

Finally got the rear e-locker fitted last week and had a chance to test it out. Very impressed so far, defiantly makes a big improvement on some of the steeper climbs. We spent the weekend camping at Ferndale and exploring Chichester State Forest. I originally had the activation switch mounted down next to the centre diff lock switch but was worried about accidentally bumping it on, my phone normally lives in there. I moved it over to the switch panel next to the drivers right knee. I had a red isolation switch here for my in cab winch controller, so I wired my diff lock activation switch into this as well. So now to activate, both need to be on.



Below are a few videos we took on the iPad, its a bit hard to see how steep it was but my wife sunglasses which were on top of her head fell backwards and ended up in the back seat!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU6g4CvxxX8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9m_n7tSHA8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QW5EAfT2Go

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

Super hot here at the moment, so off to the beach for fish and chips and a swim. We went down to Jimmys Beach in Port Stephens, some nice beach driving down along the beach front. Very soft sand but with 20psi no problems.

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

Chichester day trip.

We took a few families from work and headed out for a nice day trip up past Chichester Dam, there are some great tracks around that area. We met an old farmer out there and he gave us access to his "backyard". He has a huge property with a great track up to the top of the biggest hill in the area, several very steep climbs, great views and lots of twists turns ups and downs, about 15km in total. Its not the first time we have explored out there but had some new people to show around and the weather was perfect.

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

I had been noticing something was not quite right with the handling lately, found there problem.

Does not look too good!! Less than 12 months old so I was a little surprised. I contacted Whiteline and they were fantastic sending out a full replacement set via express post, free of charge.

Next on the list is the replacement of the front lower ball joints, they seem to have some slop.

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

For the less mechanically minded out there, is that a lower control arm?

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

Sorry, yes thats the front bush on the drivers side lower trailing arm.

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

I had been noticing something was not quite right with the handling lately, found there problem.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]19432[/ATTACH]
Does not look too good!! Less than 12 months old so I was a little surprised. I contacted Whiteline and they were fantastic sending out a full replacement set via express post, free of charge.

Next on the list is the replacement of the front lower ball joints, they seem to have some slop.

Hi Kevdebbi
This was an after market control arm or replacement bush only?
How are you noticing the front lower ball joint slop? What is your diagnosis?
Might pay to check your front control arm bushes at same time.
The lower ones seem to have three spokes/segments, that would allow for torsional movement within the bush.
Hard to see very well from behind the adjuster etc. but fine cracks appear at the shoulders of these segments for want of a better word.
Great build up thread.
Cheers
Troy

Just reverse read your build up thread to discover way back @ post 12 you have replaced above mentioned control arms and lower bushes..........

[draino Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close draino]

Kevdebbi,

(From September last year)

I'd take that dry powder fire extinguisher out and replace it with Co2 if I were you.

Yes, powder is marginally more affective for electrical fires, but the residue will ruin anything it touches.

Spray that stuff inside your engine bay and you will kill every wiring harness and sensor it comes into contact with.

It would end up cheaper to let your vehicle burn to the ground.

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

Hi Kevdebbi
This was an after market control arm or replacement bush only?
How are you noticing the front lower ball joint slop? What is your diagnosis?
Might pay to check your front control arm bushes at same time.
The lower ones seem to have three spokes/segments, that would allow for torsional movement within the bush.
Hard to see very well from behind the adjuster etc. but fine cracks appear at the shoulders of these segments for want of a better word.
Great build up thread.
Cheers
Troy

Just reverse read your build up thread to discover way back @ post 12 you have replaced above mentioned control arms and lower bushes..........

Hi foxclan, thanks for the good info there. Factory arm with the Whiteline bushes fitted last year. I have gradually worked my way through all the suspension and replaced all the bushes with Whitline polyurethane. I have been very happy with the result so far, not harsh at all.

Whilst installing some of the suspension bushes last year I notice the ball joints had a bit of slop in them. Toyota only sell the complete lower control arm, I think it was about $1200 a side (don't quote me on that figure) so I left it for a while. I had the car in for a Pedders suspension check recently and they identified they needed replacement. I finally got around to researching suitable replacements and found the "Moog K500017 Ball Joint" commonly used in the States with good results. Only $26 from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1I just need to get around to fitting them, they have been sitting on my desk at work for the past few weeks, so getting closer