Lngrngr's 150 prado

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A small update on things.

So I got my new D2 Dually's from Snake Racing. Opened the packet up the other day to have quick look at everything. It is a well packaged product, well laid out with all the bits and pieces you need. The light themselves look like rugged little nuggets, well built. I checked all the bits and pieces out before packing them up quickly again before I had to dash off to work.

Anyway while I was at work I had this thought flash across my mind, there didn't seem to be a trigger wire on the wiring harness. Today I got all the kit out again to confirm my little thought. Oh no, just as I thought no trigger wire.

Panic stations for a bit whilst I tried to nut a solution out.

Here goes, and I'm happy if anyone has anything else to add. The way that it is currently wired up to the relay is the positive from the battery comes into pin 87 at the top with a +ve going out to the switch.
All the -ves go to the 85 pin including one from the switch.
Power to the lights comes out of pin 30.
One blue wire comes out of 86 and goes to the switch.

I had a google about on the net and came up with a solution. The +ve coming out of 87 and going to the switch is where they are getting the power from to activate the relay switching with the blue wire through pin 86 and the -ve wire going into pin 85. So I'm thinking that if I take that +ve wire and use that as the trigger wire from the High Beam and into the switch and using the +ve wire and blue wire running through the switch and into the relay to activate pin 85 and 86.

If that makes any sense to anyone I would be happy to hear anyones thoughts. I'll try it out in a couple of days and see how I go.

Also ordered another essential bit of kit, a PP sticker for the rear window.

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Well i've been back from the big Xmas trip for a couple of weeks so its time for an update on my build up thread as i got some things done before i left in a flurry of work.

Firstly i had to sort out the new spot lights that i got for the trip. I have to say for their small size they are good little units. I've already covered the woes with the old wiring that had been put in place. the install was pretty straight forward, in the end i was able to utilise one of the original wires as the trigger wire like i had originally thought (once i got my head around where each wire went).

I got the wire onto the high beam wire and managed to solder it in place, its covered with some shrink wrap at the moment but ill get some self adhesive tape later and fix it up.

All up though it fits well and i find that the driving beam suits the Prado as the high beam is already long and these fill out to the sides (good for looking for those roo's on those outback QLD roads early in the morning).



I think i was up until midnight putting them on and my wife lent a hand when she got home from work too.

My memory is a little sketchy on the order that i did all this now but one of the things that was always on my list to have sorted before we went (besides the spotties) was the rear power point.

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I got to work on the power point in the rear after i had already dissmantled the crappy job that was originally there, the only good thing was the thickness of the wiring.

I had all the parts, having picked up a Bainbridge 6 fuse block, two 6mm terminals and a coupld of rolls of wiring and the all important shrink tube.
I did have some doubts about the terminals that i got from a local store who i had always overlooked but man they have some bits and pieces, but i was talking to my brother in law and mentioned the job to him and he told me that he had just bought a hydraulic crimping tool. Never heard of one.

But he lent it to me and it came with dies all the way up to 22mm i think from memory and as small as 4mm (which i was able to do the 3mm cable with anyway) easy as to use, did all the jobs i needed, then i started looking for other things to crimp just so i could have more of a go.

But heres some photos anyway.






The whole thing works a treat and there is room for future expansion, thinking of putting in some USB charger ports and converting the fridge connection to Anderson plugs just to make the connection more secure as well as adding another Volt meter.

Speaking if meters, the one that was fitted upfront left much to be desired and just did not fit the switch blank that had been removed. One day whilst i was up at Supercheap Auto getting some supplies i spotted a switch blank that looked like it would just about fit. when i got it home and tried it out it was a very close fit but i could see that if i shaved off some of the tabs on both the blank and the meter they would fit very neatly.

And voila.



Sometimes it the small things that you do that really make the difference. I'm really happy with the outcome.

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I must add a note here that on out arrival in Katherine for the morning stop on our way South i was checking out the set up in the rear and when i removed the cover for the power point i found that the rear of the plug had some how shattered into about five pieces, luckily there was an Auto Pro across the road from Maccas and i managed to grab a new plug from them. a quick swap in the car park and we were underway.

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Next up was the table in the rear door, this was going to be a nice to have if i had the time to complete it. I had all the gear that i needed in the shed so after finishing everything else off i decided to give it a crack, its never fun drilling hols into your new car but i figured that it was only the plastic panel so if i stuffed it big time i could get a new one.

I just grabbed some measurements and lined it all up. I used 6mm Ply i think, rigid but light enough, i got marine ply too so if it did get wet there would be no dramas (i do have future plans to put some laminate on it for easy cleaning). It turned out to be a reasonably big table that came in handy on the trip. Its just held level with some hootchie cord for now but i'll braid up something a little nicer later.




I could't figure how to get the plastic trim off so i just went ahead and mounted it best i could. Cant wait to get a light to go above it.

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Last but not least on the list was the PP sticker thanks goes to WAZCLEAN for the quick turn around that saw the sticker arrive just before i left. I managed to get it on nice and level and mostly without and dust getting under the sticker, heck i wish i had a dust proof booth.



Anyway thats probably enough for now but i will have a few more things to add later about the trip and other things that i purchased. Another time though.

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I haven't had much activity on here in a while, in fact I haven't done much to the big wagon since we got back from our holiday. Plenty of dreaming about stuff to do much no time to put anything into action.

Some news from whilst on holidays was that I did manage to get out and do some 4wding. I took the family up to Duck Creek road in Southern QLD and went for a bit of a drive. I'll post some pics up in a little while. Safe to say it was a pretty tame drive save for a few steep sections, all up the prado handled everything really well.

Also while I was down in QLD I got a gift certificate for Xmas for the 4wd Supa Centre so I went and got a roof rack from them and fitted it up a day before we left for Darwin. I should have clued onto things from the start about the quality of the whole shebang but I guess I was a bit excited at having a roof rack, kinda needed it to get everything home anyway.

From the outset the roof rack mounts didn't fit properly, I tried to make them fit as best I could and then was going to see what I could do when I got home (note the "instructions" were very basic). The mounts were supposed to be for a 150 but they seemed to put all the pressure on the outside rail above the doors when I looked like it was supposed to fit down on the spacers.

The rack itself was scuffed and had a few scratches on it when I pulled it out of the box, only cosmetic stuff that you could put up with, it was a bit rough however and I kept cutting myself on sharp edges all over the rack.

I managed to get it all bolted on and lined up and pulled out my "free" gift ( the purpose of "" will be apparent later) which was a set of rachet straps and strapped everything down nice and tight.

The rack held up until we got home to Darwin, even with the rack on I was using about 11.3L/100 KM at worst but that is where the fun started. So it was still the wet season up in Darwin when I got back and I think it was about only the second day or so when my wife went back to work and the prado ended up out in the rain during the day. When she got home she informed me that the front seat belts were wet.

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I went up to the shed to have a look and sure enough they were wet alright, soaked to be precise. I got out some silicone and lathered some around all the gaps I could as I didn't have time to take the whole rack off (note I had all the rubber grommets and seals in place as per the instructions). It didn't really do much good as all the water just ran under the railing anyway.

The other thing that I notice was that the rack itself was now rusting from the inside out and leaking beautiful rust stains all over the roof.

In the end I had to take the whole lot off and when I got to the mounts that's when I could see that not only all the fittings had corroded but that the mount was not putting any pressure on the spacers and rubber washers as it was not designed properly and so any amount of water was just free to go where it pleased and duly went straight down the bold holes.

I took photos of the lot (i'll post some more up in a bit) and promptly emailed the 4wd Supacentre support to complain. It took six weeks to get a response and only after I complained a second time asking for my money back. Sure they said we can do that we just need the rack back and all the bolts etc and the ratchet straps as well in their original condition.

The ratchet straps were noted on my receipt as the "free gift" but they wanted them back if I wanted a full refund. Suffice to say I wasn't happy but I told them that they could have the blooming things back but that because they were a "gift" I had used them and I wasn't paying to send them back as they were "free".

The whole saga still hasn't ended as I have to send the straps back in a reply paid envelope and wait to see what happens. Now I'm not going to say don't buy their stuff as many have and are happy to do so and its not my position to do so but I wont be buying any of their products ever again. Its a case of the poor man pays twice I guess.

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On another note today whilst attempting to locate a sqeeling noise somewhere under the 4by I noted that the 6 BNS wiring that the previous owner had dutifully run to the rear of the car was too close to the exhaust for my liking so I began to remove it starting from the front, by the time that I had gotten to the rear of the 4by I spotted two distinct masses of electrical tape and I had that sinking feeling like I had just found some more "professional" work from the previous owner. I hope like hell that he didn't pay for this crap.

After unwinding the sticky black mess to reveal some more bound together wiring, including some splicing that seems to lead off to the trailer plug at the rear I decided that it all needed to go. So at this stage I have had to remove the wiring to the rear power box and will in turn remove the trailer plug wiring when I can figure out what all the scotch locks are for. I will take a pic and post it up later, maybe someone can help me out and tell me what the harness is for.

So its a full re wire from front to rear.

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These two pics are from the end of our Duck Creek Rd excursion, depending on whether or not you want to go up or down hill. Just a simple honesty box at the bottom gate as the road was actually created by the land holders in the community.

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The next series of pictures are of the roof rack, this one bellow is what the mount holes look like with the roof rails removed, on the right you can see one of the rubber pads that a spacer is supposed to press down on to so as to prevent water from entering the bolt holes but the Tigerz11 one doesn't match up sufficient to put pressure on the spacer




In this side on picture you can see that the mount does not sit flush on the roof or level over the gutter and puts all the pressure in the outside rail above the doors. I reckon that if you tighten the mounting bolts enough you could probably create some deformation.

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Here you can see the corrosion on the mounting hardware and also the lovely rust staining on the roof from the rack itself, this was after only about a week or so of the bar being on the vehicle.

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I also added a rear diff breather whilst I was away too. It was really hard to find a shop that stocked some oil resistant hose in the right dia. I eventually found it at a local trade place in Ormeau just down the road. The hose leads up into the well where the fuel filler sits.

I haven't bother with either the front diff or the transmission / transfer case breathers as they come right up behind the back of the engine anyway. I think that if I managed to get water in them there I probably have a few other issues to worry about.

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And here is some more of the brilliance that I found today, what a nightmare, if there is anything worse that finding a wound up sticky mess of lecky tape its finding bodgy work underneath.

This is the "splicing" that I found that goes from the main wire to the trailer plug, I have no idea whats going on here.

Then there is this one as well that attaches a short length of the same wire, I think they came up short and tacked it on so it would reach into the cab.

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To finish on a better note here are some pics from the holiday.