Athertons 2010 Prado 150 GXL D4D Build

[juz Member Find all posts View Profile Close juz]

Thats great news mate.

Another tip for new players...ask the folk here at PradoPoint if you are unsure about any mods that you intend to install on your Prado. So many helpful, knowledgable people here!

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Even better. Have a looooong look at John's 105 while you are at his place. And his bikes. Don't ask about crashes though.

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

Haha fellas, thanks. I'm just glad it's been resolved, it was on my mind for days how I was going to fix it ever since it was pointed out to me that things weren't quite right. I'm looking foward to getting the correct shocks and springs in the back as I know it'll make such a difference with the ride height and handling.

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

As promised, here is some photos after I drove my 150 home from Zordos today. It has the right coils and shocks in the back now, and feels a much firmer vehicle for it, I put a full tank of diesel in on the way home to load it up a bit and it rides better than the old (incorrect) shock/spring combo. I cannot thank John enough for his advice and he was happy to chat and educate me on the ins and outs of suspension. I've attached a photo of before and after he replaced the incorrect combination with the correct one. I'd also like to thank Superior for exchanging them with no drama, I'm not sure it would have gone so smoothly had those shocks been not reccomended for the car, however to their credit they were very prompt in agreeing to replace them. While at Zordos today I picked up a set of recovery points and a tow hitch receiver as well, these will be going on when the ARB bullbar is fitted to the car as there's bolts that need to be taken out of the winch box on the current bar to fit them. The first photo with the jack handle in the road is with the incorrect shocks and springs, the latter photo is with Zordos advised gear. I've now got a measurement of 840mm rear, 795 front.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Perfecto!

[juz Member Find all posts View Profile Close juz]

Perfecto!

except for the ECB bar j/k

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

Haha, 100% agree mate, that's why this is sitting next to her waiting for a weekend with some mates and the skirts that fit below it.

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

Went out for a bit of a trip on the weekend (Mothar Mountain Lookout), and pleased to say the suspension handles well. I thought I'd give her a bit of a hiding on the way back down from the lookout and was hitting the whooboys at speeds much faster than I would normally drive (40+kph) and it handled it with pretty minimal fuss. I've attached a photo of the articulation on the rear below to show how good that kit is. I'm not the sort of person that does this normally, and in fact the reson I had it up on the rock was to remove the bash plate and see if we could remove some debris from between the intercooler and radiator (you can't as there's a crossmember that goes between them).

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Mothar mtn... must get up there again before I forget where my grandfather's dairy farm was. Pretty country.

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

For sure mate, let us know when you decide to come up for a trip- It's my stomping ground and there's some cracking trails nearby (connondale state forest etc.) I'm assuming that dairy farm was either around cooroy/ coran or towards Imbil/ kennllworth?

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Mothar mtn off the old road. Not too far from the hall. Had a creek running through that flows into the 6 mile. I always called it Traveson Ck but that is not likely correct. I have an overdue walk up Mt Cooroora so will fit that in too. Might be in my car and it doesn't work so well on the trails!

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

Haha, I'd advise you to hold off on that hike at least for the next few months, I suspect the heat could well make that trip very unpleasant at the moment. As for a car on the trails, well you'd be surprised where an old falcon and a can-do attitude can get you

In the past week or so I've done a few quality of life changes to the 150.

I've properly routed the handpiece for my UHF- The base unit is ziptied in place to the steel reinforcing bar that runs through the dashboard behind the headunit. The cord comes out under the steering collum and runs to the handpiece which is anchored between the instrument cluster and the protrusion for the stero stack. I'm a fairly tall guy (6'6''), so the cable had to run somewhere that wasn't going to hit my knee when it rested against the side of the kickpanel on the dash side, which is why I placed it where it is- It is also less intrusive than mounting it lower down on the dash (at least in my view).

Fitted some sandgrabber floormats on the front row of seats (need more for the back). They're fantastic at catching mud and debris before it can get to the carpet.

Finally, for the princely sum of 35 bucks I obtained a new low range cluster surround that has blanks for 4 switches (instead of 2) in which I'm thinking of fitting buttons for lockers/ air compressor/ winch etc. Kudos to amts for giving me the Toyota part number.

My next mod will be a repair as such. I'm needing to replace the grommit that holds the A/C overflow hose in the firewall- I did a creek crossing a few weeks ago and ended up with water in the passenger footwell due the fact that this part is flogged out.

Just a final note, I've had my OBD tool running in my car since I had an AT temp light come on a week or so ago in some hilly terrain. I traced the problem back to a clogged radiator which was absolutely full of grass seed. I've blown and washed it out as best I can (really hard to do well). I'm getting temps of around 85-90 degrees for my water temp in my car and around 90-95 for my AT temp during normal driving- Is this too hot, or is it about what they run?

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

Got a bit bored after Uni today, so I decided to properly intergrate my phone into my headunit. I used to just have a cable running out under the HVAC controls however this was pretty ugly and only ever intended as a temporary measure. I order a dual USB charger from Solidkit a little while ago, and it showed up today. I decided that while I had the innards of the center console exhumed that I'd have a go at fitting my female USB end into the stock headunits USB interface panel. With judicious use of a bench grinder, a dremel and a soldering iron I managed to shoehorn the kenwood female cable into the stock facia fanel of the toyota switch. It's not really a major "mod" as such, but it's one of those quality of life things that tidies up my cab and gives me extra charging options for my portable devices.

[Two89w Member Find all posts View Profile Close Two89w]

How would you rate the Kings driving lights?

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

Amazing. I'm convinced that they cannot be beaten, the value of them to their performance is incredible.