Percy - 2003 GX Love

[adamr7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close adamr7]

Definately get the flywheel machined.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

No question about it. Get the flywheel machined and balanced if time permits.

[jimmy91 Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimmy91]

ah the memories those gear boxes are bloody heavy. should cost around $50 to get it machined mate i did mine end of last year. was a pain in the arse to line back up and i had a hoist.

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Thanks fellas, I'll get it machined I'm expecting it to be a pain to line back up, luckily my mate hasn't disowned me and will be back for the install next weekend. At least with the transmission holder on the jack we can shove it around with more confidence.

I just ordered a breather kit off eBay. Figured I should extend the breather while it's accessible. I'm also contemplating fitting a new dump pipe but the damn nuts are pretty stubborn.

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Managed to get the main seal off - it was definitely leaking oil around there. Lots of gunk built up. The seal braket has a bunch of bolts holding it on and two locating pins. It's siliconed on and you need to wrestle with it to get it removed. After playing gently for I while I grabbed a screwdriver and belted it in through the silicone and behind the bracket. I didn't score the surfaces too badly with this approach.



Lots of silicone hanging around once the bracket is off so I ran around it with a razor blade to scrape off the surface silicone. I stuffed a couple of clean rags into the holes to stop silicone dropping in there.

Then I cleaned up the silicone on the bracket.



I ran around the grove in the bracket with a kebab stick to clean out the silicone.



The seal was stuck fast in the bracket, I laid it on the bench and tapped the seal out (down) with a screwdriver and hammer.

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Found a machining shop just up the road so dropped the flywheel in there for a clean-up.

Before:



After:



I noticed they had a lot of crank shafts laying around for machining, perhaps they have the tool that gets the bearing out of the end of the crank shaft. This one here...



I have the replacement bearing but I'm worried that it will get ugly trying to remove the one in there first.

I'll start putting things back together tomorrow night. I need some marine grease for around the new main seal - apparently that's the stuff that's best. I also need to figure out which silicone to use for the main seal bracket - any ideas? The silicone that came off there was grey.

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Things are not going so well with the clutch tonight. After a long delay in the supplier shipping the clutch it arrived today.



I checked it against the existing unit and it's smaller and the holes do not line-up to the flywheel - they've delayed me 2 weeks and now sent the wrong unit. I'll need to get a refund and spend the extra $200 on a toyota clutch - at least toyota can order in the right gear every time and it comes through overnight.

I picked up a slide hammer to remove the crankshaft bearing that receives the gearbox drive shaft - its making no impression, the bearing is stuck in there and not moving.



I realised I'd forgotten to pick-up some marine grease for the main seal to be re-installed so I thought I'd just get the seal back into the housing. Made a stupid mistake and deformed the new seal.



$90 mistake so back to toyota tomorrow to get another new one.

Bugger.

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Went to Toyota today to get a clutch ordered in for the weekend; my faithful supplier of Percy parts rang me later in the day to let me know that there were none in Australia and I was looking at a three week wait. Normally that would be annoying but I need to car back together to collect my new camper trailer in Melbourne next week - so it's turned into a massive pain. I contacted the original supplier that were chasing down why the wrong clutch had been sent to me - they acknowledged the error and arranged for the manufacturer to ship the correct clutch today so I should have it Friday. Fingers crossed.

While I wait I needed to get the pilot bearing out (now I know what it's called). Not wanting to hack away at the bearing I consulted the internets and found this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHnTZLT2ihw

Basically it's using grease and a make-shift piston to create back-pressure on the bearing and force it out. I needed to tape-up a bolt to get it to the right diameter but then the trick worked really well. The first few hits just compact the grease but if you persist it gets the job done quickly and with no hacking at the bearing.

The new main seal was in today so I put this one in more carefully using a block of wood to tap down the flat surface of the seal. That worked better.

I picked up some gasket maker that promised oil resistance:



and used this around the main seal bracket after cleaning down the old gasket residue. As per instructions I've installed it finger tight and will tighten it a 1/4 turn more in an hour and then fully tighten and thread-lock it in 24 hours. I also ran a little marine grease around the surface of the new seal based on youtube advice.

[jimmy91 Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimmy91]

I got a excedy clutch for 278 threw a mate that works in spare parts. It retails for 500. Toyota was 1200 roughly in Brisbane. How much they charging in act?

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

I ordered a 4Terrain off eBay for $550, Toyota wanted $770. You could get an Excedy clutch for $450 on eBay which is pretty good. $278 is bloody cheap!

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Clutch arrived the next day thanks to some quick work by the suppliers. Set it up Friday night and bolted it together and re-installed the gearbox today. I fluffed about aligning the clutch plate but it was worth it as the gearbox slid straight on. We used the new transmission jack which was a bit funny because it was too high to go under the car with the gearbox on top of it. We had to slide the gearbox under the car on the shop trolley and then transfer it to the transmission jack under the car. Once the gearbox was on the transmission jack we adjusted the aligner and slide the gearbox straight on - really worth the $49.

Everything bolted back in as it had come out. I used a lot of lock tight to make sure things were going to stay put. I used a torque wrench on the clutch pressure plate but just did everything else up nice and tight. A quick drive around town revealed the clutch feel was lighter than I expected, much lighter than the original clutch. Nadine is happy now because the lighter clutch makes Percy easier to drive.

Next week I get the CV staked booty replaced and then we're off the Melbourne Wednesday night to collect the new Tvan. Can't wait!

Nadine here:
========
He makes it sound easy getting the gearbox onto the transmission jack - it wasn't. It took 3 people and there was lots of grunting, manoeuvring and swearing involved. I was very surprised when our friend didn't skip town after that bit... I must say that even though this bit was a pain, getting it on was a breeze it just went on.

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

Good news mate. Abit of a shame you've finially sorted it, I was enjoying the story !

Top effort and well done.

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

Good news mate. Abit of a shame you've finially sorted it, I was enjoying the story !

Top effort and well done.

I with you Matt, i always look forward to new posts to this thread, it is the escense of what Pradopoint is about the sharing of info about our chosen wheels,except mcgonical seems to take it 1 step further great detail ,photos ect.
Then we have Nadine in the background ,who seems to encourage him in their prado story,agreeing to allow the purchase of gear for the Prado, new fridge slides because the old one wasn't as good as the new model, new campers,hoping on the bike so mcgonical can take time to do his own work and learn as he goes along ,bringing home a new air rattle gun because it may be better than the old one he already had.
As a fellow GX owner it is my favourite build up
If there is an award issued for best do it yourself thread i vote this one , keep it up mcgonical [and nardine]
Russ

[mcgonical Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcgonical]

Thanks guys, glad you're enjoying the thread. Nadine's one in a million, we fitted the Bilstein & Ridepro suspension together and did the 12volt & second battery with her there helping all the way. Our 6 year old daughter thinks of Percy Prado as part of the family. The more money I spend on the car the more I plan on it staying part of the family! It'll be nice to have some of these maintenance tasks sorted so that I can get back to building-it-up, can't wait to get a diesel chip, dyno tune and after market exhaust installed but for now I'll be sticking to maintenance and posting it all to PP with my unique blend of mechanical ignorance and nieve optimism that it'll turn-out alright

[samo Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close samo]

great to see you keeping it real mcgonical. cheers samo