Recent content by mdh384

A lot of very reasoned and thoughtful engineering gets chucked out the window when a disgruntled and/or ignorant person muscle-****s stuff. The alloy housing is more muscle-**** resistant. Beyond that I don’t think there is an appreciable difference between the two.

One of the debates I like to have over beers with other maintenance people is what is the right amount of maintenance. For the specific case of consumer automotive maintenance, without a ton of data and testing the correct amount of maintenance is an unknowable thing. This is complicated when...

Fluid level is checked with the engine running at some specific ATF temperature that I don't currently recall. The process you've outlined will result in an overfilled transmission, potentially resulting in excessive foaming of the oil and component failure. Here is a link to a very thorough...

This is inadvisable; not only does the force of compressed air risk the possibility of spreading the paper fibers, thereby making a larger pore size, but also the dust cloud that is generated is very difficult to keep off the clean side of the filter. This contamination can then enter the...

This was a major motivator for doing the install. The behavior, IMO, makes the vehicle somewhat unsafe if it can't keep itself straight while emergency braking.

A 5 tire rotation should increase your mileage per set of tires by about 20%. So unless you’re only getting 25k per set, there is more to be had than just the 5k mentioned.

We cross-shopped the GX and LC200 back in 2021 and ended up with the 200 because it is more spacious, and felt more relaxing to drive. This was in the wide-open spaces of Northern NV. We have since relocated to Australia, however the 200 is parked with family in Durham NC. Driving the 200 in the...

I wish there was a rule against vague thread titles.

Partner and I did a 3 week trip and our 35L was great. Easily holds enough food and beer for 4-5 days, repackaging in ziplocs to minimize wasted space. One nice thing was the ability to keep beer/wine/water stashed elsewhere in the vehicle, and add those containers to the fridge on an as needed...

At the risk of oversimplifying, most fridges use SECOP compressors, Engel uses a swingmotor, and Dometic/Waeco use their own proprietary variable speed compressor. There are going to be variations in the build quality of the case, insulation, control, etc but the heart of the fridge is the...

I use RP-342 Cosmoline. It smells for a few weeks, but it lasts a couple years.

This truck is what got me initially interested in landcruisers. As an aside, in GT7 you can swap an angry turbo V8 into the tundra. Probably the closest thing I’ll have to experiencing the land speed cruiser.

I love the "is it a LC or not" debate. In the same breath folks will talk about the superiority of Toyota and their TC, reliability, etc; then say that Toyota doesn't know what a "real" LC is. Some major mental gymnastics going on! Every time a new LC platform is introduced, the peanut gallery...

Turning radius and wheelbase wise, no. The LC200 is an incredibly capable rig that hides is size insanely well. Width wise? Absolutely, with out a doubt, yes. My 200 has the desert pinstriping and panel damage to prove it. Or possibly I should better know my limits and not get so headstrong on...

If you've got the time, I would suggest doing a fly-and-drive for a Southern car. Any upper-mid-west toyota is going to be rusty, and rust sucks when you're working on the vehicle.