12HT rodbearings. ACL or Toyota

[troopie]

I blew a headgasket on the 12HT and decided while i have the lid of anyway i might as well freshen up the block.
I already have a set of ACL chrome piston rings coming in, but after pulling the pistons i found one set of rodbearings have pretty bad flaking. There is only ~50.000 miles on these bearings.

Could it have been a bad bearing and should i just replace them with OE Toyota bearings or would it be wise to use ACL bearings?
And are there any vendors stateside who have the ACL's in stock? The cruiser NEEDS to be done 14th of april. So ordering from Australia will probably take to long.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

 

[blis]

I'd probaply go for OEM bearings...

ps. Did you get new pistons too with reinforced piston ring grooves?

 

[troopie]

I thought so. I'll contact the dealer and get a quote on bearings.

The engine has been rebuild with the good pistons not to long ago, so no need to replace those.
I've not been very nice to it, hence the new piston rings

 

[troopie]

Well, i gave the dealership a call.
right around $290 US for a set of bearings. No way i'm paying that kind of money.

Anyone have suggestions for a vendor i could contact? I would really appriciate it.

Mark

 

[ForealBoreal]

Call RooDogs in australia.
I would go ACL personally.

 

[roscoFJ73]

If it has to be done by the 14th of April,why is $290 such a big thing?
12HT were not a big volume engine and not many places will bother to keep a large amount of engine parts for them.
Im not sticking up for the dealer,but 12HT parts are not likely to fall like the others have.

Looking at ACL catalog,it seems the 10/84 2H and 12HT used the same rod bearings and the 88 on 12HT used something slightly different.

You could probably get the OEM bearings from Engines Australia who get them from Toyotas supplier.

 

[troopie]

I agree Rosco, if i'm in a hurry i just need to pay up. Unfortunately money is a subject here and i really need to be carefull on how much i spend these days.

Right now i'm leaning towards this option: Run the old bearings for another 1000 km or so, so i have the cruiser running in time and replace the bearings with ACL's when i get them from Oz.
This way i save a large amount of money, but i have to pull the oilpan and rods again. A sunday afternoon doesn't cost me a dime though.

I also came to the conclusion that the bearings i'm running right now are OEM ones. I supplied them to the rebuilders myself. I forgot about that.
So why pay big money for bearings that obviously don't last that long?

 

[blis]

I agree Rosco, if i'm in a hurry i just need to pay up. Unfortunately money is a subject here and i really need to be carefull on how much i spend these days.

Right now i'm leaning towards this option: Run the old bearings for another 1000 km or so, so i have the cruiser running in time and replace the bearings with ACL's when i get them from Oz.
This way i save a large amount of money, but i have to pull the oilpan and rods again. A sunday afternoon doesn't cost me a dime though.

I also came to the conclusion that the bearings i'm running right now are OEM ones. I supplied them to the rebuilders myself. I forgot about that.
So why pay big money for bearings that obviously don't last that long?

If your rod bearings are showing signs of wear at so low mileage I would start looking into possible problems in engine... That or the bearing material has been changed at some point...

 

[troopie]

I have to say that i'm not really easy on the engine. That's also why i have to re-ring the pistons already. Basicly it get's trashed on an almost daily basis.
I do replace the oil every 5000 km and have good oil pressure, but still i drive it very hard and just want a bit better material than stock.

 

[prado t]

I have to say that i'm not really easy on the engine. That's also why i have to re-ring the pistons already. Basicly it get's trashed on an almost daily basis.
I do replace the oil every 5000 km and have good oil pressure, but still i drive it very hard and just want a bit better material than stock.

As long as you are not revving it over 4000rpm and not exceeding 1000 F exhaust temp (every second of the day) you are not hurting it . In fact the more load the better, less chances of smooth boring the cylinder walls.