G'day Creature,
That does not suprise me, I have purchased a good number of Cruisers here- and my Hilux-, and not one of them had ever had the gear oil changed. It is just considered part of the 'maintenence' in Australia to replace the third member (or 'Diff Centre' in Aussie-speak) every 150,000kms or so. I can't imagine why that is, but there ya have it. I have met and gone wheeling with a number of Cruiser and Hilux people here, and they all say that you never, ever need to change the gear oil- you can allways tell and Aussie, but you can't tell 'em much.
When I bought my HJ47 in 1996, it had all original oil in it, and I did what you did; flushing probably 4 or 5 times. About 18 months later, the rear third member imploded. That was when I decided to put 3:73 gears in front and rear, and I love them. I have also put a brand new H55F in, re-built a 1989 FJ60 transfer case (to get the 32mm idler shaft), put a new Vortec 350 in, and replaced all of the wheel bearings-other than that, all the running gear was fine(c:
As for 33" tyres- I have 33x10.50x15 BFG A/Ts with OME 2.5" lift, and it works beautifully. I would say that you would be able to fit those without problem without a lift, as long as the springs are not too sagged. Your rear wheel arch is larger on the troopie than on a 40, so there is more room, and the front ought to tuck up enough to keep from hitting the fender ('guard' in Aussie-speak). I am not too sure if a 33X12.50 would fit without a lift, though- anyone?
One other thing you may have noticed about your troopie: tyres. Tyres are outrageously expensive here (1 brand new BFG A/T 33X10.50x15 is $349- NOT mounted or balanced!), so many people will buy used/retreads. This means that many trucks have totally different tyres in front than in the rear (or even on each corner- right David?). Luckily, most of the wheeling here is done on the beach, so it doesn't really hurt the transfer case to have the different treads.
Lastly- change your coolant when you get the truck there from Australia. Many Aussie coolants are just that- coolant. They do not always have anti-freeze, as they don't need it (several I've seen have only water, and no coolant at all). A mate of mine got his new troopie from Australia, and drove it for 2 or 3 months. He loved it!! Then, one cold Colorado morning, he went to start it, and it made the most horrendous noise, but then smoothed out. A little bit later, it was spraying coolant all over the place, and the head on his 2H was cracked- frozen solid. Bugger.
Sorry to go on so long, didn't mean to.
Cheers,
Josh
