This might be a good option for you, a manual cable actuator. I am using this on my tacoma that i swapped an elocker 80 series axle into and didn't want to deal with figuring out how to hook it up electronically. I was a little skeptical. but its super simple and best of all RELIABLE. I've been running it for years and its never failed, and I am wondering why more are not using this setup. Yes, it takes a little bit of custom work to route the cable and mount it in the cab, but nothing crazy. The guy is really proud of it, the cost is definitely inflated, but hey it eliminates the need for a bunch of other expensive parts.
Builds First LC, HZJ77 Build "Kengo"
- Thread starter Blomdala
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
- Thread starter
- #162
That is actually one of the routes ive been considering. There were versions of the 70 with cable lockers so I figured it must be somewhat supported fo routing. That is really cool, and I'm totally fine with simple! MY last truck I ran a regular Elocker, but one LED and a DPDT switch was all that it needed to work perfectly. Nice to save a little $ by understanding how it works!This might be a good option for you, a manual cable actuator. I am using this on my tacoma that i swapped an elocker 80 series axle into and didn't want to deal with figuring out how to hook it up electronically. I was a little skeptical. but its super simple and best of all RELIABLE. I've been running it for years and its never failed, and I am wondering why more are not using this setup. Yes, it takes a little bit of custom work to route the cable and mount it in the cab, but nothing crazy. The guy is really proud of it, the cost is definitely inflated, but hey it eliminates the need for a bunch of other expensive parts.
- Thread starter
- #164
He has definitely been a resource to me ha! Right now he’s my hitch supplier
- Thread starter
- #166
Yes sir! I actually am planning on going to the Toyota Jamboree in April, and have a Family camping trip to CO planned in August, so hopefully I'll have plenty of longer drives under my belt before September!
Great car! What colour do you think the paint is? I am having my 76 repainted soon and this is a good one.
- Thread starter
- #168
Thank you! The color is "183" "Dark Blueish Grey Metallic". Before I found it, I had really only seen this color used in the 2 tone with silver.
- Thread starter
- #169
Been a little slow lately, not in a bad way. There hasn’t been a need/budget to do many things on the truck other than use it. My AC idle up was not working, so I bought another NOS Isuzu 24v VSV and now that is back to normal.
We took a couple camping trips with the trailer, the longest being to Austin and back. Temps looked good and everything worked well. After that trip I felt like the transmission had a little shimmy when going from 3-4. Only when I had my foot on the throttle, if I let up it would go away and not come back unless shifting. After getting home, I decided it was time for a good flush with synthetic fluid, and a trans cooler.
The fluid from the flush wasn’t burned or filled with debris which I was happy about, but it was definitely time. I got a nice bar and plate cooler and slipped it in with the condenser. Lost some options for inter coolers in the future, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
We took a couple camping trips with the trailer, the longest being to Austin and back. Temps looked good and everything worked well. After that trip I felt like the transmission had a little shimmy when going from 3-4. Only when I had my foot on the throttle, if I let up it would go away and not come back unless shifting. After getting home, I decided it was time for a good flush with synthetic fluid, and a trans cooler.
The fluid from the flush wasn’t burned or filled with debris which I was happy about, but it was definitely time. I got a nice bar and plate cooler and slipped it in with the condenser. Lost some options for inter coolers in the future, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
- Thread starter
- #170
After the flush, shifting felt good, not a huge improvement, but it wasn’t that bad before. The shudder would be tested for our trip to the Toyota jamboree in gilmer shortly. In the mean time, I found some rust 
. Having grown up in CA, everything seems serious to me, but this stuff almost went through to the front of my body panel! The PO installed the protection tape for a rear ladder, but covered up the drain hole. After some brushing and scraping, I put some rust converter on it and a bit of paint.
In prep for the next camping trip to Gilmer, I also bought some air bags to help lift the rear back up with a trailer. After laying under the truck for an hour thinking, I decided I didn’t want to re route my exhaust again 3 days before our trip. I’ll work it out later. I obviously was not paying attention to that side when I thought I was good to go.
The drive to the Jamboree was nice and uneventful! No more shuddering, and I felt better that i was keeping the trans fluid cool. It was a muddy mess out there, but fun to get a chance to see what the truck will do and be around a spread of Toyota’s. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I was so focused on learning how this vehicle felt off road and making sure we would be able to still tow a trailer home!
First trail (group run) my LH hub didn’t work LOL. And we were holding people up, so I drove more like the 4WDaction videos in Australia with a little more skinny pedal and some runway. Not ideal, but it made it ha. I then took my hub face off and put it in 4wd. WAY more capable HA!
We did a few more trails that weekend, and I’m impressed with how the truck did over all. Very capable even for a non locked truck. Everyone had a great time and even my wife asked to take a turn driving on a trail which was a huge plus. The only down side is that my truck is permanently stained from that mud out there.... even after way too much time with a pressure washer.
. Having grown up in CA, everything seems serious to me, but this stuff almost went through to the front of my body panel! The PO installed the protection tape for a rear ladder, but covered up the drain hole. After some brushing and scraping, I put some rust converter on it and a bit of paint.In prep for the next camping trip to Gilmer, I also bought some air bags to help lift the rear back up with a trailer. After laying under the truck for an hour thinking, I decided I didn’t want to re route my exhaust again 3 days before our trip. I’ll work it out later. I obviously was not paying attention to that side when I thought I was good to go.
The drive to the Jamboree was nice and uneventful! No more shuddering, and I felt better that i was keeping the trans fluid cool. It was a muddy mess out there, but fun to get a chance to see what the truck will do and be around a spread of Toyota’s. I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I was so focused on learning how this vehicle felt off road and making sure we would be able to still tow a trailer home!
First trail (group run) my LH hub didn’t work LOL. And we were holding people up, so I drove more like the 4WDaction videos in Australia with a little more skinny pedal and some runway. Not ideal, but it made it ha. I then took my hub face off and put it in 4wd. WAY more capable HA!
We did a few more trails that weekend, and I’m impressed with how the truck did over all. Very capable even for a non locked truck. Everyone had a great time and even my wife asked to take a turn driving on a trail which was a huge plus. The only down side is that my truck is permanently stained from that mud out there.... even after way too much time with a pressure washer.
- Thread starter
- #171
@joekatana was the only other 70 out there, and it was nice to connect up with him. He competed in the competitions there, and in the rock crawling competition he killed it in his 73. You may have seen some of the videos of the FJs that went wild... I will have to try and upload the videos.
- Thread starter
- #172
After getting back I knew I needed to do something about my hub. I know changing to manual hubs is the most logical, but it’s sort of pricey. There aren’t a lot of spindles and knuckles out there for cheap, pretty much need a whole axle. The main thing is I’ve been contemplating should I just swap out an 80 axle and get some coils under my truck. So it’s one of those, so I just spend that money for a different axle instead? But that’s ALOT of extra width. Or just swap the knuckle balls like a few others have done. Anyways, I just wanted some more time to mull a plan over.
So I ordered some brushes. I thought about trying to make them manual, but needing to keep water out makes it a lot more tricky. And I down own a mill so it would turn out not well I think.
So I flattened the bottom of the brushes, gave them a little dove tail to slide into the crimp, drilled a hole to pass the copper lead through, and soldered it down. Without the copper tail, the brushes just kept cracking off with the dove tail. They feel secure after soldering the lead. Went back together easy and the hubs work fine now. Being in DFW, not a lot of critical situations where I need hubs locked ASAP. So I’ll take the risk for now. Worst case is I take out 6 bolts and lock my hub ha. It was a fun project, I like to try and reuse things that should be more serviceable than they are.
So I ordered some brushes. I thought about trying to make them manual, but needing to keep water out makes it a lot more tricky. And I down own a mill so it would turn out not well I think.
So I flattened the bottom of the brushes, gave them a little dove tail to slide into the crimp, drilled a hole to pass the copper lead through, and soldered it down. Without the copper tail, the brushes just kept cracking off with the dove tail. They feel secure after soldering the lead. Went back together easy and the hubs work fine now. Being in DFW, not a lot of critical situations where I need hubs locked ASAP. So I’ll take the risk for now. Worst case is I take out 6 bolts and lock my hub ha. It was a fun project, I like to try and reuse things that should be more serviceable than they are.
- Thread starter
- #173
Once cannibilized one of those small electric motors. There are gears in there that Timex would refuse to use. 
The contacts are also very prone to failure.
The contacts are also very prone to failure.
- Thread starter
- #175
Reading through your 77 build does not inspire confidence hahaha. Now I’m worried about my button!!Once cannibilized one of those small electric motors. There are gears in there that Timex would refuse to use.
The contacts are also very prone to failure.
Don’t worry, they’ll work great until you need them.
JDM Journeys
Moderator
That makes three of us. @Onur said something similarly confidence inspiring about my electrics. LOL.
Several years ago I dropped into a ditch (covered with brush and not visible) with my my right side tires. Not to worry, I’m driving a 4 wheel drive Land Cruiser. Want to venture a guess which electric hub wouldn’t engage? 
I vote to convert over to manual hubs. Even if you rebuild the auto hubs, they will fail again I am sure.
I did have the auto hubs rebuilt by someone on the PZJ70 I owned and they quit working again on the current owner during an off-roading trip I was told.
Another option which is probably the easiest and cheapest is a hub kit someone on here makes where you can switch the hubs on and off using an allen key or something like that. I can’t remember the guy’s mud name at the moment.
I did have the auto hubs rebuilt by someone on the PZJ70 I owned and they quit working again on the current owner during an off-roading trip I was told.
Another option which is probably the easiest and cheapest is a hub kit someone on here makes where you can switch the hubs on and off using an allen key or something like that. I can’t remember the guy’s mud name at the moment.
Last edited:
I also have an HZJ77 and have seen that many people switch to locking hubs. Do you have a Part Number for the hubs? I assume y'all usually use an earlier model's Asin hubs, correct? Also, where do y'all source them from? Cruiser Outfitters? Toyota Directly?
