Builds 'Little Yellowy' 1982 BJ42 LX build
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plink01
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We met this legend the next morning out the front of the Dargo Pub. He came over and had a chat and we got a few photos. It was a super straight late model FJ40, it was awesome to see another one being used for what the were built for. I ran into an FJ45 coming down Billy Goats as well but it was in a really steep section with no where to pull up.
plink01
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- #124
Yup thats the one. It's just wide enough to roll a single swag out and have a little fire. I sometimes feel a bit guilty camping there as it's such a good look out and lots of people stop for a look, so I only set up really late in the day and pack up and leave early.
plink01
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- #129
I've been a bit quiet on the 42' lately. I've been on holidays and did a bunch of 4WD'ing and hiking out of the 80 series. I had a big drive to Charlotte Pass to hike Mount Kosciuszko and a big 4WD back to Buchan to watch the Buchan Rodeo so the 80 was a bit more practical for this trip.
So I've been chasing a clunk that sounds like it comes from the from left wheel since the day i bought the car. I have replaced every conceivable part and was down to the final 2 things but i wasn't convinced it would be them. I have replaced swivel housing, trunion bearings, wheel bearings, shocks, leaf's, shackles, tie rod ends, engine mounts, checked every bolt in engine bay is tight.
The only things i had left that i hadn't replaced was the gearbox mount and the uni joints on the drive shafts. At a visual the gearbox mount looked ok, and i wasn't convinced a uni joint could make a clunk unless it was absolutely rooted.
As both were in the same region i collected the parts and got stuck into it.
I had never replaced a gearbox mount before. Similar to the engine mounts i was a bit apprehensive at first but it was completely unwarranted. It was super easy. Just take the weight of the gearbox with a bottle jack, remove the crossmemeber then jack the gearbox up enough to slide the old mount out. I had to remove one of the two L brackets that support the crossmember as well to get the mount out a bit easier.
I really wanted an OEM mount but i couldn't find one anywhere so i settled with aftermarket with Terrain Tamer. They struggled to find one and had to get me a Chinese one. It turned out it was the wrong one and wouldn't work at all. That day someone returned an OEM one they bought previously a long time ago as it was the wrong one for their application and the Terrain Tamer man rang me and asked if i was interested. ****in oath i was interested!
I'm not sure how many of these there is left in the world. Amayama and Partsouq both show zero. I was super happy.
I wasn't convinced this was causing the bang but under close inspection it doesn't look great. The rubber is definitely fairly perished and it gave me hope that this is potentially it. I learnt not to get excited as i was 110% sure i found the problem when i replaced the left engine mount that was completely stuffed. But that didn't make any difference.
So I've been chasing a clunk that sounds like it comes from the from left wheel since the day i bought the car. I have replaced every conceivable part and was down to the final 2 things but i wasn't convinced it would be them. I have replaced swivel housing, trunion bearings, wheel bearings, shocks, leaf's, shackles, tie rod ends, engine mounts, checked every bolt in engine bay is tight.
The only things i had left that i hadn't replaced was the gearbox mount and the uni joints on the drive shafts. At a visual the gearbox mount looked ok, and i wasn't convinced a uni joint could make a clunk unless it was absolutely rooted.
As both were in the same region i collected the parts and got stuck into it.
I had never replaced a gearbox mount before. Similar to the engine mounts i was a bit apprehensive at first but it was completely unwarranted. It was super easy. Just take the weight of the gearbox with a bottle jack, remove the crossmemeber then jack the gearbox up enough to slide the old mount out. I had to remove one of the two L brackets that support the crossmember as well to get the mount out a bit easier.
I really wanted an OEM mount but i couldn't find one anywhere so i settled with aftermarket with Terrain Tamer. They struggled to find one and had to get me a Chinese one. It turned out it was the wrong one and wouldn't work at all. That day someone returned an OEM one they bought previously a long time ago as it was the wrong one for their application and the Terrain Tamer man rang me and asked if i was interested. ****in oath i was interested!
I'm not sure how many of these there is left in the world. Amayama and Partsouq both show zero. I was super happy.
I wasn't convinced this was causing the bang but under close inspection it doesn't look great. The rubber is definitely fairly perished and it gave me hope that this is potentially it. I learnt not to get excited as i was 110% sure i found the problem when i replaced the left engine mount that was completely stuffed. But that didn't make any difference.
plink01
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- #130
Ok next was the drive shafts. I pulled them out and two of the uni joints were really quite tight. That gave me hope, especially the rear on on the transfer case side.
My intention was to remove the shafts, take them to my dads joint and press them out using his bearing press next time i go home in a few weeks. But i watched a few Youtube videos of people belting the old ones out with sledge hammers. It looked super easy as those joints seemed to just fly out so i thought ill save the 2 week wait and do it at home.
That was a massive mistake! These joints were ridiculously stuck in. It was like trying to move an echidna once it has dug itself in! I was belting the absolute bejesus out of these ****ing things with a big sledge hammer and a 24mm socket. They did come out eventually, some of the really stuck ones i hit them with the angle grinder. It would have been a lot easier if i had an old 9 inch angle grinder, mine was a tiny bit too small.
After a few hours of smashing the s*** out of these things with Thor's hammer they eventually came out. I was a bit scarred at this point. I'm thinking surely i have bent the housings a bit doing this, but at the same time i'm only belting the joint so it shouldn't do anything to the housings.
I fully recommend NOT doing this technique and after some reading after the deed i read a heap of people saying the same thing. Take the shafts out yourself and take them to your local mechanic and get them to press them in and out!! That was an incredibly non enjoyable experience and the good feeling you get doing something yourself doesn't outweigh the pain and the potential for damage you get by doing it yourself.
I made a really stupid **** up when installing these things. There is 4 circlips per uni joint and when installing one i could only find 3. I searched everywhere and stripped my shed but i could not find the 4th one for the life of me. I gave up thinking Toyota must have only given me 3, which i new was bull****, they never **** up!
After throwing a tantrum i bought another OEM uni joint just so i could grab one of the circlips out of it. The ones i removed were a fair bit smaller than my new OEM ones.
Of course once i bought the new one, i put my magnetic rubber vice inserts onto my bench vice and one of them didn't sit right, I'm confused what the hell is going on and i check the back of it and there is the clip!! It was stuck to the magnet the entire time. $70 down the drain, now i have one spare uni joint. The first ones lasted 380,000 km's, i highly doubt i'll ever do enough km's to ever need to replace them again. It looks good in the box on the shelf at least.
While out the rear pinion seal was leaking a bit. I bought some new seals ages ago so i thought now is the time to do it. It wasn't dripping at this stage but it was leaking slowly and there was oil building up on the bottom of the diff.
It all went really smoothly, i reused the staked nut which isn't ideal but i counted the turns to remove the nut and counted them back in and it ended up in the perfect spot. I tried the trick freezing the seal in the freezer before i installed it and it seemed to work really well, it fell straight in.
I tried the same trick installing the new OEM uni joints, putting them in the freezer first then installing them using my bench vice. This worked really well, they went in heaps easier than they came out.
One of them was a bit tight for my liking in the end, i was a bit worried i knocked the cup too far in. But i think it will loosen up once installed and spinning. The other 3 worked fine.
I painted the shafts while they were out and they all look super good. I didn't take any photo's, i might next time i go to the shed.
This job took way to long for my liking, but whenever i decide to paint stuff it really blows the job out.
I took it for a test drive and the clunk appears to be gone!! I couldn't believe it, i'm thinking it must have been that gearbox mount. I took it on a super easy dirt track 4WD and it wasn't clunking. I'll reserve my judgement till i do a proper low range trip. If the clunk is gone i'll be over the moon happy.
My intention was to remove the shafts, take them to my dads joint and press them out using his bearing press next time i go home in a few weeks. But i watched a few Youtube videos of people belting the old ones out with sledge hammers. It looked super easy as those joints seemed to just fly out so i thought ill save the 2 week wait and do it at home.
That was a massive mistake! These joints were ridiculously stuck in. It was like trying to move an echidna once it has dug itself in! I was belting the absolute bejesus out of these ****ing things with a big sledge hammer and a 24mm socket. They did come out eventually, some of the really stuck ones i hit them with the angle grinder. It would have been a lot easier if i had an old 9 inch angle grinder, mine was a tiny bit too small.
After a few hours of smashing the s*** out of these things with Thor's hammer they eventually came out. I was a bit scarred at this point. I'm thinking surely i have bent the housings a bit doing this, but at the same time i'm only belting the joint so it shouldn't do anything to the housings.
I fully recommend NOT doing this technique and after some reading after the deed i read a heap of people saying the same thing. Take the shafts out yourself and take them to your local mechanic and get them to press them in and out!! That was an incredibly non enjoyable experience and the good feeling you get doing something yourself doesn't outweigh the pain and the potential for damage you get by doing it yourself.
I made a really stupid **** up when installing these things. There is 4 circlips per uni joint and when installing one i could only find 3. I searched everywhere and stripped my shed but i could not find the 4th one for the life of me. I gave up thinking Toyota must have only given me 3, which i new was bull****, they never **** up!
After throwing a tantrum i bought another OEM uni joint just so i could grab one of the circlips out of it. The ones i removed were a fair bit smaller than my new OEM ones.
Of course once i bought the new one, i put my magnetic rubber vice inserts onto my bench vice and one of them didn't sit right, I'm confused what the hell is going on and i check the back of it and there is the clip!! It was stuck to the magnet the entire time. $70 down the drain, now i have one spare uni joint. The first ones lasted 380,000 km's, i highly doubt i'll ever do enough km's to ever need to replace them again. It looks good in the box on the shelf at least.
While out the rear pinion seal was leaking a bit. I bought some new seals ages ago so i thought now is the time to do it. It wasn't dripping at this stage but it was leaking slowly and there was oil building up on the bottom of the diff.
It all went really smoothly, i reused the staked nut which isn't ideal but i counted the turns to remove the nut and counted them back in and it ended up in the perfect spot. I tried the trick freezing the seal in the freezer before i installed it and it seemed to work really well, it fell straight in.
I tried the same trick installing the new OEM uni joints, putting them in the freezer first then installing them using my bench vice. This worked really well, they went in heaps easier than they came out.
One of them was a bit tight for my liking in the end, i was a bit worried i knocked the cup too far in. But i think it will loosen up once installed and spinning. The other 3 worked fine.
I painted the shafts while they were out and they all look super good. I didn't take any photo's, i might next time i go to the shed.
This job took way to long for my liking, but whenever i decide to paint stuff it really blows the job out.
I took it for a test drive and the clunk appears to be gone!! I couldn't believe it, i'm thinking it must have been that gearbox mount. I took it on a super easy dirt track 4WD and it wasn't clunking. I'll reserve my judgement till i do a proper low range trip. If the clunk is gone i'll be over the moon happy.
plink01
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- #131
I still havn't taken the 42 out since i potentially fixed the clunk, so i'm still not sure its fixed properly, i've been super busy.
While i haven't had time to go on a trip i had a bit of time to install my dual battery set up.
I bought a battery tray from Piranha Off Road specially built for a BJ40/42. It looked the goods and i was confident it would fit well but like nearly every mod I've done, it's never as easy as it seems!
I'm not sure if its because mine is a BJ42 instead of a 40 or if the LX has slightly different panel work but the holes wouldn't line up with the chasis at all. They would if i put it on the outside side of the chassis rail but then the support bar would foul. I had to drill a hole in the chassis and insert a bolt in there using a magnet to help mount the tray. In the end i got it in there ok and its super well supported, but instead of a one hour job it blew out to a multi-nighter.
My dual battery set up is a bit different to regular set ups. I have decided on using two large cranking batteries. Primarily for winching and jump starting the car. Its a bit of overkill but again, because i do a lot of trips solo, i really like the piece of mind of having the second battery in case one fails or i have to do massive winching solo.
Because i'm using an esky instead of my fridge, i really didn't need a deep cycle/AGM/lithium battery. I bought a 200A Red Arc solenoid and i'm running 35mm copper flex to connect them. It's a bit of overkill but it does the job. I also grounded the negative on the second battery to the chasis and bonded the negatives of both batteries together. Again overkill but because of my job as a linesman i am super into making sure all the negatives are at the same potential!
The Red Arc solonoid is Australian made and pretty expensive, but they are known for being really good quality.
The finished product. I had to relocate the coolant overflow bottle but i squeezed it in there. I'm not real happy with the location of of the negative lead on the second battery but i will fix it up once the snorkel is installed. I'm worried they will get in the way of each other that's why I've ran it down the side like that. I bought two 200a fuses as well and intended to fuse both positive leads but there really wasn't much room and it would have got really squishy. The 35mm cable is already double insulated, i'm also going to run some split conduit over it so it will be triple insulated. If i still manage to short that something has gone really wrong!
This is where i mounted the solonoid. It was pretty tricky drilling the hole into the radiator cradle but i got it in there. That blue tail that isn't connected is the manual link/jump start wire. When that is connected to a postive it links both batteries together. I'll be hooking that up to a switch in the roof console so when i'm winching i'll be linking both batteries together for 1470 CCA of power.
The whole install has made it a bit more cramped in the engine bay but everything is still accessible.
While i haven't had time to go on a trip i had a bit of time to install my dual battery set up.
I bought a battery tray from Piranha Off Road specially built for a BJ40/42. It looked the goods and i was confident it would fit well but like nearly every mod I've done, it's never as easy as it seems!
I'm not sure if its because mine is a BJ42 instead of a 40 or if the LX has slightly different panel work but the holes wouldn't line up with the chasis at all. They would if i put it on the outside side of the chassis rail but then the support bar would foul. I had to drill a hole in the chassis and insert a bolt in there using a magnet to help mount the tray. In the end i got it in there ok and its super well supported, but instead of a one hour job it blew out to a multi-nighter.
My dual battery set up is a bit different to regular set ups. I have decided on using two large cranking batteries. Primarily for winching and jump starting the car. Its a bit of overkill but again, because i do a lot of trips solo, i really like the piece of mind of having the second battery in case one fails or i have to do massive winching solo.
Because i'm using an esky instead of my fridge, i really didn't need a deep cycle/AGM/lithium battery. I bought a 200A Red Arc solenoid and i'm running 35mm copper flex to connect them. It's a bit of overkill but it does the job. I also grounded the negative on the second battery to the chasis and bonded the negatives of both batteries together. Again overkill but because of my job as a linesman i am super into making sure all the negatives are at the same potential!
The Red Arc solonoid is Australian made and pretty expensive, but they are known for being really good quality.
The finished product. I had to relocate the coolant overflow bottle but i squeezed it in there. I'm not real happy with the location of of the negative lead on the second battery but i will fix it up once the snorkel is installed. I'm worried they will get in the way of each other that's why I've ran it down the side like that. I bought two 200a fuses as well and intended to fuse both positive leads but there really wasn't much room and it would have got really squishy. The 35mm cable is already double insulated, i'm also going to run some split conduit over it so it will be triple insulated. If i still manage to short that something has gone really wrong!
This is where i mounted the solonoid. It was pretty tricky drilling the hole into the radiator cradle but i got it in there. That blue tail that isn't connected is the manual link/jump start wire. When that is connected to a postive it links both batteries together. I'll be hooking that up to a switch in the roof console so when i'm winching i'll be linking both batteries together for 1470 CCA of power.
The whole install has made it a bit more cramped in the engine bay but everything is still accessible.
plink01
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- #133
These are some more goodies i've bought lately.
When i was cleaning/painting all the bits in the engine bay i resprayed the horns. When i went to install them they no longer worked. I scratched my head for ages and couldn't work it out. You never realize how often you need your horn until it doesn't work! It turned out one of them shorted internally, and i couldn't get the other one to work either. My only guess is that paint got in the little hole in it and somehow stuffed them. I was pretty disappointed i wrecked the OEM horns but Denso do an near identical replacement so that made me happier. I plugged them in and they worked a treat.
With OEM parts getting harder and harder to get i bit the bullet and bought the rear badges before they disappear forever. I had already bought new front badges and they look incredible so i drank a few beers and blew a heap of money on the rear ones as well. I haven't worked out how to get the rear badges off yet without breaking them, the new ones have threads and i bought some little nuts for them but the original ones don't seem to have threads/nuts. I can't really tell whats going on there until i take the wheel off and can get my head in the guard and have a better look.
This was a cool unnecessary buy! A guy on Gumtree was selling these original unused OEM radiator hoses and some other bits, but his description was really poor and i couldn't work out what the other bits were. Turns out its another OEM fuel filter and some OEM spring bushings. All of these have been out of production for a long time now. The labels and box's are the oldest Toyota box's i've ever seen.
The recipt for it all was still in the bushing box and its dated 30/4/1984! So its all two years newer than my actual car, almost fully period correct! I have already installed brand new hoses and bought another set of brand new hoses as spares, so now i have 3 sets of basically brand new hoses. Thats enough hoses for another 1,000,000km!
I'm not sure i'll use the spring bushings, i think from what i've read polyurethane is probably a better product, but if i ever have to change my brand new bushings i'll do some research then.
When i was cleaning/painting all the bits in the engine bay i resprayed the horns. When i went to install them they no longer worked. I scratched my head for ages and couldn't work it out. You never realize how often you need your horn until it doesn't work! It turned out one of them shorted internally, and i couldn't get the other one to work either. My only guess is that paint got in the little hole in it and somehow stuffed them. I was pretty disappointed i wrecked the OEM horns but Denso do an near identical replacement so that made me happier. I plugged them in and they worked a treat.
With OEM parts getting harder and harder to get i bit the bullet and bought the rear badges before they disappear forever. I had already bought new front badges and they look incredible so i drank a few beers and blew a heap of money on the rear ones as well. I haven't worked out how to get the rear badges off yet without breaking them, the new ones have threads and i bought some little nuts for them but the original ones don't seem to have threads/nuts. I can't really tell whats going on there until i take the wheel off and can get my head in the guard and have a better look.
This was a cool unnecessary buy! A guy on Gumtree was selling these original unused OEM radiator hoses and some other bits, but his description was really poor and i couldn't work out what the other bits were. Turns out its another OEM fuel filter and some OEM spring bushings. All of these have been out of production for a long time now. The labels and box's are the oldest Toyota box's i've ever seen.
The recipt for it all was still in the bushing box and its dated 30/4/1984! So its all two years newer than my actual car, almost fully period correct! I have already installed brand new hoses and bought another set of brand new hoses as spares, so now i have 3 sets of basically brand new hoses. Thats enough hoses for another 1,000,000km!
I'm not sure i'll use the spring bushings, i think from what i've read polyurethane is probably a better product, but if i ever have to change my brand new bushings i'll do some research then.
plink01
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- #134
k i am due for some updates. There have been a lot of ups and downs since last post!
First some more goodies. Earlier in the thread i posted i wasn't convinced that the new OEM thermostat i put in was correct. @-MaTTi- pointed out it looked like it was wrong and it looked like the one i put in was out of a 2H.
Turns out he was right. Trying to find a OEM one for my model was impossible, they are all gone. But i found another thermostat that is designed for the 3B but for a different market. Its as close as i could get, if its a few degree's warmer or colder i don't mind. I'd rather a genuine Toyota one that is designed for the motor that is out by a few degree's for Australian market than an aftermarket one.
The one on the left is my new one for the 3B, the one on the right is the old one that i bought that was advertised incorrectly.
I haven't noticed too much difference, i think the temperature gauge reads a tiny bit warmer. Still sits about 1/4 on the gauge.
I bought some new genuine bonnet latches. My original ones were rusted to the s***. I bought some aftermarket stainless steel ones and they are already showing signs of rust. So i thought stuff it and bought some proper OEM ones. I doubt there will be OEM ones around for much longer so i buy up when i can. Also found some radiator support arm bushings. When i rebuilt the cooling system i couldn't find these things anywhere and i ended up just putting an electrical grommet in instead. I'll install these next time i start pulling the engine bay apart.
Another bit different buy is i found an apparently OEM bonnet rest. It didn't come in a Toyota bag so i am a bit suspect on it. But it fit perfect and does look the goods. Previously mine just had a bit of hose with a slit in it to rest the bonnet on. But it left a black mark on the bonnet over time. I replaced it with this little jigger, All good!
First some more goodies. Earlier in the thread i posted i wasn't convinced that the new OEM thermostat i put in was correct. @-MaTTi- pointed out it looked like it was wrong and it looked like the one i put in was out of a 2H.
Turns out he was right. Trying to find a OEM one for my model was impossible, they are all gone. But i found another thermostat that is designed for the 3B but for a different market. Its as close as i could get, if its a few degree's warmer or colder i don't mind. I'd rather a genuine Toyota one that is designed for the motor that is out by a few degree's for Australian market than an aftermarket one.
The one on the left is my new one for the 3B, the one on the right is the old one that i bought that was advertised incorrectly.
I haven't noticed too much difference, i think the temperature gauge reads a tiny bit warmer. Still sits about 1/4 on the gauge.
I bought some new genuine bonnet latches. My original ones were rusted to the s***. I bought some aftermarket stainless steel ones and they are already showing signs of rust. So i thought stuff it and bought some proper OEM ones. I doubt there will be OEM ones around for much longer so i buy up when i can. Also found some radiator support arm bushings. When i rebuilt the cooling system i couldn't find these things anywhere and i ended up just putting an electrical grommet in instead. I'll install these next time i start pulling the engine bay apart.
Another bit different buy is i found an apparently OEM bonnet rest. It didn't come in a Toyota bag so i am a bit suspect on it. But it fit perfect and does look the goods. Previously mine just had a bit of hose with a slit in it to rest the bonnet on. But it left a black mark on the bonnet over time. I replaced it with this little jigger, All good!
plink01
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- Thread starter
- #135
Ok so a few weeks ago i had a few days off and decided to go on a bit of an adventure.
We loaded up the 42' and the missus and headed out to a place called Tubbut in the Victorian High Country. I knew this place as we have powerlines there and thats what i do for work. Its in the middle of no where but it has a little wood fired pizza oven hidden at the community hall so i thought that would make for a cool Friday night activity.
We arrived pretty late and i had never cooked a pizza in a wood fired pizza oven before. We completely ****ed it up. We should have put more wood in it and made it hotter. When we removed the pizza it was barely cooked enough to eat. It was a big **** up. We still had a good night though and drank a heap and ate raw pizza dough.
The next day was a bit of a doozy. We headed off towards Mckillops Bridge.
Along the way a wallaby jumped out in front of us and i ran straight over the top of it.
I didn't really feel it so i was hoping i missed him. We jumped out of the car and nup, the wallaby was laying in the middle of the road with its leg facing the wrong direction.
It was pretty sad and i didn't have my big knife on me to put him out of his misery. I decided to grab the axe but by that stage he crawled off the track and fell off the side of the cliff and cartwheeled down it probably 30 times. It was pretty upsetting to be honest. In Australia hitting wildlife is a pretty normal thing, that's why we all have those massive bull bars on our cars. But seeing the fear in its eyes then rolling down the cliff like something out of a cartoon was brutal and it but a bit of a dampener on the mood for a bit.
Anyway we tried to block that out and got this cool photo under the Ambyne bridge
So next stop was Mckillops Bridge. Its a pretty famous bridge with a pretty wild story. Its an absolutely massive bridge in the middle of no where. It was built between 1931 and 1936 and its 255m long and crosses the Snowy River. It was an incredible engineering feat in its time and it was said to be unbreakable. 11 days before its opening a monster river flood ran through and destroyed the bridge. Looking at it is impossible to grasp how a flood could be so high as to wash away the bridge. They had to rebuild it and made it 15m higher.
The Snowy River is the main part of the Snowy Hydro Scheme that i think i wrote about earlier. Toyota LandCruisers played a massive part in the construction of the scheme and its still one of the biggest hydro setups in the world.
The Landcruiser was specially imported in from Japan for the construction of the hydro as the Jeeps and Landrover's couldn't keep up.
The Landcruiser has been the highest selling heavy duty 4wd in Aus ever since.
Its hard to get a good photo of it. I dropped my missus off and got her to take a photo of the drive by! The photo gives no justice to how big the bridge actually is and how big those flood waters were to blow the bridge to smithereens.
So the plan was to drive the 'Deddick Trail'. Its a pretty famous 4wd track. All the Parks Victoria signage says to only attempt it one way. I knew this and had read it years earlier, i just assumed the one way was from Mckillops Bridge to Orbost. But nup, i ****ed up again. It was one way from Orbost to Mckillops!!
What a stupid mistake, but i thought **** it, how bad can it be. There is a section called 'The Staircase' and it says it should only be driven down, not up. Worse case i thought is that it would be too messed up and we would have to turn back.
If you look closely at the Snowy River you can see the Mckillops Bridge crossing it.
So anyway we took off on the trail and it was pretty cruisy. Some sections were pretty slippery and were red clay. But the 42' did fine but i was still a bit nervous at what was ahead.
We eventually arrived at 'The Staircase' and it was a bit underwhelming. I put it in 1st gear low and had no dramas getting up till probably the 3/4 mark. Then it started getting crazy ****ing steep and i couldn't even see the track it was that steep, just the blue sky. We still made it no dramas with a bit of wheel spin. Since the fires the track has been cleaned up and there were no ruts or anything. If it was rutted out of wet it would be absolutely no go going up.
Obviously i couldn't get a photo of it while i was driving, but i got a photo to prove to my mates we did the Deddick Trail the wrong way and made it up at the top of the staircase.
We loaded up the 42' and the missus and headed out to a place called Tubbut in the Victorian High Country. I knew this place as we have powerlines there and thats what i do for work. Its in the middle of no where but it has a little wood fired pizza oven hidden at the community hall so i thought that would make for a cool Friday night activity.
We arrived pretty late and i had never cooked a pizza in a wood fired pizza oven before. We completely ****ed it up. We should have put more wood in it and made it hotter. When we removed the pizza it was barely cooked enough to eat. It was a big **** up. We still had a good night though and drank a heap and ate raw pizza dough.
The next day was a bit of a doozy. We headed off towards Mckillops Bridge.
Along the way a wallaby jumped out in front of us and i ran straight over the top of it.
I didn't really feel it so i was hoping i missed him. We jumped out of the car and nup, the wallaby was laying in the middle of the road with its leg facing the wrong direction.
It was pretty sad and i didn't have my big knife on me to put him out of his misery. I decided to grab the axe but by that stage he crawled off the track and fell off the side of the cliff and cartwheeled down it probably 30 times. It was pretty upsetting to be honest. In Australia hitting wildlife is a pretty normal thing, that's why we all have those massive bull bars on our cars. But seeing the fear in its eyes then rolling down the cliff like something out of a cartoon was brutal and it but a bit of a dampener on the mood for a bit.
Anyway we tried to block that out and got this cool photo under the Ambyne bridge
So next stop was Mckillops Bridge. Its a pretty famous bridge with a pretty wild story. Its an absolutely massive bridge in the middle of no where. It was built between 1931 and 1936 and its 255m long and crosses the Snowy River. It was an incredible engineering feat in its time and it was said to be unbreakable. 11 days before its opening a monster river flood ran through and destroyed the bridge. Looking at it is impossible to grasp how a flood could be so high as to wash away the bridge. They had to rebuild it and made it 15m higher.
The Snowy River is the main part of the Snowy Hydro Scheme that i think i wrote about earlier. Toyota LandCruisers played a massive part in the construction of the scheme and its still one of the biggest hydro setups in the world.
The Landcruiser was specially imported in from Japan for the construction of the hydro as the Jeeps and Landrover's couldn't keep up.
The Landcruiser has been the highest selling heavy duty 4wd in Aus ever since.
Its hard to get a good photo of it. I dropped my missus off and got her to take a photo of the drive by! The photo gives no justice to how big the bridge actually is and how big those flood waters were to blow the bridge to smithereens.
So the plan was to drive the 'Deddick Trail'. Its a pretty famous 4wd track. All the Parks Victoria signage says to only attempt it one way. I knew this and had read it years earlier, i just assumed the one way was from Mckillops Bridge to Orbost. But nup, i ****ed up again. It was one way from Orbost to Mckillops!!
What a stupid mistake, but i thought **** it, how bad can it be. There is a section called 'The Staircase' and it says it should only be driven down, not up. Worse case i thought is that it would be too messed up and we would have to turn back.
If you look closely at the Snowy River you can see the Mckillops Bridge crossing it.
So anyway we took off on the trail and it was pretty cruisy. Some sections were pretty slippery and were red clay. But the 42' did fine but i was still a bit nervous at what was ahead.
We eventually arrived at 'The Staircase' and it was a bit underwhelming. I put it in 1st gear low and had no dramas getting up till probably the 3/4 mark. Then it started getting crazy ****ing steep and i couldn't even see the track it was that steep, just the blue sky. We still made it no dramas with a bit of wheel spin. Since the fires the track has been cleaned up and there were no ruts or anything. If it was rutted out of wet it would be absolutely no go going up.
Obviously i couldn't get a photo of it while i was driving, but i got a photo to prove to my mates we did the Deddick Trail the wrong way and made it up at the top of the staircase.
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plink01
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- #136
Just a quick one. I installed the new oem badges I bought the other month. Like normal nothing is ever easy!
I punched the old badges out no dramas. Then I went to pop the new ones in but none of the mounting points were the same.
The Toyota badge needed a new hole drilled, and the 4WD badge needed the holes enlarged and a nut put behind the fender to pack out the length of the mount/thread.
I thought its a bit strange that the badges were different. The originals weren't threaded and didn't have the rubber gasket.
The new ones look oem and came in legit looking oem packaging. Im not ruling out the fact they could be knock off's. But the quality looks and feels Toyota.
Well they're in now and there is no turning back for the old style 4wd badge.
Before
After
I also scrubbed off some overspray I got when I painted the bumper. I used a clay bar and it worked a treat.
I punched the old badges out no dramas. Then I went to pop the new ones in but none of the mounting points were the same.
The Toyota badge needed a new hole drilled, and the 4WD badge needed the holes enlarged and a nut put behind the fender to pack out the length of the mount/thread.
I thought its a bit strange that the badges were different. The originals weren't threaded and didn't have the rubber gasket.
The new ones look oem and came in legit looking oem packaging. Im not ruling out the fact they could be knock off's. But the quality looks and feels Toyota.
Well they're in now and there is no turning back for the old style 4wd badge.
Before
After
I also scrubbed off some overspray I got when I painted the bumper. I used a clay bar and it worked a treat.
You have got the badges for the older model. They are steel, right? Your old ones are plastic.
plink01
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- Thread starter
- #139
k I've been super lazy lately with updating this and i have tons of new stuff.
This is from a trip i did late May. It was during a small window we had when Covid had really died down.
It was a 9 day trip, starting with some overnight hiking with my misus out of Mt Hotham. Once we finished the hike she had to go back home for work and i was to keep 4wd'n to Mansfield through the High Country. Once at Mansfield the plan was to re stock on food and fuel and join up with a bunch of guys from my old workplace and 4wd from Mansfield to Dargo with them.
Day 1 up on top of Mount Hotham. There was a heap of snow, but not deep enough to make the going hard. Really the perfect amount for hiking, not too much that we were sinking but enough to cover the landscape. We had incredible weather throughout. The plan was to hike to Youngs Hut, stay the night and hike back the next day.
Pretty typical view during the hike.
Having lunch at Dibbons Hut. Stunning spot.
Out of Dibbons hut and up the other side of the valley.
This is from a trip i did late May. It was during a small window we had when Covid had really died down.
It was a 9 day trip, starting with some overnight hiking with my misus out of Mt Hotham. Once we finished the hike she had to go back home for work and i was to keep 4wd'n to Mansfield through the High Country. Once at Mansfield the plan was to re stock on food and fuel and join up with a bunch of guys from my old workplace and 4wd from Mansfield to Dargo with them.
Day 1 up on top of Mount Hotham. There was a heap of snow, but not deep enough to make the going hard. Really the perfect amount for hiking, not too much that we were sinking but enough to cover the landscape. We had incredible weather throughout. The plan was to hike to Youngs Hut, stay the night and hike back the next day.
Pretty typical view during the hike.
Having lunch at Dibbons Hut. Stunning spot.
Out of Dibbons hut and up the other side of the valley.
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plink01
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- Thread starter
- #140
Our destination at Youngs Hut. Absolutely beautiful, one of the best huts i've ever stayed at, we had it all to our selves.
The little red tent with the hut in the background. Its a 4 season tent, it's incredible when the weather gets crazy.
Looking along the Razorback towards Mount Feathertop.
Little Yellow looking out across the High Country, top of the world!
The little red tent with the hut in the background. Its a 4 season tent, it's incredible when the weather gets crazy.
Looking along the Razorback towards Mount Feathertop.
Little Yellow looking out across the High Country, top of the world!
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