Rear Heater Lines (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Oct 24, 2016
Threads
15
Messages
61
Location
Vancouver, WA
Good Day all,

I know this has been beat before, I have even posted a question on it before. I have a kinda rusty fzj80, (working on that) I need to replace the rear heat lines, and want to go with originals. (I tried to replace them with flexible copper tubing, but my mechanic hates them and worries that they will wear out from vibration)(also, he is a great guy, did rear suspension, radiator replacement, and tightening up front hubs for very small amount, I do not feel that he would lead me wrong). So after long story, I was wondering if anybody had done this? What work is involved? Where to source new rear heater lines? Thanks for all the help.

Very Respectfully,

Jay
 
There are two parts of the rear heater lines. You can source the parts from a dealership (no affiliation, just what a Google search turned up)HEATING & AIR CONDITIONING - WATER PIPING. For Toyota Land Cruiser | Checkered Flag Toyota

Screen Shot 2018-04-22 at 4.45.08 PM.png


My understanding is the one that looks like a "Y" goes from the backside of the engine over the transmission and can't be done w/ the tranny in place. That line typically isn't rusted out like the lower lines that go around the right side of the rig to the rear heater itself. The lower lines can be fished through in one piece. A substitute for the latter is Gates green stripe, I believe 1/2" is what you need. My local LC guru did the replacement for me leaving the old lines in place and ran the Gates along the frame rail.

An older thread that discusses both sets of lines. HTH. Rear heater - delete or keep?
 
I know it's easier with the tranny out of the way and that the OEM lines are nearly impossible to replace on something with rust without dropping the tranny and even then, it will be a jerry rig. I would just plumb new Gates Green stripe and zip tie them out of the way of the exhaust if I was going to hook mine up again.

The hard lines are made out of a specially selected alloy that I swear to god was purpose built to rust when contacting salt. No way I would ever put that garbage back in and it's about the only thing I would say that about, outside of the power steering cooler paper clip, on the entire 80.

That said, you don't need it. I can almost guarantee that I drive my 80 in the coldest conditions out of any of the regular forum users and beyond the dudes that build them up to take those huge tires in Iceland, I am in about as cold of climate as you can find. With a properly functioning heat system, with a deleted rear heat setup, it gets warm enough with just the front system to heat you out. She smelts ore and skooks.
 
Last edited:
I agree - rear heat not needed. Plus you have a heat exchanger line ready to go for your onboard shower.
 
I deleted mine when the lines blew last year. The front heat alone kept us all warm in -15°C this winter.
 
May need to drop exhaust to access area. Lines are very crooked and have to snake up over bell housing. Have a new set sitting at shop, but dont want to install them.
 
I put new oem hard lines in above the cats andran gates green hose to connect to the rest the system .

It took a few hours . Do it .keep your rear heat .I love mine .
 
I know it's easier with the tranny out of the way and that the OEM lines are nearly impossible to replace on something with rust without dropping the tranny and even then, it will be a jerry rig. I would just plumb new Gates Green stripe and zip tie them out of the way of the exhaust if I was going to hook mine up again.

The hard lines are made out of a specially selected alloy that I swear to god was purpose built to rust when contacting salt. No way I would ever put that garbage back in and it's about the only thing I would say that about, outside of the power steering cooler paper clip, on the entire 80.

That said, you don't need it. I can almost guarantee that I drive my 80 in the coldest conditions out of any of the regular forum users and beyond the dudes that build them up to take those huge tires in Iceland, I am in about as cold of climate as you can find. With a properly functioning heat system, with a deleted rear heat setup, it gets warm enough with just the front system to heat you out. She smelts ore and skooks.

The OE tubing is double walled steel. A flat sheet is rolled over itself twice with brazing solder between the layers. Same way the brake lines were made. They also had terrible paint for protection.

To the OP: it will probably be easier/cheaper to just run rubber lines as suggested above. The parts from the dealer are expensive for what they are. Maybe @cruiseryard has some? Buy clean, used lines and paint the crap out of them.
 
I just did this on mine. I only replaced the rearmost section. I sourced new OEM parts from megazip for a reasonable price.

Drain your coolant.Remove the cats and the heat shield. The new units come with the hoses that attach to the heater unit itself. I also replaced the lower soft lines attached to the front pipes as they were easy to get to and 25 years old. While you're at it go ahead and clean up the area and paint.

Plan maybe 2-3 hours to do it all, dont forget to order new gaskets for the cats and exhaust. I did have to torch off a couple of the exhaust bolts, so maybe get all new nuts and bolts and have them ready before you start. On my '93 you cannot get to the top bolts with any kind of cutting tool, so if they dont come out they have to be torched.
 
Last edited:
Bypass rear heat and then run it for a winter. If your toes or your nose gets cold, re-plumb it. If you don't have kids and in laws using the 3rd row in their car seats, then I think you'll find front heater is sufficient and then some. Actually if it's only in laws, go ahead and leave it bypassed.
 
I appreciate all the comments. The reason I want to keep the rear heat is that I have 2 kids still in car seats, and we use the third row for guests when we have them. Just being able to heat the rear without having to have the nuclear furnace on up front is really needed for my family. Have any of you been able to at least remove those rusted out lines from behind the engine without reinstalling them? If I am going to just run hose I still want to be able to make it look neat and clean, as well as being easy to work around for other jobs. Also, anybody have a good source for the Gates Green Stripe? Thanks again for all the help.

-Jay
 
I appreciate all the comments. The reason I want to keep the rear heat is that I have 2 kids still in car seats, and we use the third row for guests when we have them. Just being able to heat the rear without having to have the nuclear furnace on up front is really needed for my family. Have any of you been able to at least remove those rusted out lines from behind the engine without reinstalling them? If I am going to just run hose I still want to be able to make it look neat and clean, as well as being easy to work around for other jobs. Also, anybody have a good source for the Gates Green Stripe? Thanks again for all the help.

-Jay

I bought all my green stripe from the local O'Reillys or you can order it from Wits End.
 
I bought all my green stripe from the local O'Reillys.
I would love to, but sadly O'Reillys is still not within 2 hours of where I live, though rumor has it that they are working on getting closer. It just seems really hard to find the stuff online. My wife is going on a trip though soon, may have her check at a couple while out of town.

-Jay
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom