Repair reference books for remote trips?

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

N

NY2LA

SILVER Star
Joined
Jul 4, 2020
Threads
90
Messages
516
Location
New Jersey/NYC
I'd like to prepare a small library of print publications for use in emergencies while driving in remote locations.

What reference books would people suggest for help making repairs when miles away from civilization?
 
If you can find a FSM PDF it is in the hundreds if not thousands of pages. The search feature can be great, but also very difficult to find the specific page you need.

I recommend building a spreadsheet with all the torque values for common fasteners, and values commonly used for a given thread size/pitch, basic/common how-tos, etc.
 
As a blogger I'm guessing you'll have or be able to find a computer to use? If so, throw it on a usb drive, use your computer's search function to find stuff. I just search keywords and find what I need most of the time.
 
NY2LA said:
Does anyone know anything about this site: Toyota - New Subscription Looks like you can subscribe and get access to the manuals, as well as technical bulletins.
Click to expand...
That’s T’s web-portal for repair manuals. You can subscribe for a few days and download the PDFs you need. Some people have used scripts to scrape and download the files as well.
 
@wiseinvestor I subscribed, but the main manual is divided into hundreds of separate chapters that each need to be printed separately to PDF. So no.

But I did download a handy introduction to the 4WD system!
 
NY2LA said:
@wiseinvestor I subscribed, but the main manual is divided into hundreds of separate chapters that each need to be printed separately to PDF. So no.

But I did download a handy introduction to the 4WD system!
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info
 
If you are technical and you want all the docs, get a TIS subscription and I have a bunch of scripts that you can use to pull them down. They're NOT PDFs, but rather a giant XML and XSL-template javascript engine which auto-generates the pages. I have a script that will create PDFs from what you downloaded but be warned that the repair manual alone is over 7000 pages which is far too big to print (nevermind the wiring diagrams and other sections). Creating a big PDF is handy because you can download it to your tablet or phone as an offline reference in case you break down on a trail and don't have cell service, but there are lots of links between sections so it's not like a Chilton or Haynes manual.

If you're not technical, PM me for alternatives.
 
It's an oldie but a goodie, I'd take a look at using HTTrack which can work quite nicely for creating an offline version of a website. Doesn't work on all sites, but it's free and worth a try. For the linux minded ones out there, there is also WebHTTrack for your preferred *nix distro :)
 
OregonOverlande said:
Hanes or Chilton manual. They tear down and rebuild every car. you can get them at Autozone.
Click to expand...
Do they even make them for 200s? The last time I used one, about 15 years ago, it was terrible. Too generic spanning different engines and drivetrains, flat out incorrect images, and often incorrect torque specs where they actually included them.
Then, I saw the light and found a factory service manual.
There is a good reason the FSM is 7000 pages, and any attempt by chilton or haynes to distill it down to a few hundred just screws over people that buy that book.
 
linuxgod said:
If you are technical and you want all the docs, get a TIS subscription and I have a bunch of scripts that you can use to pull them down. They're NOT PDFs, but rather a giant XML and XSL-template javascript engine which auto-generates the pages. I have a script that will create PDFs from what you downloaded but be warned that the repair manual alone is over 7000 pages which is far too big to print (nevermind the wiring diagrams and other sections). Creating a big PDF is handy because you can download it to your tablet or phone as an offline reference in case you break down on a trail and don't have cell service, but there are lots of links between sections so it's not like a Chilton or Haynes manual.

If you're not technical, PM me for alternatives.
Click to expand...
Geoff... this sounds like what i was looking for. Thanks for the quick response. I will be in touch.
 
The forum is good but the number of times I've not had cell service in the mountains makes me glad to have a PDF copy of the entire 2013 repair manual, wiring diagrams, etc on my phone for reference, just in case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom