What have you done to your 200 Series this week? (16 Viewers)

[FrazzledHunter]

Preventive maintenance on the new-to-me (last Friday) '13 LC.

FIrst, lubed the upper control arms per Slee for the OME BP51s that PO installed. Was told to do this twice a year. Seemed bone dry as it took a lot of handle squeezes to load 'em up.

Next, lubed the all six points on the front & back drive shaft. Two questions here - 1) anyone know an easier way to rotate the fittings so that the grease gun can get to? Tried neutral with parking brake on but couldn't rotate front or back shaft by hand. Had to move the LC forward a bit. 2) Is there an easier way to get the grease gun to release from the fitting? Got 'em all off but was afraid I was going to break a couple.

Lastly, checked the KDSS valves. My LC has been a CO vehicle its whole life, but you can see the rust...not that bad though. Was able to unscrew each valve a couple turns after PB blasting them. Dremeled off the rust, worked in some anti-seize and lathered it all up with marine grease. Before and after pics below.

Got all y'all from this forum to thank for the tips to do all this. Now I know it was done right and when.

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I tried to get those front fittings rotated as well but as I mentioned earlier in this thread I finally gave up and bought a needle grease fitting.
REF: What have you done to your 200 Series this week?
Using the needle made the job a snap - it's much more forgiving in terms of how you need to position the shafts.

I did the U-joint lube on my 2018 LC with barely 7000 miles on it. This might sound stupid and initially I thought it might be as well. However, I found the joints to be quite dry requiring 2-3 pumps from a full sized Alemite grease gun before any grease was pushed out. I repeat: my joints were DRY as far as I was concerned. I obviously have no idea how other LC's fare; perhaps I was just lucky LOL.

Note I got to where I am, lubing new cars & trucks, when on the advice of a mechanic friend I pulled both the diff covers of my new 1985 Chevy Blazer just after the break-in period. What I found was metal flakes/shards fall out of both of them. I did the same thing on my 2000 100 series LC but paid someone to do the diff dumps & U joint lubes etc... The mechanic that did that reported not seeing anything. Now a 2018 Toyota LC does not equal a 1985 Chevy Blazer. However, I think I've seen somewhere on this forum where someone examined an oil filter out of a newish LC and found small metal flakes in the paper. So I'm thinkin' paranoia is the best policy.

Needle lube grease fitting:

 

[Robert B]

Finally, received and installed a Gobi rack, ladder and ARB awning. The awning is hand-me-down from a Taco that I owned a while back. Now, I need a light bar for the front. I have been saving small Rigid lights for the back, but it seems that the rack is too far back and the spoiler will make the lights pretty ineffective. I need to rethink where to put the rear lights. I might use the Rigids to light the sides.

 

[g1701gst]

I would check your FSM for your exact year but this is what my 2011 LX570 calls for. Transfer case and diffs use different fluid. No modifiers needed, Toyota spec fluids are recommended, anything else is a gamble for compatibility. These fluid have been discussed a lot in other threads such as $80/liter transfer case oil

~7L of Toyota Genuine Differential Gear Oil LT 75W-85 GL-5 or equivalent. I used Amsoil SEVERE GEAR® 75W-90
Toyota Genuine Fluid 08885-02506 Differential Gear Oil LT

Amazon product ASIN B004SL9HP6

2L of Transfer Gear Oil Lf (08885-81080) 08885-81080 - Genuine Toyota TRANSFER GEAR OIL LF

I used this cheaper alternative that seems compatible: Ravenol J1C1003 SAE 75W Manual Transmission Fluid - MTF-3 Full Synthetic (1 Liter)
Amazon product ASIN B00QPCL7ZE

 

[g1701gst]

Yes, they are all the same. You'll need right under 8 qts for everything. No modifiers.

Not according to the FSM. They are close so you may be fine using the same for all three but Toyota specs two different fluids. That said I didn't use Toyota fluid either and the mobile 1 you used is probably what many dealerships use.

 

[bloc]

Finally, received and installed a Gobi rack, ladder and ARB awning. The awning is hand-me-down from a Taco that I owned a while back. Now, I need a light bar for the front. I have been saving small Rigid lights for the back, but it seems that the rack is too far back and the spoiler will make the lights pretty ineffective. I need to rethink where to put the rear lights. I might use the Rigids to light the sides.

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View attachment 2399320

Some people are putting small rigids in the red reflectors/non-op rear fog light on the bumper cover, and that setup seems to work great. I know Eric sarjeant has done some, and maybe madtiger?

Not according to the FSM. They are close so you may be fine using the same for all three but Toyota specs two different fluids. That said I didn't use Toyota fluid either and the mobile 1 you used is probably what many dealerships use.

This can depend on individual year. Transfer fluids changed over the years, possibly explained by the addition of a yellow metal synchro in the case.
Either way you are correct.. thebigelf is oversimplifying things.

 

[samster747]

Finally, received and installed a Gobi rack, ladder and ARB awning. The awning is hand-me-down from a Taco that I owned a while back. Now, I need a light bar for the front. I have been saving small Rigid lights for the back, but it seems that the rack is too far back and the spoiler will make the lights pretty ineffective. I need to rethink where to put the rear lights. I might use the Rigids to light the sides.

View attachment 2399319

View attachment 2399320

What tire size and lift are you running?

 

[musthave]

Gave her a much needed bath. Prepping her to go under the knife this week for an ARB bumper.

 

[TeCKis300]

Some people are putting small rigids in the red reflectors/non-op rear fog light on the bumper cover, and that setup seems to work great. I know Eric sarjeant has done some, and maybe madtiger?


This can depend on individual year. Transfer fluids changed over the years, possibly explained by the addition of a yellow metal synchro in the case.
Either way you are correct.. thebigelf is oversimplifying things.

From your professional safety prospective, do you have any qualms about removing the safety reflector and trading it for a light fixture?

Throwing this out there, but I believe the LC uses 7440 single filament bulbs in the rear turn signals? It'd be easy to replace them with 7443 dual element bulbs, dual purposing the rear turn fixtures as rear scene lights.

 

[Simpleman]

If you have alternating tires on a ramp you can jack the side that's in the ground and rotate that tire by hand and driveshaft will turn as well. There's a thread from @bloc that has pictures to help explain better. Having trouble finding it right now..

Thanks for the response afgman786. Definitely helps to have a better way to do this.

 

[Simpleman]

The user notification thing on this site works great!

Make sure tires on the ground are chocked and transmission is in Neutral, and yes you can spin the free tire with a little resistance from the limited-slip center diff. Details here:

How I grease my front driveshaft

I've seen a few threads asking for advice on getting the front driveline lubed, and even a couple asking whether there are even zerks up there. Had to do my drivelines recently and figured I'd take some pictures of what I do. First off.. the equipment. No fancy grease gun or nozzle here. Just a...

forum.ih8mud.com

Hey bloc...many thanks for the follow-up and posting the thread reference. That's a keeper that I'm going to bookmark for next time. I was actually surprised I was able to hit all 6 fittings for the first time but figured there had to be a better way.

 

[Simpleman]

I tried to get those front fittings rotated as well but as I mentioned earlier in this thread I finally gave up and bought a needle grease fitting.
REF: What have you done to your 200 Series this week?
Using the needle made the job a snap - it's much more forgiving in terms of how you need to position the shafts.

I did the U-joint lube on my 2018 LC with barely 7000 miles on it. This might sound stupid and initially I thought it might be as well. However, I found the joints to be quite dry requiring 2-3 pumps from a full sized Alemite grease gun before any grease was pushed out. I repeat: my joints were DRY as far as I was concerned. I obviously have no idea how other LC's fare; perhaps I was just lucky LOL.

Note I got to where I am, lubing new cars & trucks, when on the advice of a mechanic friend I pulled both the diff covers of my new 1985 Chevy Blazer just after the break-in period. What I found was metal flakes/shards fall out of both of them. I did the same thing on my 2000 100 series LC but paid someone to do the diff dumps & U joint lubes etc... The mechanic that did that reported not seeing anything. Now a 2018 Toyota LC does not equal a 1985 Chevy Blazer. However, I think I've seen somewhere on this forum where someone examined an oil filter out of a newish LC and found small metal flakes in the paper. So I'm thinkin' paranoia is the best policy.

Needle lube grease fitting:

I agree on lubing often and am paranoid about this too. Definitely need to get a needle fitting as I know I'll have other areas in the garage to hit with that too.

 

[bloc]

From your professional safety prospective, do you have any qualms about removing the safety reflector and trading it for a light fixture?

Throwing this out there, but I believe the LC uses 7440 single filament bulbs in the rear turn signals? It'd be easy to replace them with 7443 dual element bulbs, dual purposing the rear turn fixtures as rear scene lights.

I don’t have my cruiser with me but seem to remember there being two parts to those assemblies. Half reflector and half fog lamp lens. My plan was eventually to try and shoehorn a small rigid lamp into the fog lamp portion and keep as much of the reflector as possible.

Realistically if someone isn’t paying attention to the road enough to run into your truck, I’m not sure reflectors will make a substantive difference. But you can argue they make SOME difference, and when it comes to safety, personally I’d like to preserve that.

Hey bloc...many thanks for the follow-up and posting the thread reference. That's a keeper that I'm going to bookmark for next time. I was actually surprised I was able to hit all 6 fittings for the first time but figured there had to be a better way.

You’re welcome. Hitting those fittings without my ramp and jack process involves some luck, but I came up with that method after being unlucky a couple times and having to do the back & forth dance. All the while the exhaust is getting hotter and hotter...

 

[KilaCruiser]

New member and deeply thankful for the brain-trust on this forum! Learned a ton from you already... This week? 5 new 285-65-18 RG - had a bigger variant on my last Wrangler and these feel like the sweet spot. Great tires - very light hum at 65 mph + with the windows closed... cant hear it with the windows open, the lightest A/C setting on, etc. No rub, so far. Also, removed the basket until the next beach trip.... that made more noise than the tires. PIAA led high-beams (and led capacitor thing), polished headlights to remove grime and got the rear-seats removed / running boards removed.

Context: We headed out to Montana from the East Coast two months ago (+ wife & 2 dogs). Couldnt fit everything comfortably in the 4 door wrangler so we rented an Expedition (rentals were silly cheap and we keep the wife's truck clean). I blew two "highway" tires (to be fair - rental had plugs and I was asking a little much of it but, MONTANA) and almost got stuck 9 miles in the backcountry in snow over the course of that 6k miles.... so... I got home and traded the Wrangler for a '13 Land Cruiser with ~44k on odo. At $10k less than a 2020 Rubicon (with toyota care through 100k), it felt like the financially responsible thing to do Silly to have a capable (if of questionable reliability, size) jeep if you cant use it when you need it.

Thanks for the education and inspiration - sliders next!

 

[KilaCruiser]

New member and deeply thankful for the brain-trust on this forum! Learned a ton from you already... This week? 5 new 285-65-18 RG - had a bigger variant on my last Wrangler and these feel like the sweet spot. Great tires - very light hum at 65 mph + with the windows closed... cant hear it with the windows open, the lightest A/C setting on, etc. No rub, so far. Also, removed the basket until the next beach trip.... that made more noise than the tires. PIAA led high-beams (and led capacitor thing), polished headlights to remove grime and got the rear-seats removed / running boards removed.

Context: We headed out to Montana from the East Coast two months ago (+ wife & 2 dogs). Couldnt fit everything comfortably in the 4 door wrangler so we rented an Expedition (rentals were silly cheap and we keep the wife's truck clean). I blew two "highway" tires (to be fair - rental had plugs and I was asking a little much of it but, MONTANA) and almost got stuck 9 miles in the backcountry in snow over the course of that 6k miles.... so... I got home and traded the Wrangler for a '13 Land Cruiser with ~44k on odo. At $10k less than a 2020 Rubicon (with toyota care through 100k), it felt like the financially responsible thing to do Silly to have a capable (if of questionable reliability, size) jeep if you cant use it when you need it.

Thanks for the education and inspiration - sliders next!

View attachment 2400332

@gaijin - Special thanks for making it easy to get these tires properly inflated - 42 and feels so good. Even in 90 degree highway cruisin'. For those interested, I brought over my coyote deflators from my JKU platform and they work great Compressor bolted down where the third row used to be has the fill-up covered.

 

[Robert B]

What tire size and lift are you running?

My tires are General Grabber ATX 275/70r18 and the lift is Bilstein 6112/5160.

 

[reddog90]

New member and deeply thankful for the brain-trust on this forum! Learned a ton from you already... This week? 5 new 285-65-18 RG - had a bigger variant on my last Wrangler and these feel like the sweet spot. Great tires - very light hum at 65 mph + with the windows closed... cant hear it with the windows open, the lightest A/C setting on, etc. No rub, so far. Also, removed the basket until the next beach trip.... that made more noise than the tires. PIAA led high-beams (and led capacitor thing), polished headlights to remove grime and got the rear-seats removed / running boards removed.

Context: We headed out to Montana from the East Coast two months ago (+ wife & 2 dogs). Couldnt fit everything comfortably in the 4 door wrangler so we rented an Expedition (rentals were silly cheap and we keep the wife's truck clean). I blew two "highway" tires (to be fair - rental had plugs and I was asking a little much of it but, MONTANA) and almost got stuck 9 miles in the backcountry in snow over the course of that 6k miles.... so... I got home and traded the Wrangler for a '13 Land Cruiser with ~44k on odo. At $10k less than a 2020 Rubicon (with toyota care through 100k), it felt like the financially responsible thing to do Silly to have a capable (if of questionable reliability, size) jeep if you cant use it when you need it.

Thanks for the education and inspiration - sliders next!

View attachment 2400332

Congrats on the new rig, looks good. Are you running OEM spacers up front?

 

[KilaCruiser]

Congrats on the new rig, looks good. Are you running OEM spacers up front?

Stock / no spacers. So far, super happy with it. Most importantly, great looking dog!

 

[Simpleman]

.... so... I got home and traded the Wrangler for a '13 Land Cruiser with ~44k on odo. At $10k less than a 2020 Rubicon (with toyota care through 100k), it felt like the financially responsible thing to do

Wow, a 2013 with 44k miles...great find and nice looking rig.

 

[Nola622]

Installed the GROM Vline2 from the Group Buy, which finally arrived after a couple months. So far so good - I think everything is functioning as expected so far. Running a dedicated wifi hotspot in the cruiser so there is always a wifi network for it to use. Had to disconnect negative battery terminal one time at the end to force a hard reset to fix a weird graphics color issue that came up after a software update. I fit the GROM unit behind the factory nav screen instead of putting it in the glove box. It's tight with the cables and everything but it fit in and secured with some sticky velcro squares. (2013 TLC)

 

[Surfy]

Installed the GROM Vline2 from the Group

But with that you didnt can access to the car components like set the rear aircon and so on?

Does this dont hurt?

Surfy