A socket the size of your pilot bearing hole with an extention bar wrapped in gaffer tape, built up to the inside diameter of the clutch plate splines is a cheap and easy way to line out your clutch.
With both standard and metric hardware on so many trucks these days, it's easy to find yourself wasting time searching for a smaller wrench that doesn't seem to be at hand. A quick solution may be in your pocket. A few pieces of change can often be used to take-up the space between the ends of an open end wrench and the nut.
When replacing radiator or heater hoses, cut the old ones into short sections and split them lengthwise to make protective sleeves for the new hoses. This will protect the hoses from any sources of abrasion or heat. The sleeves can be tie-wrapped or clamped in place.
To keep from making a big mess when changing your motor oil, slip a plastic bag over the filter after breaking it loose with the filter wrench. Then with one hand hold the neck of the bag tight against the engine block use the other to unscrew the filter. The mess will be contained within the plastic bag.
If you have offroad lights or a winch mounted to your truck and are worried about them being stolen, here's an easy way to keep them theft resistant. After mounting your lights and tightening them down with the origanal hardware install a second nut and spot weld so that the bottom of the nut is flush with the mounting shaft. This arrangement makes the light still adjustable but very hard to steal. To remove just grind off the weld.
A quick and easy way to protect any electrical connection is to coat the connection with a liberal amount of hot glue. It holds insulates and seals the connection.
When working on fuel lines siphoning is a major problem. To cure this keep a box of golf tees handy. To prevent spillage, simply install the tee into the fuel line after disconnecting it.
A good way to keep your spare keys secured under your vehicle is to drill a hole in your frame, drill a hole in your key the same size. By using a bolt a lockwasher and a wingnut you can secure your spare keys to the frame knowing you won't lose them.
When descending a steep hill and you want to take advantage of your gearing and engine compression, but it doesn't seem to be enough. Try turning on your Air Conditioning. The drag of the compressor assists the engine braking power.
A 3/4" PVC tee makes for a cheap wrench for your old manual locking hubs. Simply cut two notches in the short side of the tee to fit over the hub lock. It also works great when wearing gloves.
If you ever blow a radiator hose or heater hose fix it and find the only water available is in the mud hole next to you, you can use a rag to filter the dirt out of the water. Place the rag over the open radiator and pour the dirty water through the rag. Be sure to change the water as soon as possible.
If you have a puncture in your fuel tank, take a bar of soap and shove it up against the hole. It will stop the leak so you can get back and have it fixed properly.
If you are trying to jockey a stack of washers and a nut in a tight or out of sight place, try putting a light coat of grease on the washers and stick them together. The grease is usually strong enough to keep the pieces together while you install them.
If your battery goes dead in the middle of nowhere and no one is there to jump you and you just happen to have a chainsaw, you can charge your own battery. Take the belt off your alternator, remove the arbor from the chainsaw and you can now wrap the belt around the sprocket on the chainsaw to charge your battery.
If you are offroad and need to break a bead on a tire you can use your Hi-Lift jack Place the tire flat on the ground and put the Hi-Lift on your bumper with the base on the tire close to the rim. As you work the jack, the weight of the vehicle will pop the bead so you can complete the repair.
When you go out wheelin' sometimes the brush will move your side mirrors and you have to re-adjust them when the trail is over. Take some "tipex" and mark the mirror at both ends so that all you have to do is line up the marks and drive away.
Your Hi-Lift jack is getting dusty and full of dirt. WD-40 works to keep it lubricated but collects more dirt and dust. Take an old inner tube and cut out a section big enough to stretch over the working parts of the jack. For best results tie the ends shut with some tape.
If you are bleeding your brakes manually you must be careful not to over extend the piston in the master cylinder. You don't want the brake pedal to travel all the way to the floor. On some of the newer cars with ABS and sensitive brake systems allowing the piston to travel farther then it would normally could rip or tear piston cup seals resulting in master cylinder failure. Some of these new systems aren't cheap either. It's simple to cure this problem, just put your free foot under the brake pedal while bleeding, preventing the pedal from going all the way down. Check the brake bleeding sequence for your vehicle
Don't have the right Torx wrench or socket to remove something off your truck? this is not always a problem. A torx wrench has 8 points and an Allen wrench or socket has 5 points. Try using an Allen wrench which has 5 points instead of 8. This will sometimes work to remove this not so popular Torx screw.
Your wiper blades leave streaks across your windscreen but they're not very old. Simple, just take some fine sand paper and fold it in half. Lightly rub it along the wiper blade once or twice. This sort of re-sharpens the wiper blade.
Old ammo boxes are available in various sizes and are great for storing all sorts of tools and spares for your truck.
Stop your ramps sliding on concrete floors by placing a carpet tile under each ramp. Carboard boxes also sometimes work.
To find the right air pressure to run in your tires on pavement. Find some smooth concrete and wet a section about 3 feet wide by 8 feet long. Over inflate your tires and drive through the water and see how much tire is making contact with the ground by looking at the pattern of water left on the concrete. Air down until the water pattern and your tread width measure the same. Note: front and rear tire pressure may not be the same.
Corroded battery cables or rusted bolts. Take some Coke and soak the parts in the coke for about an hour, remove the corroded or rusted parts rinse them off and reuse.
Hints and tips thanks to 4x4 Power,Offroad & 4Wheel Drive,other web sites,friends,experience,bad luck,good luck,etc,etc
We had an unusual request recently... to make a bash plate to protect the underside of a surf from a sheet of 6mm Ally.
After considering the options, Tony decided that the best bet was to cut and shape the metal to attach to the front cross member and the rear cross member, replacing the existing (thin) plate over the transfer case and finishing just in front of the plating covering the diesel tank. Then the existing front bash plate covering the sump was refitted (and will probably be replaced at a later date (Rusty on the Hilux Surf forum (see links) makes these up out of ally))
Here's some pics of the finished item (the edges still need to be bent up but we didnt have the right tools at the time).
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Also you might notice that the side steps disappeared whilst "Lickit" was at our place...
Theres also an "interesting item" which was found bolted to the gearbox cross member - any ideas what it is - please email us!!
UNDERSTANDING HOW A NORMAL (OPEN) DIFF WORKS
Car wheels on an axle spin at different speeds when turning, each wheel travels a different distance through the turn, and that the inside wheels travel a shorter distance than the outside wheels. If the wheels were driven directly on both sides of the axle the inner wheel would have to slip on the road surface, wearing out the tyre and putting stain on axle components. The diff (differential) allows the wheels to turn at different speeds with an arrangement of gears in the diff.
WHY IS THIS NOT GOOD FOR A 4X4?
The down side of an open diff is that by its nature, it will allow one wheel to drive and let the other wheel spin, as it always supplys power to the wheel with the least resistance. In an offroad situation, with one wheel in the air, or in slippery mud it will supply power to this wheel, and you will come to a stop! Obviously you will have another axle helping you out with a 4x4, but if one wheel on each axle is slipping you won't get anywhere.
To overcome this you need a Locking or LSD diff.
A Locking diff will apply power equally to both sides of the axle, thus turning the wheel with no traction and the wheel in contact with the ground allowing you to move again.
A LSD is a LIMITED SLIP DIFF. it will not supply exactly 50/50 split to both wheels like a locking diff, but will supply a little power the wheel with traction to help out in slippery situations.
LSD's still allow differential for daily driving, but a Locking diff must be switched off (it will be Automatic or manual operated) for road use to allow the diff to work properly on hard surfaces.
TRANSFER CASE
Your 4X4 has a TRANSFER CASE behind the gearbox, this is the device that splits the drive from the gearbox to the front and rear axles. There are two kinds of 4x4's...
Part Time 4X4 - For road use these types only drive the rear wheels, saving on effort of turning the front axle when you don't really need it. Going offroad requires you selecting 4WD to supply power to the front axle. You should not use this type of gearbox in 4WD on hard road surface because, like an axle with its diff locked, there is no slipping on the road surface and the front and rear axles will try to turn at different speeds as you turn and cause stress on the drive train components.
Full Time 4X4 - This type of T/Case drives front and rear axles all the time, to allow for the difference in road speeds of the front and rear axles, these T/cases will have a differential built into them. Therefore they must also have a diff lock built into them to allow you to lock the T/Case diff when offroading, with the diff lock engaged they work the same as a part time T/Case that is in 4WD.
The Transfer case will have two gearing options, High range for normal driving and Low range for extra power on steep hills or mud holes. Some T/cases have an Neutral option for running PTO (power take off) devices. (rarely used these days).
Do not confuse the transfer case diff-lock on a full time 4x4 car with an axle diff locks, they are not the same.
OTHER STUFF ON YOUR AXLE.
Front axle drive hubs
There are 3 types of front hubs fitted to 4x4's. On part-time 4WD cars, although the T/Case is in 2WD and not driving the front axle, the road wheels will still turn all the front axle components while driving along, (front axles and front differential) To save on wear and tear on these items, and more importantly to improve MPG the front hubs are disengaged from the axle when in 2WD
Manual Hubs
Fitted to older 4x4's these have a knob built into the front hubs and you have to get out and manually engage them to get 4WD
Automatic Hubs
In an attempt to save people getting muddy feet, various types of automatic, or electric (switch on dash), hubs have been tried but tend to be unreliable in practice.
Front axle disconnects
In an other attempt to improve on the above two options, and to allow 'shift-on-the-fly' 4WD engagment, (the above two you have to stop the car to turn them on and off) systems like Toyotas ADD (automatic disconnect differential) have a sleeve that joins two parts of one of the axle shafts when you switch to 4WD, allowing shifting into 4WD at speeds of up to 50mph. In 2WD the wheels spin free (although the side without the sleeve on it still turns the spider gears inside the front diff, meaning wear and friction isn't quite as reduced as the other two types of hub)
Copied from a post on the Hilux Surf Forum
Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) systems were introduced in the early '70s to reduce an exhaust emission that was not being cleaned by the other smog controls.
Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are formed when temperatures in the combustion chamber get too hot. At 2500 degrees Fahrenheit or hotter, the nitrogen and oxygen in the combustion chamber can chemically combine to form nitrous oxides, which, when combined with hydrocarbons (HCs) and the presence of sunlight, produces an ugly haze in our skies known commonly as smog.
So basically it recirculates some of the exhaust gases back in to the block to reduce NOx. It says in doing this it reduces the operating temperature of the block, I have read many many articles on this topic. Some written by the Green/environment people who advocate you should never disconnect the EGR because of the detremental effects it has on your engine, of course they would, nothing to do with the environment of course. Some by Profs. of motor mechanics, who don't deny in disconnecting the valve it raises the NOx levels released to atmosphere (our MOT laws in England don't test for NOx). They also claim that lowering the operating temperature is not a bad thing except the recirculated gases cause hot spots and on cast heads thats not good. The recirculated gases are reintroduced into the block on one side, so cooling that area not the far side of the engine, one side hotter than the other.
The other down side of the EGR is, in reintroducing the gases back in to the engine, this will place an even greater demand on engine oil performance through increased soot generation and acid levels. So you need to make sure regular oil changes are strictly adhered to.
The EGR also comes with another downside slight loss of power and decreased MPG.
The very early valves (like on the early surfs) were single diaphram valves that open on positve pressure (some open on negative pressure) these early valves entailed a mass of vacuum hoses within the engine bay. They were not that reliable, hoses can rot, split, the diaphram within the valve can perish, become perforated. All this leads to a non or poorly operational valve.
This system had many problems. It would often open to much, which caused a hesitation on acceleration as massive amounts of recirculated exhaust hit the combustion chamber. The peak temperature NOx is produced at only occurs when the engine is under full load, not all the time so with older style valves it recirculated all the time.
The newer valves are controlled by solonoids, so control the recirculation better only reintroducing the gases when the engine is under full load. So are more reliable don't effect performance so much or the MPG.
I have disconnected my EGR, I personally noticed more low down torque on my surf and better MPG. Yes my head has cracked 1 year after I got the motor and 10 months after disconnecting the EGR.
There are some who's heads have cracked and have never disconnected the EGR.
After replacing my head I reconnected the EGR for three weeks. Its diconnected again, couldn't stand the smoke it throws out the exhaust, the less grunt on acceleration and the worse MPG.
I hope this answers your question with an unbiased opinion, there are the greens who write articles on the EGR saying how great it is and mechanics who write articles saying the early valves were poor.
Thats the info, you make up your own mind.
Litre/4.54 = UK Gallon
UK Gallon*4.54 = Litre
