The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[BobMurphy]

Well, I had an 'interesting' day yesterday, rather a case of deja vue.

Andy, from Dunfermline, wanted a hand with the removal of his old rear difflock actuator and installation of the new Milner's one. Here we go again then   .

A familiar sight to those who have seen the underside of Scottish cars before   :







The alloy casing had been eaten away by road salt. This is a 2000 LWB Colorado 'Auto' in very nice condition.


I started by poking it with a large screwdriver . . . .





It was soon reduced down to its more resilient components:





Whilst we were working on it, out in the yard in the sunshine, my 'Off-Road King' neighbour (he has seven Landrovers   ) spotted feet sticking out from underneath the Landcruiser and stopped-by for a nosey   .





We chiselled the old alloy away then sawed-off the main shaft before using a Bosch tube saw to bore out the alloy. It came away reasonably easily.

Whilst we had access I used a 27mm 6-point deep socket and a 24" Power Bar to remove the detector switch. The switch was OK, it was cleaned-up, a new alloy washer was used once the remains of the old one had been ground away and it was re-installed with 'Optimol TA' anti-sieze paste on the threads. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.

The alloy cover at the side of the Actuator has 8mm set screws with nasty little 10mm heads. These things sieze and then the heads collapse when one tries to remove them. Fortunately these came out reasonably easily and were replaced by stainless 13mm sets - again with lots of 'Optimol' on the threads.

The face of the diff was cleaned-up and pasted with Optimol before the new actuator was installed.








The technique is to clean all the electrical connections and spray them with 'Servisol' electrical contact cleaner.

Then plug everything together before installing the Actuator and then make sure it works. It did - a nice 'whirrr' when turned on and again when turned off.

With the Actuator 'at rest' in the Unlock position the diff lock rack was pushed fully to the N/S (unlock position) and the actuator was installed.

Again, stainless set screws & nylock nuts & washers were used with Optimol on the threads.

Then it was just a matter of connecting the breather pipe, attaching the upper end of the breather pipe to the chassis cross-member using a hot glue gun (the plastic connector was old & hard and wouldn't lock into the hole).

And it was time to try it out (Naturally, the sunshine had turned to hail and heavy rain - so we moved our wet asses to the garage   ).





Its a nice, straight and very clean truck  











And it all worked       .

A very happy chappie at the wheel  





So, about six hours and one cup of coffee later Andy was away home (I did offer food but we decided to carry on and get the job done).





Leaving me to sweep-up   .





One thing to note . . .

The circlip that holds the drive gear to the actuator nose is not very strong and I make a point of not levering the shaft out of the diff in case I lose the gear pinion into the diff - which would be very nasty.

When the old bits were removed we found that at sometime that is exactly what had happened and I can only think that someone in the past has tried to remove the old actuator in that way.

It wasn't us, by the time we removed it the shaft was totally siezed into the alloy 'nose' and couldn't move.

This is a very 'Lucky Escape' - see how the circlip is distorted and almost off the shaft      





Another possibility is that as the unit corroded the alloy & steel 'swelled' with the corrosion and pulled the shaft back. If that is what happened its bad news, one shouldn't ignore a corroded actuator in case the steel pinion gets spat off and jams the diff.

Interesting, I'd like to hear thoughts on the power of corrosion.

I hope it all works well for you, Andy   .


Bob.

[Google]

[andycanman]

Good morning bob..Hi and yes all appears to be fine rear diff lock light comes on and stays on and i am very happy my new shiney rear locker is now fitted..Once again bob i would like to thank you for your knowledge and experience in changing out my rear diff lock and for the very welcomed cup of coffee     have given it a coat of clear wax oil so should out last the rest of the car   will get it over the fields over weekend and give it a good work out...thanks.

[benterrier]

Well done Bob on another great job and a happy Land Cruiser owner.

Your comments about the under vehicle corrosion were plain to see on this truck. I don't know the age but it’s got the later wheels on but doesn’t have the D4d badges on the front wings?

Your pictures showing the trucks upper body don’t bare resemblance what lies beneath?
Although my truck (2002) is fairly clean a friend of mine has a R reg 3.0 litre TD. He’s had the truck from 1 year old and every year he has a major service including a spray of old diesel engine oil to the complete underside. The result is incredible, wipe any part of the chassis and just black paint is revealed.
I know it’s …..Horse and stable door for most of us to start doing this but if you have a truck which is clean and no advanced corrosion it may be worth it!

Regards
Benterrier

[BobMurphy]

Now here's an interesting thing . . .

I kept the drive gear from Andy's actuator and compared it to the one that came from my '98 model.

The '98 one is above the 2000 one:





I hadn't realised that the gears were different on some models   .


This is the new one I got in Jan 2010 - its the same as Andy's old one.





The one I fitted to 'Pentland Cruiser's' truck was also the same as Andy's.





So my old one is the odd one out - I wonder how many variations there have been  


Bob.

[tractionenginedriver]

Hello Bob, I must say I enjoy all your posts & appreciate your expertise. My question is , can you wire the rear diff lock to operate in HL? Or even in just normal high gear with the lever in rear position?

[BobMurphy]

[tractionenginedriver]

Thanks Bob , just thought it would be a useful thing to have on muddy fields & snow like weve got now! but I came home through it last night 7 never faltered, didnt have to engage centre or anything. About 4'' here, i'm in West Buckland. hows the snow up there?

[BobMurphy]

[onela]

Hi I'am a new user from Finland.
I have 01 3.0d4d cruiser kdj95 and i have a problem with rear difflock actuator. Old one was gone and I put new motor from milner, it worked like 10months and now nothing happens. Rear diff light only flashes and actuator doesn't do nothing. Just wondering how does it actually works? Center lock works but is there some switches on  gearbox (auto)? Thanks!

[onela]

[quote="onela"]Hi I'am a new user from Finland.
I have 01 3.0d4d cruiser kdj95 and i have a problem with rear difflock actuator. Old one was gone and I put new motor from milner, it worked like 10months and now nothing happens. Rear diff light only flashes and actuator doesn't do nothing. Just wondering how does it actually works? Center lock works but is there some switches on  gearbox (auto)? Thanks![/]

[onela]

Hi I'am a new user from Finland.
I have 01 3.0d4d cruiser kdj95 and i have a problem with rear difflock actuator. Old one was gone and I put new motor from milner, it worked like 10months and now nothing happens. Rear diff light only flashes and actuator doesn't do nothing. Just wondering how does it actually works? Center lock works but is there some switches on  gearbox (auto)? Thanks!

[tractionenginedriver]

Hmmm an interesting question.

I think it should be possible, but only by fooling the ECU into thinking that the centre diff is locked and the transfer box is in low ratio.

To do that one would have to by-pass the detector switches on the transfer box - there are two on a manual and three on an auto.

I suspect one would have to be careful with an auto box - the switch that tells the auto box that the transfer box is in low ration should probably be left alone.

A couple of switches on the dash should suffice - you will, of course, lose ABS as soon as you switch the 'low ratio spoof switch' on.

You should only engage rear difflock at very low speeds or when stationary.

I wouldn't want to drive on a normal road at normal road speeds with the rear diff locked - I think it could lose traction on corners very easily.

There will be less torque in high ratio than in low, but there will be a lot more inertia as the speed will be higher. the transmission might throw in the towel as well  

If you're going to try it out - let us know how you get on      

(So you're in my old stamping ground, Taunton. I used to live at Isle Abbotts, 12 miles to the East, and worked at the Admiralty Hydrographic Services when I left school. I moved to Edinburgh in 1972).

Bob.[/quote]
Bob would this be an easy job to do myself? is it just a case of wiring up a switch on the dash? Which exactly are the wires & what would I have to do?
Thanks.

[BobMurphy]

[tractionenginedriver]

Thanks very much Bob. Mine is a manuel . Not high on the list of priorities but I may have a go sometime.

[J66P]

I would have thought if you were in a situation where you need the rear locker in you would want to be in 4 lo anyhow, unless I am missing something ?
_________________
1998 Toyota Landcruiser Colorado 3.4 V6 (sold)
2001 VW 2.8 V6 Caravelle Surf Bus (sold)
2010 Passat Bluemotion Highline Plus (gone)
VW Amarok BiTdi