Hi,
Potential SIL has recently bought an old (83,YN65 3Y) but fairly well loved for most of it's life Toyota HiLux 4x4, 2L petrol with just over
100K miles on the clock.He's just driven it back down from Scotland to Herts, admittedly fairly well loaded (and probably not very 'gently' knowing him) and it took a couple of litres of oil to take it back up to full (he /said/ it was on full before he left).
He also suggested (and I noticed when replacing the exhaust manifold gasket with him recently) that it's leaking a bit of oil and it looks like it's mainly around the clutch bell so I'm thinking rear crank seal?
So, assuming it's the problem and there's nothing else back there that could show similar, has anyone actually done that job on that vehicle / lump and if so what sort of job is it please?
Sorry the info is a bit scant but it's currently in Kent and won't be back till Sat night. I'm just trying to get a feeling re what it might be and how easy it might be to resolve (I recently swapped the gearbox on my MkII Escort based kitcar and it looked fairly similar under there apart from all the 4WD stuff. At least we wouldn't need ramps .. ). ;-)
Cheers, T i m
p.s. Talking of not needing ramps. He needs a towbar to tow amongst's other things a log splitter and whilst there is a rear bumper that looks like it could be a tow bar (as it has two two ball spaced and sized (16mm dia) tubed holes through it and is pretty substantial) it's currently a good 500 mm from the ground (with a reasonable load on board). Now I understand the guidelines say the tow ball should be between 350 and 420mmfrom the ground (vehicle laden, let's' say 385 ideal) so allowing for about 75 mm from the tow ball bolt centres to the centre of the ball that makes a drop plate to be around ~200 mm (8")? Not only does that seem quite a bit in general but complicates how you would fix any such drop plate (turning forces etc).[1]
I contacted one of the few Co's who can still supply bars for such (old) vehicles and the key dimensions of their bar seemed to tie up with what's on there now. They therefore suggested that the vehicle could have been 'lifted' bit if it has we can't see any signs of how (no lifting blocks, long shackles, monster tyres etc. A lifted body wouldn't affect the tow bar height as it bolts to the chassis).
We did get a quick look at what we believe is the next model of HiLux and it looked similar if not the same height.
Failing any luck here I'll get him to get back on some of the 4x4 / HiLux forums.
p.p.s. Being that old it doesn't need any type approval re towbars. ;-)
[1] I was considering two drop plates, front and back of the bar, spaced at the top by the towbar itself (85mm) and at the bottom by two suitable fabricated_from_box or turned spacers. Because of the extra height of the towball itself it it's only actually 'extended' about ~120 mm and whilst it might not look out of proportion compared with many other 4x4 type towing arrangements I'm wondering how it came to be needing such adaption?