I took a hilux camper through the Rainbow Rd last spring. Big rain a week before had brought down heaps of rockslides across the road. As already mentioned, traction is no issue, but good ground clearance and entry and exit angles were needed to avoid sill and bumper damage. It's a beautiful part of ...

Just need two, Steel or Split rims preferred over alloy - will be carrying some load. I'm in Whangarei.

Engines are good if maintained. Just did cam belts, water pump, cam cover gaskets and plugs for the second time on mine - it's done about 270k.

Parts retailed around $1500. Add another $500 for labour.

Saw this at the Kumeu swap meet. The photos don't do it justice. It is much, much uglier in the flesh!

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that.

Someone has clearly worked their rrrs off on this beast. Chain drive bit seemed a little less than foolproof I thought?

Thanks Zukmeista - I've been watching that auction. They look pretty good. The perishing you mention - likely to cause WOF issues?

Oh I'm confused! I thought the 255 part of 255x85 16 meant 255mm wide. That's just over 10 inches, with the sidewall being 85% of 255 - ie 217mm - just over 8.5 inches. With imperial measures I understood the 8.25 part of 8.25 r16 means 8.25 inches wide - and an 8.25 inch side wall. So the 255 85 ...

Cheers Juz. Much appreciated. Good size for me. Starting to wonder about an 8.25r16 - although not priced them yet. Anyone bought tyres that size?

lax2wlg wrote:BFGoodrich KM all day long

33x10.5 (on the left) vs 255/85



http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipmen ... mt_km.html

Thanks for the link lax2wlg - nice one.

$480 NZ each though. Ouch.

Very good point Fitzy...... Imagine I'll be able to find some rims to do the job if the tyres measure up.

Either that, or a real big hammer to get them on my 6 stud hubs!

Diameter is easier to measure, and I can work the rest out for myself....easy as pi, you might say.

That's plenty skinny! Cheers for that - will ask him to measure diameter.

I'm trying to find the right 4x4 tyre for my beam axle hilux camper. In doing so I've discovered the Maxxis 33s on the wagon are really only 31 inches talk. The Bridgestone 31s on my daily ute actually measure 29. Checks on both tyre manufacturers websites claim the tyre diameter is bigger than they ...

Cheers Dan. Had 31s on it with no trouble, not sure the front will handle bigger though. Would love to sit it on the 32s if you didn't mind - catch up with you this week.

Anyone tried it - without lifting the body?

Mine did the same - but in 1st. It was the body lift and trans tunnel mods causing it. Trimming out a bit of the 2nd rubber boot around the lever and moving the lever boot flange forward a bit fixed it.

Have a look at this site too - Pitched at adventure bikes, but was a great resource for my last South Island trip

http://www.adventureguide.co.nz/index.php

I've had a 2000 3 litre twin cab l200 for nearly 10 years. I really like it. Heaps of grunt, nice on the road and surprisingly ok off road. It's done 270 k now and starting to show its age - couple of little rattles under the dash and weeping tappet covers, which aren't exactly dreadful given the ...

Worth bearing in mind the axles themselves can be the problem - mine are pitted badly, causing the seals to leak even when they're brand new.

Thanks Reece, that sounds like good advice re the alignment. It's been done twice, but both by car guys, so your suggestion to go to a truck specialist given the beam axle front and high cog makes good sense. Trundle mentioned giving more toe in to improve stability earlier, so perhaps it's as ...

Hi, Regarding your question on body lift, this should not affect steering as steering box is attached to chassis. Is it more noticable turning left of right. When stationary is the link rod between the steering box and the C arm on the knuckle more or less horizontal or on an angle. Cheers Tim ...

Sounds like you might not have enough castor on the front end. I went for a drive in the neighbours Fiat with modified suspension and it was doing what you described. It would dive into corners and he was having to fight to keep it from turning tighter. He give the front end more castor and the ...

Innovative, but perhaps not ideal...

No, they're not linked - for the exact reason you mention!

No, I didn't end up replacing those bushes. I couldn't get any dodgy movement out of the old ones, even using a crowbar to lever on end of the control arm, so I figured they're good and best left alone.

Fair point on the big tyres. They're so good on the sand though.....

I've built a camper, based on an LN65 chassis and suspension. It has some unusual driving characteristics which I'm trying to eliminate. From what I can find on the net, i suspect it's suffering from roll over steer, caused by the body roll extending the track of the vehicle on the weighted side, as ...

Cheers for that - not sure what fork it is, it came with the bellhousing from Conversion Components. I guess a longer fork would make for a lighter clutch. Means gearbox out though......again

I'm finding the clutch a bit heavy in my 350 chev powered YN65. I've got the standard Toyota 5/8 master cylinder and I believe the standard 13/16 slave. I'm told it's not really do-able to go smaller in the master cylinder as 5/8 is pretty much the smallest they come. Going to a 1 inch slave will ...

I had the same thing - a clunk you could feel through the floor, right under the pedals. Mine seemed to happen when the weight slowly came off and then back on the right front corner. I figured it was the rear spring bushes on the front spring, but when i changed them the old ones looked fine. So I ...

Cheers for that- I spoke to Bridgestone a month or two ago and they told me NZ don't do anything in the ute range, only trucks. The guy I talked to, may even have been Jim, directed me to Airbag Man in Aussie. If I got the wrong advice, I'd be pleased to hear about it. I've saved the pennies and am ...