VX Cruiser Steering box wanted MUST READ WARNING

[kbushnz]

Hi All

I work mate is trying to find a steering box for the following
1996 VX Land cruiser
Eng 1HDT-FT
Model KC-HDJ81V-RNPGW
Chassis HDJ81-0067225

It has the electronic bit on the end of it...
However the earlier one without will do...
He needs the main shaft....
As his one has broken off
Bit of a worry really... Been cracked for a long time as 50% of the diameter was rusty and polished by flexing...
It broke while his missus was reversing out the garage
The only off road work it sees are gravel roads....
Lucky it never broke out and about... Last xmas it went around the South Island with the whole family on board....
Suffice to say he is off to Toyota to show them whats happened and also LTSA.
On closer inspection it looks like a machining fault where the diameter steps up....
So for you 80 series owners... would pay to check the area above the splines for signs of rust......Yours could be cracked too....
Note his truck has 180k on the clock...So only a baby....And never off roaded...

[mikee]

Yep I've seen that before too.

[mayday]

Yeah I sheared mine clean off too, just where the splines finish. I was running 7psi and beadlocked simexs though and miles away from nearest parts shop!

[mudlva]

Get him to check the chassis aswell as the steering box generates stress thats creates crack behind the box mounting plate between the bolt holes

[kbushnz]

Get him to check the chassis aswell as the steering box generates stress thats creates crack behind the box mounting plate between the bolt holes

Yup its cracked also, knew the chassis cracked but not the shaft...
Funny thing its not at the spline root but in the radius above it...

[Sadam_Husain]

Yup its cracked also, knew the chassis cracked

its not just 80 series chassis that crack my 70 series cracked all through the steering box mounts and around the front crossmember tube

[mudlva]

Yup its cracked also, knew the chassis cracked

its not just 80 series chassis that crack my 70 series cracked all through the steering box mounts and around the front crossmember tube

What year was your cruiser im wondering if it a Lc year/age issue as i havent seen it on the 80's stuff that i have stripped and worked on

[Sadam_Husain]

What year was your cruiser im wondering if it a Lc year/age issue as i havent seen it on the 80's stuff that i have stripped and worked on

its a 1985, had big tyres on flipped centre rims which wouldnt have helped but it should have coped, got a big plate welded on the chassis rail tied into the crossmember now

[mudlva]

What year was your cruiser im wondering if it a Lc year/age issue as i havent seen it on the 80's stuff that i have stripped and worked on

its a 1985, had big tyres on flipped centre rims which wouldnt have helped but it should have coped, got a big plate welded on the chassis rail tied into the crossmember now

Hmmm
i will be decommissioning my ex FJ62 in a week or three

ive been running 35s on flipped rims bead locked and hand cut centers
there is no balance at all and max speed of 30ks

i will report back to inform how the chassis has handled this set up
i sort of was road legel ( had not finished cert ) then it progressed to a full transported truck

the worst ive had so far was snapping the pitman arm and that was after over 5yrs of absolute abuse

time will tell

[wjw]

chassis was cracked on mine too, only ever been used on the road, but does have 280k on it

[Madaz]

Do you mean like this........

[mudlva]

Do you mean like this........

faaaark thats scary

[strx7]

big tyres + parking lots = lotsa of stress that parts weren't designed for

[kbushnz]

big tyres + parking lots = lotsa of stress that parts weren't designed for

What started this thread was a failure in a stock std cruiser....Never off roaded.
He has been to Toyota NZ and its the first time they have seen it....

[mudlva]

What started this thread was a failure in a stock std cruiser....Never off roaded.
He has been to Toyota NZ and its the first time they have seen it.... [/quote]


funny that!, its just about word perfect on what toyota said when my bros front wheel fell off as the king pin studs failed and they didnt want to know about it either

we came away with the attude that it was an old truck and toyota didnt want to know altho we could buy new bits at full retail prices if we wanted to

[Danjr]

funny that!, its just about word perfect on what toyota said when my bros front wheel fell off as the king pin studs failed

This happened to me to a month or so back. 3 studs fell out and the 4th snapped under the load. Sent me across the wrong side of the road with no steering. Certainly gets the blood pumping. Thankfully no one was coming the other way at the time. I check them fortnightly now and have ordered some ARP ones from the states if they ever turn up . I would recommend checking them regularly if you have an 80 series and particularly if it's a lifted one.

[mudlva]

funny that!, its just about word perfect on what toyota said when my bros front wheel fell off as the king pin studs failed

This happened to me to a month or so back. 3 studs fell out and the 4th snapped under the load. Sent me across the wrong side of the road with no steering. Certainly gets the blood pumping. Thankfully no one was coming the other way at the time. I check them fortnightly now and have ordered some ARP ones from the states if they ever turn up . I would recommend checking them regularly if you have an 80 series and particularly if it's a lifted one.

yes he had a 6inch lift and no brop boxes or caster correction bushes. in the back of my mind ive thought that maybe they are being loaded differantly now maybe that is what started the failure

bloody scary all the same thou

[Sadam_Husain]

do you mean something like this

[mudlva]

and the problem is mr toyota keeps saying they have no record of bits breaking/failing

it would be nice for them to say STOP F---cking with our stuff and it will be all good but they keep coming back with OH THATS THE FIRST TIME story

[Danjr]

yes he had a 6inch lift and no brop boxes or caster correction bushes. in the back of my mind ive thought that maybe they are being loaded differantly now maybe that is what started the failure

bloody scary all the same thou

Yep, mine is 5 inch lifted but with drop boxes. The lift seems to be the common theme. I'm looking into options to improve the setup. The ARP studs I've ordered have a hex head so are able to be tightened into the knuckle. They are also slightly longer so I'm looking at putting a couple of nuts on them of a locking variety. Being longer they are more likely to get caught on a rock but the extra strength will hopefully be sufficient for this. I looked at changing to a high steer setup and see there is a bloke in the US making a six shooter one similar to the trail gear one for the lux but it's up there in price. Same same with the Marks Adaptors one.

[Sadam_Husain]

I'm looking into options to improve the setup. The ARP studs I've ordered have a hex head so are able to be tightened into the knuckle. They are also slightly longer so I'm looking at putting a couple of nuts on them of a locking variety.

both my cruisers have always done it, mine are 40 & 70 series which have a different steering arm setup (on top of the swivel housing instead of underneath) its always been the steering arm that comes loose not the fixed pin, I remember skids 80 doing it as well, I always found it was the studs winding out of the swivel housing not the nuts coming loose and the more you keep tightening the nuts up the less stud there is wound into the swivel housing, I found stripping everything down, loctiteing and seating the studs right back down into the threads seemed to cure the loosening problem, I spoke to jafa about it a couple of times, I think he did or was going to machine a keyway into his steering arms to stop the studs getting loaded up with the twist and loosening (or shearing), you could do the same thing easier with a couple of dowels to pin the arm in place

[Danjr]

you could do the same thing easier with a couple of dowels to pin the arm in place

Interesting idea and one I might look into. It really scared the crap out of me when it happened so it's something I'm keen on fixing to remove any chance of it happening again.

[strx7]

big tyres + parking lots = lotsa of stress that parts weren't designed for

.Never off roaded.

exactly my point. most likely has 265 or wider road tyres on it and spends it time doing the rounds of the super market, shopping centre etc, lots of either very slow speed, or stationary steering input = heavily stressed steering items.

[DA RAM]

funny that ! never seen it before but toyota nz stock the shaft as a shelf item and not just 1 try up to a dozen , they twist ,bend and drop off fairly often steering boys out front buy then like moccas for morning smoko - watched norm fit a brand new shaft to one last monday best keep a eye on yours