Toyota Blizzard 2.4T Ownership & Light Mods Journal

[safangari]

As mentioned in Allmud's topic "blizzard", last week I picked up this weapon.


Because there is sod all material on this model on ORE, I figured I'd document my ownership of this vehicle. My company, Student Cars Limited, stocks and sells low price cars to scarfies, so whilst I've got it and am 'testing it' pre-sale, I'll let you guys know how it wheels. I should have it through til the new year I figure.

I call it the Jizz-blizzard. I really had to restrain myself from using the term in my topic title but given the focus on keepin things clean lately, I thought it'd best be kept clean. But the imagery is great.

In the intersets of telling the complete story its probably worth repeating the following:

I was fanging through Southland with Timotheus on Tuesday, chasing LN106s when we spied it sitting on the side of the road in Edendale. Apparently it'd been there for 2-3 weeks. I'd seen it myself actually, but stopped to test tonight and brought it home.
Specs are:
2.4t 5spd.
Big ticket rebuild 4 yrs ago.
Manual hubs, snorkel, PTO, bullbars, Rebuilt LSD, A frame,
7 months reg and 2 months wof and 2/3 tank of diesel.
Evidently, they come fairly well equipped.
Pretty good nick from what I can gather.
Needs tyres.

The bloke I bought it off was a family guy who'd just upgraded to a cherokee in the interests of space. He was very tidy, as was the rig, I get the idea he took very good care of it.

THE GEARBOX HAD ONLY JUST LOST FIFTH AFTER BEING OFFERED FOR SALE AND IS A LITTLE NOISY IN THE FIRST THREE GEARS.
It was priced accordingly.

I drove it back in fourth, keeping a close eye in the temp guage.

I had a vacancy in my arsenal having just sold my turbo safari:

partly to fund this:



partly because it was costing me a packet to maintain. Wheeling so much weight around and accounting for wear and tear from previous owners and my own abuse was definitely hitting my pocket.

Additionally, I have a policy of 'whilst I'm doing this, it makes sense to do this whilt I'm there' and 'I should probably over engineer that bit just to be sure.'

I've been keen on something a little lighter for a while and have never had a whip with an operational winch (the Safari was sold at an oppertune time, before the M8000 was wired). Last weekend Timotheus, tristanp, and some mates spent a day collecting pegs from a cancelled winch event., that sold me on the need for a winch, and the brilliance of ground anchors. I'm utterly convinced that PTOs have it over Electric.

At any rate, the PTO of the jizz-blizzard sold the rig to me. Its effectively a 5speed PTO the way its set up.

[safangari]

Sorry it was Tuesday, not last week.

Can't work out why that pic of my landcruiser didn't come up.

Can anyone point that out for me?

Its in my album if you're keen to view:
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules ... php&page=7

[safangari]

Timotheus and I went out for a fang Wednesday night.
A mate swapped the whitespokes and balding ATs for 700 16 SATs.
I've since put these on Vitara Steelies courtesey of Gary at 4WD Parts Donald Street, Kaikorai Valley.


It went well among trees in some pretty muddy hills, but I munched the winch cable and broke the selector that controls the spool/engage function.
The fairlead is a bit wider than necessary and contributed to the cable hopping the drum.
The result was a broken winch casing, which evidently is alloy, and a snapped rope. That's the severed winch cable in the back of the rig, bottom photo.


Yesterday I had Cookes of Orari Street Dunedin fit a new eyelet and outward opening 'latchlok hook' (as shown in top photo). While we were winching Wednesday night it became obvious that a hook with a catch would be bloody handy. One that fits over the bullbar is bloody excellent.
Cost $6 for the eyelet and $39 for the hook ex GST. A deal.

Its not possible to show where the selector broke, but that's a big issue.

It might be worth noting that the actual winch is a Daihatsu unit, fitted by the previous owner, but the PTO drive system is factory.

[Smurf]

Sorry it was Tuesday, not last week.

Can't work out why that pic of my landcruiser didn't come up.

Can anyone point that out for me?

Its in my album if you're keen to view:
http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/modules ... php&page=7

you cut the 'jpg' bit off the end
....blizzard_001.sized.jpg[/img]

[Smurf]

It might be worth noting that the actual winch is a Daihatsu unit, fitted by the previous owner, but the PTO drive system is factory.

I think you'll find the whole truck, bar the motor, is Daihatsu Rugger/Rocky, pretty sure you'll find the gearbox is Daihatsu also.
My Sister has just sold her one of these, had the factory winch also. Good little truck after a bit of suspension work. Hers had the same issue with the roller allowing the cable to run off the drum. We moved it in about 15 mm and it was sweet.

[safangari]

Thanks for the tip with the pic, Smurf.

I've hard the same about the whole Daihatsu thing, to tell the truth, I was kind of hoping the gearbox had some relation to those found in L powered hiluxes, so I could rob the PTO gear for a different truck down the track.

That, and a mate is a toyota wrecker (and 4wd nut),
City Auto Dismantlers, Carroll Street, Dunedin
so parts would have been no problem.

Gearbox is coming out today/tomorrow. Will take some pics whilst its on the hoist.

What sort of suspension work did you do mate?

[Smurf]

We removed the front sway bar, added an extra leaf to front spring pack to lessen the the W look of the pack and lift it a bit., I think we used a lux rear 2nd leaf (thick one, second down in the pack). In the rear we lost the overload springs, the ones that are at the bottom of the pack, they are either flat or curve down a bit. We also added another hilux leaf in the rear. Longer shackles all round with longer brake lines.
It run on 7.00/16 SAT tyres. Went well for a little truck.
Another mate had the 2.8 Rocky a few years earlier that we did almost the same to, we re arched the springs as well and left in the front sway bar on that one. It ran 31 inch tyres.

[NJV6]

I know that vehicle! - was a member of the club

[Jerry]

Heres a Factory Service Manual for the Rocky/Rugger ...it will be similar
http://www.warfs.org/content/view/16/47/
PS its listed as the F7x here

One thing to check is that the gearbox internals aren't factory toyota? I have heard that the case is Daihatsu but the internals are out of the toyota parts bins

[tristanp]

looking at the winch id be pretty apprehensive about using it till its welded up
i will come over and take a look tonight.

[safangari]

Thanks for the link Jerry that's bloody awesome.

Ok. I took the gearbox out today. Looking over the service manual Jerry supplied, I'm sure I haven't forgotten anything. Not very bloody easy, the top 3 bolts of the bell housing were removed at about an 8th of a turn at a time with a crescent, it looked too tight to get even a very long extension to.

took some under body shots while there.












Timotheus and Tristanp called in and gave me a hand to lift out/ yarn etc.

Winch is coming out for repairs tomorrow methinks.

[safangari]

So last night tristanp (surely the horiest son bitch known to man by the way) and I addressed the innards of the jizz blizzard's gearbox, with the help of the service manual supplied by Jerry previously in this thread.

Again, bloody awesome, thanks Jerry.

Popping the top off gearbox (ie selector and plate that holds it on) soon revealed missing teeth on the input shaft.



That's an issue yet to be resolved, but we were there to find why fifth was not engaging.

Its worth noting that up until this point, when the selector was put into fifth, it just felt like neutral. No resistance or crunching, just nothing. There was a rattling noise in first through third also.

After a bit of a fiddle with the gears, including putting the selector on and taking it off a few times, we noticed what looked like a gear oil filler bung just in front of the external fifth gear, but with a shaft attached, and a fresh looking soft washer on the exterior of the gearbox.



Having consulted the service manual for an exploded view of the gearbox, and a bit of discussion, we found this to be a pivot point for a selector lever for fifth gear.



Not being able to locate the lever visually, we turned the box upside down and out fell said lever, which had been sitting at the bottom of the gearbox, immersed in gear oil. It was about about 80 to 100mm long from memory. Sorry forgot to take a pic until it was reinserted.



That's it just below the dowel on the top of the case. The lever activates a rod which selects fifth gear, outside of the gearbox itself.

The lever had signs of wear on it where it had been moving around inside the box, but relatively little damage; a bit of wear on one edge. Hopefully this was what was causing the rattling in first, second and third.

The only visible damage remains the two missing teeth on the main input shaft which will be addressed before the gearbox is reassembled.

The cause of the loss of fifth gear is now thought to be the unintentional removal of the 'fifth gear selector pivot bolt' by some well meaning individual, perhaps the previous owner (or servicing mechanic?), that person having mistaken it for the filler point for gear oil. This is evidenced by the relatively new looking soft washer still inplace on the outside of the box, held in place by the fifth gear selector pivot bolt.

Next step is to find a suitable replacement for the input shaft, if not the whole gearbox.

Elsewise, if I can determine that the box will operate sufficiently in spite of the fact it is missing a tooth or two, it may be a matter of reinstalling and just seeing how it goes. Not being under a massive amount of strain from the 2LT, it may be fine.

Your thoughts?

[Jerry]

The cause of the loss of fifth gear is now thought to be the unintentional removal of the 'fifth gear selector pivot bolt' by some well meaning individual, perhaps the previous owner (or servicing mechanic?), that person having mistaken it for the filler point for gear oil. This is evidenced by the relatively new looking soft washer still inplace on the outside of the box, held in place by the fifth gear selector pivot bolt.

Ummm yeah I've read of this problem on here http://www.daihatsu-drivers.co.uk/ (another great daihatsu forum) eady enough to mistake the bolt on the wrong side

Whilst its out you may want to compare them against a toyota box and see if the internals are the same.....which may help with parts....with the pivot bolt perhaps tap weld a small strip over it to stop someone doing the same again...they can't take it off if its covered

Gearboxes will be hard to find as these are usually the first to go along with the transfer case when these are wrecked. you may be able to get the seperate parts ex japan although these may be pricey, what about getting them repaired at an engineering shop??? I'd check and see if the chipped bits are from the toyota parts bin first

[rake]

If you are after a Blizzard gearbox I have 1 sitting on the shed floor

[safangari]

PM sent. Cheers mate.

[safangari]

Got my winch mount repaired today. Winch is now re-installed.
The damage was to the alloy mount and the spool/engage lever.



My good friend Darian Jopson from Fabrication Solutions alloy welded up the cracks and heat bent the lever back into shape.







Whilst the unit was out I gave it a grease and replaced the shear pin with an M6 bolt for serviceability and strength.

[tristanp]

went out with safarangi today for a bit of a winch mission, took a few videos
here
its only small [1.6mb] as im on rural dialup

[safangari]

Ok, the jizz blizzard has a new input shaft and is all back together.
Tristanp, Timotheus and another mate went out for a fang today. Vids to follow.