Offroad-Express

i am a bit embarrassed asking such a simple question in such an advanced forum... so please be gentle...

i am moving to africa (malawi) and have a 1995 Landcruiser Prado (KZJ78) waiting for me there... so haven't seen it yet...

1.) what kind of 4WD does this thing have? full time? is there anything lockable, what kind of hubs, etc.
how does this thing behave in the dirt as is?
2.) for everyday use (in the african sense , so few paved roads), does anyone have suggestions if i should do any modifications to the 4WD (like locking hubs, etc). please note that resources and parts will be hard to come by over there...
thanks a bunch for your help!

sebastian[/code]

most likely it will have electic hubs, selectable high/low 4wd and probably open diffs.

as for what to do with it.... leave as is if you arnt doing anything major offroad, maybe a set of tyres

thanks for your input! they all came with electric hubs? can one lock the center diff, or doeas that happen automatically with "low" 4WD?
i hear roads get pretty bad in rainy season, so a better set of tyres would probably not be a bad idea...

cheers,

seb

yes all factory elec hubs. They are apparently problematic, so a lot of guys swap to manual hubs, though simple bolts ons are not as strong as Toyota (Aisin) hubs. Plenty of info on hubs and swaps if you search this forum. Haven't had problems with mine, but haven't driven them hard yet.
No centre diff as not 'full time' 4wd. Transfer box puts drive to front axle when 4wd is selected, I am pretty sure this only happens if front hubs are in. H4 is a button on dash that controls a vacuum switch, L4 is by tfr box lever on floor.

They have a two stage shock system selected by bottom on centre console - Normal & Sport. the latter being slightly harder than Normal. Probably be better on Normal for dirt roads.

Hope that helped. Feel free to ask further.
Cheers
Rowan

Got your PM, better to answer here so everyone knows.

KZJ78 Prado's Are part time 4wd, with electric front hubs. Orignally I just put mud tyres on everything else standard. Went pretty good. Things have changed a bit now. I would suggest you start by getting mud tyres and swapping the electric hubs for manuals. Electric hubs are all well and good, but if your in the middle of knowwhere and they crap out, they are more difficult to bodge enough to keep you going.

If you want any special stuff, like springs etc you would be best off getting them here and shipping them, specially if you are here now, with the exchange rate as it is. If you have some spare cash, I would buy:

1. Chamberlains 50mm or 100mm lift springs
2. Shocks to match. I would recommend Ranchos if you dont want to affect on road manners too much.
3. Paul Delis rear Panhard rod relocator thing. With a 100mm lift this is a great asset.
4. offset bushes for the front.

Bullbars, bumpers, winch cradles, etc would be cheaper out there I would think.

Cheers,

Bill

you might want to do a bit of a search on some of the south african 4x4 sites. The prados may come out as a different spec over there considering the terain and geography etc is probably very different to what we've got here?

thanks guys!

as far as different specs in africa go, it is a jap import. my job bought it (i liked the fact, but had no control over what they would get...).

it sounds like the most basic and first thing should be new tyres, then manual hubs, then new springs/shocks and eventually bars, winch, etc.

does everyone agree?

Altough i will take it into national parks amd to offsides, it will still be kind of an every day vehicle, in an off-rod kind of sense. i want to either be able to get home to wifey and the kids, or be able to reach the bar to get away from them!!

cheers,

seb

i have another question:
what can be done to electric hubs in case they crap out in the dirt? can they be engaged/disengaged manually if necessary? is there an essential tool that one needs to carry for this?

latah,

seb

PM oldblue about the electric hubs, he's the electric hub guru.

I have been over there most of the time you can go anywhere in 2wd, the potholes are big
The closest thing I can compare africa off the beeten track to is the outback of Australia, very similar conditions in the wet and dry.

you should not need to lift it unless doing river crossings and they do have bridges, crocodiles and hippo's in the rivers so I would stay out the roads there are pretty harsh on springs and shocks so uprated shocks when they fail (and they will)! I would leave the springs and look LSD or locker rear.

If it rains this is when it can get tricky so at this point you need better tires wider and better tread pattern not sure what they have available there so I cant recommend anything, you may want to put in a rear locker or LSD if you are out in the rain a lot.

Ensure you can carry about 3 litres of water per day you are away, you need it as there is very little running water and it is not the same as our mountain stream's.

Good luck and have fun just stay out of the night club's I stood out a little and was swamped

Heres my answer to a quick fix, if your out 4wheeling and the hubs play up.
Make sure that your carrying a Tork Bit that fits the end cap bolts.
Read these instructions and reverse that info to manualy engauge the dog , then reassemble. Sorry about the size of the pix.

Ive been called a lot of names but never a guru.

.

oldblue and company, thanks a bunch for all the info.
you are an invaluable resource....
thanks in particular for the hub info! i hope i don't have to use it, but better be prepared...
i can't wait to use that truck. have to wait another 6 weeks though.

sebbie

Just remember , if you manually lock the hubs, then you have to press the hub lock button, other wise you won't get 4WD when you press 4H

Welcome to the world of Solid axle Prado's. Some vehicles (the LX model) don’t have the fancy extras like fibreglass flares and big tyres or the lecky windows of the SX or EX which has the suspended seats. However they all go really well.
The factory alloy rims are pretty strong and are used by the original hard-core Prado users in NZ still. They are now fitting 35 x 12.5 tyres to them but used to run the 33 x 12.5's. Yes that is 12.5 tyres on 7" rims and they work well even if the tyre producers have kittens when you tell them this.

My SX KZJ-71 (SWB) has the rear factory electric diff-lock and factory twin battery 12v system. The two position shocks now only work on the softer setting but have had a lot of hard use by me (80 k) I found the hard setting too hard unless I was really loaded up.

If you can do it or get it done, blank off the exhaust gas reticulation. This puts exhaust back into the inlet system to reduce NOX levels on start-up. In reality it tars up the inside of your inlet manifold and increases internal combustion temperatures, something you will need to think about over there. Yes like all 4 Cyl turboed Toyota motors, the 1KZ-TE does crack heads. Only answer here is to fit a three-inch exhaust if you drive it with a trailer or like me, with your foot up it. If it is auto then get an aftermarket remote trans cooler for it. This helps keep not only the trans cooler but also the radiator stays cooler too.

It isn’t easy to find aftermarket things like snorkels that fit directly on to the Prados, as they were not sold in Aus. There is an Air-Tec snorkel that pretty much fits and seems to flow more air than others.

Your firm got you a good truck, what’s your job over there?

Hope this helps
John