Hilux_Max's New D4D Hilux from OZ

[Redline]

I love that it's diesel and I like you tire choice. I'm becoming a fan of Maxxis tires.

Heres an updated pic of my hilux fella's. Its got the flares fitted and wheel/tyre combo on it.

Next is to decide on what bullbar, and fit under body protection plates -

 

[Hilux_Max]

Thanks for your comments guys.

I fitted the underbody protection plate today, heres some pics.

Made from anodised 3mm steel plate especially for the hilux-

In regards to accessories, there is a huge aftermarket accessory market in Australia and you can get almost anything for any vehicle. We need alot of things for the large variety of terrain available here and its just a case of how much you have to spend.

Yeah, the Maxxis are warming on me and my mates aswell. alot of people are starting to use them and their reputation is growing slowly.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Close. 1979.

That's right. IIRC the Chevy LUV (remember that one? Rebadged Isuzu) beat them to the market by a few months to be the maker of the first 4x4 mini truck.

 

[DaveInDenver]

These are both in my apartment parking lot. Both are 4wd, 80-83 body style (I think 80 was the first year for the Toyota 4x4, correct?)

Notice that while both have the external rails, one has the two side latches, the other has the single center latch.

The blue one is either a '79 or '80
View attachment 9747

The black one is '81 or newer. Hard to tell without knowing the axle code, 1981 is 3.90 and '82 and '83 are 4.10 gears.
View attachment 9748

 

[ntsqd]

First OE mfg. There were mostly Dana 30 axle - Dana 20 t/c based conversions on the market for several years b4 that. A friend has one such D20 with a divorced adapter from a PL 721 conversion. There is a post U.S. HiLux, pre- '79 body style conversion here in town.

Anyone remember the Spencer Low modular Dana 30 front housing? Aluminum center section with bolt-on steel axle tubes that could be made to put the diff anywhere desired.

My first ever ride in a 4x4 mini was in the back of a LUV. Got pelted in the back with beer & eggs when the driver failed to see a cross-grain gully. I did manage to grab the mag base cb antenna as it went floating by.......

 

[Hilux_Max]

Hey fella's,

Back again from Australia. Have made a few changes to my Hilux, so I thought I'd show them off here.

I have changed the wheels to a black steel 16x8 rim, with the same tyres as before and have fitted an ARB Winchbar.

I think the next I get tyres Im pretty certain I'll be going the Maxxis Bighorn's in 255/85x16. Just for that little bit more clearance. The 285's are giving me some rubbing issues and nobody makes an ideal offset for the rims yet in a 16x8 size for a 285 tyre here and Im not prepared to spend big bucks to get a custom made offset rim ,

Now, Just gotta save up for some good spoltlights, probably Lightforce, and tint the windows.

Long term, I might get one of the sliding vinyl canopies that you can easily remove when needed. and maybe a rear locker. Just depends how many penny's I can save and how soon.

what do you guys reckon?

 

[flyingwil]

LightForce is the way to go. You will be pleased with them. I noticed that litestriker (spelling?) is trying to copy them with the Roo Light. They look reverse engineered to me to resemble the LightForces.

As for your Tires, I am not familar with the Hilux, but here in the States we need to trim some of the pinch weld in the front to make the 255's fit.

http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/tacoma/bfg_mt_km.html

 

[Hilux_Max]

Hey guys,

Just thought I'd post some pics of a weekend camping trip to the Barmah State Forest here in Victoria. Wasnt as long away as I would have liked due to time constraints (you try and get away as much as you can when you can huh?)

anyway, here are some pics and some "breaking - in" pics of my beast.

The Camp Site -

Some long stretches of track underwater that we couldnt help but ram through and across (yeah, I know it wasnt the correct way of doing things but we just got that little bit over excited)

And a pose of her all dirty -

The forest itself is absolutely splendid during winter/spring time. During summer it all goes dry and very dusty. Not green at all but very brown and yellow.

you get a bit of wildlife through it like kangaroos, emus, wild horses, pigs are supposed to lurk about, but their numbers there have dwindles in recent times, and some rabbits and foxes. Birdlife is abundant with cockatoos and galahs, wedge tailes eagles and owls. Next time, I might try and take some wildlife shots too.

Next trip should is being planned for mid October and we are going to the Otways Rainforest near the coast. Heaps of steep mountain climbing up there so will be a great experience, especially for the diesel.

Love this site by the way.

P.S. Am thinking of getting a sliding black canvas canopy. have seen a few Taco's with them on the back, and was wondering if you guys had any links to manufacturers over there in the states just to get some ideas and maybe check them out!

 

[4Rescue]

Dammit man you make me miss Australia!!! I can't imagine much better than sitting out on the porch at sunset with a bottle of Bundy and some beers...

Love the lux...
Always found it funny that we have different styles of Hilux's/Tacoma's (besides the SFA's) Almost as pointless of not letting us have diesel's...

IMO the 255's will make that rig look perfect. For my everyday (of the year usage) tall and skinny is better than wide and any height.

:beer:

 

[Hilux_Max]

G'day Guys,

Geez, Its been a while since Ive posted on here, been reading alot of the other buildup threads and been slowly getting ideas on how to toughen up my hilux so here are some progress shots continuing from the end of my last post.

To begin with, here are some flex shots I took out the front of my work after a few drinks after work on a friday afternoon-

As you can see in the above shots, I have had fitted ARB side rails and steps to match the ARB bar thats already there.

Next up, I have fitted an alloy Sports Bar off an SR5 Hilux and I came across another half of the sportsbar, being the vertical section and have mounted that on the rear of the tub.

My next big project is to get made up a custom designed alloy luggage/roof rack that will be removable when not necessary. The requirements were that it has to be strong, light, and not sit too high. I have a maximum allowable height of 10 cm above the height of the rear bar so that my truck can still fit in my garage, therefore I have designed the following rack to not only take advantage of my limitations and requirements but also reduces the centre of gravity more than just a completely flat rack would going straight through from the rear bar to the roof.

Here are the pics of what Im talking about. Mind you, this would be made out of some sort of alloy tubing, with a mesh floor-

Sorry for the messy pictures, I did them with me mouse freehand quickly earlier today. The lower section above the tray will be 25cm deep and I thought this adequate as you rarely load anything up to that height fromthe base of the tub when going away anyway, so I am making the most of this area, whilst still having some sort of rear vision out the back window.

I gave the designs to a friend who know an alluminium/metal fabricator to give me a quote and we'll take it from there.

Also, on the front of the rack will be a flat plate where I will mount some small yet very strong spotlights and a proper loom with a connecter I can remove when the rack is not needed.

Im also looking into some sort of rear bar, I would love one like some of the others seen in the states where they cut the rear quarter panel below the tail lights right around and fabricate a tube bar with a high mount spare wheel carrier but thats just abit out of my budget at the moment so Im looking into somebody making me a tube type of rear protection bar with a high clearance tow hitch like the following design thou for my model hilux -

http://www.locktup4x4.com.au/product/2371211e-9de5-48d4-a1b4-d11a27b051a4.aspx

Im also helping TDC Technologies develope their PowerBox CR Plus diesel power module for my hilux as they ahvent made one yet for the 3 litre Common rail Diesel, well actually they have, but from mid 07 onwards Toyota changed the ECU configuration to meet Euro IV emmissions requirements which has made the ECU much more sensitive to any changes. I have gone through 2 of their units so far and hopefully the third one they send me will actually work. The first one kept bringing up faults in the ECU, the second one didnt do anything at all so I hope the third one will be spot on.

And my mate is making up for me a 20mm spacer for the front Struts to bring them back up to the full 3 inch height they were prior to the fitment of the ARB bar.

Well, enough from me, sorry for the long post, but like I said, its been a while. Keep the great trucks and tech features coming in fella's, just because some of us may not post here too often dont mean we aint reading and paying attention to your writeups.

Thanks again, what a great site :26_7_2:

 

[Hilux_Max]

G'day fella's,

Im back again to update my buildup with another little addition to the beast!

Here is what Ive been up to today-

Firstly, after being stuffed around by people promising to build me a custom made rack, then ending up quoting more than what they said would be the "ballpark" figure, and being disenchanted by some of the prices from ready made products from ARB and TJM and the like, I was tossing around the idea of using maybe a rack like the Rhino Rack, being alloy to keep the weight down, but found out the distance between the front and rear bar was too much and I would loose strength in the middle - same problem with the O/L product, this is why I was considering getting a third bar in the middle to support the weight if I chose to go an alloy rack.

Anyway, I came across the following rack of an ebay store, actually I saw the add in 4x4 Action magazine and chased him up -

Toyota Landcuriser 100 Series Steel Roof Rack Cage - eBay, Toyota, Car Parts, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 15-Feb-08 20:02:18 AEDST)

It looks exactly like an ARB bar, the bloke selling them reckons they are actually stronger and that they are going out his door like hot cakes, and for the price I dont blame him. Makes you wonder how much mark up ARB put on their products when this bloke can sell this for $579 -

Anyway, as it states, its a 100 series rack and the dimensions are perfect for my hilux, as I wanted to fit it above the tub on top of the front and rear bars, so today, after abit of stuffing around, I made up some u-bolts and brakcets and got some bolts and yadda yadda yadda - you know how it goes - and here is the finished product!

The pics aint the best as their off my mobile but you get the drift.

After that I mounted some small 55W spotties on the rear, thou I'll leave the wiring up for the next time, and Im planning on mounting 2 sqaure low and wide Hella spotlights on either end of the front of the rack, and you can see where at the front of the tub at the top right hand corner, Ive mounted a utility light with the switch inside the RHS of the Factory steel headboard so I dont have to go inside the car when I need to light up the back to get something when camping at night.

I rapt with the quality of the build of the rack, it is rated at 150kgs but the bloke said depending on the ap;ication you can mount way more than that, not that I'll have anything over say 70kgs of camping gear on to. and the price (I haggled him down to 500 if I took it there and then yesterday) was pretty damn good!

The only negative thing was I couldnt get out of the garage once I fitted it, so I had to reverse out the rear garage roller door which only gave me 1cm of clearance to get out, then drive around the side of the house, and then I modify the stop brackets on the roller doors an inch higher so now the garage beam is the lowest point not the roller door, and I can make it in forwards with 1.5cm of clearance......bloody close.

 

[4Rescue]

looks great man. Personaly, I'd paint the roll/support bars black to match the bull-bar/fender bar. Side rail step too, but then I hate chrome so that's just me. Love the rig though mate.

Cheers

Dave :safari-rig:

 

[Hilux_Max]

yeah I want to paint it black aswell, but the missus was 'squealing' that she liked the chrome and it matched the checkerplate on the side steps - Im planning to get some black high density foam and cover the bars with them, I heard if you try and paint the chrome, it'll flake off very quickly.

What I should have done was gotten somebody to make me a pair of black steel tubing supports for the rack, both front and back - I still might do this later if I go a tyre size thats taller than 33inches, and that way I can get my rack to sit a slightly lower!

:26_7_2:

 

[Dave Bennett]

Max, your truck is outstanding. :costumed-smiley-007

 

[Hilux_Max]

Thanks Mate (*blush*)

I dont know about outstanding, aint got nowhere near the mods of your truck, still have heaps more plans for the future, aslong as funds are there and the missus dont complain too much, I keep telling here, I need the mods so we can go away better and more practically.....

would love to get a custom rear bumper and wheel carrier but dont want that much weight loaded onto the back, might look into a tube style bumper for some added protection and a wheel carrier on this.

Because the rear springs are reset factory leaves, I think the next mod will be airbag helper springs, as I love the soft ride when empty, thou added strength when loaded would be good.