The 100 Series land cruiser is getting on in age now, however the little truck was so robust that even today many of them are still going strong. They are a great vehicle for off rod and adventuring use. However there are some common faults and things to watch out for.Here is a list of the common things to keep an eye on.
-Rocker cover gasket both diesel and petrol models are common for leaking.
-Front panhard mount cracks on chassis if cracked bad enough it will crack around the steering box. There are chassis plates you can weld in to strengthen this and reduce the risk of this happening.
-Front panhard bushes split and rear panhard bushes
-Front tie rod ends: We have also seen a lot of bent tie rods due to 4x4ing
-Front drag links are common to get movement. We have also seen a lot of bent drag links.
-Front and rear diffs are weak. They fail a lot if given a hard time and running big tyres.
-Steering boxes leak.
-Fuel pumps leak fuel pretty bad on the diesel models. This is a major repair as the pump needs to be removed from the engine and sent to a specialist for overhaul. When this happens your vehicle will be off the road for several days.
-Handbrake shoes. These things never get checked. Most mechanics seem to just be ignoring them. Ff they go off road, mud gets in there and wears out the had brake shes prematurely. If you own or are looking at an 100 Series, it will need hand brake shoes replaced.
-Front radius arm bushes split. Its recommend anything with a lift kit fitted also gets caster correction bushes fitted to the radius arms to help with wheel alignment and save tyre wear.
-In extreme conditions we have seen the radius arm mount completely snap off the diff housing and needs to be welded back on and braced and fill the hole in the diff housing.
-Rear diff housing can crack. Needs to be welded up and braced.
-Upper and lower rear control arm bushes split
-1hz turbo engines this diesel engine isn’t a factory turbo from Toyota. A lot of people fit turbos to them and run a lot of boost. This doesn’t end well for the 1hz engine. The factory turbo engines have stronger internals to cope with the turbo Toyota have designed. Makes complete sense.
Having said that the 1hz will run well for a long time with a turbo bolted onto it provided you dont go stupid with the boost.
-Transfer case seals leak.
-The manual gearboxs are getting very tired now also. Common for them to wear selectors and it gets hard to shift into first gear.
-For the diesels 1hz and the 1hd models. If these are not serviced regularly serviced they can have big end problems due to lack of maintenance.
-Snapped rear axle studs. If the car does some serious 4x4ing on hard terrain these will snap and snap the bolts to. This will cause the whole rear axle to come out of the car.
Most of these items are now common due to these cars being nearly 30 years old. There great cars and will do massive kms that others vehicles in the same category will never do.
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