Toyota's in the sand
 

Does anyone know if there are many Toyota Hilux Surf's in the Saharan countries? Or Hilux pickup's. I've not noticed many in Morocco but i wasn't really looking for them. I'm wondering about part's availability and if mechanics will be familiar with them.

Also if anyone can tell me how they behave in the sand I'd love to hear it. I've just bought one and so far can only vouch for it in the mud of Salisbury plain. Not really meaning to I got both front wheels well in the air at one point! Aiming to jump the whole thing next time http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Cheers
Neil

[This message has been edited by NeilT (edited 09 January 2005).]

Hello Niel,

in Algeria there are some HiLux (nearly all from public institutions/authorities) 2WD and 4WD. This vehicles are a good choice in sand.

Ferdi

toyota hilux proved itself as a desert expedition car (covering over 2000km off the road with starting load of around 1 ton).
in the sands its very good but choose your tyres carfuly it makes big diffrence.
about spare parts you better have the parts neded for desert travel from the begining.
check sahara overland guide for parts ,tyres neded.
have fun as you can go anywhere with a hilux.

Toyota hilux ?

Very good cars also and only in two WD. We use them ( fuel ) with satisfaction and low maintenance cost.

Cheers
Budrinna

Cheers guys!

Good to know they're out there and good in the sand. I'll be investing in Sahara Overland next time i'm at a book shop and i guess there's bits on tyre selection. I noticed in Dubai they run road tyres on the sand at 15psi. And boy did that work well. Absolutely amazing!

Neil

Hi Neil,

I think 15 psi it's too much in soft sand. Between 0.4 and 0.6 bar (atü) it's a good choice for every tyre.

Greetings
Ferdi, GER

For normal sand driving I would keep the pressure above 1 bar. Lower can be usefull in extreme soft sand or emergency/extrqction situations.

Rob

In the summer i've done with my 96'hilux a trip from poland to marocco, then down the atlantic route to nauadhibou and a trip around mauritania (nbdh, atar(along the railway on the wheels - nice driving!) then around adrar, chinguetti, terjit... nauakchott, and north to nauadhibou and via atlantic route and some driving around marocco back home... something about 14000-15000kms... so, now I can tell that hilux i really reliable car, even when overloaded with 4 persons on board. I had no problems with it during the way, no oil consumption, no punctures ect... and to my believe no overheating (temperatures were sth about 40-50 in shade) and engine was working really hard...
I used 265/70R15 highway tyres... not my dream but that was my only option... but (again.... sorry for my english http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif they seemd to work preety well in sandy and even stony surfaces. but next time i'd better use 235/85R16.

the only thing I would like to have in my hilux is a more powerfull emgine, but anyway 2.4D work beautifull off the road giving you
less power but more robustness and good fuel economy.
ok...maybe I will write something more latter

PeterB

Hey cheers for that! That's just what i was hoping to hear. Is yours a manual or automatic? I've just bought the Sahara Overland book (worth every penny Chris! cheers ;-) and auto's are not seen as a bad idea entirly... Not sure what's meant by "dubious free-wheeling front diff" though. Any ideas?

If you've able to post some pictures somewhere do drop a link in here.

Cheers
Neil

Hilux/Surf/4Runner

Light, Strong, Reliable, Easy to Fix, good in sand......
Ferdi, 1 bar/15 psi in soft sand will probably be ok..
I would only drop to 0.6 bar/10psi for emergencies in very very hot soft sand, and no lower.
I run at 1.3 bar/20psi and drop air as required from this
'You want to have the most air you can keep in your tyres to cross the terrain ahead - let out a little when you need to'

Theres no hard and fast rule -
Needlessly keeping the tyre underinflated will damage tyres due to sidewall flex and overheating - remember every vehicle/tyre combination requires a different pressure.

------------------
Ex RAF Regt, Ex Dragoman, LRE Instructor,
LR 90 300 Tdi Overlander
Suzuki DR650 Overlander
..and Bloody Nice Bloke!

[This message has been edited by Gipper (edited 30 January 2005).]

Many thanks Gipper

I'm looking forward to trying it out!

Do you have any idea what "dubious free-wheeling front diff" means in plain english? If it's got it's limitations i want to know what they are so when i'm out there what does having a free wheeling front diff mean i can and can't do?

Many thanks
Neil

Hello Neil

In the good old land-rovers and Jap relatives you could manualy connect and disconnect the front traction by a click in an optional charming device found at the hub of the front wheels.

have a good trip !

Cheers for that.

Not sure if it's the same thing though. I thought freewheeling hubs was something different. Either way i'm still not sure what it'll mean when i'm in the rough stuff. Has it not got a locking dif or not? :-/

Re the freewheeling fron diff:

Freewheeling whell hubbs allow the drivetrain to be disconnected from any moving parts (i.e. wheels and engine) at both the point of connection with transmission (i.e. when H2 is selcted) and the wheels (when hubs are unlocked). This means that no movement, and consequently no wear / drag occurs in the front drivetrain. A freewheeling diff means that rather than disconnect the wheels from the drivetrain, the diff is diconnected. I don't see any great advantage / disadvantage, although I'm unfamiliar with how this works. I can't see it being mechanical as this would involve grovelling around under the front of the truck, so presumably it is actuated from the cab somehow by means of a switch or (horror of horrors) automatically when 4x4 is selected.

The downside of this I guess is the lack of control - it's nice to lock the hubs yourslef an know they're locked, rather than let an electrical connection -which may not always work- do it for you.

I've little knowledge of the Surf (the Hilux Pickup has FWH), so perhaps there is something specifically bad about the free wheeling diff -ask on a Hilux Surf froum-, but I guess that in essence, what Chris is referring to is whether there is any point having freewheeling diffs over freewheeling hubs - just another thing to go wrong in the desert...

OK i got it now. I think it must be automatically switched when 4wd is engaged as there is no separate switch in the cab and 4H is engaged with an electric button. I can see the disadvantage over the manual switch on the hubs but as Chris points out in his book all 4x4's are going that way. It's more dumbing down and softening up. Take the new disco's terrain response knob, little picture of a cactus for sand like you'd find in a child's colouring book... In Morocco i kept hearing how we Europeans are "soft" my response was always "Well pal I'd give you five years of living in Europe and you'd end up soft too!"

Well I'll just have to put my faith in Toyota reliability, things could be worse!

cheers

The Toy surf/4runner has ADD: Automaticly disconecting differentials. If you go into 4H or 4L an electronic switch activates a vacuum pump on the front axle and "connects" the front axle to the drivr shaft. "Dodgy" because there could be problems with the vacuum pump, pump hoses and/or electronics. I will be swopping mine out for manual hubbs as soon as I have the tom.

Ah, there's always more than i understand ;-)

Is it worth changing it though? Am i right in thinking that if it malfunctions all that will happen is you are stuck in 2WD until you get it fixed. Is it bush fixable? I'd guess if its a hose broken it could be, pump gone maybe not. I'm not in the wilds like you but i think i'll stick with the ease of auto changing into 4WD for now, getting upto my ears in mud once when it breaks probably better than every time to get out and switch the hubs! Thats if i understand all this.... which i realy can't say for sure i do :-/

Cheers