2006 Toyota Land Cruiser - Still Here, Somehow.

[Rocket88]

This of any interest?

[St.Jude]

Thanks all.

I’ll drop you a PM @Rocket88 when I’m in a position to make an offer. It won’t be until Feb/March though as that’s the earliest I’ll be able to replace this heap.

[St.Jude]

Well here we are, 2023 and finally the air suspension is working! Took the mobile mechanic two attempts as the fuckwit at eBay missold the height sensor.

Air Bag is fixed, sensor is fixed, turned it on and it seems to be OK. Will take it for a trip out tonight to B&Q.

Obviously the replacement I have for this has turned in to be a nightmare, which is another story that I'm fast growing more pissed off with, so this is staying with me for the time being. If it behaves, I might try and look at the air conditioning. But first thing would be to monitor this new height sensor. If it works, the place I got it from are selling the shocks for it for about £160 each (instead of £500 each). If this part is OK, while the box looked a bit generic, I might just do that with it.

[St.Jude]

Aaaaaand that was premature.

Drove it down the road to pick my lad up, it’s bouncing around like a motherfucker. Shocks need to be done, it can’t be driven like it is.

And, there’s a theme, I had just taxed the fucker 😂😂

[St.Jude]

I sank a bottle and a bit of wine last night while perusing YouTube. Usual shit of watching Retropower and wanting to be out working on my Lada, then reminding myself I’ve a Land Cruiser that’s broken and a Rover that’s even more broken.

I thought fuck it, let me buy the shocks for the Land Cruiser from Milner Off Road. The 3rd party ones, a pair for £320. Except they don’t have them on their site anymore. That’s promising!

I went to Google, and yeah there are plenty of listings for them, all 3rd party ones and I just thought they’re going to be shit. Until I came across two Australian websites selling genuine shock absorbers for $120. Delivery costs $110, so altogether it’d be $350. That’s £189.

I’ve asked an Australian Faceache group if the genuine shocks are really that cheap, and apparently they are. I’ve asked that place if they’re brand new and they said they are, but I need to 100% make sure the part numbers are right. Rougtrax who sell the genuine ones have the same part numbers so it looks promising.

I think there’s a 2.5% duty to pay on imports from Oz over £135, and VAT. So with all of that it’s still going to cost less than the 3rd party ones Milners were selling. Genuine ones from Roughtrax cost £450 each.

I’ve ordered a new credit card as I’ve lost it, but once it’s here I’m going to bite the bullet and get them ordered.

[808 Estate]

Can I ask the websites for the Aussie places?

The surf will need new suspension soon.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Youtubers I follow with Toyota 4x4 shop a lot from here. Whether they are good or not I do not know.

https://www.terraintamer.com/

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, 808 Estate said:

Can I ask the websites for the Aussie places?

The surf will need new suspension soon.

There is: www.allfourx4.com.au and there is www.newtowntoyota.parts. The former are breakers and the latter I think is an actually Toyota dealership.

59 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Youtubers I follow with Toyota 4x4 shop a lot from here. Whether they are good or not I do not know.

https://www.terraintamer.com/

Problem I’m finding with people with Toyota 4x4s is that their go to response is “get rid of the air suspension just go coils m9”. All of them go for these adjustable ones like on that site that you adjust manually while stationary. Sure it’s a bitch when it don’t work but sometimes I just like to pretend I’m on a boat on the motorway, and when I come off I switch it to hip breaking sport mode 😂

[Asimo]

https://cabmasters.com  Has some land cruiser stuff.  I think it is removed from the landcruisers that are modified for the mod / foreign office.  No idea if it is what uou need but does include some suspension bits.

[St.Jude]

2 minutes ago, Asimo said:

https://cabmasters.com  Has some land cruiser stuff.  I think it is removed from the landcruisers that are modified for the mod / foreign office.  No idea if it is what uou need but does include some suspension bits.

 Cheers, had a look but they’ve nothing for the 120 which is a shame.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Have you thought of an alternative way to fix it?

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Have you thought of an alternative way to fix it?

How would a roof rack fix the suspension?

[Markeh]

Price difference on parts between countries is insane sometimes. When I replaced the front camera on my Qashqai, it was going to be about £500 from my local Nissan dealer. £300 all in inc import charges from a Nissan dealer in Texas, confirmed the correct part from the VIN.

[St.Jude]

So I managed to ring Toyota today to get the part number, and why not - a quote. Would you like to see the quote?

Yes, of course you do.

Prepare yourself…

Direct from Toyota!!!!!!!

£944.65 for a shock absorber! Roughtrax have them for £450 which offers exceptional value.

I’ve got the part number now (48530-69485) and have gone back to the Aussie guys confirming that the part they’re selling matches this. The photo on their website includes the part number sticker (the description doesn’t) and they match. But I have to be sure.

Found a website to calculate import duties and shit, if I buy two from Australia it will cost altogether ~£240.

So we just wait now for confirmation, but the moment they do it’s getting fucking bought. Bastard Toyota.

[JMotor]

Might be of some help.

https://toyota.epc-data.com/

Been using this site to look up stuff for my Altezza. 

[St.Jude]

8 minutes ago, JMotor said:

Might be of some help.

https://toyota.epc-data.com/

Been using this site to look up stuff for my Altezza. 

Cheers. I got invited to toyodiy and got the part number there but Mr.Robbing Bastards Toyota said that had been superceeded by the the one above.

[JMotor]

No worries.

Also, "The Bastards!" still can't get my head around the price difference!

I went to an Irish AE86 specialist for service items for mine. As I could see the dealer not being interested in selling parts for an Import.  

[Dave_Q]

It's weird how some are almost hostile to keeping older cars on the road and some really go for it. 

Ze Germans are pretty good at this, BMW and Merc especially keep parts for old models almost indefinitely and for reasonable prices.

You rolling around in your old Toyota is a small advert for how great and long lasting the new ones are, seems like a mixture of stupidity and greed not to want to take your shekels for spare parts to keep it on the road.

[chadders]

Without going into tedious detail it could be partly due to different countries and companies accounting policies regarding stock values and holding costs.

[Spurious]

Not teaching granny to suck eggs here, but is there another car which the shocks would suit? A lexus perhaps? 

Might be easier to find one on eBay? 

[warch]

49 minutes ago, Dave_Q said:

It's weird how some are almost hostile to keeping older cars on the road and some really go for it. 

Ze Germans are pretty good at this, BMW and Merc especially keep parts for old models almost indefinitely and for reasonable prices.

You rolling around in your old Toyota is a small advert for how great and long lasting the new ones are, seems like a mixture of stupidity and greed not to want to take your shekels for spare parts to keep it on the road.

You don't see many old Land Cruisers, anything pre 90s (VX) is vanishingly rare these days, even the two VXs I remember seeing driving around my way have gone now. They were never that common to begin with in the UK.  

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

It's weird how some are almost hostile to keeping older cars on the road and some really go for it. 

Ze Germans are pretty good at this, BMW and Merc especially keep parts for old models almost indefinitely and for reasonable prices.

You rolling around in your old Toyota is a small advert for how great and long lasting the new ones are, seems like a mixture of stupidity and greed not to want to take your shekels for spare parts to keep it on the road.

Well the one hand is giving out those stickers saying it’s done 150,000/200,000 miles - probably due to the cost of parts to keep them on the road. Even the bloke on the phone was surprised how much they were. But I doubt he is really.

1 hour ago, chadders said:

Without going into tedious detail it could be partly due to different countries and companies accounting policies regarding stock values and holding costs.

Maybe, but I had a MAP/MAF filter from them when I did the injectors and it cost £50 I think. It’s a tiny plastic cylinder no taller than a £2 coin with two pipes attached. These cost about $10 in Australia, and they’re fitted to more than just the Land Cruiser. There are variances, but then there is down right pants dropping.

1 hour ago, Spurious said:

Not teaching granny to suck eggs here, but is there another car which the shocks would suit? A lexus perhaps? 

Might be easier to find one on eBay? 

I don’t think it’s a commonly shared part. From all the Googling I couldn’t see it being mentioned alongside Lexus or anything. This Land Cruiser is a Lexus in America but still, part numbers etc don’t turn up much.

As for eBay - tried that. They vary in prices, you can get a pair for £150-£200. But they’re not genuine and it’s feels wasteful if I can get them genuine from Australia for £40 more.

[artdjones]

I just wonder how Australian companies can get genuine parts for 10% of the UK price.

Although 10 years ago I wanted to get a set of caliper slides for an E12 Corolla, which was UK made. 2pins and two tiny rubber boots -€125. 

[St.Jude]

14 hours ago, artdjones said:

I just wonder how Australian companies can get genuine parts for 10% of the UK price.

Although 10 years ago I wanted to get a set of caliper slides for an E12 Corolla, which was UK made. 2pins and two tiny rubber boots -€125. 

Toyota Australia seem a bit fairer than Toyota UK.

These Land Cruisers have a nasty fault where the dashboard cracks. Mine has it, and they just appear. Nothing you can do about it.

Toyota UK don’t care, you have to pay for a new dashboard to fix the issue. Toyota Australia? They’ll fix it for free.

Then again I’ve seen the prices of the air bags in Australia, I think they’re cheaper in the Uk.

[artdjones]

Maybe consumer protection is stronger in Australia than Europe. I know a lot more was done about VAG DSG gearbox problems there than in Europe. German car makers have too much political capital in Europe for any strong consumer protection concerning car problems. See the difference between the US and EU responses over the VAG emissions scandal.

[colino]

Sellers in Europe strongly maintain their prices to preserve the brand and they know they will still achieve a decent volume of sales.  Other economies won't tolerate such price maintenance so parts prices have to reflect the market.  Shorthand - they screw us because they can. 

[straightSix]

I'm in Australia atm and you're literally tripping over old land cruisers. Although they all seem lifted so not on original suspension. Would offer to bring them back for you but don't have space in the old suitcase!

[St.Jude]

51 minutes ago, colino said:

Sellers in Europe strongly maintain their prices to preserve the brand and they know they will still achieve a decent volume of sales.  Other economies won't tolerate such price maintenance so parts prices have to reflect the market.  Shorthand - they screw us because they can. 

Well they can fuck off because I placed the order this morning. Fingers crossed they’re alright, given the alternatives. Plus I paid by credit card so I’m at least covered if it goes Pete Tong.

36 minutes ago, straightSix said:

I'm in Australia atm and you're literally tripping over old land cruisers. Although they all seem lifted so not on original suspension. Would offer to bring them back for you but don't have space in the old suitcase!

This is the thing. You ask most of them “are these shocks genuine?” And all you get is “mate take out the air suspension and put taller coils on it”. 

If I wanted to do that id have done it. But I like the misery of air suspension!

[PhilA]

That's what Napa have listed. 

Not cheap no, but at least they exist. Rock Auto list air springs, too.

[lesapandre]

1 hour ago, straightSix said:

I'm in Australia atm and you're literally tripping over old land cruisers. Although they all seem lifted so not on original suspension. Would offer to bring them back for you but don't have space in the old suitcase!

That earlier model don't have air suspension I think.

My earlier HJ60 has solid axles front and rear on leaf-spring - no IFS - but handles ok...ish.

Parts yes most stuff I have got has either come in from Aus and the USA.  All body panels are still available etc.

The UK parts situation is mostly non -existent.