[Commando]

At least with the back lifted, the roof is now straight leveled haha!

 

[Coff33]

Half of the parts have now arrived.
If you don't know. Australia has one of the world's worst logistics companies, along with businesses who sell from eBay. Another week away is the rest of the parts... Hopefully (Same seller, different warehouses in different states... Sigh..)

 

[Commando]

Did you bought the protection boots that goes over the front shocks rods? Your shocks will last longer with boots.

 

[Coff33]

Did you bought the protection boots that goes over the front shocks rods? Your shocks will last longer with boots.

Im not sure if the KYB's come with them ? otherwise ill use my originals which are not too bad condition.

 

[Commando]

Im not sure if the KYB's come with them ?

No, I bought these from KYB.... but were sold separately.

 

[Coff33]

Hey All,
As we all do, i couldnt wait for more parts to arrive without doing "something"
So decided to install the rear Ford Escape / Mazda Tribute 2001 shocks .

A size comparison :

As you can see, the lower bushes are different. RAV4 Toyota has only the rubber bush to slip over the lower mount.
The Ford Escape / Mazda tribute shocks have a metal tube.

Even though my purchase of these was based off a Russian forum, which was translated into English, the bush part worried me... none the less I continued

I greased up the lower shock mount pin. Assuming they were going to fit, I'd rather not have RUST eat its self between the shock bush mount an the lower mount.

To my surprise the shock pushed straight on, Almost a "PRESS-FIT" onto the mount. There is literally ZERO movement of the tube on the shock mount!! Amazing!

The factory Toyota mount bolt fit fine, with plenty of turns (5 rotations) and secured the shock fine on the mount.

Up the top, The factory Toyota 14mm Nuts also fit on just fine, using the new rubber isolators which came with the Ford Escape / Mazda Tribute shocks .

I went for a test drive an they feel a lot more supportive and rebound is a LOT more improved.

Highly recommended.

 

[Commando]

Very interesting! You can gain for sure one more inch to the lenght because you have two nuts one over the other.... and there is still some more threads left. So I will also buy these shocks on my ''new'' RAV4, and put a metal sleeve under the bushings area to get the maximum lenght out of these. Thank you for sharing!

 

[Coff33]

Today I installed a 4.3 ACA3X Steering wheel into the 4.2
I havent figured out if I can make the steering wheel buttons work without getting a 4.3 clock spring. Even then, I would need electrical diagrams of 4.2 and 4.3 to figure it out and in Australia we do not have a freedom of information act. Therefore no information would be available for that. Maybe something to look at in the future.

Indicators turning off when turning corners work fine though. Which is all that I really need.

Anyway, nice leather wheel, I sanded it back slightly and gave it a re-coat using Fabric and Vinyl paint.

Much nicer than my "rubber/plastic" wheel which had chunks missing out of it.

 

[Coff33]

Removed the Suzuki Grand Vitara 17x6.5 wheels and Toyo Open Country 225/70/17, as they were making a lot of noise, and didnt really feel "right"
Installed some Toyota Kluger 2007 wheels. They are 16x6.5J +35 Offset. So that gains me 10mm more track! which is nice!
(note: Kluger in Australia is Highlander in US/Canada etc)

I plan on fitting some 245/70R16 A/T tyres. Just havent completely decided on a brand yet.

I also moved my sand recovery boards from the side of my roof rack, to on-board the roof rack. I felt as if they were really disrupting balance on the highways at 100kph.
Still waiting on Australia Post for my parts. Hopefully this week I receive them and can get a move on installing them.

 

[Coff33]

Well, again some parts arrived from the east coast of Australia. Only took 2 weeks for these to leave a warehouse and get to my house... LOL

Anyway this time I received the KYB top mounts for the front struts.

I removed the short standard 3 knurled bolts from the top and used a wire wheel to grind off some of the paint around the base.
I grabbed some M10x65mm bolts

Using my MIG, I welded the bolts to the base of the mount.

Sadly,
After hours of work , I could not get the FJ cruiser or LandCruiser Prado springs to sit right and work on the strut. So I'm slightly disappointed in that. However good news is the struts are now fitted and feels fantastic to drive on

After further inspection of the 2004 Toyota OEM shocks. One was completely blown and sank right down when was changing over the springs.
I guess eventually I'll just bite the bullet and purchase some King Springs from EBAY to get an extra inch of lift in the front.

 

[Coff33]

Oh and I also painted my OEM nudge bar Satin Black, looks much nicer now.
Im considering painting the F and R bumpers and side door moulding plastics satin black too....I wonder if that would look good or not... hrmmmm

 

[Coff33]

 

[scotty68]

The front bar looks great in black. Man I really like that white with the silver bumpers and moulding. Clean and classy!

 

[Coff33]

The front bar looks great in black. Man I really like that white with the silver bumpers and moulding. Clean and classy!

funny you say that

I've been toying with the idea of painting the bumpers and side mouldings black

 

[Coff33]

Wheel alignment complete.
My toe was WAY off after strut replacement. Quite strange considering the tierods/rack ends are not modified during the strut swap out...

Car feels good again. Just in time to go camping this weekend in the Western Australia Perth Hills.

Weather is going to be rain, so mud and wetness ... Fingers crossed it's loads of fun!

 

[Commando]

Wheel alignment complete. My toe was WAY off after strut replacement. Quite strange considering the tierods/rack ends are not modified during the strut swap out..

When you lift the RAV4, it acts like if you had shortened the tie-rods... so the front wheels get a bit tow out.

 

[Coff33]

This will be the second alignment since lifting it

 

[SlimJim16v]

That front camber needs sorting.

 

[Coff33]

My front top camber bolts are maxed out. Maybe I need to replace the bottom bolts with camber bolts too?

 

[SlimJim16v]

Two bolts aren't ideal, but you don't want positive camber, it gives understeer, or push. The bolts are quite big, so should give enough clamping force. You want 0 - 1 degree negative. Plus 0.5 degree difference between left and right is too much.

Another option is to drill one extra hole in the wing, so that you can turn the top mount. Though the three bolts look like a perfect triangle, they're not. This gives a touch more camber and caster. I'll take a photo of mine tomorrow to show what I mean.