[Coff33]

So as for measurements, I dont even remember what OEM was .... But now :

Front HUB to wheel arch:
52cm / 20"

Front tread to wheel arch :
15cm / 6"

Rear HUB to wheel arch :
51cm / 20"

Rear Tread to Wheel arch :
16cm / 6.5"

 

[Rad4.2]

Hey Coffs, saw in a previous post your mention of a cad file for your initial lift. Whereabouts did you find this? Looking for that file for myself.

cheers!

 

[Coff33]

Hey Coffs, saw in a previous post your mention of a cad file for your initial lift. Whereabouts did you find this? Looking for that file for myself.

cheers!

Hey Mate,
I've modified the cad file since and will be manufacturing these in Australia for sale (Ebay probably?) for much cheaper than other sites/sellers.
Hence, Probably wont send it to you... Happy to make you a set though!

This week I went on a trip and ... I've replaced my wheels ..... again........
Some friends from way back in time , came over from Sydney on the East Coast to our City on the West Coast. South of us is town called "Margaret River" . Its much colder and always overcast for around 10 months of the year. Perfect for grape growing, therefore there are MANY wineries everywhere.

Our friends wanted to head down there which is around 4 hours south of Perth City on the West coast of Australia.
Drove down just fine in the RAV4, drove around for about 8 hours each day to different wineries and chocolate factories. Absolutely relaxed chilled out experience. Enjoyed it muchly!

When I got back on Thursday, I opened up the new 16x7 Steel wheels which I purchased recently. I was ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY by how absolutely HEAVY they are!!!

At 13KG EACH WHEEL! without a tyre. I decided I'm not going to fit them. That's just way too much weight, especially once I add an AT tyre on top of that.
Just to give you an idea. Those Toyota Kluger (Highlander) 2006 wheels on the back in the image above, Weigh around 25kg with the Yokohama Geolander in 225/75R16 tyre.
So putting the steel wheels on will give me more unsprung weight on each corner, more wear on the driveshafts, wheel bearings and the engine. Not to mention, most likely affect my acceleration on inclines and beach sand. Which really is the Rav4's key to offroading.

So..
I tried fitting a spare set of Toyota Kluger (Highlander) 2010 wheels which I had picked up around the same time as the rear wheels in the above pics.
Sadly on the front, they didn't clear my brake calliper. Strange being factory Toyota wheels.... However they have almost NO back-spacing at all and almost sit completely flat on the rotor.

I had a spare set of some old 2001 17x7 +35 Japanese "MANARAY EUROSPORT" wheels sitting around in my garage, they came on my imported Toyota Altezza RS200 a few years ago. Covered in spiderwebs and sand and dust. I dug them out and fitted them on.... They cleared fine... and most of all didnt exactly look... super retarded.

Decided to find some softer AT tyres and throw them on .
Found some Pirelli Scorpion ATR , in 245/65R17 ... I read a bit about these tyres. They're some weird limbo land between an All-Terrain and a Passenger car tyre. Probably not great for mud holes or climbing over large rocks (which i'll rarely do in my state anyway...) Sand and Gravel/Rocky hills is all we really have over here.
Pros :
Quiet on road
Good treadwear miles
Grippy in wet
Great on Sand
Can be air'd down to 20psi safely

Cons:
Cant find any...

 

[Coff33]

Once fitted on the Rav, they actually look quite good.

Being 245/65R17 they have a bit of a larger footprint compared to the 225's Geolanders ive been running, and the stability on the road at speed is VERY noticeable. With the current lift and a bit of a side wind, the Rav would wobble around the road a little on the highway. With this new size, the Rav is 100% more stable. I'll see how they go off-road in a week or so when I head south for another camping trip with my brother in law and his family.

 

[Coff33]

Hey All,
Managed to swap out my water pump this week.
Very simple job on the RAV4 which at the time I was totally stoked about.

It wasnt leaking, and I wasnt losing coolant, however I could see some crusty pink TOYOTA long life around the bottom side of it last time I was under there. Summer is fast approaching Australia and I'd rather spend a few hours on this and $50 for a pump rather than be out on the trails and have it let go and have to be towed home.

Using a 19mm socket I loosened off the tensioner which sits just behind the water pump pulley

Disconnect and remove the Alternator / Aircon wiring/harness off the front side of the engine and remove the Alternator:

Once out of the way, you can start with removing the two bolts/nuts which are holding the remaining harness and plug from the engine, which is also the first two bolts/nuts of the water pump
slowly and carefully removing each bolt or nut on the pump, then from underneath through the wheel arch, you can get to the bottom few bolts and nuts.

Once all un-done, you can give the water pump a small tap with a soft hammer an a large screw driver to break the seal

Here is my old pump and my new pump

The new item comes with a little rubber seal which sits in the groove around the edge.

I also used a very small amount of RTV simply to hold the seal in place as I re-mounted the pump.

Once tightened down lightly. Replace the alternator, replace the wiring harness and the job was complete.
I gave the RAV around an hour , then re-filled the system and burped the air out.

Easy as !

 

[Coff33]

Last week, I managed to fit in my 40mm spacers.
So the RAV4 now has "a 2inch lift" from the King Springs I've installed previously. (more like 1-1.5 inch compared to factory) and the 40mm Spacers.
So a total of around 3 inches ....

Sadly, I now have a rumble/vibration in both the front and rear of the Rav.
I find between ~75kph - 110kph there is a vibration that is felt in both the steering wheel (as if my front wheels are not balanced?) and also under my seat... which indicates either driveshaft or rear axels. It only occurs on acceleration with throttle applied. When coasting and no throttle applied there is zero vibration. So this further indicates its driveshaft or axels.

I decided to attempt to space down the driveshaft center bearing 15mm and the rear differential sub frame 15mm, which is the max you can space it from the body it before you run out of thread on the OEM bolts. Hoping this would straighten out my rear axels a slight bit more and prevent the vibration...

This did not fix the issue.

I decided it may be the 17 inch wheels and tyres mentioned in a post above. Although the wheels WERE fine on my Altezza with 215/45R17 tyres.
I checked the date on the Pirelli Scorpion ATR tyres which I picked up second hand.... 2015.......Very old, I thought this might mean they are beyond their used-by date and have become to hard or out of shape.

So the next step was to test other wheels and tyres.... Lucky I still had not sold my 16x7 D-HOLE Steel wheels. So went to my local tyre store and had my Yokohama Geolander G015 fitted.

The vibration was dampened slightly, however still did not completely fix the issue.
Most roads in Australia are 60, 80 and 100. So this is frustrating to have a vibration most of my time driving on highways.

My only option now is to ask my fabricator to complete some 30mm spacers to hopefully reduce the axel angle on both front and back.

Anyone have any thoughts on this ?

 

[Coff33]

After some hard searching of this forum , i found a post by "Project Overland"

Rear axle popped out of rear diff

I recently got and installed an old man emu rear shocks but waited to put the rear springs on until now. While taking the rear suspension apart I didn't take the axle bolt off of the axle hub so when everything else was disconnected the axle popped out of the differential. If this makes sense...

www.rav4world.com

This occurred on both sides of my rear when I completed the 40mm Spacer install. As I had to disconnect the upper control arm from the hub to force the spring in.... Could I have busted my inner CV joints on both sides?

 

[Coff33]

No pictures.

My previous pair of lift spacers were 25mm in size. At the time, they didnt give me any trouble. Today, for testing, I removed the 40mm rear lift spacers.

I went to the local supermarket and purchased 2 very cheap chopping boards.
I measured their thickness to be 5mm. Simple plastic chopping boards.

Using a few tools, I traced out the inner and outer diameter for the rear spacers and cut out the chopping boards to match

I then installed my 25mm spacers and the 5mm chopping board spacers into the rear. Lowering the axle angle by another 10mm

I no longer have a vibration or rumble in the rear when driving between ~70-100kph , no vibration at all.

So in conclusion, the EBAY Australia "King Springs" for our 4.2 Ravs, + 40mm spacers are too much lift for the axles.
However, the EBAY Australia "King Springs" for our 4.2 Ravs, + 30mm spacers are perfect !!

I will get 5 sets of these fabricated for sale in Australia now that ive done this testing. I think 30mm without King Springs is a decent cheap lift for old OEM springs and extra lift for those also buying the King Springs.

If anyone would like a set pm' me they will be a lot cheaper than the TEMA ones.

 

[05RAV]

Great looking Gen2 off roader!

I wish more manufacturers recognized the value of a compact and yet capable off road grocery getter (sigh). I bought both my wife and I matching '05 RAVS: this is our second winter homesteading in the Rocky Mountains and the RAVs just absolutely crush winter forest roads!

I see you're adding a bunch of lift, but I'll tell you where I'm stuck is transferring power to the ground: during summer conditions my RAVs equipped with LSDs can go into 1 wheel drive mode if pushed to hard . . . not cool. Second to that, my automatic transmissions are woefully under geared when climbing steep trails when laden with gear. I have now on more occasions than I care to remember come lurching to a stop because the engine wouldn't produce enough torque to pull us another foot uphill . . . really not cool.

If I can't re gear and get a locking center differential this might be the last season I own these two. But what to replace them with? I have no idea . . .

 

[scotty68]

Maybe you've tried this, but something that can help when you get in the 1 wheel drive mode is apply some parking brake, but hold the lever button in so you can modulate it as you go. It tells the car that the one spinning tire has some traction, thus sending some power to a tire that actually does have traction. I've tried it with my RAV just goofing around and it worked well enough to pull me through.

 

[Coff33]

I havent really has any issues with climbing up big rocky hills or going through slippy sand/mud , most of the skill comes with two things:

1. Picking the right line (your not a jeep or LandCruiser)
2. Going hardcore at the challenge, using motion, being ballsy in second gear is the key.

The 1AZ/2AZ engines love to rev. So rev it hard and get your line right and you can make it up most challanges

 

[05RAV]

Maybe you've tried this, but something that can help when you get in the 1 wheel drive mode is apply some parking brake, but hold the lever button in so you can modulate it as you go. It tells the car that the one spinning tire has some traction, thus sending some power to a tire that actually does have traction. I've tried it with my RAV just goofing around and it worked well enough to pull me through.

Sort of:
The parking brake in my 2005 RAV is a pair of drums in the rear, where I also have an LSD. Slipping from the rear is essentially negligible. The problem is the front differential is open, and if it even happened to be a locker, the viscous center won't transfer the full load of the vehicle anyway.

2. Going hardcore at the challenge, using motion, being ballsy in second gear is the key.

Oh my gosh, you made me spit my coffee out No. My conditions completely prevent the use of 2nd gear! Sometimes 2nd gear is too tall for the surface I'm driving on that's depicted as a "road". No, this terrain is crawl ratios only . . . of which my RAV has none.

I've wheeled recreationally for almost 40 years. A 2002 Tundra build of mine was featured in Peterson's 4Wheel & Off-Road magazine wheeling in the Uwharrie National Forest. I'm familiar with the concept. I concede what I'm asking my RAV4.2 to perform is handily beyond Toyota's expectation. What I think is amazing is just how close the RAV4.2 is to being a great off road platform . . . if it weren't for the lack of a two-speed transfer case and locking differentials.

I'm very nearly to the point of looking for a 5-spd model and buying a third RAV4.2.

 

[Coff33]

Small update:
I've replaced the rear badges and front fender VVT-I badges with black items from Ebay. They all came from Toyota in OEM packaging and I think they look fantastic.
I also picked up what looks like a Toyota Tundra grill emblem / badge.... I've kinda made it fit on the factory grill. However I dont 100% love it. So may undertake cutting out the whole center portion of the grill and installing mesh, followed by the badge.
Also, I removed the 4 x 4" lights from my roof basket so that I can actually utilize the basket for long items if needed and installed a 22" lightbar underneath the basket at the front.
I painted the front wind-deflector of the basket white, with a huge RAV4 logo on top in Black.
After removing the 4" lights from the basket, I decided ill install 2 of them on the rear of the basket, in a lower position to keep the basket useful.
I managed to wire them up via a relay with a 2 poll switch. So therefore I can activate them the following ways:

Switch position 1. With ignition on, I can switch them on via my switch panel to blind tailgaters at night.
Switch position 2. With ignition on, I can have them switch on when the vehicle is in reverse
Switch position 3. Off completely

This will help off-road in the night adding some additional lighting when needing to backup in tight areas.

Switches:
1 fog amber lights on nudge bar
2 spotlights on nudge bar
3 light bar on roof
4 is the 2 poll switch for backup lighting (as you can tell from the green/red options.

 

[scotty68]

Good call on the emblems. They look sharp!

 

[scotty68]

Any chance you could show a close up pic of the TOYOTA grill emblem mounted? How is it secured?

 

[Coff33]

Any chance you could show a close up pic of the TOYOTA grill emblem mounted? How is it secured?

Its pretty crappy, I'll make it a bit nicer and then post some pics haha .

Ahh where was I,

A couple of weekends ago I did a solo camp up in the Perth hills.
Was a nice time , quiet beers, a JRE podcast and the stars.

Cooked up a little chicken and bean using my gas stove as there is currently a fire ban in Australia (im sure you've all seen the wild fires we can have when people are not careful)

I also picked up some Nissan X-Trail (2010) wheels.
They look much like RAV4 alloys, except they are 6 spoke instead of the 5 spoke OEM alloy wheels.

Size is 17x6.5J
+45 offset

 

[Coff33]

I purchased four 5x114.3 - 60.1 Hub Centric wheel spacers in 25mm (1") so that i could bring the offset back to +20 for a bit more track front and rear.

Paint stripped the "whatever the fk" primer that the previous owner had put on them, as I didnt know if it was acrylic or enamel or etch or anything ....

Once paint stripped to RAW alloy. I used a few coats of Etch primer, let it bond for ~4hours then hit it with some Engine Enamel Satin Black.

I think they look GREAT!
My favourite wheel yet !

 

[Coff33]

Went down south last week for a wedding , It was absolutely lovely. Had some great food and beers, Also stayed at some nice apartments in the middle of nowhere in a forest!

Over the last couple of days, Every time I parked the RAV , I could hear the rear muffler crackling and making popping noises etc.
I did some research on it. Excluding the obvious heat reduction once the RAV is off. Some say its due to the muffler being full/clogged/worn out.

So I had a look around at people selling some exhaust mufflers on Facebook Market place. I found that the VW Golf had a center entry rear muffler as well!
Some guy was selling a VW MK6 Golf exhaust for $75!

So I went and picked it up. Chopped it all up into bits and started to figure out how to install it.

After a days hard work due to me being crappy at maths/angles ...I finally got it installed.
My MIG welder ran out of gas about 2/3's of the way through, so please ignore some of the "bird-shit" welds.

I managed to raise the exhaust a bit closer to the bend in the differential mount. I also managed to mount the rear muffler much higher than the factory "barrel" item!


Its pretty.... Loud .... But not overwhelming... Ive been on the freeway at 80/100kph and its quiet. As is driving along roadways.
But during take off 1st, 2nd, 3rd gears and 2000-3000RPM its a bit like a loud car.
Or maybe im getting old ? ha !

Anyway, Next up is new roof rack plastic shells as mine are broken and this package just arrived from China after 4 months..

Random pic at the local hardware store next to a 2021 Jimny!

 

[Oskar]

Hey @Coff33 - long time ago you installed "...I removed the Thule high set roof racks and found a pair of factory rails from a wrecker 1 hour from my house. Put them on easy, with some low profile bars...."

What exactly are the low profile bars? Can you remember what you used and how you attached them so nicely?