AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Thanks Corey,

I can’t tell you a part number for the scoop, as far as I know there is only one Hilux bonnet scoop available, or at least when I enquired they just gave me a price without asking for any more details. My crash repairer who did the install actually purchased it from Toyota on my behalf as he got a trade discount, which he knocked of the labour for the job.

It wasn’t centered as there is already a hole in the lower skin of the bonnet to feed air through the intercooler from the front vents. This is slightly of centre and we wanted to do the minimum amount of cutting possible. My air feed from the front vents hasn’t been altered at all so air is coming in from the original vents and the bonnet scoop 8) Hilux scoops are off centre as well, Patrols are off centre and Triton scoops are WAY off centre. After the first couple of days you don’t even notice it being off centre as it is only slightly to the right.

A bit more will be happening soon with the buildup, just bought a pair of IPF 900 XS spotties. I won’t fit these until I get the new ARB deluxe bar which i will order tomorrow. And then.................. better save a few more dollars because there is lots still to do

A few more Cape York pics










Cheers Andrew

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

A bit more will be happening soon with the build up, just bought a pair of IPF 900 XS spotties. I wont fit these until i get the new ARB deluxe bar which i will order tomorrow. And then.................. better save a few more dollars cause there is lots still to do

Cheers Andrew

I assume you are getting the Winch bar ther Andrew? Going the native Grey/Black or getting it coloured? I'm trying to recall if you had lockers or not? I think you did but my memory is bad tonight, espeically after watching Aladin with the kids.

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Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

A bit more will be happening soon with the buildup, just bought a pair of IPF 900 XS spotties. I won’t fit these until I get the new ARB deluxe bar which I will order tomorrow. And then.................. better save a few more dollars because there is lots still to do

Cheers Andrew

I assume you are getting the Winch bar there Andrew? Going the native Grey/Black or getting it coloured? I'm trying to recall if you had lockers or not? I think you did but my memory is bad tonight, espeically after watching Aladin with the kids.

Yep, definitely a winch bar as a winch is on the to do list. I have ordered it in black/grey but ultimately it has to be white, my preference is to have it sand blasted and powder coated white, but I will wait and see what sort of quotes i get for this. Otherwise I will get it painted locally.

Yep, got lockers front and rear, I have edited my first post so all the Mods are listed by page that the info appears on, should make it easy for anyone looking.

More Cape York pics










Cheers Andrew

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Scangauge 11

I have had my Scangauge 11 for a while now but haven't posted pics as I only had it temporarily mounted until now. I have placed it on top of the steering column as this seemed the best spot to view the readout as well as the neatest fit. I decided not to go with the Velcro option as it looks like well..... It looks like it has been stuck on with Velcro!
As the plastic cover on the steering column is curved and the Scangauge is flat I decided in order to get a neat fit that I would make a plastic spacer to go between the two.






I initially curved the bottom side of the plastic strip to roughly the shape of the steering column and then stuck it on with double sided tape. Once stuck down the plastic conformed to the correct shape so it looked neat. I then filed the top surface flat so that the Scangauge would sit nicely on top attached again with double sided tape.

Cheers Andrew

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ARB Bullbar

Well last week I picked up a new ARB Deluxe bullbar for the Prado, it has to be said that it was a complete F*$%IN piece of S%*T. The bullbar was rusty straight out of the box where it hadn't been powder coated, it was scratched badly, it was deformed where it was put together incorrectly, welds full of porosity, welds missing all together, weld spatter that hadn't been cleaned of. Anyway after a few phone calls back and forth and ARB genuinely wanted to rectify things, it was decided that as I was going to be in Adelaide today, that I would return the bullbar and they would fit a new one for me.

I had my new ARB deluxe bar fitted today, and it has to be said, what a F$%*IN piece of S%*T. Welding spatter again, not horrendous but not good for a premium bar, the top tube is dented but worst of all the whole bar is sitting off centre by about 10mm which I noticed when I got about 5 metres away from the car. ARB tell me that there is no left or right adjustment in their Bullbars although they have an idea on something that could be done, but it is not recommended.

I sold my Sovereign bar on the way home from Adelaide tonight, I miss it already, at least it fitted properly. If anyone is in the market for a boat anchor send me a PM I may have one for sale soon.

Cheers Andrew

[matt150 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close matt150]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Bloody hell Andrew..

That's bullshit. Whack up some pics when ya get a chance mate.

[AJ Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close AJ]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

I feel for you mate, when my ARB Deluxe Bar got fitted I wasn't 100% happy with it either. Mine had the same thing with the rust where the powdercoating didn't touch on the mounting system. I touched that up myself with some Killrust. I guess I got lucky though, because mine wasn't all scratched up (I've done that myself...) and no dings.

Which ARB store are you dealing with (maybe PM me that one unless you feel like openly sledging them) :wink:

Fingers crossed you can get all of this sorted sooner rather than later.... :roll:

Cheers,
AJ

[Matty80 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Matty80]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Damn mate, thats absolutely F*#%@D!!!!
I'll need a boat before a boat anchor... Though, never hurts to be prepared?

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ARB Bullbar

Ok guys, the first bar was just a disaster, the powder coating was missing from the front of the bar so it couldn't be touched up, besides the missing welds made any cosmetic problems immaterial. I bought the Bullbar from my local ARB distributor in Renmark (2 towns away from me) and in their defense they never even saw the Bullbar, it was in a box, they have done everything they can to rectify the problem (so far). I have since been dealing with ARB state headquarters on South Rd who fitted the second Bullbar yesterday. It is worth knowing when you look at the photos below that the Bullbar was apparently personally inspected by the State manager, it was also supposedly fitted by the workshop foreman with instructions to take extra care as it was a warranty job.

Driver’s side sits inside the line of the flare, passengers is outside.






I went with the ARB bar based solely on the quality of the fit and finish.




The manager must have inspected it from the comfort of his office chair.




I was supposed to get a call today in regards to having the problems rectified, my phone has been noticeably quiet. I get the feeling that I am now being viewed as one of those difficult customers that just can't be satisfied.

Cheers Andrew

[foxclan Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close foxclan]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Hi Andrew
Disappointed to say the least mate. How many stories similar to yours will it take for large manufacturers to actually give a Shit about quality control in this Country.
Did you capitalise on the ARB 's STHIL chainsaw giveaway promotion? :twisted: Ya could fire that baby up to help with a happy outcome in your favour. :twisted:
Good Luck Troy

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Hey Andrew,

That sucks - I've had nothing but good service from ARB - I reckon they will sort it out for you.

To cause a dent like that must have taken a fair whack I reckon!

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ARB Bullbar

Hi Andrew
Disappointed to say the least mate. How many stories similar to yours will it take for large manufacturers to actually give a sh!t about quality control in this Country.
Did you capitalize on the ARB 's STHIL chainsaw giveaway promotion? :twisted: Ya could fire that baby up to help with a happy outcome in your favour. :twisted:
Good Luck Troy

No Troy, the budget didn't stretch that far just yet, anyway i reckon i could find something a lot better than a chainsaw if I were to go down that path :wink:

Anyway here the latest and possibly final chapter on this subject. Just for a bit of background info, i seriously considered buying an Ironman bar, see here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9557, after the first bar arrived in such a bad state I actually asked for a refund and decided that I would buy the Ironman bar as I had only rejected it as I thought that the ARB would be better quality, this was when I received the call from the ARB state manager promising me that they would go to the ends of the earth to make things right, I agreed to stick with ARB and this was also the point we agreed on them fitting the second bar in Adelaide. When I arrived in Adelaide I asked to inspect bullbar No.2 before fitting, at which point I noticed and pointed out the dent to the sales guy. They had another bar in stock but ARB rejected that as it had more damage than the one I looked at. I then left ARB, one to give me time to think, and two I tried to source a different brand off bullbar but was unable to, so I returned asked them to fit what they had as I was supposed to deliver my Sovereign bar that arvo. I had assumed that i would just get it repaired myself until I saw the misalignment problem and the dodgy sounding solution that was being put forward to rectify it. Any way despite the manager telling me he had personally inspected the bullbar, he now tells me that he asked someone else to do that. I was also told that there is no left or right adjustment, I had a look on the weekend and there is adjustment and it is not a big deal to rectify the fault as it was only sloppy workmanship that caused the problem in the first place. This only left the dent, which after I made a phone call and emailed a photo after a few days of silence, apparently nobody knew anything about it :? . Anyway to cut a long story short, they agreed to send me yet another bullbar although I have very little confidence now that it would be any good. I received a call today to say that they can supply me the replacement bar sometime next month. I told them not to bother and that I would get it repaired and painted myself. The manager was very disappointed about this response, not that I felt it necessary to rectify the problem myself, but that he would not be able to return the damaged bar to Melbourne for their quality control process (which IMO is seriously flawed). So I will remove it on the weekend and have it repaired and painted next week.

It’s not that ARB didn’t want to solve the problems, they just seem to be completely incapable of doing so in any reasonable time frame.

Cheers Andrew

[tinkera Member Find all posts View Profile Close tinkera]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

HI Andrew .Has that service manger from Toyota: re gear box hole joined ARB. :twisted: TINKERA.

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Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Well after a few hitches my bullbar upgrade is now complete. A few photos here of when it was fitted and still black/grey.







When i removed the bullbar to have it repaired and painted i found a couple of other things I wasn't happy with, 1 bolt was missing, and where they had cut the indicator light wires and rejoined them I found a mass of electrical tape about the size of a golf ball. After unravelling the tape I found they had joined the wires with scotch locks which IMO are horrible things that almost always end up causing you problems. I removed the scotch locks soldered the joins and covered with heat shrink and split tubing so all looks very tidy now. Also where the hole for the locking bolts were drilled they had not painted the holes, so a bit of cold galv on them as well.






I also took the opportunity to fit a set if IPF 900 extreme sport spotties, i purchased a set of clear lens covers the same day I picked up the first bullbar, despite checking and double checking that they were to suit IPF 900 XS they were the wrong ones :roll: it only took ARB one go to rectify this problem though.











So black or white for an ARB deluxe bar :?: everyone has their own opinion but to me the answer is obvious, white is a no brainer, like buying a white Prado in the first place :wink:

Just gotta get something to fill that hole below the number plate now

Cheers Andrew

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: AJ120s 2009 D4D and DIY camper trailer

Looks good there Andrew. Hope you are happy with the e3nd result.

It's amazing the difference the colour coding makes on the spot lights. They look completely different once the bar has been colour matched :lol: