Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

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

Guys,
This may be a stupid question, but I'll ask it anyway. My GXL is booked in soon for the replacement bullbar mounting kit. I have the opportunity to have a winch cradle supplied and fitted at the same time for no cost. My question is .... can a winch be fitted to the winch cradle after the winch cradle is installed?
Bazza.

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

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

Hi,

Normally the winch and winch bracket are attached to the bullbar before
it is mounted on the car. Makes it easier to locate and line up every thing
that way. You could just have them put the winch mounting bolts in place
without the winch though.

As for fitting later, you could though it would be a tight fit and akward from below
the vehicle but should be possible depending on the size of the winch and how many
friends you have to help. You would need to be very careful though as theres not much
clearance between the aircon condensor and the winch clutch handle, at least on
mine there's not.

Cheers
LeighW

[SlamminSammy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close SlamminSammy]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

I just had my 2004 model Prado Fitted with the new brackets at the dealership and to say I am not happy would be an understatement, I am absolutely bloody Fuming.

I got the vehicle back after they had it all day and when I arrived home I noticed they had not reinstalled the inner plastic guards correctly they were just flapping around, not only that the retard obviously could not figure out how to get them in so he tried trimming them with a knife and cut big chunks out of them.
I had to got to work that night so I took the car straight back in the morning on the way there I noticed the bullbar was shaking.
A tech took the car away and I asked him to have a look at the reason for the shaking, Got the vehicle back in 10 minutes and drove home. wasn't happy because now there are gaps in the inner wheel arches where the dill cut them with a stanley knife. I had a look under the Vehicle and noticed that one of the mounting bolts was missing,looked a bit closer and the one on the other side ready to fall out, closer inspection and yep all the bolts loose only finger tight.
I took the vehicle back and gave the service manager a blast after he assured me all the bolts would have been done up to the correct torque. I took him out to the vehicle reached under the bullbar and undid one of the bottom bolts and threw it on the ground at his feet. " Does that look Torqued up to you says I" Much rolling of eyes and shuffling of feet and the vehicle was whisked away again. On the way home same problem shaking of the bull bar so I got underneath with the spanners and a socket set, I got a full turn out of most of the bolts and the topmost outer bolts were still finger tight.
While I was under there Breathing fire and Cursing The Dimwit mechanic I noticed that the corrugated insulation cover that runs up to both spotlights under the bullbar had been cut away and there was black electrical tape 100mm back from the connectors on the wires. I unravelled the tape to reveal a bodgy solder joint in each wire this had been done on both sides.
The useless lazy retard had just cut through the cables to the spotlights when he removed the bullbar without even checking under the tape to see if there were conectors. another trip to toyota another blast. I give up.

[Wags Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Wags]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

I've been away from home working and return to find this letter from Toyota re: recall. Now after hearing some stories and then reading a couple here, do you think Toyota would just give me the brackets so I can mount them to my satisfaction?

[SlamminSammy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close SlamminSammy]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

Yep Your right Wags If I had known they were going to stuff my beloved Prado i would have just Asked for the brackets and done it myself. To Add insult to injury they had the same incompetent retarded dimwit try and fix his stuff up. this he did by cutting off his bodgy solder job and stretching out the wires and putting some more connectors on and then wrapping the lot up in electrical tape , it looks like crap. I had the job done professionally at the start and the sparky ran the conduit all the way up to the the hole in the bullbar. This retard cut it all off and just wrapped it up with tape.
I'm bloody furious, I could fix it myself but why should I have to.
I have had nothing but trouble with this dealership, After one service I picked the vehicle up and drove around half the day with a shimmy in the front end. I thought maybe the stuffed up the wheel balance. when I got home and had a look every wheel nut on the front drivers side wheel was only hanging on by three or four threads. Giving them a blast is no good they couldnt care less and won't accept responsibility.
another time I noticed oil on the driveway after I picked my car up from a service, on inspection the idiots had left the plug out of the rear diff,and they told me to drive it back to them like that !!! not a chance send a tilt tray.
The stuff up to top them all was the time I picked it up from a major service and decided to drive to my mates 200acre sheep station near Inglewood. Coming up through Cunninghams gap I could hear a clanging noise low down at the back of the vehicle. I stopped at that little servo on the other side of the range and climbed under thinking a bash plate or something must be loose.I couldn't find anything so I kept going, halfway along the pikedale Inglewood road I found what the noise was. The righthand rear wheel locked up!!!!. The bolts holding the brake calliper mount had fallen out and the calliper had dropped onto the rotor locking the wheel up!. I was stuffed in the middle of nowhere. I started to walk back to a farmhouse that I had passed (continued next post running out of room)

[SlamminSammy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close SlamminSammy]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

Anyway, I started walking back And low and behold 500 metres down the road here was my brake mounting bolt sitting in the middle of the road.
I walked back pulled the wheel off and manged to get the bolt back in the bottom hole, I then jammed a convenient sized stick in the top hole. I had no spanners that size so i just put the bolt in finger tight.
I drove slowly to a farmhouse and lucky the owner was home, he let me rat through his bucket of old bolts in his shed and I came up with a longer bolt with the same thread with a nut on it. This did the trick and he let me borrow a spanner to tighten them up.His wife made me a nice cup of tea to calm me down. I was friggn furious.
I drove back to Black Toyota in Warwick , They were really good ,they put the car on the hoist straight away and had a look and made sure the bolts were tight and replaced my dodgy one. I told them to phone my dealership and let them know I was coming and was not happy.
When I got back to my dealership I walked into the service dept still covered in dirt and crud from crawwling around under the car and absolutely gave it to them. The bloody incompetent retards had left the caliper bolts loose when they did the brake service. They tried to tell me it was metal fatigue ,this in a 2 year old car at the time. I said if thats the case you need to organise a national recall before someone gets killed. All I got was the usual shuffling of feet and blank looks.
Mate its the last time I ever go back there I am still bloody mad but theres no one to complain to,When I rang the Toyota complaints hotline they refered me back to the dealership.

[geograzza Member Find all posts View Profile Close geograzza]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

Sammy, If Inglewood is 200km, I have a horrible feeling I might be in the same location as you. Would you care to name the dealer (pm if you don't want to name and shame publicly). I'm yet to book mine in for the sovereign mounts, and it would probably be just as easy for me to take mine to Black's in Dalby as it would to go to the local dealer if there is a problem.

[don1 Member Find all posts View Profile Close don1]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

I was upset when i picked up my prado after the recall was done. The bar didnt line up also the trim was flapping on both sides. I went back to the service adviser straight away and just to be told if i want to bring it back next time..im thinking if ill bring it back then they will stuff it up again..tried to line it up myself just to notice that they bent the loop of the bullbar on the driverside...too late to complain now..but for those who havent done there recall yet inspect the prado before leaving the dealership..

[SlamminSammy Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close SlamminSammy]

Re: Bullbar recall - new winch cradle

I was upset when i picked up my prado after the recall was done. The bar didnt line up also the trim was flapping on both sides. I went back to the service adviser straight away and just to be told if i want to bring it back next time..im thinking if ill bring it back then they will stuff it up again..tried to line it up myself just to notice that they bent the loop of the bullbar on the driverside...too late to complain now..but for those who havent done there recall yet inspect the prado before leaving the dealership..

Mate It's not to late to take it back, if They damaged it get them to fix it, Don't hold back just give it to the service manager, Thats his job! to serve you . He is there to over see the work and make sure it is done properly and you are happy. If you get no-where with him, go higher, Write a letter with the details to the dealer principal and hand it to the girl at the front desk to give to him, That way he can Kick the lazy service manager up the clacker so he will do his job. :twisted:
Don't let them Try and fob you off, It's what they try to do to everyone so they can get out of fixing up their incompetent workers stuff ups. If they bent your bar they can replace it. I took my car back 4 times and each time I found something else they had stuffed up. Don't worry if you have already driven home just go back later. better to get them to fix it than drive around in your pride and joy knowing it's not 100% ok and those embiciles have devalued it for you.

[BiiRO Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close BiiRO]

Anyone who has had the new cradle fitted know what the part number is ? Its a nightmare trying to get the dealership to even acknowledge there is a new model to replace the old PZQ29601WC one. (which is no longer available anyway)

[Davros Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Davros]

A search with the keywords "winch cradle" netted a new part number PZQ29602WC

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

To answer my own very old question ... Yes, a winch can be installed after the winch cradle is fitted. Plenty of room and a resonably easy job.
Bazza.

[BiiRO Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close BiiRO]

A search with the keywords "winch cradle" netted a new part number PZQ29602WC

Wow from PZQ29601WC to PZQ29602WC..who would have thunk it was going to be THAT simple... typically whole new part numbers are created to confuse everyone..

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

Bazza

Yes a winch can be installed after the winch cradle is installed. Aw beat me by that much!

Please lower your expectations when posting a question in the hope of a succinct reply. These high standards are not stated anywhere in the fineprint and you are dealing with dedicated Prado owners who are sometimes frustrated by the lack of attention of their female counterparts and sometimes (usually in my case) lack of any worthy knowledge to contribute.

Yours respectfully, dedicated, frustrated and without knowledge

mlc

[craigki Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close craigki]

Has anyone got any pics of one of these winch cradles installed?