New Model 4WD's - No Spares?
Submitted: Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 12:37
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Member - kimberleybloke
Bought a new twin cab Toyota to go travelling in this year, and on two occasions when trying to get spares , belts & hoses, CV boot (which I damaged when trying out the 4x4 capabilities in soft sand) I have been told they are not available in Australia. Time frame to get them in is 5 weeks! Most other parts are also still unavailable, this six months after the vehicle release. The dealer Principle where I bought the vehicle has gone above and beyond to help get me mobile as we are due to start travelling early next week. Will be all fingers crossed nothing goes wrong as we trip about. Is this just a sign of the times and do all manufacturers have a long lag time between model release and parts availability in Australia?
Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 13:13
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 13:13
Manufacturers and retailers are obliged by law to provide spares for 7 years.
No doubt there is fine print.
Might be worth checking the law. You may be eligible for some compensation? :)
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome
AnswerID:
598593
Follow Up By: Nomadic Navara - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:11
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:11
The law may state that spare parts must be available for 7 years but does it say how quickly they have to front up with them.
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867796
Reply By: cruza25 - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 13:55
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 13:55
http://www.stretchcvboot.com/cv-boots/
Get a couple of these boots for cv shafts
Easy to fit and tear resistant
Loads on ebay 2-3 days from uk
For the belts , measure what's on and go to bearing belt
shop like CBC
Anything + or - 10 mm will be ok
As for the hoses just order and wait
If it's a new vehicle should be fine for 10 years unless you manage to put a stick through one But highly unlikely
With the cv make sure you have a good socket and long tube as they are pretty hard to loosen
I I fitted stretch boots to my Prado outers recently and it took a bit of effort to undo the cv nut
Cheers
Mike
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Russler - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 18:48
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 18:48
Repco can also measure an existing belt and most likely offer a generic spare
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Reply By: Hoyks - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 14:09
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 14:09
They build a new model, release it to the world and then find that some components are over represented in their rate of failure.
It takes a bit for the logistics side to catch up from their predicted consumption to better reflect the actual consumption. Or they wait for usage patterns to develop before they start stocking replacements.
It can also be that all sub assemblies are allocated to production, so end users can end up down the list when it comes to getting parts.
One project I worked on, the equipment type was still in production, but we had to wait 3 years to get a replacement part delivered because all the bits were allocated to production and no one thought about stocking spares.
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Reply By: Ron N - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 15:08
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 15:08
KB - This sounds like Toyota have pulled the same stunt as Hitler did - put every component into production machines to make production look better - but they have no spares backup.
In Hitlers case, this was a big factor in the Nazis defeat, as the likes of the Luftwaffe had to cannibalise perfectly good aircraft, to keep others going that broke down.
It was demoralising to the men at the front and costly for the Nazi war machine.
In Toyotas case, this will blow up in their face if it continues. We can buy Chinese crap and have to hunt around for parts - without paying exorbitant money for new Tojos, and yet still have to hunt for parts.
Then again - this could be a dealer stunt, too, avoiding possible alternative lines of supply to go through more profitable sources, such as directly through Toyota. It could also be a restrictive convenant by Toyota on the dealer, too, that they are obliged to only source parts from Toyota Motor Corp head office.
I'd suggest you contact some of the independent Thailand dealers, owned by Westerners, who specialise in exporting parts and vehicles from Thailand.
Mark Motors and Mikes4x4 come to mind, there is likely to be others.
Cheers, Ron.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Sigmund - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 15:34
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 15:34
Take some self-fusing silicone tape to repair any hose punctures, and some metal epoxy
putty.
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Reply By: Crusier 91 - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 18:28
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 18:28
Go to CBC Bearings to get belts. Quality is better than any other brands including Toyota.
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Reply By: 671 - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:01
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:01
"Is this just a sign of the times and do all manufacturers have a long lag time between model release and parts availability in Australia?"
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My last job in the motor industry was in the service office of a Toyota dealer. That was in 1986. It was the same back then and it looks like nothing has changed.
Many parts are usually available almost immediately when a new model is released but things like belts and hoses are not supposed to be worn out within six months. My 2003 Hilux has 158,000 ks on it. I replaced the original hoses yesterday and the belts three years ago. Both of them looked like they would have lasted a lot longer.
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Follow Up By: Ron N - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:49
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:49
671 is right, original Toyota belts and hoses and cooling system components are top quality.
The missus' old 2001 Camry, that we've still got, despite being replaced with a new Camry, has done 140,000 kays, and it still has all original hoses and radiator - and I've only replaced the belts about 3 yrs ago.
None of the hoses show any deterioration, and the only deterioration on the radiator is the top tank is a bit discoloured.
Keep the proper Toyota coolant in them, and change it religiously every 3 years, and you should very rarely have any cooling system problems, unless you poke a stick through the radiator or a hose, or have a stone flung through the radiator.
Cheers, Ron.
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Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:16
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016 at 22:16
Toyota serpentine belts and radiator hoses are superb. I haven't seen or heard of anyone busting one on a near new vehicle - I no longer carry these as spares.
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Follow Up By: Ozhumvee - Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 07:39
Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 07:39
Phil might be wise to carry a serpentine belt as we've had them flicked off twice and I've heard of a few others doing the same on various vehicles by small sticks being poked up underneath on bush tracks.
Both times the belts were damaged beyond use, fortunately both times the vehicle owner was carrying a spare.
One time the vehicle concerned didn't have a diagram of the belt route under the bonnet or in the owners manual and it took a long while to work out the route to refit. I suspect that most vehicles are the latter case
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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 09:05
Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 09:05
Gday Peter,
Thanks for that useful advice.
Mine's now in its 4th year, so I'll go out and buy one. They certainly don't seem to wear out in a hurry. The 200series is very
well covered underneath - can't see anywhere a stick might get through, but a lot of others like the 70series are more exposed.
Hope you have a good year of travel planned. Not sure whether we'll make the GVD trip this year, just deciding whether we can fit it in!
Cheers,
Phil
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Follow Up By: Les - PK Ranger - Friday, Apr 15, 2016 at 08:55
Friday, Apr 15, 2016 at 08:55
Yes, a dose of sand into a serp belt can also help it off, saw this on
Stockton once.
Actually the belt shredded, possibly from the abrasive nature of the sand, could have also slipped off and shredded withe the sand under the belt acting like a slip agent.
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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Apr 15, 2016 at 22:16
Friday, Apr 15, 2016 at 22:16
Thanks Les.
Always learning!
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Follow Up By: LAZYLUX16 - Saturday, Apr 16, 2016 at 20:20
Saturday, Apr 16, 2016 at 20:20
Phil G is tgat same for Hilux 2010model.Or after nearly six years should I teplace belts and hosrs thanks
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Reply By: Idler Chris - Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 09:08
Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 09:08
Goto Terrain Tammer.
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Reply By: Meridith D - Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 19:56
Thursday, Apr 14, 2016 at 19:56
On a similar vein - we have a MY16 Landcruiser ( owned since Dec '15) and were planning on putting a bullbar on it before we leave on our 14 week trip. We leave in 2 weeks. The only ones currently available are the Toyota and ARB brands - both expensive. Admittedly this is an aftermarket product we are looking at. Other prominent brands are apparently still in delevopment. We will head off without the bullbar and our fingers crossed and will reassess when we get
home.
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Follow Up By: AlbyNSW - Sunday, Apr 17, 2016 at 17:20
Sunday, Apr 17, 2016 at 17:20
How much cheaper are the other brands going to be?
If you have an incident without a bar on this trip, will the cost of the repair insurance excess plus the cheaper bar you plan to fit on your return save you money compared to fitting the ARB one now?
Just another way of looking at it
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Reply By: dad1340 - Saturday, Apr 23, 2016 at 08:36
Saturday, Apr 23, 2016 at 08:36
The linkage between Spare parts availability and Marketing driven model changes is not new, however it was not the original philosophy of General Tojo.
The FJ40's, 55's right through to the HJ75's in the mid eighties had a great deal of parts commonality; particularly mechanical.
eg., A CV broke at the Cape in '92, went to a "Spare Parts Dealer" (a few wrecked FJ40's and 45's) in
Bamaga and was offered the mandatory beer and we headed off amongst the 1.5m grass, dismantled a CV joint, got what I needed and returned to the
Jardine and fixed it. Got us back to
Newcastle no worries.
Model inter-changeability of Parts was extremely handy.
I toured the Toyota factory some years back and ask an engineer about the constant model changes that had entered the 4WD scene and he answered it with a short retort ......... "Marketing not Engineering fault"
Cheers
dad
AnswerID:
599050