Hoppers Stoppers for Landcruiser 78/79

Stephen

You may well be right about the muddy desert crossing being the main culprit. As posted earlier I did get badly bogged. Hosed a bit more of the desert out from under the vehicle today.

The hand brake, though, has never been too good. The vehicle was given a 40,000 k service by a Toyota dealer immediately before the CSR leg of my trip. The hand brake was adjusted in that service. It was loosing grip again long before I reached the wet conditions of the Simpson.

I first heard of the brake problem years ago when talking to a mechanic on a cotton property north of Boomi in NSW. He was finding it a regular occurrence on the then new 79 series farm vehicles. Did not think much more about it until researching the V8 cruiser two years ago. It was apparent the wear problem with the rear brakes was still a "feature" of the current production.

At work last week one of the staff told us how her boyfriend had just had a narrow escape when his cruiser trayback moved while he was closing a gate pinning him against it. Fortunately he only suffered bruises and was not crushed. Weak hand brakes are a safety issue.

My cruiser is booked in for a 50,000 k service on Monday so I will have the brakes repaired at the same time. This should give me a short time to work out whether to do the full brake upgrade or just to strip down the rear brakes every time they see a bit of sand or mud.


Flynnie

weak hand brake wasnt his problem
- everywhere ive worked the only way a vehicle can be parked up is in gear

his short cutting by leaving the motor running on a slope was his issue

Hi Flynnie
Sorry to hear about that, and now sheds a different light to the subject and sounds like an issue for Mr Toyota.

All the best and will be interesting to hear what happens after your 50,000 service.


Cheers

Stephen

The same happened to us when we were out there in July.
got caught on the Mereeni Loop by rain, 200 Km of dirt/mud, completely chopped out rear brake pads and rotors.

Fortunately, I always carry a set of tools when travelling, and was able to replace pads and rotors myself in the Supercheap carpark at Alice Springs.

My .02


.

Sorry for the spelling errors above, forgot to spell check.

Dick

I took the cruiser to the local Toyota dealer today. A report was given on how crook the brakes were. Went to work. Got a phone call a couple of hours later.

The service bloke rattled off a whole series of problems and wanted authorisation to proceed. He was not going to let the vehicle back on the road without repair! So I authorised the repair. Picked it up this evening. First thing I noticed was the brake pedal worked and the handbrake actually did something.

The brake rebuild set me back about a grand. Brakes are a "consumable" and not covered by warranty, so I was told. Got a new cylinder assembly & 2 rear disc rotors & Handbrake shoe kit & Pad kit.

I consider this to be a temporary repair though it does more or less return the rear brakes to as new condition. The factory rear brakes appear incapable of taking mud and sand and so they are going to be a high ongoing maintenance item. Now that the drought is over exposure to some sand and mud is routine where I live.

Looks like I will have to service the rear brakes at the same time I change the oil ie 5,000k and also keep adequate spares on hand.

Re Hoppers Stoppers. These appear to be an effective solution. They appear to be well engineered brakes whereas the Toyota ones are not, in my opinion. Unfortunately they are too expensive for me to fit at this time. So I will have to, very reluctantly, make do with the Toyota brakes for now. When opportunity allows I would like to do the full upgrade of both front and rear brakes as Dick has done.

I am pleased that I did not encounter on the Canning Stock Route similar slush to what I encountered on the Simpson Desert. If I did most likely I would have experienced complete failure of the rear brakes while still on the track.

Flynnie