If you have a towbar or rear bar fitted to your 4.3.........
Jul 21, 2020 13:47:27 GMT
charliefarlie, three5, and 1 more like this
Post by davrav on Jul 21, 2020 13:47:27 GMT
..........check the brackets that hold it on.
Was having a look round my '08 the other day and noticed 'some rust' appearing where the rear bar is attached to the brackets that are in turn bolted to the underside of the floor. Now on my RAV those brackets are formed with one bend in 4mm steel so not exactly lightweight. After spending an hour wrestling the fittings apart I was shocked to see the state of the brackets. Puff pastry would be an apt description. I didn't take any photos as this is an open forum and didn't want to scare any small children who may look in [or Kev].
I chipped away what I could and then cut off what was left of what is in effect redundant metal that hangs below the bar fixing holes. All now back in place with brackets liberally Hammerited and bolts Waxoyled.
A couple of other things I noticed whilst under the car:
There was quite a lot of surface rust on the sides of the storage 'tub' and under the rear floor at the outboard corners. Worse on nearside. Cleaned up and Waxoyled.
The Reversy Beep Beep wires had become exposed where the sheathing was zip tied on either side. One side had water inside the sleeving. Snipped the zip tie [they pass through the plastic rivet and can be replaced], added a short length of convoluted sleeving and wrapped with automotive fabric tape before zip tying back into place.
So, a few checks for those of you that have older 4.3s and possibly not so old ones too :TU:
Was having a look round my '08 the other day and noticed 'some rust' appearing where the rear bar is attached to the brackets that are in turn bolted to the underside of the floor. Now on my RAV those brackets are formed with one bend in 4mm steel so not exactly lightweight. After spending an hour wrestling the fittings apart I was shocked to see the state of the brackets. Puff pastry would be an apt description. I didn't take any photos as this is an open forum and didn't want to scare any small children who may look in [or Kev].
I chipped away what I could and then cut off what was left of what is in effect redundant metal that hangs below the bar fixing holes. All now back in place with brackets liberally Hammerited and bolts Waxoyled.
A couple of other things I noticed whilst under the car:
There was quite a lot of surface rust on the sides of the storage 'tub' and under the rear floor at the outboard corners. Worse on nearside. Cleaned up and Waxoyled.
The Reversy Beep Beep wires had become exposed where the sheathing was zip tied on either side. One side had water inside the sleeving. Snipped the zip tie [they pass through the plastic rivet and can be replaced], added a short length of convoluted sleeving and wrapped with automotive fabric tape before zip tying back into place.
So, a few checks for those of you that have older 4.3s and possibly not so old ones too :TU:
