Rather than feed off my Introduction Thread I figured I'd start a new one document my progress. As mentioned in the other thread I purchased a '92 Hijet 4x4 with a dump bed. I've always been intrigued by these "mini-trucks" and kind of jumped head-first in to this project when it presented itself to me. When I went to look at it for the first time I had no idea what I was going to see, but for the price it was quickly apparent it was likely worth dragging home and seeing if I could get it to run again. The truck apparently had the engine gone-over pretty extensively 40k kms ago. At that time a new clutch was installed. The alternator was recently replaced, brakes recently done-over and the exhaust looks like it was a custom fab-job but seems adequate. I knew the front driveshaft was removed to replace bad u-joints but was told it possibly has a transmission issue. The previous owner said it was grinding but couldn't remember if it was difficult to shift or was grinding all the time. Tonight I finally had a chance to look at the truck and it was actually a "quick fix" to get it running in that the 50A fuse under the driver's seat was blown resulting in everything being completely unresponsive. I didn't have a proper fuse for it so I took the old fuse apart and trimmed it down so it could be jammed in a more modern 50A fuse I had for testing purposes. I turned it over a couple of times just to make sure nothing was seized up as the truck has been sitting for a couple of years and on the 3rd crank the damn thing started and actually ran quite well. I, against my better judgement, opted to take it for a quick spin around the yard. It worked well and I quickly ate up all 4 gears in low-range. I shifted to high range and made it to 3rd gear on my private driveway. When I reached the bottom and opted to turn around it stalled, then stalled again, and again. I made it back to the garage but, when down-shifting, managed to stall it half way in the garage door and couldn't get it to start again - so I pushed it inside. I messed with it a little bit knowing that the throttle/choke linkage could be a pain point. I could get it to back-fire occasionally but it wouldn't even try to run. Without it unable to run, the linkage for the PTO pump being seized up, and not being able to access the engine due to the dump body I had to get creative to lift the dump body. The previous owner had it propped up on pieces of firewood to keep the body from collecting snow/moisture too bad (didn't help much, it's very rotten and needs to be rebuilt as is evident above). Eventually I got the dump body up enough to gain access to the carburator and determined everything seemed to be working as expected, so I moved on to ignition. Sure enough once I got the distributor cap off and discovered it was pretty gummed up, between the silicone and corrosion inside I'm not sure how it ran in the first place, much less ran so well. Anyways I cleaned the cap and button up, re-assembled it and I couldn't even get it to kick. Feeling half defeated I realized I had assembled it without the rotor button.... re-assembling properly with all the components and it fired right up and purrs perfectly. The poor old girl needs some lovin' for sure, but I'm no stranger to stuff like this...
Tomorrow I intend to do some more hunting but I would like to figure out how the PTO/hydraulic pump is supposed to work on a truck of this era. I found a video for a later truck that you shift the range selector in to Neutral, shift the transmission in to 3rd and engage the PTO in order to build hydraulic pressure. I attempted that in mine this evening however there was no lift. I have no idea where it draws fluid from in order to lift either as I don't see any kind of reservoir - it must use the transmission fluid does it? I am still quite green to these and yes I know how to use the search, I will do so tomorrow but welcome any input anyone may be able to share/provide in the meantime. Really I intend to just remove the dump body entirely as I am pretty confident I will have to remove the transmission in order to address whatever was making noise (I have yet to hear it). I do see where the aluminum flange around the output shaft for the front wheels seems to be in a zip-lock back inside the truck and not attached to the transmission. The drive-shaft has new u-joints but something was obviously rubbing badly. I ran out of evening before I could investigate at all and neglected to take any photos... I also need to round up a diagram for what I think is the air intake, it must draw through the frame somehow does it? I seem to have an assortment of random hoses on the left-hand side that aren't connected to anything. Kneeling under the half-raised dump body wasn't overly fun though so I'd really like to figure out how to make that stand-up on its own and out of my way.
The PTO has a reservoir near the pump under the bed. If its a PTO you gotta push in the clutch, put the transmission in first, and the transfer case into neutral. Then engage the pto lever and release the clutch. Then there should be a switch to raise/lower the bed on the dash. If it is a belt driven pump, there is a reservoir under the seat.
It is PTO driven, I didn't see any switch on the dash but I'll have to have another look. Initially I was shifting it in to gear without the engine running and attempting to crank the engine over to see if it would build enough pressure on the starter to raise the bed so I could get access to everything, now that it runs again I can hopefully get it figured out.
The transfer case has to be in neutral for it to work. If it has no switch for up/down than it's a manual PTO. You push the left forward for one direction, and pull for the other. Also make sure yours doesn't have a bed lock. Would be a lever under the bed on the driver's side.
Yes the transfer case was in neutral. hmmm a bed-lock, that MAY be what's going on as I am able to freely lift the bed currently (with a hoist or tractor). I hope to investigate more this evening.
No the bed lock locks the bed to the frame. So it wouldn't lift up. Shoot a picture of that it looks like under the bed.
Yes I believe so, I've not really had a chance to look. I had 5 whole minutes to look at it yesterday afternoon where I discovered: A) My wife is unable to drive it. She can't reach the pedals - that is to say with her 36" inseam she can't easily lift her legs enough to get to the brake pedal, the steering wheel gets in the way B) With the engine running, the PTO engaged, and the transmission in gear (I played with all gears, reverse stalled the engine) I can hear the transmission engage and gears turning. There is a slightly different sound with the PTO not engaged. Despite this brief effort of trying I was unable to get the bed to lift. Next up I'll check fluid levels somehow.
Well I figured out why the lift won't work, there is no oil in the thing. And I figured out why there is no oil in it also: https://photos.app.goo.gl/PbXuVuiAkdJmMnd48 Also this can be seen sitting on top of the skid plate under the output shaft: Soooo I took the transmission and everything out: Looks like the transfer case bolts on to the transmission, I'll have to find some break-downs for it then clean it and open it up and see what I can see.... but I don't have high hopes.
I haven't had a chance to dig in to this transmission yet but I remain not overly hopeful. I have been trying to source another transmission but I'm having a heck of a time finding one that has the PTO on it. Does anyone know what the part no. are for the different transmissions? I HAVE tried searching for such information but haven't been successful thus far...
Well I finally got a chance to clean up the transmission/transfer case yesterday. I can't find a damn number on the case anywhere to signify what I should be looking for... I really only need one half of the transfer case but obviously would have to buy everything - only I can't find anything. My father wants to have a go at fixing this one... I think if I could find a rear output stub we could likely modify things/weld it on to the front of the case enough to make it work. I have yet to have any luck sourcing ANYTHING other than complete transmissions out of Japan though. SOMEONE must have something around... Photo dump for those curious:
Transfer case is apart. Good News: - The inner bearing is intact and the case doesn't seem to be too bad where the outer race sits - The outer bearing outside race is still there, though it has spun in the case a bit. Could likely be glued in place with Loctite's bearing retaining compound, I've seen it work on far worse. We may also be able to source a different bearing. Bad News (none surprising): - The output shaft is bent - The chain sure whipped around inside the case a lot and caused a lot of metal filings (nothing seems to actually be broken but I assume the chain is likely stretched) - The lack of lubricant claimed a bearing of some nature in the gears closest to the transmission (I have no idea what they're called, I'm not going to pretend otherwise...) - there seems to be a couple of other gears I would expect to be separate which are now one (and not 100% meshed together properly) The hunt continues for a service book for the transmission... or an entirely new/different transmission/transfer case which I can install. Video of bent output shaft: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=bkJ5NGlBa1VxRFB2UG9QUGVFdkFzNnJXSERGTlh3
The PTO bolts on to any manual trans. The PTO part is the rare piece, the one with X001-16 on it. I've been looking for ages for one! You just need a vacuum actuated Hijet 4x4 trans, just make sure it's for a EF engine. You can then pop off the top cover and bolt the PTO section back on.
Can you provide me photos of this cover you're talking about? I'd love for you to be right but I've looked at a pile of images of these transmissions without the PTO and it sure looks to me like it's a different cast piece Even the diagram I was able to find over on partfan.com seems to show it as two different pieces.
Interesting my S81P has a steel plate covering where the PTO could be installed. Wonder if that's only on them? Or maybe if my truck had a PTO and it was removed?
Innnnteresting, I just did a quick search on Google for "S81P transmission" and sure enough I see exactly what you mean! Well this potentially opens up a ton more options for me! Thank-you for your information!
Also it might be cheaper to just get a 12v pump. They are really cheap for trailers and such. Then you just need a normal transmission.
yeah this is another option I've considered. I'd run with it if I could find a normal 4x4 transmission but I can't even seem to find that.
They are in Canada, so a transmission isn't going to be cheap to ship from the states. Might as well ship one from Japan. They are $200 in Japan with a grand to ship.
Two steps forward, one step back... Well after collecting up various bearings, seals, some round aluminum stock, having my father do some machining and a shop weld the piece on the case we have a fix we think will work. Yesterday I finally set about assembling the thing again and things were going well up until I put the drive chain on for the front output shaft: https://photos.app.goo.gl/t6juxEuwC3gSr9q99 (video) soooo now I'm trying to track down a chain - which isn't immediately straight forward. I know it's the same actual chain that's use in some Toyota transfer cases but I need to confirm length and pitch, then I guess figure out how to possibly shorten it if required. If anyone has some suggestions I'm all ears as I know nothing about these chains.
Heads-up that I got this all back together without a chain, fired the truck up and the engine seized... I haven't got the engine removed yet but removal of the oil pan shows me a wrist-pin seized for some reason, I suspect the globs of orange silicone everywhere are to blame... Some day I might have at it again...
