Hey friends, when i bought my hijet i was told it was in excellent condition but after pulling it away from the port i knew otherwise. i am just a simple man, and have already fallen in love with the truck despite its flaws. Ive ordered new springs, struts, brakes and she clanks around from every little pebble on the road. Im not an experienced mechanic but i do have tools and a go getter attitude. Im hoping someone here will chime in and help me understand a couple things.. first of which is the CV joints. One of which has a torn boot. when i grab the axles and pull them in and out the move approx 1/8" - 3/16" and make a little clunk noise, both do this. However when i engage 4wd i dont notice any other unusual noises or anything.. Is it normal for those axles to move like that? The second thing I am investigating... i found a small drip puddle of red coolant. I stuck my head in from both directions to check it out. and appears to be just a loose hose.. however following the drips up i noticed something on this plastic piece with a tab behind the engine belt. this plastic piece appear to have risen up a bit and made contact with the belt. the belt has already carved a small channel thru it. What is this piece and is this a problem?
The axles will have a small amount of "end float" to compensate for the different length needed when the suspension goes from fully extended to fully compressed. What you are seeing is normal, but you need to get good boots on it to keep from losing the grease and prevent accelerated wear. As far as your other matter, I am not familiar with your vehicle so can't offer any suggestions. Fred
I think it part of the timing belt/water pump cover, and allows you to set the timing at the front dampener, as opposed to the flywheel, like my EF-NS engine does. You should be able to loosen the bolts which hold the cover an and move it a bit.
Yeah, more probing and i find that there is also a leak coming from the timing chain cover, best i can tell its coming from the water pump. i ordered a new pump which also made me realize that parts for the ef gs are not as easy to come by, so i ordered a new timing belt too just in case.. i suppose some exploratory surgery will be necessary. Trying to get my father who is an amazing mechanic to come supervise me while i do it lol. also noticed this morning that the rear transmission mount is wasted and i can see day light through it. Searches cant find one for a s100 series truck. looks pretty similar to the s210 mount.. i guess ill be sending yokohama motors another email
Update: I swapped out the water pump and snapped some pictures with one side of the timing belt cover off to share. As it turns out one of the pulley does not have a lip on the rear side(and was apparently installed incorrectly) which caused the belt to carve into the plastic cover. I 3d scanned the large side of the timing belt cover i took off as i cant find any replacements. Mine was still in decent shape but for posterity i will be able to print a new one in the future if ever needed. Replaced struts and added 250lb coils I also cut off the topper as it was just acting as a massive sail making too uncomfortable to drive and installed a new stereo and backup camera. Next projects: CV boot replacement (scaring me) truck bed liner 36" LED bar on headache rack and cargo light Full custom LED underglow and a secondary battery source to power it all
Thanks for posting your experience repairing the issues you encountered on your new-to-you Hijet. I'm not-so-patiently waiting for mine to ship from Japan and am concerned that there is much that can't be determined from online pictures and a Japanese to English language barrier. I expect my 26 year old Hijet to need some mechanical attention when it arrives. The timing belt was recently replaced and hopefully the water pump was replaced at the same time. Mine also has the EF-GS engine and while shopping around, it looks like it'll be even more of a challenge to source parts in the US for the 12 valve twin cam engine. I'm planning many of the same mods as you've done. My Hijet To Do list: New radio with backup camera LED light bar on the headache rack LiFePO4 battery for auxiliary power (or maybe a larger lead acid battery in a modified battery box) Bed liner (maybe the entire truck, inside and out) Lockable storage for tools and off road recovery equipment Surface Shield anti-corrosion treatment for the frame and undercarriage
