I no one in person. I wheeled with him a couple weeks ago. You still on the lift thing? Also at least two others that have been quite active in this post.I do believe the ten is wrong but we do have stock rigs with this issue.
There is a precedent, this isn't new. The Prado 120 (FJC's twin) has had similar cracks appear in the body near the same location. Also check your wheelwells.
apparently, any bullbar (or added front weight- even OEM Toyota bullbars in AUS) seem to cause cracks- not proven, just *seems* this might be the cause.
It is possible that the way the bodymounts are designed, in conjunction w/ soem front frame flex is causing this.
The above was posted in ih8mud by First Toy. These are the pics he posted
I posted a link there to let more people know. The one thing thats happening to us is we are seeing it without anything added to the rig (stock) Man his is a big downer.
Is it just me, or is this thing on a timer.... I've had mine since april 1st last year..and drive off road like im tryin' to flatten out the bumpy stuff (ask Bear about Ouray!)
Yet, I just recently had this happen...
(pics on photo only too but here is driver side)
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AKA Thread Killer I post and bore threads to DEATH. Ninja poster, like I was never there.....
Geez I haven't been around too much, and it really upsets me to come back and see this.
I didn't get to look through all 537 posts. Probably only 60.
Has anyone checked out a Trail Team rig? Toyotas excuse that it looks like you've been offroading or what not is weak. They shouldn't showcase their vehicles offroad or market it metioning it's offroad capabilities if it was meant to stay on the road only.
With respect, I disagree with your analysis of the loading along this rib. Although the rib was DESIGNED to accept a compression (and dissipate the energy by blowing out in the lateral direction), I do not believe that this is what is happening.
The body mounts to the frame at multiple locations. There is a mounting point behind the front wheel well and another in front. There are multiple other mounting points, but because the body is so LOW PROFILE through the hood region compared to the rest of the cab, this region can be modelled as if it were a cantilevered beam. The fixed base of the beam is the cab section. The beam is being pushed up and down at it's end by the forward body mount. Like this:
When the frame flexes upward on one side, it quickly compresses the rubber bushing of the body mount which is only 1.5" tall (and becomes stiff with much less than 1" of travel) and then it deflects the fender panel on that side upward. On the other side, the frame can flex down away from the body without pulling it because the bushing BELOW is much longer and more compressible. This is why people can measure the twist of the bumper relative to the grill!!!
The top of the flexed body panel is crushed into compression. The bottom is stretched. This changes the conformation of the crumple zone folds and hardens the metal. The only place for it to go is lateral. Then later it gets too stiff for further flex, and cracks.
There is no compressional load. That would require a front end collision and air bags would deploy.
Actually that was one of the suggestions my stress engineer buddy made but unfortunately he said it could one of three effects. And the pictures are not sufficient to determine the loads.
The up and down torsion like you are describing, like taking a pencil and shaking it up and down; a twisting torsion which would account for the dissimilar effect on the upper and lower portion of the cord or a direct compression.
He said what needs to be done is stress test on a new "un-cycled" structure and take measurements on the different deflections form the different stresses that can be applied.
But with the revelation of the Prado pics with even more drastic damage it looks like this is not an unknown issue to Toyota. When I think about it, the whole thing reminds me of the GM/Chevy hood folding problem. I had a Chevy pickup and have a GMC suburban and after so many cycles of pushing down on the hood it would fold mid-way where similar indentations are. Chevy said "yep we know about it, here's that part number for the stiffener kit..."
Last edited by KD7NAC_07FJ : 08-15-2007 at 12:02 AM.
IT'S ALL GOOD!!!!!!!
Man his is a big downer.
I post and bore threads to DEATH. Ninja poster, like I was never there.....
