West Coast Suspensions
to the rescue
By Phil Bianchi
Peering out of my tent in the early morning sunlight I saw my beloved 100 Series sitting very low on the front left corner. Bugger, a flat was my first thought. Walking over to the vehicle I found the tyre wasn’t flat at all. While peering underneath I crossed my fingers hoping the problem was minor and the repair wasn’t going to affect Australia’s national debt. I found the culprit, a broken suspension fitting. I was later to find it was a torsion bar adjuster that had broken, and that the fix wasn’t that expensive.
O
n my numerous drives along Guildford Road I had noticed West Coast Suspensions proudly displayed on a large building to the west of the railway line. I called in with my severely listing Cruiser, Jessie from WCS, looked underneath and said it was indeed a broken torsion bar adjuster. “You’ll probably have to go genuine”, he said. He was right, but he also found that there weren’t any replacement parts in Australia. “They’ll have to be ordered from Japan”, he added. Seriously Toyota, it’s not like the 100 Series was an unpopular vehicle. Then another WCS staff member said that he was sure there was a used torsion bar adjuster to fit my Cruiser at the back of the workshop. It was left by a previous customer who had done an upgrade. Lucky for me it was the same part and it would do the job while I was waiting for delivery from Japan. It was fitted the same day and I 106
| Western 4W Driver #121
was back on the road otherwise my Cruiser would have been in dry dock. I ordered the components from Toyota and while I was at it I ordered a full kit of bolts etc. for each side. I was told it would take a few months; it took just under three. Given COVID had caused many supply problems across the world I thought I was lucky to get the part at all. On the designated date I dropped the Cruiser off for the knee reconstruction, as I called it. The job was satisfactorily completed and the Cruiser was back to her best. While the repairs were being undertaken, I asked if I could take photos of the work in progress, yes they said. While watching, I began asking about some of the items of equipment in the workshop and then realised just how big an operation WCS were. So who are West Coast Suspensions?
The cause of all the fuss.
