Hino 300 Series 4×4
BUYERS GUIDE – HEAVY DUTY
Hino chose the May 2017 Brisbane truck show to preview its 4×4 light truck market competitor. An automatic retro-fit option was announced in late 2018 and single tyre options became readily available in 2022, before sales were suspended in 2023.
The Japanese light 4×4 truck initiative in Australia was originally led by Mitsubishi Trucks’ Canter, but, when the company dropped its low-range transfer case for a two-year period, that mistake opened the door for Isuzu’s NPS and the market leader has never looked back.
However, Hino put Isuzu on notice in 2017 and, when it was introduced, Hino’s 817 4×4 had definite specification advantages over the other Japanese brands. Hino seemed to be gearing up to increase business in 2023/24, but then came an absolute bombshell.
In mid-2023, Hino Australia paused new orders for the 300 Series 817 4×4, but this news wasn’t widely disseminated:
“The popularity of the 300 Series 4×4 means we have already exhausted our allocated supply of the Euro 5 variants,” said Richard Emery, Vice President of Brand and Franchise Development for Hino Australia.
“The Australian Government’s introduction of Euro 6 emission standards from November 2025 means it is necessary for us to pause orders on the current 300 Series 4×4 Euro 5 variant for now.
“We are working with our parent company Hino Motors, Ltd regarding Euro 6 variants and will update customers once we have locked in the timing and final specifications,” he concluded.
2017-2024 models
Hino’s first light-truck 4×4 model was the 300 Series 817 – nominal eight tonnes GVM and 170hp – and it was the best equipped of the Japanese offerings.
Standard equipment included Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) – a first for a Japanese-built truck in this category – four-wheel disc brakes, driver and passenger SRS airbags, cruise control, air compressor and reversing camera.
The Hino 300 Series 817 4×4 was available in single-cab and crew-cab configurations, both powered by a 165hp (121kW), 464Nm, four-litre diesel engine. The Hino N04C engine was Euro 5 ADR 80/03 emission compliant and utilised a diesel particulate active reduction filter (DPR), which has proved its reliability in Australian applications over the past 15 years.
The engine was mated to a six-speed manual overdrive transmission and a dual-range 4×4 transfer case. The Hino 817 scored the transfer case from the much higher-rated GT 1528 4×4 truck, so the driveline was immensely strong, but heavy. Overall gear reduction in first-low was 65:1 and an Eaton No-Spin, self-locking rear diff centre was a dealer-fit local option.
A bonus of using the GT’s air-shift transfer case was a light-duty, on-board electric air compressor that could be dealer-upgraded to act as a tyre inflator and to power air tools.
Free-wheeling hubs were standard and were manually locked. Once the hubs were engaged 4×4 could be selected on the move by the driver, via a button on the dashboard, but Hino’s conservative approach was for engagement to be done at low speed – around 5km/h.
High or low range was also driver selectable via a button on the dashboard and the vehicle needed to be stationary to change ranges.
Hino adopted different chassis construction from others in this segment, with duplicate chassis rails at the rear, bolted beneath the standard rails. The upper rails mounted the engine, cab and bodywork, with space underneath for the front drive axle, while the lower chassis at the rear mounted the back axle and suspension. It worked, but the design added to tare weight.
With its combination of heavy chassis and transfer case, the Hino gave away around 300kg in tare weight to the Isuzu NPS. It also gave away 300kg in front axle capacity to the NPS. That’s a lot of water-tank capacity to lose when competitively tendering to bush fire authorities.
However, the heavy-duty transfer case allowed for fitment of an optional Allison torque-converter automatic transmission, where the Isuzu NPS had to make do with an automated manual box option.
Hino’s Allison auto option
In August 2018 Penske Power Systems and Hino let us preview an automatic transmission fitment to the Hino 817 4×4 truck. The retro-fit gearbox project was the brainchild of Penske’s Allison Transmission sales specialist, John Rapinette.
Since then the evaluation truck had serious testing and the Allison 1000 Series option became available as a retro-fit through Hino dealerships.
What made the Hino most suitable for an Allison transplant was the fact that it used the heavy duty transfer case from the 15-tonnes-GVM Hino GT. Torque capacity of this gear set was much higher than competitive-truck two-speeds, so the Allison torque converter 2:1 stall ratio – doubling converter engagement torque – posed no problems for the transfer case.
Designed for light commercial vehicles, Allison Transmission’s 1000 Series had up to six speeds available, including two overdrives and both close and wide ratio gearing were offered. Additionally, a turbine-driven Power Take-Off (PTO) with optional neutral lock-up and a parking pawl were available.
Fitting the auto in place of the standard manual box required some adaptation, including reworking the shift quadrant and making up a custom rear mount and a jackshaft to the centrally-mounted transfer case.
Because it was a retro-fit, not a factory option, the cost of the Allison box and installation was around 25 grand, but the upside was that the owner retained and maybe could sell the manual box!
Single wheel option available
In late-2022 Hino announced the build of the locally-modified Warrior Hino 300 Series, produced by Queensland-based specialist company, All Terrain Warriors (ATW). It was not a Hino factory model, but available on order through Hino dealers Australia-wide, with a variety of options, including protective cab scrub bars, radios, driving lights and bodywork, from service bodies to full-on motorhomes.
ATW could work the Warrior theme on manual or automatic transmission Hino models.
The greatest attraction of the Warrior version was its fitment of wide-single wheels front and rear, replacing the standard narrow wheels that were fitted as duals on the rear axle. The standard arrangement was fine for firm surfaces, but the skinny fronts sank into soft terrain very easily. In rocky terrain, dual rear tyres can easily trap a large rock, jammed between the duals.
Another issue with the standard set-up was that the front and rear wheels couldn’t share the same-width tread depression in soft ground, because front and rear track and tyre contact patches were different.
In the ATW conversion, two tubeless rim types were available: 17×9 wheels with a choice of 35/12.5R17; 37/12.5R17 or 37/13.5R17 tyres and 19.5×8.25 wheels with either 285/70R19.5 or 305/70R19.5 tyres. The 19.5-inch tubeless wheel size is common in the heavy truck world, so availability in the bush should’t be a problem.
The 17-inchers were 131Q load and speed rated, where the 19.5s were 148M and 146K rated, respectively. As a result, the lower-cost 17-inchers saw gross vehicle mass (GVM) re-rated to 6.7 tonnes, while the 19.5 choice raised GVM to 7.5 tonnes.
Complementing the Warrior version was an aluminium winch bar that Hino Australia developed in conjunction with East Coast Bullbars. Unlike most after-market bars this assembly was tested, to ensure that correctly-performed, straight-line winching wouldn’t cause chassis damage. No-one wants to replicate a Russel Coight, flying bullbar fiasco!
How it all worked
We did our testing in four separate stages: with the standard truck; with the auto option truck; with a standard truck on duals and another on singles and, finally, with two wide-tyred models.
Getting in and out of 4×4 trucks can be an awkward climb, but Hino made the task relatively easy. The three access steps were arranged in a ‘staircase’ layout that put the bottom step outboard of the upper ones. The front tyre also served as an additional step – particularly in the case of the wide-single models. Two grab handles flanked the door opening, so it was always possible to have three contact points when getting in and out.
A standard suspension seat with magnetically variable damping was standard, but, unfortunately, a single-passenger suspension seat to replace the standard two-place bench was not. That’s another dealer-fit option.
Ergonomics were generally good, but we reckon the 4×4 and High-Low range switches are too far from the driver. There’ was vacant switch space nearer to the steering column and that’s where they should be.
The heated, power-adjustable rear vision mirrors were ‘big truck’ types that gave excellent flat-plane and spotter images. The swing-away brackets were strong and easy enough to fold in while on the move, to reduce the chance of mirror damage from tree branches.
The Hino six-speed main box was stirred by a stubby lever that has short throws. The ‘gate’ was a tad awkward, but shifts were made easier if the driver didn’t try for fast shifts. In best Japanese box tradition, there was a big ratio gap between second and third gears.
We liked the gate layout that put first gear and reverse directly opposite – essential for quick shifting when ‘rocking’ a stuck vehicle out of rut hollows.
The four-litre diesel did its job quietly, with mechanical noise evident only when revs went above 3000rpm. That red band was useful only for engine braking, because the torquey donk did its best from around 1400rpm up to 2800rpm, climbing most highway grades in fifth or sixth cog.
Ride quality isn’t the strong point of Japanese 4×4 trucks, but the loaded Hinos we drove rode better than their Japanese-made competitors, thanks to their longer front springs. A set of top-quality dampers should improve that even further.
Obviously, the driver’s suspension seat damped out more bump action than the fixed passenger perches, but ride quality in the passenger perches – without suspension seating – was acceptable.
Handling was flat and steering was accurate with good road feel on bitumen surfaces, but the standard skinny front tyres showed some side slip and understeer on pea gravel roads. The wide-single tyre option is a better choice and can retain the full 7.5 tonnes GVM.
The ABS disc brake system worked effectively on sealed and dirt roads, but the ABS function was deactivated when 4WD was selected.
Auto option on test
With overall reduction of 65:1 the manual-transmission Hino 300 4×4 climbed and descended very steep grades effortlessly, including a testing 1:1.5 concrete ramp. The auto was more highly geared, but had torque multiplication, so there was no discernible climbing disadvantage.
The Allison box in the evaluation truck was set up as a single-overdrive five-speed, with the parking pawl option and with ‘power’ and ‘economy’ shift programming. It had a car-like ratio selector module, with ‘P’, ’N’ and ‘D, 3, 2, 1’ positions. Anyone with a car automatic transmission driving background would feel at home in the Hino 817 4×4 auto.
At seven tonnes GVM on freeways, secondary bitumen, gravel and on bush trails, shift quality was car-like, up and down the box. Additionally, when the exhaust brake lever was activated the transmission went into a downshift program that kept engine revs high, to improve retardation.
Only when tightly manoeuvring and in steep off-road situations did we feel the need to lock the box in first gear. It could be re-programmed as a six-speed, for light duty applications, but we felt that a single overdrive, with legal cruising speed revs just over 2000rpm, was fine for this weight.
After this taste of the prototype auto 817 we did a head-to-head comparison with the manual model. Adding interest to this tussle was the fitment of 19.5-inch single tyres front and rear to the auto truck, while the manual wore stock duals and skinny fronts.
This test was done with both trucks loaded to 5.5 tonnes GVM and the fat-tyred machine was better riding and more supple on all surfaces, thanks to softer tyre ‘springing’. Only in steep descents was the skinny-tyred vehicle superior, but that had everything to do with gearing and engine braking, not its tyre package.
Another factor that we’re aware of with dual rear tyres came to the fore when we picked up a large rock, jammed between the right rear duals. It took some persuasion with a jack handle to lever it out. If we hadn’t noticed the captive rock it would have destroyed the rear tyres or, worse, flown out at highway speed and caused mayhem behind the vehicle. That’s why many people don’t want duals in the bush!
Both specification Hinos conquered our fire trail stone shelves with ease, but the only one that did well on the beach test was the wide-tyred one.
Which single tyre option for you
In late-2022 Hino Australia set up a test drive for us in two 817 crew cabs, fitted with 19.5-inch wheels and wide-single tyres: one with the Allison automatic box installed and the other with the standard manual and optional No Spin rear diff. The auto version had 285-section tyres and the manual had 305s.
We spent a day simulating power line maintenance work, with both trucks using freeways, secondary bitumen roads, gravel roads and steep, slippery fire trails for power line access. We climbed and descended 700 vertical metres in the day-long test.
We ran the tyres at 90-95psi on-road and dropped pressure to around 50psi for off-road work.
Ride quality on all surfaces was better that the standard vehicle’s, thanks to better tyre ‘springing’, but the front dampers could certainly do with an upgrade on vehicles that will be driven on gravel, corrugated roads.
There was very little performance difference between the two tyre sizes, but the block-tread 305s certainly looked more off-road capable. However, they did vibrate a little and made more noise at highway speeds.
In exchange for that, they gave superior rock-shelf-climbing grip and would have an advantage in muddy conditions. You pays your money and you makes your choice!
Speaking of money, 17-inch and 19.5-inch tyres ranged widely in price, from Chinese brands around the $240-$450 mark, up to $750 for Korean, European and Japanese brands.
Conclusion
Prior to the cessation of order taking in late-2023 Hino Australia certainly made an effort to please local buyers with locally-sourced after-market options needed for serious bush work, including an automatic transmission, tested winch bar and engineered single-wheels and tyre fitment.
It’s a shame that we were in limbo in mid-2025, awaiting a decision on when Hino Australia will fit a Euro 6 engine and auto box into the 2026 Hino 817 4×4. Presumably, the manual six-speed version is not under consideration, because Hino Australia has a stated policy of auto-only transmissions in two-pedal trucks, across all weight and configuration classes.
Check out the video of our initial dual-tyred truck test:
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