Allow me to introduce...."Chunk" (my 60 Build thread) (1 Viewer)

[Trapper50cal]

Finally, I'm officially back in 60's Tech...
I have been spending more time in here, posting here and there anxiously awaiting the time when I would take delivery of my new-to-me 60 and be able to post some pic's w/o jinxing anything.

It was a little bit of an adventure getting this truck. I bought it from Mike Goodknight of Metric Offroad in Grand Junction, virtually sight unseen. (Just a couple low res. camera shots taken right after sunset.) A guy I work with had gotten a 60 from Mike as well, and it was a solid truck. My wife works with a long time friend of his, who happens to also be the wife of the Head Brewer of Steamworks. I felt like extending trust to Mike and putting a large down payment on the truck wasn't too risky (Given my experience and the people vouching for the situation) I sent him $1800 to hold the vehicle for me and to wrap up a couple odds and ends before it was ready to go.

Here are the phone pics he sent me. They represent the first I had seen of the Truck (An 87 with a July 86 Build date BTW)

By trapper50cal at 2012-04-17

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So a little history about this truck.
Originally sold by Stevenson (sp?) Toyota in Colorado to a gal in Golden
It spent some of its life in Georgia (I am told)
from aprox 2003-2005, it had one tons and forty's on it (Front fenders were cut at that time)
from 2006 to present, Mike removed all the shenanigans, returned it to stock suspension, re-arched the OEM springs, added add-a-leafs, shackles, bushings, pins, everything that wasn't replaced was gone over and greased, tightened etc.
Since the front fenders had be cut, he put on a whole new front clip...inners outers, valence and hood (mostly straight metal...hood's a little rough)

As a result of this, the truck is very tight rolling down the road...nary a peep, tracks well and bounces as one...no creaks or rattles, very nice and one of the primary reasons its value matches its cost.

-more coming, I wanted to post this before I messed it up or deleted it....

 

[GLTHFJ60]

One tons and 40's? I need to see some pics of that

Glad to see that you're back in the 60 series Land Cruiser section of the forum

 

[Trapper50cal]

-Cont.

So...When I called him he offered this 87.

Bonus, it hadn't had the gas tank recall done yet. So about 3 weeks ago, Mike took it to the dealer and had them do the recall work. Including all the little doo-dads and knick-knacks, the tab (that the dealer charged Mother Toyota) was around $2700 bucks!!!

It also has a new radiator, rebuilt carb, cap, rotor, wires, plugs, fuel filter, fuel gauge, tach, temp gauge, the power steering box was gone over, tuned...so on and so forth. (another reason it's value matches its cost)

While he was finishing up getting it ready, I bought 4 33x10.5 Toyo OC MT's and had them shipped to him and he installed them...I ordered some Heavy Duty MAF anti-inversion shackles for the back, which he installed, Beno sent me some fender light indicators...installed and a piece of window sill trim. Mike was nice enough to get all of that on and plugged in.

More phone pics after tires and shackles...

By trapper50cal at 2012-04-17

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So at this point with the stance correct and the meats on, I'm getting jazzed to go get it...so I'm putting the feelers out there for anyone to give me a ride to GJ to go get it. Many people offered but had scheduling limitations, the carb needed to be gone over one more time...yada yada yada

During that time, Jon Haris of Book Cliff Cruisers actually offered to take a Saturday to come down to Durango and drive me back up. What a generous offer! ultimately, however, it was a good thing it didn't go down like that...

Finally the stars aligned, the truck was ready and my father-in-law was in a position to make the run. Good times going up to GJ...listening to Baseball on Sirius XM, talking baseball, talking Rockies, beautiful road...bonding achieved. We get there, I look over the truck, talk Mike out of some extra parts from the boneyard (he wasn't letting go of that shift knob w/ the shift pattern metal still intact though or that tailight lense;p) then started the paperwork...an hour and forty-five later (he hasn't sold to many vehicles as a dealer) FIL and I are on the road. Part of the deal was that Dinner (originally lunch) was on me so we stopped at the Ale House (a Breckenridge Brewery outlet) had dinner and then got on our way........

FIL with the rig

By trapper50cal at 2012-04-17

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14 miles out of Grand Junction, the temp gauge skyrockets and pins out at the top...pissing antifreeze everywhere. I call Mike and tell him. He asks what I want to do. I say I want to leave the key with the truck and have him take it back to the shop and make it right. He is very apologetic and agrees (He didn't have to, it was bought and paid for AS-IS...at that point it was technically not his problem) So I leave the 60 on the side of the highway and drive home with the FIL, tail between legs.

Now, as a Land Cruiser guy in a Cruiser Forum, I can hear some of you saying...Just fix it! Well, couple things steered me away from that tact. 1. I had NO idea what was wrong. Could have been water pump, thermostat, air bubbles...any number of things....could have had headgasket issues and I had been driving it for a total of 17 miles...EVER. My FIL was with me and I didn't want him sucked into an all-nighter and he was my only transportation. Plus I felt like it was Mike's responsibility to sell me a running, non-overheating Cruiser...and it hadn't made it 17 miles...I was a little steamed at the time.

Mike looked it over and found an upside-down and antifreeze-crystal encrusted thermostat...bingo! He flushed the engine, flushed the radiator, got all kinds of crud out, cleaned up the thermostat, installed it the correct alignment, put an o-ring in it (that had been missing) and SHAZAM, temp just below middle after 45 minutes at 70mph.

More to come...

 

[Trapper50cal]

Cont.

Okay so...thermostat fixed, not overheating. But I have to get it to Durango still.

Luckily, the guys I bought my wife's Subaru from offered to post a shipping job for $125 from GJ to Durango on the hauler boards. Yesterday, a guy dropping off something in GJ and continuing on to Durango wanted to fill the spot back up on his truck and make a little extra gas money. Mike was nice enough to throw $50 towards the effort. Thanks Mike!

It got here this morning (To the Car lot) and Corbet took me out there to FINALLY take possession of the beast which, now that I have it, I have named "Chunk" and if any of you are familiar with the "Truffle Shuffle" then you will know who it's named after

I tried to tell myself that I could just pound out design work all day and wait till late afternoon to go wash it...but that just wasn't happening. While Mike did a great job getting this truck back into solid running condition...it looked like a 20 year, mouse house barn-find. The headliner was so dirty it looked like someone had held a rodeo on it. Barrel Racing, Calf-Roping, Bull Riding...the whole nine yards. For those of you who know my OCD nature when it comes to clean Land Cruisers, you know I had to go detail it.

Tuff Stuff spray cleaned all fabric...Seats, Carpet, Door Panels, Headliner
Washed every surface
Washed every window inside and out (Armor-all window wipes)
Armor-all'd every surface that was appropriate
Vacuumed it

From the outside, you can't really tell it has been washed, it still looks like a jar of ugly jelly beans. But that will change soon enough.

And it just feels way better having the interior clean.

Next is a LOT of sanding, a little bondo and a Krylon Fusion Ultra-Flat Olive Drab rattlecan job and some little stuff here and there...new taillight lenses from Kurt and some OEM, dome-top bumper bolts from CCOT.

I REALLY dig these tall/skinny Toyo OC MT's...perfect tire for the lift IMHO.

By trapper50cal at 2012-04-17

Pictured here is the ONLY rust on the entire body-BONUS

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[Trapper50cal]

Cont.

More pics of post detail delivery day...

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[Trapper50cal]

Okay, intro post is a wrap...
To all my Land Cruiser/Mud-based design clients. Sorry I didn't get any work done today...I had to take a "New Land Cruiser Sick Day"!

Back after it tomorrow morning!

I loved wheeling my 80 but it's nice to be back in a 60! The last of the rugged "utilitarian/safari simple to-the-point" Wagons.

 

[Trapper50cal]

One tons and 40's? I need to see some pics of that

Glad to see that you're back in the 60 series Land Cruiser section of the forum

I wish I had some pics of that!

Thanks Johnny!

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

cool! Good to see you back!

TK

 

[MANUCHAO]

Welcome back to a true classic !!

You went full circle.. so I'll ask !!
What made you sell the 80 and come back to a 60.... ?

Nice rig and great seller (sounds like)....BTW...
What plans you got for this rig..

 

[Trapper50cal]

Welcome back to a true classic !!

You went full circle.. so I'll ask !!
What made you sell the 80 and come back to a 60.... ?

Nice rig and great seller (sounds like)....BTW...
What plans you got for this rig..

Well, my wife's 4runner crapped the bed and was going to be more expensive to fix than it was worth.
I sold the 80 to use the equity to get her/us a Subaru that could act as family roadtripper and future kid carrier.

and then my plan was to get another cruiser with whatever was left. Knowing that it would be a less expensive
Cruiser and needing a wagon for hunting, i figured i'd go back to something I knew and loved.

Plans are aussie locker, paint, redline sliders, 4.11 thirds, dash overlay, tuff ducks, tuffy console, tailgate storage (that'll be the 3rd one bought from Kevin) and I bought a DiamondRax roof rack for it. That's about it. Oh and a big-ass TEQ sticker for the hood.

 

[BILLBY]

the 60 sixties rock
but thats my 5 cents worth

 

[klinetime574]

Good to have you back!

Why are you going with rattlecan? All your other LC's were nice and shiny

Tires look good! I miss my OEM wheels.

 

[Trapper50cal]

Good to have you back!

Why are you going with rattlecan? All your other LC's were nice and shiny

Tires look good! I miss my OEM wheels.

2 reasons....

It's primary use as a hunting rig and cost. I would love to return it to factory (4E8?) but that's a two stage paint with a colored/pearl clear and the body would need a lot of fine tuning to make that look okay and it would be an expensive endeavor.

Ingrid had great paint for the most part (my first 60)
Norman had good paint as well (other than the hood once the clear started coming up)

Trust me, it's gonna look sweet.

 

[klinetime574]

It's primary use as a hunting rig and cost...

Trust me, it's gonna look sweet.

I trust you

I hope you hook up that snorkel in the process haha. Or maybe that's just an extravagant engine bay vent?

 

[OGBeno]

Nice dude! Congrats to you indeed.

See you at CM!

 

[Trapper50cal]

I trust you

I hope you hook up that snorkel in the process haha. Or maybe that's just an extravagant engine bay vent?

yeah, funny story on that...the nicest fender that Mike had to put on was already cut for a snorkel so I got the snorkel as well. Planning on modding the air cleaner assembly to point that way and hook it up.

 

[Trapper50cal]

Nice dude! Congrats to you indeed.

See you at CM!

Thanks Onur, I need to get out there at least for a day to pick up my roof rack that's gonna mudship from California.

 

[jonharis]

Great to see that you finally got it home and are already making good progress on the truck.

 

[Trapper50cal]

Great to see that you finally got it home and are already making good progress on the truck.

Thanks Jon, sorry we didn't hang out while I was up there, I left a message but didn't hear back. The brewpub you suggested was closed that day anyway, they were doing Spring cleaning and up-keep.

 

[jonharis]

Thanks Jon, sorry we didn't hang out while I was up there, I left a message but didn't hear back. The brewpub you suggested was closed that day anyway, they were doing Spring cleaning and up-keep.

I was buried with work that day and at the office till 8-9pm. Next time. Sorry to hear that place was closed, highly recommended next time.