Difficulty:
Tools: rachet with 10mm socket, grinder with cutoff wheel, welder
Formatted write up with pics
http://www.yourlandcruiser.com/proje...cdryerrelo.htm
Most folks with R-134 ac systems on their 80's have a fear of hitting their ac dryer on the rocks. It hangs down pretty low and is vulnerable, but personally I have never hit mine in 4 years of aggressively wheeling my truck. Then again, I have good spotters that know what to look out for. That said, when my lobsterfawk bracket snapped allowing my battery to shift and eventually pop a whole in my ac system, a perfect opportunity presented itself. The system was now empty and if I was going to relocate the dryer, then now was the time to do it.
First thing to do was take off the ARB bumper (with winch). Once the bumper was off, getting to the ac dryer was easy and straight forward. It's easiest to remove the 2 10mm hex bolts on top of the dryer before taking it out of the braket. Once both bolts are out, you simply pull the old dryer off the 2 hard lines. The hard lines are just push fit, but they do have o-rings so it may take a little figling with it to get them off. Then take off the bracket (again 2 10mm hex bolts) and finally the 1 10mm hex bolt holding the dryer into the bracket.
The new dryer used was Toyota part number 88471-34010 and is not for the FZJ80, but it does have the same pattern for fittings. It is about 3/4" shorter in length. Picture shows the older stock one in gray and the new replacement in black.
It was at this point that I had to take a massive detour. Due to my hard line being punctured, I had to replace it. This should be straight forward, but due to the bozos that helped with the dual battery setup, it was a mess. I had to pull out the full main battery tray which meant disassembling the dual battery system. I also had to pull out all the driver side lights, the grill etc, all to get to the ac hard line. By the way, if you have people work on your truck, make sure they use stainless steel when possible. Rusty hardware sucks. The new hard line I installed was the same as stock, part number [add].
At this point, I needed to get the new dryer up as high as possible without interfering with the turn signal. Bending the aluminum lines was a little tricky. I did not want to kink them because waiting for a replacement was not something I was keen on. The answer came in building my own quick tube bender (this is not a pic of mine, but rather what I modeled mine after). Nothing fancy, just something I hijacked off another website. A few small quick bends to the new line and one free hand, but very careful to the other hard line and it immediately became apparent that I could have about 4" more clearance. I didn't and couldn't go any higher due to the turn signal being so deep.
Next up was to modify the existing bracket. I simply cut out out a mid-section of the vertical back of the bracket and welded together the 2 ends. Now everything bolted back together as it would if it was totally stock and I have 4" more clearance. More important than just the clearance though is the fact that it's no longer so exposed and vulnerable.
Doing this without having to fawk with dropping in a new hard line should only take about 1/2 hr after removal of the bumper.
Will post a new pic with the ARB back on once I put the bumper back on. I have a few other small projects to do before the ARB goes back on.
Junk
'94 FZJ80 225K 6M1,
Linear Mode
