81 BJ42 - I have to bring it home and pass inspection (5 Viewers)

[Awl_TEQ]

So now that the rear heater was working as it should I turned my attention to the front. I removed and disassembled it to get at the core and flush it out. The original foam turned to dust at the slightest touch. The core was full of the same brown gunk that the rear core had. Which makes sense, as they are connected to the same lines. Speaking of lines, I also flushed them out.

I had several dealings with Shane/ metricTLC / Labrack in the past. I made some components for his racks and he paid me with product. I have every sticker/ plate/ heater kit and upholstery product he made that applied to my rigs. So one of the trades we did was for a re-firbished heater box assembly minus the core. So I kept all my original stuff for the future and used one of his foam kits to put my core into his box.

Heater removed:

The boxes:

So apparently I didn't take any pictures of the final instal. But the result was fantastic. Waaaaay more air flow with all the dog hair and leaves cleaned out of the fan side of the core. And way way way more heat. I can defrost my side glass there is so much heat. I usually don't use the rear heater for more than five minutes or my butt gets too hot. The rear heater blows air rearwards but also under the front seats and the seat can get pretty hot.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Here is a current pic of the heater after a year of dust. And a shot of the console with switches installed.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

I do minor changes/ upgrades/ maintenance all the time. I mean ALL the time. But my next major project was to build a rear bumper for this rig.

I wanted:

- Dual swing
- Fuel cans
- tool storage
- spare
- jack/shovel/axe
- mud flaps that don't get squashed
- LED tail lights for that brighter than stock look

So I drew up some parts in Solidworks and finalized a design I liked. Lasered out all the parts, bent them and welded then. Took quite a while and I didn't take pictures of the process. But I took photos at the "ready for powder coating" stage.

So you may have seen my trailer build thread. The only thing I kept from my old utility trailer was the hubs and spindles. I had the machine shop turn the hubs down to just cylinders to make the single shear mounts you see here. The left side holds the spare tire ad I put a plate on there to drill and bolt on things like the axe, shovel, Highlift jack. The right side holds a tool box and a three jerry can basket. The basket has my version of a stock licence plate holder. The stock holder is designed with an angle in it. Mine sits vertical and takes the stock lights and covers. The mud flaps are an old ebay purchase and are removable by simply removing a bolt that is the piano hinge pin. The reverse lights are flush mount LED fog lights because I couldn't find 24V clear LED backup lights from people like Grote. There are gas shocks to hold the arms out as well as spring pins to lock them out.

I tried to keep everything high and tight for a good departure angle. I made the tool box and basket aluminum for some weight savings. The whole thing bolts to stock holes with no drilling required. The sides wrap around to protect the rear quarter panel and provide a Highlift jacking point capable of lifting the rig.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

more pics


The latches pull in and down at a 45º angle. I see a lot of bumper builds that only pull forward and some that only pull down. IMO you need both so i mounted the latches at 45º. There are rubber bump stops that the arms slam to and a PVC machined block that they rest on for positive closure.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

and the last few shots:

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Those pics were taken Jun 21 and this one is Jun 25th. Loaded up and ready for CCC. I looked through all my photos and have not a single one showing the swingouts open and up close.

Did the Canadian Clunker Classic with some good people.

Did Ruby Lake with some half decent folk

Then it happened.

During the Ruby lake run we decided to do a future invitation only run on a trail the club had been talking about since before I joined. We call it Satan's Outhouse. I had never personally seen it but I had heard the stories told at nearly every RMLCA meeting I had been to. Endless winching was a common theme as well as "every body panel will be dented" or "By the end you won't even want to talk to these guys anymore"

So naturally we decided to do it backwards. Uphill. In freezing rain. We all had to winch up the first obstacle. A 40" deep hole with no bypass and full of water with a vertical wall on the outlet side. Peter then lost a bead on Shaker. And then killed the battery airing up. I snapped the 3/8" amsteel winch line while stuck on a stump I couldn't see. Coastal Kevin then got stuck in the same spot and caved in his passenger door on the minitruck. He had already done the drivers door earlier.

The "it happened" that I was referring to was I ripped off the left arm of the bumper. I was stuck in mud on a side slope, low on the left. The trail bent slightly right and uphill. I was leaning on a 6-8" tree with the left gutter and straddling the root flair with my axles. Only way out was to winch. As I winched forward I felt the tree slide around the rear corner of the roof. So I was off the tree right? Not quite. You see the jackass that made my bumper had the spare tire located such that it stuck out 2" past the side wall of the cab. This was so the right rear door could open without opening the left swingout. So here I was winching, thinking I was home free, when the winch grunted a little and we all heard a loud "Tink". I knew instantly that I had snapped the swingout off by shearing the single shear mount. The Spare had hooked the tree.

So time for a new bumper build. This time all aluminum for a lighter build. Double shear pin double swingout. Fewer jerry cans. A smaller toolbox. And for God's sake tuck the tire inside the body line.


I have no photos of that trip at all. Anyone who was there please post a photo or three.

 

[Varty Yo]

Wow!!!

You do your updates proper my man! Posting a ton of prgress all at once then it doesnt leave a guy hanging waiting for me haha.

That rear bumper is pretty BA!

 

[peteinjp]

Ya for real! Are you like in the hospital or something with time to catch us up??

How did your roof gutter fair? Better to have the arm snap then bend something further up stream....

If your coming to Japan be sure to get n touch. Unfortunately we don't have any cool trails to run- at least that I know of....

Pete

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Varty, the new one is better but I don't have a single picture of the build. Pete, for sure I'll be reaching out when the time comes. The gutter was fine. I was only lightly leaning on the tree and the gutters are surprisingly strong. Though I would not recommend leaning on them as a general rule. I slid into that position in the mud. Not in the hospital, just a lazy Saturday.


Here are some finished pics of the new bumper. This was done in a rush before heading down to Turf-N-Surf last November.

So the changes were:

- double shear swing hinge - the hinge pin is supported on both ends - top and bottom.
- to make the double shear and not loose departure angle I moved the lights into the swingout arms.
- all aluminum construction - the old one was pretty freaking heavy. It was 3/16" steel - this is 1/4" Alum.
- move the tire inboard so as to not repeat history.
- I used a set of door latches from a junkyard Tercel to latch the swingouts in.
- I chamfered the lower corners to add a little flair and not be so boxy.
- smaller tool box - the tool box was by far the most useful aspect of the old build while on the trail. no more digging through camping gear while looking for a snatch strap or clevis. The new one has only recovery gear and tire tools in it.
- single jerry can - one is really enough for this rig. The basket is modular and I can make it a two can basket pretty easy. Actually I plan to do just that with one diesel and one water.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

moar

The last pic shows a third latch - it's a rear fold down seat latch from some sedan - it helps the tire assembly not wiggle and bounce to relieve stress on the swing arm bouncing down ruff trails. It was a temporary add on. I plan a more permanent setup which hopefully is even more sturdy.

 

[subzali]

Wow. Super like. Funny how you went from iPhone videos to no pictures at all of the builds.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Yes. Sorry. I designed and built the aluminum bumper in a week including powder. After ripping the arm off the old one I parked the truck while beno and partsouq got me new mirrors and rear marker lights (also ripped off on trees) and wipers. Then I decided to join arnott and behemoth60 on a trip to Turf-n-Surf last minute. So I needed a bumper fast.

But, I also went through a phase where I wasn't really watching MUD. I still followed my watched threads with email updates but I wasn't actively reading any new stuff. I mean, if you've seen one noob do a knuckle rebuild, you've seen them all. I guess I kinda felt like I had seen it all and so I went off on my own, did my own thing for a while. Part of that was not caring enough to document my stuff with the same detail I had in the past.

I missed out on some really nice builds by several newish members. I have been slowly easing back in lately and It's been fun to discover the old magic again. Not so much with the mechanical aspect but with the social side. I never stopped hanging with the locals but I didn't keep up with new MUD members getting their hands dirty. Some of them have real good ideas and a real passion for the 40 series.

And so ends Kevin's confessional.

 

[subzali]

Back in the day I bookmarked any front axle rebuild documentation on any website I came across, now it's like

 

[arnott1t]

I can assure all on here kevin's stuff is even nicer in person than in pictures. When I build things I think "what would Kevin do?" then I do the crappy thing I was going to anyway….

 

[Wes]

Now, I also wanted a better center console. I had a few ideas and drew something up in Solidworks until I had what I though would work for me. I wanted to retain the rear heater, this is Canada after all, so i started with a cover to take the place of the factory console that also allowed the heater to work. I had to have louvers or hole to let the hot air thru and also access to the control valve I had just spent three days fixing.

This is what I came up with: It covers the heater, bolts to the same spots as the factory console, and functions with the heater valve/air flow same as OEM. I even had a sticker for the valve operation from Shane before he disappeared.

View attachment 1207934

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View attachment 1207938

Whatcha' gonna do with that center console ash tray? I would love to take it off your hands if it needs a good home.

 

[78fj40mg]

moar

The last pic shows a third latch - it's a rear fold down seat latch from some sedan - it helps the tire assembly not wiggle and bounce to relieve stress on the swing arm bouncing down ruff trails. It was a temporary add on. I plan a more permanent setup which hopefully is even more sturdy.

View attachment 1208107 View attachment 1208110 View attachment 1208111 View attachment 1208114 View attachment 1208115

Kevin, very nice work and excellent welding skills! Keep the upgrades coming.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Whatcha' gonna do with that center console ash tray? I would love to take it off your hands if it needs a good home.

Keeping that. It's a brand new one from metricTLC before his departure. People scoff at me but I still intend a full on factory spec restoration on this rig in the semi-distant future. I buy and store OEM parts for it all the time.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

I can assure all on here kevin's stuff is even nicer in person than in pictures. When I build things I think "what would Kevin do?" then I do the crappy thing I was going to anyway….

Maybe, but you pulled off a full respray of that Troopy including engine swap and double cases in a couple months time. And now you're swapping in an 1HD-T. That's impressive on several levels.

 

[Varty Yo]

Its a month later any updates from the garage??

 

[Awl_TEQ]

I'm designing a drawer to go under the fridge that will be a slide out kitchen. I'll post a screen shot of the CAD model mockup tomorrow.