cult45's 45 recovery and remobilisation (1 Viewer)

[cult45]

Caught up with a mate today. He drives a nice UZJ100. Fkn flies that thing. Also in the car park was a sweet HJ47 Troopy! 2H, H41 etc. Even had a full second row of seats. The owner was a pretty cool young dude who'd just finished the resto six months earlier.

 

[cult45]

After yesterday's frozen wheel cylinder episode I began pulling them all down for inspection. All four rears are toast. I only had time to pull one corner from the front end but the bores were clean. The pistons were a bit blackened but I'm considering running them anyway as I think they're the factory installed cylinders. Thought's on this? What's interesting is that the rear cylinders [which I'm sure were aftermarket] weren't partitioned like the fronts. The rears could be pulled apart and looked straight through, but the fronts have a partition cast into them, effectively making one end move under braking pressure and the other purely for adjustment. Is this normal? Wondering if the difference is due to front vs. rear or stock vs. aftermarket.

 

[cult45]

The flex lines are a little gone. I think they'd still be ok as the inner line is still intact, but I'll replace them, especially after I discovered a rear hard line rusted through!

I always thought the flex line separated from this t-piece via the nut in the top left of this pic, but apparently it's all one piece cast copper [?]. Took a bit of persuasion to get the hard lines out. So I turned to my bench vice

 

[cult45]

Picked up these bad boys, plus another split rim fitted with a Dunlop SP Road Gripper for $50. Bar treads baby. These things are gonna look sweet..

 

[cult45]

Cool EH I saw on the highway!

 

[west aussie]

good to see you making progress. several years since i last played with wheel cyls but reckon front and rear are different as you describe. a knowledgable mate explained to me the difference is so you have brakes on one axle when reversing . im right into this with my 61 at the moment; more siezed than most! interested if your cyls are 1 1/8 or 1 1/4 and same diameter front and rear? dont get too hung up on the perfect wheel cyl 'magic'; you can get away with a lot with just a simple hone and some new buckets. not too sure whats available new or aftermarket but dont throw anything original away while you are tinkering. even just the springs that locate the adjuster are nice spares. i throw nothing landcruiser away at all!

love the roadtrack majors; i pick up every one i find no matter the condition; they are good just for static displays; ie the thing may as well be rolling on something that looks nice while you tinker or think about tinkering. somewhere i have a 60 series workshop manual that shows the 60 sitting on these tyres.

yea and love the EH. i have a FJ, EK, HD, HR, HQ and HZ (all utes) in various disrepair (but they all go). they all get the same 'ignore the rust; lets play cheap mechanics' like my old landcruisers!

 

[cult45]

Hey west. Thanks for the input re wheel cylinders. Yeah mate I throw nothing away! Mine are all 1 1/8 inch bores on all four corners. Two cylinders each. What are your fixed top ones?

I was doing a bit of reading last night on RTM's and apparently they're horrible in the wet, especially when they've been hardening in some cockies shed since 1963. The early Land Rover guys use them, so you may have some luck by contacting them. Don't have a spare one sitting around you'd love to part with?

 

[west aussie]

the rtm's i got are bloody rough; not worth crossing our lovely island for! (but its a nice drive anyway) your wheel cyls sound like my 64 era ones. my 61 are different; about to update that thread.

 

[cult45]

Scored another Dunlop RTM 16" x 7.50 for $30!!

 

[cult45]

Finally got a chance to get back working on my truck. The Great Brake Recondition Mission continues. Pulled the last remaining corner off and pulled down and inspected the wheel cylinders. A slight amount of surface rust due to seizing is all I saw on one cylinder, so I cleaned it up, blocked the rust back and reassembled. Installed cylinders and shoes in their entirety for the front end. I discovered another leaking hard line, so I'm going to do them all.

I fly out for work tomorrow so when I return I'll head into Slacks Creek Brake and Clutch to source 8m of hard line, 30 nuts, a few t-pieces and a few spare washers. Then when I return I'll make up the hard lines to suit and install them. Considering borrowing a Karcher and cleaning the chassis first.

 

[ozcrusier]

I always jam a garden hose into the chassis holes on the inside and work my way along each rail from back to front hosing out the mud and rocks first. Next the high pressure cleaner comes out and I do the exact same thing along each rail until there's no mud left inside them. I would try and find a wreck in Brisvegas and run the stock lines over making any.

 

[west aussie]

what is a karcher? i have a couple scrapers (just old flathead screwdrivers bent to various angles). typically run these and some compressed air up the chassis rails for a first clean. works well

 

[ozcrusier]

what is a karcher?

http://www.karcher.com.au/aus/Home.htm?gclid=COOl-s7X0MACFQVxvAod8ZsA8g

 

[cult45]

Yep, oz hit the nail on the head. Sure would be nice not to have to fight all that grease every time I wanna take a bolt off.

So in preparation for my brake line replacement I bought this today! Also ordered 8m of hard line, got the brake shop to make up the three flex lines, a bunch of spare copper washers, a few banjo fittings and 30 nuts. In the coming days I'll be attempting to make my own brake hard lines! Pretty pumped as I'd always seen this as an uber difficult thing to do.

Also, is this Cruiser unobtanium? It came of a '64 dash cut I bought and my '69 has the same hole under the dash to accept it.

Oh an here's a cool old 45/47 I saw on the Warrego Hwy on the way to site. It's a legit cocky's ute!

 

[lostmarbles]

Hi Dan

My first time looking at this thread and I've gone all shakey...

Is it that I'm about to kick the bucket and follow all my workmates? (I've yet another workmate's funeral to go to this morning.)

More likely it's all the ogling I've just done of this lovely FJ45 that has fallen into your lap and that's in such incredible condition... <pic of face green with eny>

Anyway...

After yesterday's frozen wheel cylinder episode I began pulling them all down for inspection. All four rears are toast. I only had time to pull one corner from the front end but the bores were clean. The pistons were a bit blackened but I'm considering running them anyway as I think they're the factory installed cylinders. Thought's on this? What's interesting is that the rear cylinders [which I'm sure were aftermarket] weren't partitioned like the fronts. The rears could be pulled apart and looked straight through, but the fronts have a partition cast into them, effectively making one end move under braking pressure and the other purely for adjustment. Is this normal? Wondering if the difference is due to front vs. rear or stock vs. aftermarket.

This is from a 1965 parts catalogue and that "front-rear setup" seems to be standard for the era:

Gosh your front brakes look in good nick for a 1969!

The flex lines are a little gone. I think they'd still be ok as the inner line is still intact, but I'll replace them, especially after I discovered a rear hard line rusted through!...

Good heavens... And I should think SO!

You MUST certainly replace all flex lines that are that old simply based on their age if nothing else...

Sounds like fixing up your rear cylinders/pistons would be quite a mission.

I'm toying with getting someone over here to sleeve an old brake master with stainless so perhaps that's an option for you on your wheel cylinders.. (Trouble is ... I don't trust many other people's workmanship so I'd prefer to find a kit that allows me to sleeve my master myself....)

I think you need to look at all your options ... just like I plan on doing. (The brake fluid in my master has gone really black which shows me that it is full of "rubber seal-wear particles" and will soon be giving me trouble. As I recall the bore had a little gouge in it when I last rekitted it.)

If you find quality new cylinders that are made very much the same as the originals and that don't cost you an arm and a leg then that might be the way to go.

I'm still running all original wheel cylinders and some time back I put in new cups all round without honing either. And they're all leak-free and working well (unlike the wifes car at the moment which is showing 15% braking variation between left and right at the front but then off course those are discs up there) .

I reckon a key to getting wheel cylinders to last and to be trouble free is to have good boots and ensure that there's always wet (not dried) rubber-grease under those boots to keep all the pistons sliding freely.

But you of course need your cylinder bores to be unpitted and without ridges (and ideally looking silky smooth as you say).. ................(unlike the bore of my master with its little gouge)

 

[cult45]

Hi Tom,

Thanks so much for your input and thanks for the pics. I'm sorry to hear about your workmate, what do you do? I work out on the APLNG gas line and a bloke from an opposition company from my site was crushed to death by a large diameter pipe on Monday.

I was offered to have all four rear cylinders sleeved in stainless at the cost of $55 each, but I politely declined..
I think to do it on your own would be ok, you'd just have to ensure your boring is spot on. I think what I'll do is reinspect the rears and go from there. I've learned a lot since pulling them down and perhaps a second look would give me a different MO. But thanks.

Today was one of those days where the intention was there but the Nissan gods prevented much from happening. Bastards.

- I degreased and pressure washed the chassis, underbody, trans/t-xfer and engine bay. Took some before pics but forgot to get after pics.
- I broke an easy-out trying to remove a broken t-stat housing bolt, so in the end I just drilled it out with progressively larger bits. From this experience I would recommend just using drill bits. I see no need for an easy out. Forgot those pics too.
- I cleaned the front of the block and head in preparation for the water pump and t-stat housing using a 4" grinder and a wire cup brush.
- Installed water pump. No gasket, just gasket maker.
- I found the reason for the lack of leg room. The bolt that holds the seat base to the seat frame had somehow slipped over this folded piece of the frame. A bit of gentle persuasion with a foot long flat screwdriver and a rubber mallet and presto, my 6'4" frame can drive my rig!

 

[cult45]

I also unpacked the parts I'd ordered. My aim for this build was to specifically do it as cheaply as possible, a kind of a redneck build where nearly everything is reused or rebuilt instead of replaced. So I shopped around, especially after nearly having a heart attack after seeing some of the quotes I was getting. $414AUD for a water pump case in point.

I found a guy called Bob who runs an eBay store called justservice. Handily enough he lives about 5 minutes from me. He was in spare parts for 20+ years until he decided to go out on his own. Great move by him because he's a nice guy, he knows his s***, understands the specificity of part numbers, is on toyodiy and will go out of his way to help. I cannot recommend him enough. If anyone wants his contact details just PM me.

Through him I sourced:

Brake master - $70
Water pump - $58 [Japanese]
Rad hoses x 3 - $36
Bypass hose - $9
T-stat kit [upper and lower housings, t-stat and gaskets] - $195
Door rubber RHS - $45
Door rubber LHS - $45
Suspension bushes front and rear - $40
Clutch master - $47
Clutch slave - $23

 

[cult45]

Oh and lastly, I pulled almost all of the parts from my '64 40 dash cut that I'm going to send to west aussie for his '61 40 and anything else he's got out there. All yours west. As soon as you're back from the Emerald Isle I'll ship them across the red centre. Some are quite rare like the early light and ignition switches, but the rest are probably not so rare. But west, and I quote 'nothing Cruiser is thrown away under my watch' so I'll send him everything.

The only thing I couldn't get off was what appears to be a second choke cable. How on earth does this come off???

 

[lostmarbles]

.... a knowledgable mate explained to me the difference is so you have brakes on one axle when reversing . ....

I found where that came from too.. (The 98041 Chassis & Body FSM).. See the writing on the top of this page:

Shame the illustration quality is so poor on these old FSMs..

......
I found a guy called Bob who runs an eBay store called justservice. Handily enough he lives about 5 minutes from me. He was in spare parts for 20+ years until he decided to go out on his own. Great move by him because he's a nice guy, he knows his ****, understands the specificity of part numbers, is on toyodiy and will go out of his way to help. I cannot recommend him enough. If anyone wants his contact details just PM me.
Through him I sourced:
Brake master - $70
Water pump - $58 [Japanese]
Rad hoses x 3 - $36
Bypass hose - $9
T-stat kit [upper and lower housings, t-stat and gaskets] - $195
Door rubber RHS - $45
Door rubber LHS - $45
Suspension bushes front and rear - $40
Clutch master - $47
Clutch slave - $23

And I thought I'd found some good parts guys! Your guy is absolutely incredible Dan!!!!

PS. My recent funeral attendances relate partly to my age (and consequently the ages of most of my friends). My present job as a bus driver isn't without its dangers though. A few years ago one workmate (Barry) died from being cut in half on the rear bumper of his electric trolley bus as he was putting the poles back up on the wires after a de-wirement out by the airport. He was wearing full HiVis gear too and it was perfect dry daylight driving conditions but the perpetrator got off scott free by claiming sunstrike! Bus drivers are at the bottom of the social-standing scale of course so I assume this is what enabled the perpetrator to escape without even a conviction for "careless driving causing death". It's rumoured amongst us that this rear-ending driver (who couldn't even see in time the back of massive bus with its hazard lights flashing) was in a hurry to a get to a Lord-of-the-Rings filmset. And the film industry is ever so important here. For example Wellington Airport (that owns a lot of the nearby land) recently wanted to place an ugly crass sign up on the hillside right near where this fatal accident occurred saying "Wellywood" (to offer incoming aircraft passengers a comparison between my city of Wellington (which is attractive enough in its own right) and Hollywood in the USA! .... Ooooops. I'm starting to rant...............Sorry..

 

[cult45]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss Tom. A co-worker death is an odd thing. It's not quite family or friend but someone you spend a lot of time with nonetheless. I hope he's double-clutching the big road ranger in the sky. I work in film - though independently - so I can vouch for the dicks the industry attracts. But there's one or two us that have our heads screwed on..