Danish landcruiser (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 27, 2017
Threads
16
Messages
210
Location
Aalborg, Denmark
So after having bought FJ62 in Los Angeles, and having driven it from there to Buenos Aires (putting through a lot), I have shipped it back to Denmark where I can fix it up. And it needs it!
I'm not a skilled mechanic. I'm a Navy officer with an engineering degree, so bear with my work. I have taken engines apart before though and put them together again. I am doing my best, and I am more than open to input/suggestions. I want to do it as great as possible!

Some pictures to enjoy/frown upon.

While it was still pretty in a volcano crater in Mexico
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Outside the police station in Peru, after the incident with the bull. At this point I thought I wouldn't be able to continue.
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20 hours later with help from 3-4 mechanics working the car with jacks, chains, hammers and whatmore we regained hope, that I'd might be able to complete our trip. They did not demand a single penny for their help. What a bunch of guys...
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From Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
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After crossing Argentina west to east on highway 288, which was a s***ty gravel road for most parts. It had big potholes which I tried to fly over. However there was also Guanacas everywhere (big alpaca-like creatures). This was an exciting cocktail. The transfercase mounts were falling apart after this gravel road. No more off roading for the rest of this trip!
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This is a long term project and my plan is to take my time and get it done properly. I don't worry too much about if everything's original, as long as it's sturdy and fine quality.

My aim is to make the car look great again, so I don't want any dents, and the paint has to look great. Also I want to be mechanically top shape. In order to drive Danish roads it has to be, so that's not really a question.

My initial thoughts on the project is to
- Take as much apart as possible in order to swop it with new/overhauled parts
- Lift the body off
- Inspect the chassis thoroughly and fix whatever needs
- Figure our which differential locks I want

Results from day one of taking apart
- Everything came out pretty easily
- It's going to be a mess figuring out where everything needs to go, but there's no other way to do this but to just go ahead
- Every bolt or screw is saved, but I will try to replace everything with new ones
- Dash board doesn't come of easily. This will be the next thing to do.
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Aaand a couple more pictures....

The way I lived for 8 months Los Angeles - Buenos Aires
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Wildcamp in Bolivia where a lot of cows apparently were killed. Horns laying around everywhere. This is not a permanent install (!).
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The full setup in Cotopaxi National Park, Ecuador.
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The Laguna's route from Bolivia to Chile. This picture is in an elevation of 4500metres.
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From a wildcamp in Peru along a river
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Last three ones for now. Can you tell I like this car? And yes it has its own album.

In front of Fitz Roy on a clear day.
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On the Salary de Uyuni. World's biggest saltfield in Bolivia at +3000metres elevation.
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Wild camp on the side of the Carratera Austral. 4x4 route in Chile. Camping with our friends in a new 4runner.
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Got the car on stands, front wheels off, panels of in both sides, radiator and radiatormounts off. I'm surprised by how fast this was. I love the simplicity of the mechanical structure. It's straight forward. And almost everything is metric. Feel sorry for you guys but for a European like me, that's just easier.

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Now I'd say I'm ready to take off the panel above the dashboard. I'm going to leave the dashboard in, as it's in good condition (I think so). Th panel though has been damaged by the Californian sun and looks like a moon crater. I saw some posts in here of ways to fix it. I might try that.
The panel is not very easy to get off though. I do not understand why it is bolted so well on. I should probably look into the manual to make sure I'm taking out nothing more than the necessary bolts.

After the panel I need to get a bunch of small stuff out, and then it's the body. I gave it a quick look today, and it didn't look like much more than 6 bolts holding the body on.

Does anyone have an idea how much the body weighs with everything out? I have a tractor with a fork lift to lift it off.

I would like to start buying spareparts, but living in Europe it's not that easy. Shipping is expensive so I need to make as much of it as possible and make large orders. So I'm going to have to work intensively and then wait and wait and wait and then start the routine again. There is a spareparts place in Netherland (8 hour drive away). I'll might go there later this week. But it would be awesome to have the body off and know if there's something I need for the frame.

Out for now. The job continues tomorrow. With a broken hand by the way. Annoying as hell.
 
Amazing. Here’s to your trip and the adventures to come. :beer:
 
I think a set of horns mounted on the hood would look great, like a badge of honor that it killed a bull and lived to tell about it. In the US, it would be called a Purple Heart(no disrepect to those who have truly earned one).

Of course, I am a Texan and we think horns look good on most things, except football teams...
 
What was the paperwork like for moving the truck from country to country? That seems like a book by itself.
 
taking the body off the frame will be a monumental job. Much more than just unbolting body mounts. You need to be really sure that you want to go that far. Is the frame that bad that it can't be welded? Are you doing a frame swap? body off means disconnecting fuel lines, brake lines, heater hoses, taking the fuel fill out, removing shocks, removing shift boots and maybe shift sticks, disconnecting electrical grounds and any electrical harness on the frame, unbolting the exhaust, prob a lot more I'm not thinking about. I'd only remove it if I was doing a frame swap.
 
Great thread! You make my stuff look mundane. The dash pad isn't too bad on a 60, can't imagine a 62 is much worse. You will likely have some studs sticking down from the middle of the pad. To get them, you need the glove box out, the instrument panel out (easy). Then just reach under there for the studs sticking down. After what you have done so far it will be cake.

I am taking the body off of my 60 in the next few days too, so I will document how it goes.

Keep up the pictures!
 
Thanks for all the attention and salutes. Cheers right back to all of you!

Right now I'm looking into differential and axle. What are your thoughts on full vs. semi floating axles?

Also any thoughts on lockers? I do like the Harrop Easton E-locker. Looks quite nice. I love the ARB too, but the fact that I am adding so much more stuff that can break, and that I am locking by use of air pressure just doesn't seem appealing to me. I like it simple as with the E-locker.


@dogfishlake thanks a lot! I just looked through the manual and found out exactly which bolts I need to take out. Guess there's not that many after all!

@g-man thanks for the input. You've made me reconsider. However I have no end date for this project, and I am doing this because I want my cruiser to be in great shape when I finish, and because I want to learn a ****ton about it. The more the merrier. From the tasks you mention, I am not so worried about the most of it. I've tried most of them before. But I haven't tried disconnecting fuel lines before. A note on this task is to bleed the fuel system when I fire it up again I assume?

I don't know what you mean by:
- Taking the fuel fill out
- Reemoving shift boots
- Maybe shift sticks

Disonnecting electrical grounds and any electrical harness on the frame. I'm planning on removing the electrical harness and replace it completely. Through Centralamerica I had so much trouble with faulty connections, dirty connectors and whatso. Luckily the cruiser is a little piece of heaven to look for faults on. The 12V system is easy to manage because the electrical components are divided into A, B and C groups. So when the headlights are out and the horn is out at the same time, but the radio works... Something's wrong with the C-line again. I had to fix that stuff many times. I cut out the fusible link in the end because it kept screwing me over. One time I fixed it among curious Alpacas that nearly stole my tools trying to eat them.

@HemiAlex when I get to the cruiser again, I'll grab a picture of my folder with paperwork. Because you're right. There was a lot of it. A lot of paperwork concerning doing the 14-15 bordercrossings thrithr Central- and Southamerica. And also some paperwork shipping it to Denmark. The shipping was not that bad actually. But man was it a weird feeling to handover the keys to some kid in an Argentine port. That was my home he just drove off in!
 
On the locker question, have you considered cable lockers from an HJ-61? That should be a pretty easy swap plus you get the full floating rear axle. I have been looking to import a set here to the U.S. and they will likely come from your side of the pond. It seems like they may be easy to source near you.

I really don't think removing the body from your truck will be tough at all, especially if you have the means to lift it off easily. One of the MUD members here suggested renting a crane service for the job. It looks like an excellent idea since it only costs around $150 to have it done on each end. I have a guy near me that has moved stuff with his crane at my shop for $100 and a case of beer. Not bad. I will be using a fork lift to remove mine HOPEFULLY this weekend.
 
@dogfishlake I found these eight hours away. What do you think? Price is 2200 USD

I'm not sure if they're full floating or not o_O

Diffs & axles | Cruiser World
I think that is pretty fair. They quoted me the same, plus shipping of course. I guess it depends on if they are very rusty or not. They should be full float if out of a 61. Having the cables and handles complete would be a nice setup in your 62.
 

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