What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? (31 Viewers)

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Swapped my leafs from front to rear and rear to front. Cruiser had a bad squat when purchased from PO. Leafs were on wrong ends. Looks appropriate now. Still need to flip shackles however I couldn't because driver front shackle bolt is welded to the inner shackle plate because it's to close to the power steering box to get a nut on the backside. No worries I'm planning shackle reversal or at minimum different shackles period. I like the HFS from ccot but would probably have the same clearance issue without shackles reversal. Either way it's much more level now. Has any one else ever seen this or have any other ideas. I was thinking a thinner nut might clear.

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I would remount the steering box up a half inch or so and correct the suspension. Looks like lazy work and planning from the OP.
 
I would remount the steering box up a half inch or so and correct the suspension. Looks like lazy work and planning from the OP.
I was looking at that as well. It actually looks like a pretty simple fix to mount it up an inch or so higher. I'll research a little and probably go that route. Other than that the cruiser is very solid. Definitely pleased with the purchase.
 
Swapped my leafs from front to rear and rear to front. Cruiser had a bad squat when purchased from PO. Leafs were on wrong ends. Looks appropriate now. Still need to flip shackles however I couldn't because driver front shackle bolt is welded to the inner shackle plate because it's to close to the power steering box to get a nut on the backside. No worries I'm planning shackle reversal or at minimum different shackles period. I like the HFS from ccot but would probably have the same clearance issue without shackles reversal. Either way it's much more level now. Has any one else ever seen this or have any other ideas. I was thinking a thinner nut might clear.

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Psssst. Your anti-inversion shackles are upside down.
 
Psssst. Your anti-inversion shackles are upside down.

Psssst. He already knows that.

Still need to flip shackles however I couldn't because driver front shackle bolt is welded to the inner shackle plate because it's to close to the power steering box to get a nut on the backside.
 
I figured that I could easily bolt a $40 HF portable tire changer to my HF engine crane base. I used two 3/8"-eye-bolts held in place by the eye of the crane's base hitch pin. Photoed are Nissan 720 rwd steelies. I successfully swapped wheels on my spare tire - while I hit the better one with rattle can paint.

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I'll have to figure out balancing for the 40 steel wheels - the bubble balancers would need to fit the 4" max hub size for what China is making these days. Maybe I'll just make friends with the local machine shop and do an custom adapter ring? Some folks balance on a loose hub, but I think that bearing preload might be too great on the 40 front axle?

Anyone DIYing their 40 tires?
 
Swapped my leafs from front to rear and rear to front. Cruiser had a bad squat when purchased from PO. Leafs were on wrong ends. Looks appropriate now. Still need to flip shackles however I couldn't because driver front shackle bolt is welded to the inner shackle plate because it's to close to the power steering box to get a nut on the backside. No worries I'm planning shackle reversal or at minimum different shackles period. I like the HFS from ccot but would probably have the same clearance issue without shackles reversal. Either way it's much more level now. Has any one else ever seen this or have any other ideas. I was thinking a thinner nut might clear.

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The shackle issue is a pretty common one. They are upside down because if you installed them the right way, the anti inversion bar will basically be sitting right up against your power steering box mounting plate, and severely limit travel. I had my saginaw steering done by a shop before I was brave enough to do it myself and they left me in the same situation. I resolved it by installing some steel spacers to shift the box as far over in the frame hole as I could, then ground down the top portion of the shackle to make enough clearance for a ny-lock nut. These after-market shackles are so thick that you could probably do this and still wind up with thicker metal than the stock shackles were made of. To this day, I run a standard bar shackle on the front driver's side, and anti-inversion shackles everywhere else. The bar shackle will bottom out on the saginaw box mounting plate before the spring can successfully invert. Not ideal, but more ideal than sawing the entire saginaw conversion off and starting over.
 
This is the first photo of the progress on my 68' 40 project. The rebuilt fine spline axles are installed with the FJ60 disk brake conversion.
This weekend I finished up mounting the minitruck power steering box after shortening my drag link.
View attachment 2728753I also recieved my rear sill & quarter panel patch plates from CCOT.
Next step in to test fit the 3F-E
Looks Great!!
 
Drove it up to check my pig trap this morning; it even requires 4WD to get there, so some light wheeling too.

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Drove it up to check my pig trap this morning; it even requires 4WD to get there, so some light wheeling too.

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Question from a city boy: can you butcher them for their meat? Or are there safety or even just taste concerns that would prevent that?
 
Question from a city boy: can you butcher them for their meat? Or are there safety or even just taste concerns that would prevent that?

Sure, they're edible and taste fine (to me). Some big old boar is probably more gamey, but the sows and younger animals are fine. For a long time, local meat processors would buy them from you by the pound, but they don't any more because they've been flooded with them.

My wife won't cook or eat them though, because they haven't been wormed. My own opinion is, if you cook it thoroughly it's not going to be a problem.
 
Sure, they're edible and taste fine (to me). Some big old boar is probably more gamey, but the sows and younger animals are fine. For a long time, local meat processors would buy them from you by the pound, but they don't any more because they've been flooded with them.

My wife won't cook or eat them though, because they haven't been wormed. My own opinion is, if you cook it thoroughly it's not going to be a problem.
As a retired wildlife biologist and ex-hunting guide (in Central Cali), there's nothing wrong with them if cooked well. Remove any fat and replace with some beef fat (we mixed 70/30 beef to make Italian sausage). Hams are good smoked if a little dry. My wife and I lived for 2 years on a couple of wild pigs, a big mulie, and an elk while I was in grad school (supplemented with trout, albacore, quail and an occasional pheasant)
 
I love all of the knowledge on this forum, thanks @1911 amd @BearBio! The only wildlife we see in these parts are the scrawny coyotes that have come down from the hills in search of something to eat!
Things are changing here locally, mainly because the entire forest around town has been burned by seven major forest fires dating back to 1977. Back when I was growing up, all you ever saw were an occasional deer on the highway. Now we see deer in the yard almost every day, a coyote a couple of times a week, bobcats in the back yard, bears in the backyard and at the elementary school, and a mountain lion now and then (in broad daylight).

No wild boars, though. But we have seen javelina twice in the median and on the shoulder of I-40 between Albuquerque and Kingman. We didn't realize they were that far north.
 
Drove it up to check my pig trap this morning; it even requires 4WD to get there, so some light wheeling too.

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Is that a FN FAL? If so, how do you like it? I'm tossing around the idea of a .308 AR vs a FAL
 

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