My long awaited first 60 series Land Cruiser (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

landsnoozer

SILVER Star
Joined
Mar 24, 2023
Threads
1
Messages
6
Location
Austin
A little backstory: I grew up in a family that was always doing outdoor activities. From the rugged dirt roads of Big Bend to the thick sand on Padre Island National Seashore, having four-wheel drive on the family's 2001 Ford Excursion was a necessity. My buddies in high school led me towards sports cars, but as quickly as that interest began, it ended. For the past four years, I have been browsing the web to find a vehicle that would bring me back to my roots. After finding out about Land Cruisers and doing lots of research, I knew this was the vehicle for me. Fast forward to now, I'm 22 and have just landed my first job as a firefighter in a place where I can finally afford one. I've finally pulled the trigger and purchased an RHD 1988 HJ61. It's time to find out what the hell goes on in Jimmy's garage!

D969D421-3BDF-4176-9F74-4D7384B4ACE8.jpeg


8A1A4835-1B0A-4746-8C61-F4ABFD17D3F3.jpeg


5CA5299C-437C-424C-90A2-2783FC0342CA.jpeg


78E7FCC6-8F5F-4D42-AAFE-B9659359E802.jpeg


EAC07D86-1E01-4E7C-9354-20A3370FACB0.jpeg
 
Jimmy @CenTXFJ60 helped me find this Land Cruiser. He helping me with baselining in his barn. So far we have gone through and flushed/ replaced the coolant and oil. Working on swapping out the current automatic for a new 5spd. Ran into a few problems while taking apart the transfer case.





897D9308-436E-4B9C-935D-CCA1EEE4EED0.jpeg
76A03C95-BF7B-4808-BDC4-C75EC423D01E.jpeg
 
Dang. Diesel 60 series at 22?

Not bad.


You are going to love owning that thing.


Btw welcome to the diesel club.
 
This may end up being a duplicate but since Mason is new to mud his post last night with these videos is awaiting approval by a moderator. So thought I’d share them.


I talked with the P.O. this morning and found out which shop in Houston did the rebuild. Unfortunately it’s a very well know cruiser shop in that market and to boot, the owners son is the one who did the work. Hoping he was just having a bad day
 
T-Case update/ rust repair
65E401E1-7D47-45BF-BAC1-01680F761CA4.jpeg
C2DD0306-7211-4E6C-A0C3-E3948DB6F0C5.jpeg


All new gears have arrived thanks to @orangefj45! Starting to rebuild transfer case. Hopefully next week @CenTXFJ60 and I will start to put everything back into the truck.

Also took care of the rust in the passenger side floor, and closed up old auto shifter/ pto holes. First time welding as well so that was cool!
47636907-6925-4413-B4C3-29856E7C1DC4.jpeg
03FCC277-1B38-4AA0-A413-A0B178F6E028.jpeg
89D228BA-3AFF-48A1-940B-C3BA22B341C8.jpeg
05B241D0-D38B-450E-8FF3-A94FA159F09F.jpeg
AB704BF1-2076-4BF4-AAA2-760CDFD98C9E.jpeg
 
RHD - where is it from originally?

I learnt to drive on an FJ60, back in '82... Memories!
 
This has been a fun project. When we ran into the T-case issue both Georg @orangefj45 and Matt @cruisermatt were a huge help. Also appreciate Dave @NookShneer helping with the frame bracket kit from his place of employment (TorFab). I’ve done the angle iron (affective) but prefer the more finished look. And Mason (@landsnoozer ) is a natural. Very little teaching/coaching on my part. Full of good questions and gets after it.
 
RHD - where is it from originally?

I learnt to drive on an FJ60, back in '82... Memories!
This is a JDM import that a friend of mine brought over about 8 years ago. It’s been in the Huntsville TX area until we brought it to central TX a few months ago. Great bones and very little rust. We need to find a sunroof glass if you or any of your friends have one laying around :). Shipping is a killer but these are not floating around here in the lower 48.
 
I’ll post an update since Mason is off playing fireman for a few days :). JK…well, he is actually at work and even tho he wanted to be here when stuff was getting done on his 61 we both agreed I should keep rolling so he can be rolling down the road sooner than later. T-case is done except for torquing the input and output nuts which I’ll do once it’s under the truck. If you watched one of the above videos you saw that we were at 2 inch pounds on preload. Had a lot to do with the jacked up gears etc. with new gears from Georg and a new bearing/seal kit the preload was just under 13. The acceptable range is 13-21.4 with new bearings. Since everything is new in there I deleted one factory shim and added one from a kit we got from VH’s. Now we are at 20 inch pounds. Gonna get the flywheel/clutch loaded in and possibly stab her manana. Then I’ll weld up the bracket kit from TorFab. Also, showing a pic of the paper gasket that’s between the trans and 5th gear spacer. I’ve had two in a row brand new H55’s where it’s all nasty at the bottom for some reason. May have to do with conditions during transportation and storage with in the Toyota supply chain.

IMG_0494.jpeg


IMG_0499.jpeg


70569205017__B0DCAD6C-850E-4E24-A86B-35A285091407.jpeg


IMG_0510.jpeg


IMG_0511.jpeg


IMG_0512.jpeg
 
This is a JDM import that a friend of mine brought over about 8 years ago. It’s been in the Huntsville TX area until we brought it to central TX a few months ago. Great bones and very little rust. We need to find a sunroof glass if you or any of your friends have one laying around :). Shipping is a killer but these are not floating around here in the lower 48.
PM sent.
 
Knuckle job chaos
Safe to say things don’t always go as planned. @CenTXFJ60 and I decided to tackle knuckle job and breaks while we wait for driveshafts to be lengthened. Took apart knuckle housing, grease looked good but there was a suction when trying to take it apart. Once opened up, there was much more grease than we were hoping.
5B6B8F06-8A48-408B-A4B7-B6BC132DF47D.jpeg


Turns out, PO may have been regularly adding knuckle grease through an aftermarket valve. So much grease in fact that it flooded the entire axle housing and front differential.



2829684A-F17B-4047-8089-B41F4B940D7E.jpeg
60EEFF27-9B62-4991-811E-D0AB35C67F07.jpeg
816BFEEA-0696-42AA-BF0A-646BF2460024.jpeg


One role of paper towels, a pressure washer, and a few hours later, things are cleaned up and looking nice. On the bright side these new rear break drums do look very good!
D7959F82-1C4C-4684-AAD2-821D08840B78.jpeg
43BA5063-D4AF-46B9-9050-C6F84BE5B506.jpeg
264D9595-52ED-4C4F-A9AA-36162A2CD148.jpeg
 
Yea I learned the hard way with greasing Birfeilds.

I didn’t know that they don’t need to be greased super often; they should also only be filled with grease about 3/4 the way with molybdenum grease.

When I took the LC to my high school shop, the shop teacher told me to pump the Birfs full of wheel bearing grease until it came out of the top.


When i got back home, basically the birfs were leaking.



We’re you birfs leaking or clicking? Or did you just replace them for preventative maintenance?

Weird if the PO added another valve for greasing.
 
They rarely sh
Yea I learned the hard way with greasing Birfeilds.

I didn’t know that they don’t need to be greased super often; they should also only be filled with grease about 3/4 the way with molybdenum grease.

When I took the LC to my high school shop, the shop teacher told me to pump the Birfs full of wheel bearing grease until it came out of the top.


When i got back home, basically the birfs were leaking.



We’re you birfs leaking or clicking? Or did you just replace them for preventative maintenance?

Weird if the PO added another valve for greasing.
The should rarely need to be greased. Someone put these fittings in place of the plugs and I’m assuming a Previous owner was over doing it year over year
IMG_0721.jpeg
 
@CenTXFJ60 The photos of the transmission & t-case assembly are pure art. Beautiful.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom