Build 100 Guy Builds a 60 Series

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As for the rust on the front of the door inner skin, mine had the exact same thing along with the bottoms being completely rusted out. Only thing I can think of is that my chrome trim was a bit messed up on the downslope of the a-pillar and was causing it to leak in that area. But yeah seriously odd location for rust. I was able to rehab one door but other was completely toast.
 
REZARF said:
Okay, next question. Did the 60's come with some form or heat/sound insulation under the hood? Mine has a lot of small holes that look like they'd retain a factory hood insulator. Has anyone tried to add one with some of the aftermarket materials available?
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I put cruiser crap on my hood. Inner supports had come unglued so took hood off and did it all at once. It muffled the engine noise, and snow stays on the hood longer. :)
Not as pretty as OEM but seems to work and sticking in there good.
 
gregnash said:
As for the rust on the front of the door inner skin, mine had the exact same thing along with the bottoms being completely rusted out. Only thing I can think of is that my chrome trim was a bit messed up on the downslope of the a-pillar and was causing it to leak in that area. But yeah seriously odd location for rust. I was able to rehab one door but other was completely toast.
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Yeah, it's rained here for two days and the water is running down the underside of the drip rail not inside/above it and then dripping onto the leading edge of the door... multiply that by 35 years and the damage is done. There are some cracks in the drip rail where a roof rack stressed the edge and cracked it.
 
i'll second the westleys bleche white (actually, i don't think it's westleys anymore...think they sold out). it will take the brownish hue off the black rubber and clean the white lettering right up. spray it on and scrub it with a nylon brush. do it in the open air...it can be a bit noxious.

you should have a hood liner. my 83 did.
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as for the door rust...i didn't get any pics of my doors, but i had rust coming out that would've ended up like this if not dealt with. is this where yours is too?

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Man, it has been fun to rip around in the 60. It's got some items to address but seems to have been maintained and has a good foundation. Mrs. REZARF really LOVES it. I'm gonna baseline this one, fix it up, add a few mods, do the body work/paint, then sell it and hunt down a CLEAN sliver one. Then drop in a LQ9 or bigger LS and a 5 speed. Then the 100 might be on the chopping block to make that happen :redface:
 
Messed with the radio and installed a mic for the hands free calling, with that done, I was able to finally bolt the completed fuse block back into place. Good as new, everything is still working so that's nice.

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After installing the new tires and wheels I picked up a little death wobble. Not to worry, I have experienced it before when I used to drive on Super Swampers Thornbirds... yep, you read that right. I have since repented of my sins and saw the light. Those biased plys were trouble whenever they were cold and wrecked havoc on my front end on the 40.

These tires are in great shape, the wheels seemed fine so I think the wider tires are bringing out other suspension issues. So today I had a little time to work on the 60 so I stared by looking over the suspension and steering and identify what needs addressing.

First up, the ol' check your toe in with the push pin technique. All was good on the alignment I had 1/4" toe-in from front to rear on 33's... that's not bad in my humble experience.
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Check the balance on the tires. Death wobble is often caused by an improperly balanced tire.

Had the same issue on my 06 LJ. Ended up being the tires. Had some tread separation and never could balance properly. Bought a different brand and it fixed the problem instantly.
 
Next up was planting the tires on the ground and bumping the suspension back and forth. Tie rods looked good, steering box/pitman arm looked good... but the drag links, uh, errr, moved more than expected.

To be honest I haven't ever messed with drag links before. I have read how to adjust them by screwing them in tight, then backing off .5 turns or there about depending on your goals. However, my bigger question is when I shift the steering side to side, I can visually see the drag link moving from one side to the other about 1/4" before beginning turning the wheels. I know they work sort of like a tie rod, but I wasn't expecting to see movement there. Maybe this is normal?

Javelin said:
Check the balance on the tires. Death wobble is often caused by an improperly balanced tire.
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Thanks man, yeah the tires were just balanced last week and the guys said they spun up fine with minimal weight.

I am suspecting:
  • drag links are worn/out of adjustment
  • the lug centric spacers
  • worn spring bushings.
 
On a side note, after a little cleaning and scrubbing things down, I have discovered I have Old Man Emu springs on the thing. Looks like the old style Con-Ferr extended shackles on it too. I am going to treat the suspension to a new set of bushings. Gotta' give my man Kurt @cruiseroutfit a shout once I can yank a pin and get the inner/outter dimensions.

The shocks aren't OME yellow, but I need to clean them more to see if there is a logo under there. I need to pull them to see how the working too, I found a big old dent in the rear shock body.

The front's have a "helper" spring that supported a snow plow mount (I am guessing here due to the 3 receiver hitches for mounting something). I will pull the 1.5 springs that are left. One is whole the other is broken and missing on the drivers side.

Missing helper spring seen in this shot... should be third from the top.
Missing helper .webp
 
Finally tore into the dash a bit to get the Kenwood sorted out. After the fuse block mess I set up the radio with proper wiring. Tapped into the factory circuit to come and off with the ACC/ON key.

I added a Mic for the hands free function and now between that and the iPhone I have hands free calling, streaming and texting through my headunit. Pandora, I Heart Radio, CD, BT etc. not bad for a 35 year old truck! :cool:
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Just stuck the mic to the dash for now. If I pull the headliner I'll route it up to the rear view mirror.
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That sounds kinda excessive. I tried adjusting mine, put a penny "shim" in yada yada. Don't remember how well it worked because I ended up just replacing all the steering joints when I did knuckles. I don't think you can ever get all the play out of this steering assembly. My understanding is that some is built in to protect the gear box. DL ends are spring loaded ball joints, so they will always have some give.

How's the steering stabilizer?

Making nice progress. I thought the 60 might get under you skin after a little while...
 
Next up... lighting.

The 60 series lights have left me desiring much more. Here in Montana elk, deer and antelope abound and good lights at night are as much a safety item as anything else on the rig. I LOVE my Round Eyes on my 40 but I thought I would poke around and see what is out there for retrofitting a set of LED's to the 60. I want to keep a somewhat classic look while gaining the perks of LEDs. I think some of the newer LED 7" rounds are not traditional enough looking for a classic rig like the 60.

After some poking around I bought a set of these Auxbeam 7" LED headlights. They are getting good reviews from some of the J#$p guys on YouTube.

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And after trying to pop them in the other night, I realized the way TOYOTA selects high/low beam is by alternating their grounds respectively not their power inputs I decided to save some time and buy a kit that took care of it instead of creating my own relay system to control them. The Yota' guys have been there done that with these so I am not in uncharted water.

Here is the Wiring Conversion Kit I picked up to install the LED headlights.
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And while I am in there wiring, I figured adding a light bar for both night driving and trail work. Auxbeam is running a good sale right now on some of their lights. I find their brand to be pretty good for the imported line of light bars. At $50 bucks shipped after a few online coupons you can't go wrong with their light bar. I plan on putting this one into the shallow recess of the front bumper. The amber halo's have a nice effect but I don't think they'll offer any fog light function. I've got a left over wiring harness from a friends dual light bar setup that was donated to my parts stash for lighting it up.

Auxbeam Aux-Trend 21 Inch 70w LED Light Bar
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REZARF said:
Next up was planting the tires on the ground and bumping the suspension back and forth. Tie rods looked good, steering box/pitman arm looked good... but the drag links, uh, errr, moved more than expected.

To be honest I haven't ever messed with drag links before. I have read how to adjust them by screwing them in tight, then backing off .5 turns or there about depending on your goals. However, my bigger question is when I shift the steering side to side, I can visually see the drag link moving from one side to the other about 1/4" before beginning turning the wheels. I know they work sort of like a tie rod, but I wasn't expecting to see movement there. Maybe this is normal?
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just replace the end and be done with it. you can adjust in, but chances are it's worn. ask @Boss Hog about his ;)

REZARF said:
The shocks aren't OME yellow, but I need to clean them more to see if there is a logo under there. I need to pull them to see how the working too, I found a big old dent in the rear shock body.]
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most shocks will have the part number stamped in at the bottom . monroe shocks are yellow and a common "premium" shock from the auto parts stores. will be a five number part number and should have "monroe" stamped in there also. common spot is near the bottom eye.
 
nuclearlemon said:
just replace the end and be done with it. you can adjust in, but chances are it's worn. ask @Boss Hog about his ;)
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What she said. Not a terribly complicated job, but not fun. But a field repair completely sucks! Mine failed on the Cruiserfest run this year. I’m fully committed to not letting THAT happen again! Go ahead and replace ‘em now...
 
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