1983 FJ45 Trakka Troopy (1 Viewer)

[Redgrrr]

General maintenance and a slow rolling rebuild of this troopy is my goal with this truck. No fancy paint jobs. Maybe some rust repair and rattle can paint at most.

I’ve enjoyed driving this truck too much to tear it all apart and restore it. I did that with my first 40 25 years ago and it was in pieces for 3 years. No thanks.

This Troopy was imported by a gentleman in New Mexico if I remember correctly. It was then sold to a couple in Seattle.

I first saw this 45 in 2008 when I lived there and couldn’t get it out of my head. Finally made a deal with Brian and his wife in August of 2016. Drove it back to South Dakota that following spring after Months of remodel work at my sisters house in Ballard Washington.

I should have started this thread years ago for a place to remember what Ive all done to this truck and places I’ve driven it. I mostly enjoy driving cruisers and not working on them so I’ll post more travel and fun photos then maintenance details! He is a few random photos I have on my phone. I’ll dig up some more. I bought this troopy and it sat in my sisters garage for 3 months before I got to drive it.

She had a bobcat that liked to perch up on the hood!

 

[Redgrrr]

I’ll start with some recent work over this last weekend after I lost my ignition key for the last three months in my storage unit! I thought it would turn up but never did. Someone tried to steal the truck in Seattle when I was there working, so the ignition was messed up for years now.

The fuel gauge read 2/3 when full and just under half tank when empty since I’ve had the truck as well. After pulling the old sender out I’m sure I could have just cleaned up the electrical connection and it would have worked again. But new screws, gasket and sender was about $70 is all. I had to drill both heads on the cover plate and one of them on the sender. Which came out with a left hand drill bit.

I’m horrible about working on stuff when it needs it but the truck still drives!

I also found a postcard from my favorite place in Ballard to get wings and beers while doing a full clean out of the interior this weekend!

 

[Redgrrr]

Here’s some random travel photos over the last few years. I went to Rocky Mountain national park in Colorado After driving down to the rising sun swap meet in Golden Colorado.

 

[Redgrrr]

Some more random travel stuff when I drove it to Columbus Montana to go copilot in the Yellowstone off-road race series with a friend.

And yes I drove the whole race track in the Troopy.

 

[Redgrrr]

Drove it to the Buffalo Chip in Sturgis South Dakota last August. Which isn’t far from my house with my dad to go do safety and recovery for another race series a few of my friends race in. That orange 40 has race history dating back to the 70s here locally. We used to have off-road races out north of Badlands national Park. It’s got a complete custom 2 x 4 box metal frame. Pretty cool old tech that still works!

 

[Redgrrr]

Here’s the current project this week after work to clean out years of dust under the carpet and see how much rust is in the tub. I always knew these seats were pretty decent they fit super low to the floor and being 6’2” they are very comfortable compared to other 40s I’ve sat in with aftermarket seats.
German seat company named Scheel? I assume the company is called Scheel-Mann? Anybody know any history on these?

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Ah man, thanks for ruining my day. That rig is awesome!

 

[Redgrrr]

A few things I’ve done to this truck over the past few years was a total cooling system replacement. It never got hot just a seeping leak from the top tank on the radiator and it snowballed into all new hoses, radiator, water pump, thermostat and the drain below the header on the engine block.

The wider air conditioning radiator was original to this truck so I swapped in a mid 70s radiator cradle until I can can get the original re-cored. I have the original cradle blasted and repainted but haven’t found anyone locally that will re-core reasonably...got quoted like $600! Maybe that’s just what it cost..

I got late model wagon wheels from @Ben edwards when I passed thru Idaho. He was gracious to sell me them for a really great price. Thank you Ben they went to a good home.

I’ve removed a lot of the Australian mods like dual uniden cbs and the Tape deck that was in the typical overhead custom console. I’m too tall and can’t even remember how many time I hit my head on it. I also took off the body mounted spare tire carrier as it was messing up the ambulance door alignment.

I put in a new blue tooth radio for music. This truck came with a amp and good speakers but the wiring needs a refresh and bad grounds so hit a bump wrong and stereo shut off. Fire hazard anyways so I’m gonna remove the amp and probably just keep it simple and run the speakers off the stereo.

I also replaced the fuel pump, filter and a few lines before I drove it home from Seattle. Other than that I’ve pretty much just put fuel and lots of oil in it

I have a few trips this spring, summer and fall planned for this year for turning 40 this year. I want to spend a lot of time in my cruisers this year traveling in this troopy and wheelin my 80 on the harder stuff.

Future parts plans when I can afford. Some I have some I gotta order still. I want as little downtime as possible a d gonna do one thing at a time so I can still drive it and work out any bugs one project at a time

Differential gears and ARB lockers
Remove the duel fuel propane setup.
I have two 3fe motors from a 80 series to make 1
low range tcase gears
Full knuckle rebuilds
Refresh the factory power steering gear.

As far as a camp setup goes. I’m gonna keep it simple with a sleep platform with drawers and fringe I own already. I wanna be able to take it out easily for cleaning and keep the truck from getting weighted down. I’m definitely gonna remove the overhead sleep platform. I have no interest in sleeping up there and it hinders from getting in the drivers seat from the back. That’s all for now I’ll try and update things as I complete projects.


Here’s a few photos of the beautiful Black Hills I’m lucky enough to live in here in South Dakota.

 

[OGBeno]

Super.

 

[Catching Neutral]

Not quite sure what I enjoy more. Stories like this or @Onur one word responses. It might be a wash

 

[Redgrrr]

Well I guess the passenger seat has a swivel seat base like the old camper vans! It’s kinda funny to find this out after all these years owning this truck! It always had a divider behind the seats to the cargo area so I couldn’t have used it anyways but I’ll have to build this into the camp setup now!

 

[Redgrrr]

Cleaned the floors and put seats back in. Need to order the seal/boot for the top of the 4 speed.

 

[cbmontgo]

Wow. Very cool troopy!

 

[Michael B]

Nice rig! I like the Australia flag!!

 

[OGBeno]

Now that I look at this truck more, I think this is Josh Boltrec’s truck that he imported in when he returned to Santa Fe after living in Oz.

 

[Redgrrr]

Yep, I believe you’re right. @Onur

went out for our annual Dakota Territory cruisers club run today up top of castle peak in the Black hills

 

[Redgrrr]

Few small things done the last night. My ambulance doors were way out of adjustment from the bad tire carrier design I took off months ago. It mounted to the body and rested on the left back door.

Screws were all in bad shape so I ordered new ones from Overland metric. While I was on his site I picked up a few more stainless hardware sets for down the road. I’m still not totally happy with how the doors close. I think my lower right hinge maybe bent as it binds on the body a little bit acting like it’s “sprung”

I also dug into my front doors as well. Replaced the door locks to match the ignition. I’m gonna go thru the front doors and try to get them to seal up better so I ordered a few things from Roger last night at city racer. I’ve been waiting for him to restock the vent window weatherstripping and I ordered window runs as well.

OEM Vent Window Weatherstrip / Seal for '75 to '84 Land Cruiser FJ40 - LH and RH

A set of OEM vent window weatherstrips for 1/'75 and later non-U.S. Land Cruiser FJ40. Part numbers 68181-90300 (RH) and 68182-90300 (LH). Note: This weatherstrip does not fit vent windows on '74 and earlier U.S. market trucks.

www.cityracerllc.com

Front Door Glass Run for '75 to '84 Land Cruiser FJ40 FJ45 With Vent Window - Set of 2

Set of front door glass run. Same part fits both LH and RH sides. This is the updated version without the chrome trim. Fits '75 to '84 FJ40 and FJ45 with vent windows. Same quality as OEM part # 68105-90303. Price is for a set of 2.

www.cityracerllc.com

I want to treat the rust on the inside bottom edge of the doors to slow down the rust. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Seth S]

I met some people in Southern Idaho or Northern Utah...cannot remember where exactly....who had a pet bobcat. Wonder if same people:


me about 16 years ago:

 

[Redgrrr]

Small goals. I can clean the windshield now!

Cleaned both tanks and put a new tank pump and spray nozzle on the hood.

 

[uted]

Nice rig Any chance of getting some detail pictures of the roof. Thinking of doing this but haven't been able to find any detailed photos of how they constructed the pop up section. Thanx