Builds 1988 BJ74 “Number 1” (9 Viewers)

[FJBen]

Full disclosure, I’ve still had my 1998 jetta the whole time, however it’s one of VWs most simple and reliable car ever. 5spd, tdi, manual windows (aside from the terrible vacuum door locks) $14.67 a month to insure, 40mpg on 14” rims and tires for $88 each. 279k miles and chugging.

I digress yet again…

Remember when I said I would only get another if it was a smoking deal?

Yeah literally this was a smoking deal

Long story sort of short? My friend from whom I got this from was just taking it to get a heat shield tack welded on at a muffler shop. My friend rents this on outdoorsy so he keeps it top shape. Well, the theory is he had something below that caught on fire from a spark and proceeded flame up and melt the harness.
Then said muffler guy actually tried to start it after…

Insurance got a quote of $17,500 to replace the harness and all harnesses and such. $17,500…. Needless to say it was totalled.

I was looking for one when my friend said he would sell me his for a “smoking” deal. He already bought a used harness but really just wanted it gone. It was very cheap.
He got it from original owners with every gas fill and maintenance item ever since new. It was extremely well looked after, and as I said he continued that formthe past few years as he would rent it out in california. $180 a night.

Excellent shape, no rust ready to go anywhere except for the whole fire thing.

Anyway I shipped it here since it was so stupid cheap to try and fix it. We have wanted another so worst case I could part this od it failed.

So yes @Felde , you nailed it!

I won’t bore you with a ton more details, but I spent the weekend ripping the harness out, making any changes and putting in the new one. 16 hours…outside.

I got it. Fire extinguisher and hose nearby lol. Started up. Started up, minimal codes. Now we the transmission control module is fried. Charred wire into it so it’s in limp mode. Ordering one up.

So if all goes well, tcm shows up well, we should have a very nice setup for cheap.

but yea, the Land Cruiser is there to save the day and help again.

 

[FJBen]

Best of both worlds, and better than a pop top troopy! Glad you found another one.

There really isn’t anything like them in the US. Fully built factory vehicle poptop camper the size of a standard minivan.
The cool thing is you can “bolt on” a factory tdi diesel/4wd with rear locker setup from Europe. Even USA tdi available bolt in and wire right up. Lots of aftermarket parts.

Not as cool as a troopy poptop though, but still pretty cool.

I’m learning German cuss words…or making them up…

 

[Rigster]

Full disclosure, I’ve still had my 1998 jetta the whole time, however it’s one of VWs most simple and reliable car ever. 5spd, tdi, manual windows (aside from the terrible vacuum door locks) $14.67 a month to insure, 40mpg on 14” rims and tires for $88 each. 279k miles and chugging.

I digress yet again…

Remember when I said I would only get another if it was a smoking deal?

Yeah literally this was a smoking deal

View attachment 3683944

Long story sort of short? My friend from whom I got this from was just taking it to get a heat shield tack welded on at a muffler shop. My friend rents this on outdoorsy so he keeps it top shape. Well, the theory is he had something below that caught on fire from a spark and proceeded flame up and melt the harness.
Then said muffler guy actually tried to start it after…

Insurance got a quote of $17,500 to replace the harness and all harnesses and such. $17,500…. Needless to say it was totalled.

I was looking for one when my friend said he would sell me his for a “smoking” deal. He already bought a used harness but really just wanted it gone. It was very cheap.
He got it from original owners with every gas fill and maintenance item ever since new. It was extremely well looked after, and as I said he continued that formthe past few years as he would rent it out in california. $180 a night.

Excellent shape, no rust ready to go anywhere except for the whole fire thing.

Anyway I shipped it here since it was so stupid cheap to try and fix it. We have wanted another so worst case I could part this od it failed.

So yes @Felde , you nailed it!

View attachment 3683949

I won’t bore you with a ton more details, but I spent the weekend ripping the harness out, making any changes and putting in the new one. 16 hours…outside.



View attachment 3683951

View attachment 3683950

View attachment 3683952

I got it. Fire extinguisher and hose nearby lol. Started up. Started up, minimal codes. Now we the transmission control module is fried. Charred wire into it so it’s in limp mode. Ordering one up.

So if all goes well, tcm shows up well, we should have a very nice setup for cheap.

but yea, the Land Cruiser is there to save the day and help again.

I believe this is what they call "sweat equity".

I really hope this works out for you and you don't end up on an endless chain of replacing electrical part after electrical part.... The bonus and perhaps best telling sign is you already got it started and running. Hopefully, after the trans ECU is replaced that is the end of it. Very cool vans!

 

[FJBen]

I believe this is what they call "sweat equity".

I really hope this works out for you and you don't end up on an endless chain of replacing electrical part after electrical part.... The bonus and perhaps best telling sign is you already got it started and running. Hopefully, after the trans ECU is replaced that is the end of it. Very cool vans!

That’s definitely the term sweat equity. For my sanity I hope it works out too. It was too cheap to pass up.
I believe the starting and driving are pretty good signs. Charred wire going into TCM pretty much means it’s shot. Past experience would agree with that

And the other reason is I know the full history of this vehicle since new and the person I’m buying from is a great friend.

So it’s a risk, but parting out I would be ahead easily.




Back to Land Cruisers…still getting a rear vibration on the cropssover between accel/decel so pretty sure it’s that play on the rear Ujoints. They don’t have many miles on them so not real happy with that.

I’ll tackle that when the big project shows up in a few weeks.

This photo looks AI generated

 

[bj70bc]

looks more like shroom generated

 

[FJBen]

My usual sunset photo. Took a drive about 45 mins away and a good time to grab in-n-out out the way back.

Found a dirt road way home

Ps…still haven’t washed it from the trip a few weeks ago…

 

[JuanJ]

My usual sunset photo. Took a drive about 45 mins away and a good time to grab in-n-out out the way back.

Found a dirt road way home

Ps…still haven’t washed it from the trip a few weeks ago…

Hello,

Dirt roads are always tempting.

After all, they are our trucks' natural habitat, are they not?






Juan

 

[FJBen]

A few updates coming soon.


Non-cruiser update.
The eurovan TCM came in. No change when I put it in. Off to the drawing board. The great thing about VW is the VCDS program where you can pull all codes and live data and see it all with a $150 cable/license.

I was afraid it burned the cable inside the transmission since it’s electronically controlled. Only $135 and 4 bolts on the pan to drop so relatively easy. When to ohm out the connector on the outside and it was loose. Plugged it in, put the lock connector on, cleared codes and all is good for that. Shifting driving fine.

I’m down to a coolant sensor and vehicle speed sensor to be code free. I have both so fingers crossed.

They really are an awesome setup with the full camper. They are better on road than a troopy but obviously no where near a troopy off-road even though you can factory swap to 4wd/rear locking diff. It’s just unfortunate they are attached to a VW I mean this one has 240,000 miles and my last one had 225,000 and running strong, but it’s always something.
Interior build out is nice. A bolt in tdi/5 speed would cure *most* of the normal VW issues.
My son and his friend slept out in it last night. Great hangout rig.



And since I feel bad for @Gun Runner 5 I decided to honor him with a picture in his preferred style “boomer-neo-realism”

Not gonna lie, I really had to figure out how to get my finger in the picture.







Corn is high and the fires here are making for some interesting skylines.

 

[FJ73Texas]

And since I feel bad for @Gun Runner 5 I decided to honor him with a picture in his preferred style “boomer-neo-realism”

Did you use a flip phone camera for the full effect?

 

[Gun Runner 5]

A few updates coming soon.


Non-cruiser update.
The eurovan TCM came in. No change when I put it in. Off to the drawing board. The great thing about VW is the VCDS program where you can pull all codes and live data and see it all with a $150 cable/license.

View attachment 3692743

I was afraid it burned the cable inside the transmission since it’s electronically controlled. Only $135 and 4 bolts on the pan to drop so relatively easy. When to ohm out the connector on the outside and it was loose. Plugged it in, put the lock connector on, cleared codes and all is good for that. Shifting driving fine.

I’m down to a coolant sensor and vehicle speed sensor to be code free. I have both so fingers crossed.

View attachment 3692742

They really are an awesome setup with the full camper. They are better on road than a troopy but obviously no where near a troopy off-road even though you can factory swap to 4wd/rear locking diff. It’s just unfortunate they are attached to a VW I mean this one has 240,000 miles and my last one had 225,000 and running strong, but it’s always something.
Interior build out is nice. A bolt in tdi/5 speed would cure *most* of the normal VW issues.
My son and his friend slept out in it last night. Great hangout rig.



And since I feel bad for @Gun Runner 5 I decided to honor him with a picture in his preferred style “boomer-neo-realism”

View attachment 3692739


Not gonna lie, I really had to figure out how to get my finger in the picture.







Corn is high and the fires here are making for some interesting skylines.
View attachment 3692740

Amateur …….

 

[FJBen]

Boxes are fun…upgrades

 

[bj70bc]

can we open it
can we open it
can we open it

 

[OGBeno]

Boxes are fun…upgrades

View attachment 3697004

Well, it’s definitely a 33030-6Xxxx…..

I assume you are going to swap in a new input shaft so you can attach to your B?

 

[Combat Wombat]

Gee I like your wheel and tyre combo. The lift and offset of your rig is pretty much perfection in my eyes!

 

[Rigster]

A few updates coming soon.


Non-cruiser update.
The eurovan TCM came in. No change when I put it in. Off to the drawing board. The great thing about VW is the VCDS program where you can pull all codes and live data and see it all with a $150 cable/license.

View attachment 3692743

I was afraid it burned the cable inside the transmission since it’s electronically controlled. Only $135 and 4 bolts on the pan to drop so relatively easy. When to ohm out the connector on the outside and it was loose. Plugged it in, put the lock connector on, cleared codes and all is good for that. Shifting driving fine.

I’m down to a coolant sensor and vehicle speed sensor to be code free. I have both so fingers crossed.

View attachment 3692742

They really are an awesome setup with the full camper. They are better on road than a troopy but obviously no where near a troopy off-road even though you can factory swap to 4wd/rear locking diff. It’s just unfortunate they are attached to a VW I mean this one has 240,000 miles and my last one had 225,000 and running strong, but it’s always something.
Interior build out is nice. A bolt in tdi/5 speed would cure *most* of the normal VW issues.
My son and his friend slept out in it last night. Great hangout rig.



And since I feel bad for @Gun Runner 5 I decided to honor him with a picture in his preferred style “boomer-neo-realism”

View attachment 3692739


Not gonna lie, I really had to figure out how to get my finger in the picture.







Corn is high and the fires here are making for some interesting skylines.
View attachment 3692740

Wow, congrats!! I love it when things work out this way. Great find, and a great result, after all that time spent!

 

[FJBen]

Well, it’s definitely a 33030-6Xxxx…..

I assume you are going to swap in a new input shaft so you can attach to your B?

Could be?…



Also could be that new service offered at Tilda Bogue… Rent-a-grog. That box is @wngrog size. You ship him out in that box and he sprays fluid film all over, send him back. Kinda like a trunk monkey.

 

[OGBeno]

Awesome. Blew my coffee out of my nose.

 

[FJBen]

In some seriousness, if you have followed my thread, one common theme has always popped up again and again. A leaking h55f input shaft.

I’ve tried new seals, different seals, speedi sleeve, cleaning seal surface, shimming seals etc with varying degrees of success. Some lasted a year, some lasted 1 trip around the block.

My h55f shifts great, only a small grind when shifting to fast into 2nd when it’s cold outside. It’s never popped out of gear and doesn’t make any weird noises.
My theory was that there is wear/slop in the bearings that under torque allowed enough movement to overcome the seal. In talking with experts, the agreement was that it needed rebuilt.

I actually found a NOS toyota puller kit for the h55f and planned on rebuilding myself. Well, after the accident and finally getting a settlement 2 weeks ago (accident was 12/2022..my neck is still screwed up) I decided to hit the EASY button.

Valley hybrids and @orangefj45 just happened to have a rebuilt late B series h55f so I decided to be done with this issue. Since I just rebuilt my tcase 25k miles or so ago, I just need to reseal it.

I’m hoping to get working on it on the next few weeks. After that I’ll be selling my old h55f to someone that wants to rebuild or needs one.

 

[FJBen]

Wow, congrats!! I love it when things work out this way. Great find, and a great result, after all that time spent!

Thanks, I’m down to 2 error codes now. Misfires…very common, replace the coil fixes that.
Airbag voltage, sounds like a connector.

Almost getting it error free.

 

[FJBen]

Gee I like your wheel and tyre combo. The lift and offset of your rig is pretty much perfection in my eyes!

Thanks
2020 4Runner 17” steel wheels and spidertrax spacers. I would prefer no spacers. I could get away with 6mm spacers as I had a very slight rub from my rear overload springs that were splayed out.