Looks great. Must feel great to drive it after all that hard work. Does your glow system work?
Builds 1988 BJ74 “Number 1” (11 Viewers)
- Thread starter FJBen
- Start date
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PabloCruise
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FJBen
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- Thread starter
- #264
Stopped by the CO-OP for some grain and decided to weigh it.
4660lbs or 2113.64 kilograms That was 1/2 tank of fuel and nothing else in the truck.
Smelled a little antifreeze when I got home and saw a leak spot fight under the axle. It appears I forgot to put a hose clamp on the overflow hose coming off the thermostat housing. It was leaking there and spitting/making noise with a little coolant. That got me worried that something else is happening. The temp has been fine and always sits below half once warming up.
I've decided to not drive it until I can better back-flush that heater core. It's possible I have air bubbles in the system as well because filling these 70 series with antifreeze is kind of a pain. I filled by having the upper radiator hose off and burping air then topping off the thermo housing. I topped off the thermo housing the other day.
Surprisingly it barely leaked from the bell housing this last trip so either it's out of gear oil
or something sealed up.
Just out of curiosity, how would most of you describe the quickness/lack thereof of a BJ74? I realize it's 80's diesel power, 120hp in a 4600lb vehicle designed to go slow...but trying to gauge if it's driving right. Once the engine is broken in a little more, the boost is probably going to get turned up to 12~14psi.
4660lbs or 2113.64 kilograms That was 1/2 tank of fuel and nothing else in the truck.
Smelled a little antifreeze when I got home and saw a leak spot fight under the axle. It appears I forgot to put a hose clamp on the overflow hose coming off the thermostat housing. It was leaking there and spitting/making noise with a little coolant. That got me worried that something else is happening. The temp has been fine and always sits below half once warming up.
I've decided to not drive it until I can better back-flush that heater core. It's possible I have air bubbles in the system as well because filling these 70 series with antifreeze is kind of a pain. I filled by having the upper radiator hose off and burping air then topping off the thermo housing. I topped off the thermo housing the other day.
Surprisingly it barely leaked from the bell housing this last trip so either it's out of gear oil
or something sealed up. Just out of curiosity, how would most of you describe the quickness/lack thereof of a BJ74? I realize it's 80's diesel power, 120hp in a 4600lb vehicle designed to go slow...but trying to gauge if it's driving right. Once the engine is broken in a little more, the boost is probably going to get turned up to 12~14psi.
Turn the boost up now and worry about it later 
The factory over-boost warning light (orange) goes on at about 14 PSI. That is when they get concerned.
That "worry about it later" part can get kinda expensive. 
It's hard to explain. Mine feels "zippier" than an FJ40 but not as much as a 12HT HJ61.
In my opinion it’s peppy but definitely slow. I like the torque and and it’s ability to get up to speed faster than my what my 80 on 37’s did.
But then I hop into my 99 civic and all of a sudden my car feels like an f1 contender compared to the 74.
You have got to love a thread that combines the words "diesel Land Cruiser, zipper, and peppy. Indeed a rare combination. 
FJBen
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- Thread starter
- #273
Makes sense. Trying to remember, it definitely feels better than my 2F'd 35's FJ55, 78 HJ45 (really slow!), faster than FJ60,
trying to compare to all manuals I've had. Not comparing my FJ40 w fuel injected 350 and 37s.
Yeah my 90hp tdi jetta seems fast although not that much more, its just waaay faster to shift. I think peppy describes it well.
You have got to love a thread that combines the words "diesel Land Cruiser, zipper, and peppy. Indeed a rare combination.
I spent many years driving an FJ55 on 35's with stock gearing at Colorado altitude. The 0-60 in 5 miles sticker was very fitting. 13BT is quick compared to that....and compared to my HJ45, we are talking near Hellcat feeling
I'll try and get a video, but kind of sounds like it's running how it should. At least a speedometer in Kilometers makes you feel like you are going faster.
I had a HJ45 ( H diesel ) so I feel your pain.Makes sense. Trying to remember, it definitely feels better than my 2F'd 35's FJ55, 78 HJ45 (really slow!), faster than FJ60,
trying to compare to all manuals I've had. Not comparing my FJ40 w fuel injected 350 and 37s.
Yeah my 90hp tdi jetta seems fast although not that much more, its just waaay faster to shift. I think peppy describes it well.
13BT is quick compared to that....and compared to my HJ45, we are talking near Hellcat feeling
I'll try and get a video, but kind of sounds like it's running how it should. At least a speedometer in Kilometers makes you feel like you are going faster.
FJBen
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- Thread starter
- #275
So the leaking H55f. It put about a 5” diameter spot on the pavement after an 8 mile test run into town. 
Its driving me crazy so I need to pull it. Can you separate from the bellhousing or do you have to pull the bell housing as well?
I’m also wondering what else can leak on the front of the H55f? I replaced the seal and gasket and used thread sealant, but no fipg.
I’m going to use fipg this time and more thread sealant.
Its driving me crazy so I need to pull it. Can you separate from the bellhousing or do you have to pull the bell housing as well?
I’m also wondering what else can leak on the front of the H55f? I replaced the seal and gasket and used thread sealant, but no fipg.
I’m going to use fipg this time and more thread sealant.
FJBen
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- Thread starter
- #277
Transmission pulled, what a pain. It's leaking out of the input shaft. Cleaned the bell housing and tipped it slightly forward. Came back in an hour and gear oil was dripping out of the input shaft.
Cleaner
Hard to see the groove on the input shaft. Looking more and more like speedi-sleeve and stock seal as a bearing/seal shop in town couldn't find any double lip seal.
HOWEVER: I see that it requires 2 paper gaskets per parts diagrams. I only have 1 paper gasket on there. That might slightly move the seal off of the groove but I'm not sure if thats enough to stop the leak. I've also heard of people only using sealant on this spot.
thoughts?
Other festivities were cleaning the rear cargo carpet as the head was stored there when it was shipped to me, and oil stained the carpet.
It's better, doesn't smell but I'd like to replace it at some point.
@Gun Runner 5
I believe you got the skid plates sorted out, but here is a picture of the ones on my rig. All metal.
Top is radiator skid plate
Tranny skid plate
The others go somewhere under the engine...
Cleaner
Hard to see the groove on the input shaft. Looking more and more like speedi-sleeve and stock seal as a bearing/seal shop in town couldn't find any double lip seal.
HOWEVER: I see that it requires 2 paper gaskets per parts diagrams. I only have 1 paper gasket on there. That might slightly move the seal off of the groove but I'm not sure if thats enough to stop the leak. I've also heard of people only using sealant on this spot.
thoughts?
Other festivities were cleaning the rear cargo carpet as the head was stored there when it was shipped to me, and oil stained the carpet.
It's better, doesn't smell but I'd like to replace it at some point.
@Gun Runner 5
I believe you got the skid plates sorted out, but here is a picture of the ones on my rig. All metal.
Top is radiator skid plate
Tranny skid plate
The others go somewhere under the engine...
FJBen
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #278
Measured the input shaft on the H55f.
31.97mm
Now I plan on running some emory cloth around it to smooth it out. That may be part of the problem. I may not have had that seal 100% square and with that ridge it may have allowed oil through, however it was leaking before so....with that in mind I think the safe bet is to go with a speedi-sleeve.
I ordered another input seal from @cruiseroutfit that should be here today or tomorrow. I went to a local bearing shop and we found one that looks like it will fit according to my measurement.
Speedi-Sleeve 99128
According to the specs, the shaft diameter range is 31.928 - 32.08mm. My 31.97 measurement falls right in that space so it should work. I just need to make sure that length of 8.001 is not too long to interfere with the nose cover.
Hoping this cures the leaking. The correct way would be to smooth the shaft and test again. If that doesn't work then replace the shaft. $45 in parts in my book seems like a better way to start on an older transmission before dumping $4-500 on an input shaft alone, not too mention rebuild costs and downtime.
31.97mm
Now I plan on running some emory cloth around it to smooth it out. That may be part of the problem. I may not have had that seal 100% square and with that ridge it may have allowed oil through, however it was leaking before so....with that in mind I think the safe bet is to go with a speedi-sleeve.
I ordered another input seal from @cruiseroutfit that should be here today or tomorrow. I went to a local bearing shop and we found one that looks like it will fit according to my measurement.
Speedi-Sleeve 99128
According to the specs, the shaft diameter range is 31.928 - 32.08mm. My 31.97 measurement falls right in that space so it should work. I just need to make sure that length of 8.001 is not too long to interfere with the nose cover.
Hoping this cures the leaking. The correct way would be to smooth the shaft and test again. If that doesn't work then replace the shaft. $45 in parts in my book seems like a better way to start on an older transmission before dumping $4-500 on an input shaft alone, not too mention rebuild costs and downtime.
FJBen
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #279
Back and running. What a pain.
The speedi-sleeve:
It fit great EXCEPT, for that little ridge on the end which kept grabbing the test seal and folding it over pulling the little tension spring off the back. With the nosecone, it's really hard to see what is actually going on. I tried many many options but nothing worked.
I ended up using a few pieces of electrical tape, long enough to go out of the nose-cone, lubricated with oil. I could then confirm the seal would go over without popping the spring out and then pull the tape out. Many versions were tried until one finally worked.
After that I put a new rear output seal on the T-case as it was starting to leak a little.
Putting the tranny-tcase back in was terrible. Fell off my setup once so I ended up getting an ATV jack. $100 was much cheaper than a copay at the ER.
Even with this jack, I still had to use a jack on the t-case output, and the engine had the hoist on it to manipulate the angles to get it to line up. By myself, it took about 3 hours to get the bell housing/clutch bolted together*** counting getting the jack.
***Now that upper starter bolt ruined my day. It literally took over an hour for 1 bolt. I realize I was really tired, but holding the starter, using 2' in extensions and blindly trying to thread it just wasn't happening. I ended up putting everything else back together and was down to this 1 bolt. Exhausting. I finally got it so I'm not sure what happened as I didn't have any issues the first time with it.
Felt good to drive the cruiser again. I've put about 35 miles on it and nothing is dripping from the bell housing...I will continue to monitor this and really hope it doesn't start leaking again. That was a big PITA.
Now on to the next little projects.
thoughts:
1. I hate the shift boot design. With tight carpet around it, fighting holding the rubber lip up and threading the bolts, unfun.
2. I forgot to hook up the tach but noticed before I started it. ZERO room to hook that back together hanging over the engine.
3. Adding gear oil through the shift tower is BY FAR the faster way to go if you don't own a decent pump. (I was completely over laying on the ground at this point)
4. A vehicle 2 or 4 post lift is probably the best thing ever. Not sure I'll ever get one but I am still sore from wrestling around underneath the cruiser for 6+ hours.
5. I have heat now. I literally did nothing with the coolant so my guess is something came loose in the heater core. It's potentially the valve as it was staying on heat even with the lever on cool. I was able to move it more and close it so it's probably just a cable adjustment.
6.Tightening up the front wheel bearings pretty much got rid of the wandering and active steering issues I was having. Knuckle job is still on the horizon.
The speedi-sleeve:
It fit great EXCEPT, for that little ridge on the end which kept grabbing the test seal and folding it over pulling the little tension spring off the back. With the nosecone, it's really hard to see what is actually going on. I tried many many options but nothing worked.
I ended up using a few pieces of electrical tape, long enough to go out of the nose-cone, lubricated with oil. I could then confirm the seal would go over without popping the spring out and then pull the tape out. Many versions were tried until one finally worked.
After that I put a new rear output seal on the T-case as it was starting to leak a little.
Putting the tranny-tcase back in was terrible. Fell off my setup once so I ended up getting an ATV jack. $100 was much cheaper than a copay at the ER.
Even with this jack, I still had to use a jack on the t-case output, and the engine had the hoist on it to manipulate the angles to get it to line up. By myself, it took about 3 hours to get the bell housing/clutch bolted together*** counting getting the jack.
***Now that upper starter bolt ruined my day. It literally took over an hour for 1 bolt. I realize I was really tired, but holding the starter, using 2' in extensions and blindly trying to thread it just wasn't happening. I ended up putting everything else back together and was down to this 1 bolt. Exhausting. I finally got it so I'm not sure what happened as I didn't have any issues the first time with it.
Felt good to drive the cruiser again. I've put about 35 miles on it and nothing is dripping from the bell housing...I will continue to monitor this and really hope it doesn't start leaking again. That was a big PITA.
Now on to the next little projects.
thoughts:
1. I hate the shift boot design. With tight carpet around it, fighting holding the rubber lip up and threading the bolts, unfun.
2. I forgot to hook up the tach but noticed before I started it. ZERO room to hook that back together hanging over the engine.
3. Adding gear oil through the shift tower is BY FAR the faster way to go if you don't own a decent pump. (I was completely over laying on the ground at this point)
4. A vehicle 2 or 4 post lift is probably the best thing ever. Not sure I'll ever get one but I am still sore from wrestling around underneath the cruiser for 6+ hours.
5. I have heat now. I literally did nothing with the coolant so my guess is something came loose in the heater core. It's potentially the valve as it was staying on heat even with the lever on cool. I was able to move it more and close it so it's probably just a cable adjustment.
6.Tightening up the front wheel bearings pretty much got rid of the wandering and active steering issues I was having. Knuckle job is still on the horizon.
Get a lift. Best thing ever. Not sure what I would have done without it.
