Builds 1988 BJ74 “Number 1” (10 Viewers)

[bj70bc]

Wow...that building is sketchy AF!
Some kind of old mining operation im guessing
Or just a real scenic s***ter

 

[FJBen]

Wow...that building is sketchy AF!
Some kind of old mining operation im guessing
Or just a real scenic s***ter

It’s an old power mill/water driven. All over colorado there are still mining buildings
And remnants to see

Wiki’s description:

The mill was constructed in 1893 by George C. Eaton and B.S. Phillips, promoters of the Sheep Mountain Tunnel and Mining Company.[2] It was built as a power plant for the Sheep Mountain Tunnel.[2] Originally it had a horizontal waterwheel that generated compressed air for miners in the nearby silver mines.[2] It fell into disuse in 1917 when the Sheep Mountain Tunnel mine closed.

 

[Kaderabek]

Yeah I was like what the he…..

As for plans it could be bikes (light), plastic kayaks, paddle board (not super heavy) lumber from the store (???) roof top tent (176lbs heavy) or a basket with random stuff for trips or the cargo box(light)

Still unsure about the roof top tent. It’s big and heavy so I’m undecided on that. It’s a nice ezi-awn but heavy.

Did you get your batteries sorted?

Installing a couple of Interstate batteries now. Nothing terribly interesting.

I bet that rack you have will suffice (at the right price too). Maybe just see how much flex you get with the roof tent and people in it. I think I'd haul the lumber in that truck though.

 

[cruiserdan]

It’s an old power mill/water driven. All over colorado there are still mining buildings
And remnants to see

Wiki’s description:

The mill was constructed in 1893 by George C. Eaton and B.S. Phillips, promoters of the Sheep Mountain Tunnel and Mining Company.[2] It was built as a power plant for the Sheep Mountain Tunnel.[2] Originally it had a horizontal waterwheel that generated compressed air for miners in the nearby silver mines.[2] It fell into disuse in 1917 when the Sheep Mountain Tunnel mine closed.

View attachment 3279138

That photo was originally titled as "Hold My Beer And Watch This."

 

[FJBen]

Installing a couple of Interstate batteries now. Nothing terribly interesting.

I bet that rack you have will suffice (at the right price too). Maybe just see how much flex you get with the roof tent and people in it. I think I'd haul the lumber in that truck though.

The only issue I have is how to attach the crossbars together since they would be at 90 degrees. I would have to guess that takes some weight rating off.

I’ve tried searching the old threads but they seem to be all racks. I looked at building one out of 8020 extruded aluminum, but man that stuff is pricey. Looking around the the 1”x1” is .51 cents an inch. I’d be at least $250 to $300 minimum for just the aluminum extrudes for a basic rack With 3 supports in the middle. That’s about Amazing stuff and no welding, and can mount anything, but pricey.

Other builds seem to end up $500-$700 with 80/20. The fasteners get pricey quick. Plus new towers.

Hopefully I can make the square bar work.

 

[FJBen]

Sidebar…

Way back a few years ago (wow that long) I got a euro FRP high top to convert/tinker/etc

Well today I decided to dig in a little during a quick break. I was able to rip the headliner out to see what was going on. That headliner was made with fiberglass and glued/sikaflex’d in. A pain to pull out and had to destroy it to get it out.

As I suspected it’s just a bigger cap over the top of a standard FRP top. That middle section is really stuck on.


Looking under the front portion of the top.

Under the back ledge. You can see the glue holding it on.

Looking from underneath, and a screwdriver coming from the outside skin in.

You can see daylight from the outside so just cutting all the glue out should free the top. “Just”

So it does appear to be viable to pop this top portion off.

Measurements up next.

 

[FJBen]

Measurements:

My standard FRP top at the back door.

Basically the same minus the headliner/top.

Window sides

High top

Here’s the high top full height around 12”

So that gives 6” above the standard FRP top in the back. I’ve got a few thoughts options on this. More coming up.

 

[FJBen]

So knowing that the top is just a cap, I can make it pop up and seal fairly easily. This is pretty similar to the way VW does on there.

I just so happen to have the eurovan sitting on my property

Here is how VW does the seal

More measurements. Basically 46-48” wide depending on how I do it.

From basically the windshield mounting point to the end. 77-78”

 

[FJBen]

So at the most it would be like 45” wide by 76” long for a bed.

The eurovan:

The VW lift bracket. Only 3 bolts per side so easy to fab in and it would give more foot room since it raises up.

So the clamshell type seems that it would work alright. Peeling that top/glue apart is going to be a pain. I need to figure out a longer sharper knife or something to cut that glue out then I think it will come off fairly easily.
I would need to just build a tray for the bed part and then the hinge mechanism and the seals. Canvas it up and it done. Easy right?


The other option could be a slide out the rear portion. Basically make it a pull/slide but the i would have to figure out the slide, then make a full fold open tent and support it somehow. Seems like a lot more work than the clamshell.

My daughters dog “Ophelia” was out with me wandering around. She found this nacho cheese can somewhere out in the field and proceeded to carry it around for 30 minutes. It was full of dirt but she was pretty proud of it.

 

[Rigster]

It's a little hard to tell what the access angles are like from the pictures, but something I have done, is grab the ol' dremel tool with a cutting disk as they are super thin, or a cutting bit if you have one that is small enough. One of the best investments I made was when Sears had one of there usual big sales and I bought a big bit/discs/grinding bits kit for the craftsman version of the dremel, but they work on any rotary tool. It gives you options that way.

If you can make something like that work in there, it could make quick work of separating the two, then you can scape and clean the rest of the glue away...

 

[FJBen]

It's a little hard to tell what the access angles are like from the pictures, but something I have done, is grab the ol' dremel tool with a cutting disk as they are super thin, or a cutting bit if you have one that is small enough. One of the best investments I made was when Sears had one of there usual big sales and I bought a big bit/discs/grinding bits kit for the craftsman version of the dremel, but they work on any rotary tool. It gives you options that way.

If you can make something like that work in there, it could make quick work of separating the two, then you can scape and clean the rest of the glue away...

I’ll look into something like that. Has to be something easier than a razor blade lol

 

[FJBen]

Cross post from the other post.

@FJ73Texas took on creating the bolts for the windshield on fold down windshield land cruisers. Mainly found on soft top cruisers, this part is NLA. It was also found on dynas to hold the spare tire.

These are excellent and made of steel unlike the factory plastic ones. These should last forever and look like and exact copy in steel. He made one run and that’s it, so I suppose it’s NLA again.

Installed

Found this the other door at a junk store. Some guys might recognize where this is from right away.

For those that don’t, it’s a German made Drager air pressure guage from a Porsche 356 tool kit. I’m hoping it makes my cruiser faster Really nice air pressure guage.

 

[Rigster]

Found this the other day at a junk store.

You DID hurry over to the service station right after that and buy a lottery ticket, right??

 

[FJBen]

Co-pilot after a quick run to town.

 

[Kaderabek]

Irish Wolfhound?

 

[FJBen]

Irish Wolfhound?

Yep, that’s Finnick, “Finn” the Irish wolfhound.

exceptionally lazy, yet ninja like speed and silence when pulling your sandwich from the counter…and when you are that big pulling from the counter is as easy as turning your head

When you take him places be prepared to talk with people as you get stopped by Tom’s of people wanting to pet him.

 

[Kaderabek]

Beautiful dog - quite regal in a scruffy way. We had a 185 lb Mastiff for 10 years. People were either drawn to her or scared to death of her.

 

[FJBen]

Beautiful dog - quite regal in a scruffy way. We had a 185 lb Mastiff for 10 years. People were either drawn to her or scared to death of her.

Mastiff was on our list as well, we really liked them and our friend has a couple. We decided on the wolfhound and he has been such a great dog (counter surfing aside) and confirms everything we heard about the breed. I work from home now so he is the lazy coworker I complain about.




In tech news, I’ve decided to go straight OEM for the clutch. In chatting with cruiser outfitters they said unless I’ve turned the power up quite a bit, the stock clutch will hold. So for this last time, I’ll try the newest seal and see how long it holds up.

If the seal fails soonish again, I’m going to have to get serious in repairing the 3B input shaft, or finding a good used one.

Is it possible there is enough slop in the transmission to wear the seal out? The transmission shifts quite well and sounds less dramatic than most peoples h55f.

I think the answer is just that that input shaft is worn out and I need to find one.

 

[Rigster]

Mastiff was on our list as well, we really liked them and our friend has a couple. We decided on the wolfhound and he has been such a great dog (counter surfing aside) and confirms everything we heard about the breed. I work from home now so he is the lazy coworker I complain about.




In tech news, I’ve decided to go straight OEM for the clutch. In chatting with cruiser outfitters they said unless I’ve turned the power up quite a bit, the stock clutch will hold. So for this last time, I’ll try the newest seal and see how long it holds up.

If the seal fails soonish again, I’m going to have to get serious in repairing the 3B input shaft, or finding a good used one.

Is it possible there is enough slop in the transmission to wear the seal out? The transmission shifts quite well and sounds less dramatic than most peoples h55f.

I think the answer is just that that input shaft is worn out and I need to find one.

Yeah check if there is any slop... seals will also fail sooner if there is a groove worn into the shaft where the seal makes contact with it. Do you recall if there was a groove there the last time you replaced the seal? For pinions, they will sell you a sleeve to correct that, but that would not work on a transmission shaft.

I recall a time when I just pulled a full, roasted rotisserie chicken off the bbq and set it on the counter to carve up, and decided I better call the boys in from outside to wash up for dinner. I was gone maybe one minute.

I could not find any sign of the chicken anywhere. I thought I lost my mind. Then I see this over in the corner... occasionally licking his chops. I struggled with the concept of this dog devouring an entire roasted chicken, bones and all in under a minute. After the initial anger and disbelief wore off a bit there was only one thing we could do.

I laughed. We went out for dinner. Dog not invited.

 

[FJBen]

Yeah check if there is any slop... seals will also fail sooner if there is a groove worn into the shaft where the seal makes contact with it. Do you recall if there was a groove there the last time you replaced the seal? For pinions, they will sell you a sleeve to correct that, but that would not work on a transmission shaft.

I recall a time when I just pulled a full, roasted rotisserie chicken off the bbq and set it on the counter to carve up, and decided I better call the boys in from outside to wash up for dinner. I was gone maybe one minute.

I could not find any sign of the chicken anywhere. I thought I lost my mind. Then I see this over in the corner... occasionally licking his chops. I struggled with the concept of this dog devouring an entire roasted chicken, bones and all in under a minute. After the initial anger and disbelief wore off a bit there was only one thing we could do.

I laughed. We went out for dinner. Dog not invited.

View attachment 3289899

Yeah there was a small groove. I’ve tried 3 different seals, I’ll see how this one does.
I also tried with a speedi-sleeve and that did OK but still eventually leaked.

The main problem is the 3b h55f input shaft is NLA. So try a crank repair shop to fix or find low mileage input shaft without a groove. Besides that, the tranny shifts really good.