Builds 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

After driving to go pick up the third member from the 80 series, we were back at it and got it back together pretty quickly. Thanks to Dylan, Gavin, and Darren for helping me swap the ring gear and set the backlash. Not something I've ever had to do before.

Added new studs, nuts, cones, and cone washers to the rear axle shafts, so hopefully they're easier to take off next time.

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

May 20, 2023

Another project that same weekend: a Coastal Offroad "weld it yourself" rear bumper kit.

I've wanted a decent rear bumper with some added protection for a while now, especially after dinging my rear quarter panel on a rock wall in 2022 at Uwharrie going up the v-notch on Daniel. The Coastal Offroad, although not my absolute favorite (looking at you Cruiser Outfitters dual swing rear bumper), was 1/4 the price of my favorite.

Toyota ^_^

Actually, thinking about it some more, I had actually tacked the whole bumper together the weekend before with Dad.
But we ran into an issue: the exhaust pipe outlet at the rear bumper. I didn't want to hack up my exhaust pipe (as I've said before, I don't like cutting my Cruiser up when at all avoidable) so I had tried to modify the bottom bumper plate, but it really didn't work very well...

(the re-welded plate)

So I welded the part I had cut off back onto it and asked Darren, Dylan, and Gavin's opinion on what to do.
And unanimously they said "just cut it"

So we did.

You can see that the pipe lines up directly with the bottom plate of the bumper, and there should also be a rear exhaust hanger above it as well. But all of that had to go.

Thankfully (again) Gaving had a piece of 2.5" exhaust pipe with a 90ish degree bend in it that I could use to make it look like it was all on purpose

So now my exhaust pipe exits RIGHT behind my rear wheel instead of straight backwards under the bumper. Incidentally I actually found that this helps me not breath exhaust with my rear quarter windows open, because the exhaust isn't sucked up into the low pressure area at the back of the car and pulled into the vehicle

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

Another Issue we ran into was that the reinforcement plates that attach to the chassis for the bumpers "wings" under the quarter panel weren't going to clear my rear shackles... so as usual: mod to fit!

We ended up cutting some 1/4 inch plate and stacking a few of them together to get enough thickness for the bumper wings to slide over the shackle hangers, but still give support so they wouldn't be crushed into the quarter panel if they're hit from the side.

The next weekend I went to another friend's shop and finish welded it all together, ground the welds smooth, painted it, and finish mounted it ^_^

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

June 2023

Time for some fun! (and the reason I decided to get all these things done in fairly quick succession

)

Went to an offroad park in Southern West Virginia with the NOAS crew (Nissan Offroad Association of the Southeast)
yeah yeah... It's a Nissan group, not a Toyota group

but Darren, Dylan, and Gavin are 3/4 of the board members and also some of my closest friends, so what're you gonna do

It was a pretty cool place, and we could drive down a really pretty creek on large rocks (not the gravel & baby heads like we're used to in SC/NC)

( Anyone notice I'm not the only 70 Series at this event?

)

Well this is a bit tippy...

Dylan kindly adding some counterweight

Itsa me! (said in Mario's voice)

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

West Virginia Off Road Continued

Darren's Passport and my HZJ77
(the other 70 series peaking out behind mine

)

One of the guys to a... harder line

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

West Virginia Continued pt 3

Brian decided the fire needed a turbo

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

June 2024

After the fun, it's back to work again. I use my cruiser for quite a variety of things (as they should be used) so I didn't want to live without a trailer hitch for too long. The Coastal Offroad bumper came with a hitch, but I didn't like how low it would have put it. (It would have mounted to the bottom of the bumper with a few gussets for strength) and I also didn't like how flimsy it seemed like it was going to be. I don't need a 10,000 lb rated hitch, but just welding a 2.5" tube to the bottom of a piece of 3/16" steel doesn't seem strong enough to my mind.

So again, go big or go home!

I decided I wanted the hitch to tie into the OE cross member that the NATO style hitches from CURT and others bolt into for extra strength over just the steel of the bumper. So first things first, cut a window in the bumper so I can see the bolts.

I also wanted to put it higher than the Coastal Offroad one for better ground clearance while offroading.

Hmm... Well I didn't anticipate that there'd be THAT much space between the cross member face and the face of the bumper... so... Let's add some 1/2" steel plate with holes drilled in it so I can still bolt to the cross member.

Still not enough? Lets add a couple of 1/2" bars as spacers to sandwich between... ANOTHER piece of 1/2" plate.

View attachment 3688824

Then pull it all together with some bolts through all of it.

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

That wasn't enough, so I cut a hole in the front 1/2" plate to recess a Curt weldable hitch receiver into. And decided to weld the receier to the original plate and spacers bars. Tacked at first, and then finish welded in.

I then pushed the second piece of 1/2" plate into the slot in the bumper, and welded it to the bumper and the hitch receiver.

I didn't think the steel on the cross member with the captured nuts alone was going to be enough... so I put a piece of 1/4" plate behind it. so the bolts go all the way through the cross member with it's bolts, and then there's a 1/4" plate with nuts on the back side of that. So for the hitch receiver to fail, the whole bumper (tied in 8 places to the chassis) and chassis cross member would have to pull away from the vehicle.

So, like I said:

Go big, or go home

My only gripe with the whole thing is that I didn't check it for "square" to the bumper face between welds...

so it has a 5 degree tilt to one side...

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

Small update: Rob from Odd Iron got a dust separating head to me for my snorkel.

It uses the cyclone effect created by the blades on the bottom to forcefully separate most of the dust and debris in the air to the outside, which falls into the hopper.

An "in use" shot of the roof bars. I'm glad I made the antenna foldable ^_^

Needed to carry some 2x4s to frame out a bathroom in my dad's new "workshop"

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

July 2023
Well, I'm glad I got the trailer hitch done! I needed to move my and my friend's motorcycles from Zac's house.

BOY did that turn into an ordeal...

The bike trailer a friend gave me needed new tires. I grabbed the only two tires I could find in the entire York, Lancaster, Chester, Waxhaw area.
Swapped the new tires, and started down the road. I got about 2 miles down the road, and one of the bikes started to fall over because a ratchet strap had slipped. I pulled over to try to straighten it, and it nearly fell on me. Thankfully a nice gentleman going the other way stopped and helped me right it on the trailer.

Back on the road again!

Another 4-5 miles down the road I hear a rah - rah - rah - rah - KABANG!!

So I pulled over immediately.

Great, one of my BRAND NEW trailer tires has just exploded...

Upon further investigation, it seems like the tired had rubbed hole all the way through the side wall.

Hmm... Wonder how that happened? took the cap off the hub and the outer axle bearing was loose... pulled the whole hub off and the inner bearing had disintegrated... which allowed the whole hub to slide inward and the wheel to rub on the fender well.

I looked at google and saw that there was a Tractor Supply jus 7-8 miles away in Chester. So I unhooked the trailer (with it still sitting on the Cruiser's bottle jack) and headed that way. Once there, I grabbed a 1-1/4 hub which was the closest I could see to what I had pulled off of it without a caliper, and headed back to the trailer.

Unfortunately that wasn't the correct size hub or bearings... and it was starting to get dark. Thankfully (again) a kind gentle man stopped to see if I needed any help. He said he had a trailer I could borrow just up the road at his place. I went with him and tried it, but it was too tall to be able to switch the bikes onto.... So I went back and dropped it off at his place. Around that time, dad showed up with a spare tire he had picked up at Tractor Supply down in Columbia. We double checked the hub, and saw that the inner race wouldn't come off now matter what I did. Even an pry bar and hammer wouldn't make it budge...

Thankfully, for some reason, I remembered that the general manager at the Ford dealership I worked at had a trailer that he used to haul golf carts (a side business our dealership ran) parked out back. So I called him and being the great guy he is, he said "yes, of course you can borrow it! no big deal!"
So dad and I drove to the dealership to pick up the trailer, but I didn't have a 2" ball. So off to Home Depot for a 2" ball, and then to Harbor Freight to get a battery powered angle grinder so I could cut the inner race off the trailer axle. (and a quick stop at Cook Out for a milkshake cause we were starving

)

Then we headed back to my trailer and unloaded the bikes off my trailer and onto Danny's trailer. Then we drove the 7-8 miles back to the house and passed out because it was past midnight.

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

July 2023 - Motorcycle adventure pt 2

The next morning I looked up trailer axles, and found that the Northern Tool up in Rock Hill had the correct hub in stock. So dad and I drove the Fiat and picked it up, then went back, grabbed the Cruiser and trailer with motorcycles, and drove back to my unfortunate trailer down in Richburg. Thankfully the trailer was still there

We swapped the hub, it was the correct size this time

Moved the bikes back onto my trailer, dropped off my GM's trailer, and then went back to pick the bikes again. From there, we were FINALLY able to head to dad's workshop to drop the bikes off. It only took almost 24hours...

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

July 2023
Fun time again! A quick offroad/camping trip to Uwharrie with to friends/coworkers who'd never been before. ^_^

Also got a new 3rd brake light from Amayama ^_^
Makes me MUCH more visible from the rear when braking (even with Odd Iron's upgraded LED brake bulbs)

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

August 2023

Having a 24V truck causes problems again!
Despite having emailed 4x4 Offroad World about their roof console to make sure it would work with 24 volts. The person I got a reply from said their engineering department said it should be fine.

It was not.

It took a few months, but if the doors were left open a little too long, the lights would pull too many amps and would heat up (yes, LEDs can get hot) to the point that they actually melted the casing the PCB they were mounted to was held in with. This caused them to lose power and stop working. I tried fixing it a few times, but it just kept getting worse... Thankfully 4x4 Offroad World stands by their products and sent me two replacement LED units in the mail.

(You can see the brown burn discoloration on the back of the LED panel in this picture)

That being said, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, so I soldered some amperage limiting circuits inline with the LED units, and all has been well since then

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

August 2023

Fun update time!
I had to be put on a waiting list, and still had to wait months for it to finally arrived, but the Cruiser Outfitters front 70 series bumper arrived!! \\(^o^)//

Firs things first: pull the OE chrome bumper off (saving the Japanese plate!) and strip/paint the chassis rail ends.

I actually LOVE the look of the OE bumper. It just doesn't have the protection, approach angle, or ability to hold a winch that I want...

So it'll probably be repurposed as "wall art" when I have a garage of my own

So I love the new bumper!! but I had to immediately destroy the powder coating and drill holes in the front to mount my JP license plate

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

September 2023

I love my Powertrax rear lunchbox locker. It works great offroad~ But it was having an issue with causing a reverberating backlash in the drive shaft when taking sharper corners... (even not under power, just coasting) seemingly because it wasn't unlocking on one side... I emailed Power Trax and they said to check the install clearances. So I pulled the third member and checked everything. Found something interesting too. These spacers aren't needed for a full float axle, and had just fallen out of the locker into the bottom of my diff housing.

Checked the locker and everything else and nothing seemed amiss due to the spacers living in the dff. Rechecked the clearances to Powertrax spec, and nothing was wrong... so put it back together.

Also finally capped my sliders. Thankfully the "detail" guy at Ford let me use his pressure washer to clean all the clay and dirt from offroading out of them first

Pip Bernadotte · Jul 28, 2024

Also decided to destroy the powder coat on my bumper a second time and mod the "hoop" to be able to mount a Baja Designs OnX6 light bar.

I started by cutting some 1/4 steel plate into tabs and drilled them for some M8 bolts. Decided I like the look of the light bar BELOW the top of the hoop better (because then it wouldn't block the nice shiney TOYOTA emblem on my grill

)