20 years in the making. 72-fj55 (3 Viewers)

[trainbufftony]

We caught about 15 large mouth bass between us. None of them really anything worth photographing.
We took the fish to another pond on the ranch in order to restock it after the recent drought.
Good times!

 

[trainbufftony]

So I got some new steering shaft u joints in from cruiser outfitters. They look to be good quality Japanese made parts. I started by pulling the steering shaft out of my parts rig to clean up, thinking that the smart way to go about this is to rebuild that shaft and then swap the 2. Seems cogent...
Anyway I did that, cleaned it down to bare steel, replaced the u joints and gave it a pumping full of red grease. Then I sprayed the whole thing with gray appliance enamel to keep the rust off.

While the paint dried I pulled the shaft out of my green truck. Come to find out, not only does it have excessive play at one joint, it's bound neatly solid at the other...
Not a good situation, but we're also talking 52 year old grease in 52 year old parts. Time for a refresh. So I get the shaft from my parts truck in place and the bolt won't go in on the box side spline joint.
Come to find out the 2 shafts are different and I ended up using one yoke from the original setup. After a few hours of screwing with it, I finally got it back in and the steering is much smoother and has no more "clunk" to it. I also had the foresight to line everything up so that the grease zerks are both pointed up with the truck wheels pointed forward making them really easy to actually grease. A small victory, but one I'll notice every time I drive. I haven't even driven it yet and I can already feel the difference in the steering.

 

[trainbufftony]

Today I drove into town for errands and got ambushed by another 55 owner at the gas station. He had lots to talk about and we exchanged contact info. After that I drove to Oroville to the county clerk to retrieve some paper work. Just for fun, I took a picture of the truck where it was parked when I bought it. Wish I had a photo from that day, but I don't. Here's today's... Parked right where I bought it in Oroville CA ~22 years ago...

I don't have an old picture but I do have the old truck.

 

[trainbufftony]

This morning about 8 I get a text message:

It's my good pal Ron, who knows all of the cool spots out in the ishi wilderness. He's also a really cool dude and always fun to hang with. He has pedaled his bicycle across the country multiple times and has developed some character in his 59 years on this rock. I always love spending time with Ron. So this morning I'm packing the fj55 for a short 4x4 adventure. I'll take plenty of photos, don't worry.

 

[trainbufftony]

We took off up hwy 99 from my place to hwy 36, took 36 to Paynes creek and Paynes creek road to high trestle, to the ishi road. We 4 wheel the ishi road out to the durley flat jeep trail. The durley flat jeep trail took us out to a really cool stone corral where we parked and camped for the evening. There were a few gnarly sections of road going in, but the old swine wollowed through it all, no problems.

We set up camp and stayed the night on top of a big flat bluff at an old cattle camp. Willards camp. Behind where the photo is taken there's an old stacked Stone corral about 75-100' in diameter and about 6 feet tall. The whole area is way out on a bluff and once the sun went down all the stars came out. We both tossed our bags out right on the grass.

In the morning we had breakfast and then drove out, and down to Fischer camp, which is way way down on antelope creek. I've posted photos previously of my landcruiser parked at Fischer camp.
Beautiful spot, too much traffic.
We took a walk upstream from there and made several tangents and smoked several joints. We have both been up that trail before to an old homestead called McClure place.
We didn't get all the way to the homestead this time, we turned back before we were both miserable. When we got the truck back up towards the begining ishi road, and started to wheel out, Ron says to me jokingly" want to take the hogsback down"
Hogsback is rough, not technically difficult but real hard on the back.
So what do I do...
I made a left and we took hogsback down, which Ron has never done, so even Ron got to see new stuff this trip. Had a great time, cant wait to go back.

This is on hogsback road. Mt Shasta is to the left, Lassen to the right, the ol swine, center.

Williards camp, just before we left.

 

[trainbufftony]

More photos from the ishi wilderness.

hogsback above antelope creek

hogsback with mt shasta.

can't forget tacos on the way home.

beautiful sunset over willards camp

From within the stone corral.

This trip, this is what I'm all about! From idea to reality in a matter of a few hours time, plus the landcruiser has now infected Ron. He told me today he's been wanting to go wheeling in it ever since he first saw it stashed in my garage years ago...
We finally got out for a little bit of 4x4 lo range crawlies. A few times Ron said "you sure you want to go up that"
Me, "go up what" as we flex through a nasty wash and up the other side as if nothing is there...
The ol Sow did really really well. Maintained traction and maintained forward motion through big puddles and some really sketchy washouts. Never missed a beat, I'm very proud of my old truck.

 

[trainbufftony]

Today I came out of tractor supply to some kid in a jeep (with racing slicks) losing his mind. He wanted to talk, i didn't.
If you can't keep tires on your POS, then stop eyeballing my POS....
Buh bye. On my way hone I dropped a c note on a new OEM radiator cap and 2 new wiper blade inserts at the stealership.
One I gave my Vin Number the old white haired man came out of the back "you've said the magic word, what do you need?" As he brushes aside the teenager running the computer and looks up what I need.
The kid at the counter, as usual needed my full VIN, which I gave him, but he's dead in the water without 17 digits. Completely useless... The old white haired man got me moving again as always.

 

[Pigeaten]

Paynes Creek!, my dad and I used to deer hunt there when I was young, great memories. First time I went, was afraid to shoot, threw rocks to keep deer away, my dad after said strange, I always get a deer there, I just shrug

 

[trainbufftony]

There's still lots of deer up there, and if you can't find a deer shoot a steer...
Just kidding of course, the cattle all belong to someone... I personally think it's pig party worthy. Some people probably will disagre due to it being in California, but I think it would be perfect for a pig party in 2025 or 2026.

 

[Pigeaten]

Going to need some water, gets hot there in June

 

[trainbufftony]

Deer creek, antelope creek and mill creek run all year long... I've never come anywhere near running low on water out there. Hot, yes, but there's creeks everywhere and they run all year long.

 

[trainbufftony]

After my recent 4x4 adventure and a few trips down the highway I had enough data to calculate my fuel ahem economy....
It's not great. 10mpg was the figure I came up with. I know I don't quite have my carb dialed in since fixing the accelerator pump. It idles high, and when you're accelerating it almost bogs out until you lift your foot off then it smooths out and pulls Harder. So today I drove it out to the river to warm up, then adjusted down my idle screw to get a much lower idle. My idle was so high it was pulling fuel through the primary circuit which is a contributing factor to the crap fuel mileage. So I lowered the idle down to maybe 600 rpm, I don't know I didn't use my tach. Then I turned in the mixture screw. Turned it in until I basically shut off the engine, (more on that in a minute) then sat and diddled it until I called it good, and I took another test run. Throttle was much more responsive and I'll bet in the morning I can start it via the hand crank once again.

The reason I turn in the mixture screw far enough to starve and kill the engine is to verify that I got the idle air flow low enough that it's running of of the idle circuit and nor the primary circuit. If you shut off the idle mixture and starve it for fuel and it dies then you know it's no longer drawing fuel through the primary at idle.

I don't mind playing with carburetors they're almost as simple as fuel injection.
Fix what ya got and get back to gettin on!
It's part of the charm of these old unique trucks, learning their quirks and accepting them for what they are. I have the skills, tools and knowledge to drop a fuel injected engine into this truck, or to convert it to any type of fuel injection under the sun, but as my old man once said, "if it ain't broke, Don't fix it"
This old sow is not broken, does not require fixing and will spend this summer wallowing on the trails, not languishing in the shop. I sincerely hope for the same for you all from the bottom of my heart.

 

[jestlurnin]

I have a sneaking suspicion that I need to continue to fiddle with my carb. Thanks for this post, gives me some things to chew on.

 

[trainbufftony]

I have a sneaking suspicion that I need to continue to fiddle with my carb. Thanks for this post, gives me some things to chew on.

Remember the order of operations.
First get a sense of what the carb is or isn't doing before going in guns blazing, get a sense of what's going on, that will help you determine what area specifically needs attention once you're in there.
Check compression first. (Maybe adjust valves) then check base timing, then and only then, with the vehicle warm, start dialing in your idle and mixture.
Once it runs perfectly hot, check to make sure your choke plate not only chokes off air, but raises the idle via the high idle cam on the back of the carb. Once it's working 100% correctly you should be able to set the choke, tap the gas pedal to set it to high idle, then stick the crank handle in and with one quick twist you should have it running.

A carburetor adjustment should be the last thing that you do once you're certain that everything else is as close to perfect as it can possibly be.
Compression, timing, air leaks exhaust leaks, valve adjustment these all should come before a carb adjustment.

 

[trainbufftony]

Today I used the FJ 55 to take my starts out to my garden. I got 2 rows of tomatoes and a row of cucumbers planted from starts, then I pulled irrigation tape.
I think the garden is looking really good about now.

I'm hoping to have lots of good food to eat!

 

[Pigeaten]

Do you can any food?

 

[Pigeaten]

Looks serious, lot of work, lots of good food

 

[trainbufftony]

Do you can any food?

Lots!
I think my record was 21 gallons of pasta sauce one year.
2 years back I canned pickles. Probably 36 or 48 quart jars of homegrown pickles...
Same goes for Jalepenos. Several cases of quart jars some with carrots and garlic some just jalapeños and salt.
Btw.
Sorry for the thread crap on Orinch
I didn't realize that the Instagram dude had your pig, I thought he's just a random dude who got a pig in and was drumming up attention for himself in typical social mediafashion. Sometimes I'm slow to catch on to what's being said or going on around me. Carry on...

 

[Pigeaten]

Not a problem, your in NorCal, would love to see your pig, I’ve got a 72 that’s rusty, but complete. Working on it now. Needs carb work

 

[trainbufftony]

Not a problem, your in NorCal, would love to see your pig, I’ve got a 72 that’s rusty, but complete. Working on it now. Needs carb work

You're welcome to stop in any time, send a PM for the address and if you give me a days notice I'll find something to BBQ.
You can see my small collection of misfit toyotas...