Builds 2002 HZJ76 Build (1 Viewer)

[mt72]

Are you getting hit by some snow tonight? It's coming east some 10CM here and there

 

[Rigster]

Are you getting hit by some snow tonight? It's coming east some 10CM here and there

Hey Tom!

This has been a strange year for snow. I live in a valley below SiverStar Ski Resort so we typically get a little more snow here. Last year, the ski resort opened early due to great snow conditions, and when all the snow was long gone in Vernon (20 minutes away) in the spring, we still had over a foot in our yard.

However... THIS year, we have NONE yet! Much to my boys chagrin, for they all love to snowboard. On that note, I will bring up a sore point. Last year was the first year that one of my kids is now better and faster than I am on a snowboard! I can no longer keep up with my 16yr old son, and I have officially started to feel... well... OLD! LOL. I suppose it was inevitable. I do not have to like it, though.

Fall is my favorite time of year, so I am not complaining one bit. I do like snow and playing in it, it is one of the reasons I chose to live where I do. My only complaint is because of our milder temperatures, snow simply creates a lot of mess until the roads dry up, so that part I do not like. Windshield wash and car wash budgets are a thing around here.

I have been following your progress on your troopy! I'm looking forward to seeing it (and you) in person when you do your sojourn to the West. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to spend all along the west coastal areas in the mountains, so much to see and do.

 

[mt72]

Hey Tom!

This has been a strange year for snow. I live in a valley below SiverStar Ski Resort so we typically get a little more snow here. Last year, the ski resort opened early due to great snow conditions, and when all the snow was long gone in Vernon (20 minutes away) in the spring, we still had over a foot in our yard.

However... THIS year, we have NONE yet! Much to my boys chagrin, for they all love to snowboard. On that note, I will bring up a sore point. Last year was the first year that one of my kids is now better and faster than I am on a snowboard! I can no longer keep up with my 16yr old son, and I have officially started to feel... well... OLD! LOL. I suppose it was inevitable. I do not have to like it, though.

Fall is my favorite time of year, so I am not complaining one bit. I do like snow and playing in it, it is one of the reasons I chose to live where I do. My only complaint is because of our milder temperatures, snow simply creates a lot of mess until the roads dry up, so that part I do not like. Windshield wash and car wash budgets are a thing around here.

I have been following your progress on your troopy! I'm looking forward to seeing it (and you) in person when you do your sojourn to the West. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to spend all along the west coastal areas in the mountains, so much to see and do.

Same here normally ski season starts around the 31 Oct but not this year! My Daughter is turning 15 and she gonna surpass me too hahaha time flies!!!
If all goes well I will normally hit the road west this summer working on the cabinet and some electric at this point
I will definitely come by

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Same here normally ski season starts around the 31 Oct but not this year! My Daughter is turning 15 and she gonna surpass me too hahaha time flies!!!
If all goes well I will normally hit the road west this summer working on the cabinet and some electric at this point
I will definitely come by

As adults, (at least speaking for myself) when you’re deciding to do X, Y or Z you can’t help but think about what you could break doing so. Kids aren’t wired that way.

 

[mt72]

As adults, (at least speaking for myself) when you’re deciding to do X, Y or Z you can’t help but think about what you could break doing so. Kids aren’t wired that way.

No More Jumps for me or back flip lol

 

[JDM Journeys]

Lol. We are also looking at snow but by the time it gets to Banff I'm expecting it to peter out somewhat. We shall see.

Darren you aren't old. I only say that defensivley, because we are cohorts.

 

[Rigster]

Lol. We are also looking at snow but by the time it gets to Banff I'm expecting it to peter out somewhat. We shall see.

Darren you aren't old. I only say that defensivley, because we are cohorts.

I used to say that I am as old as I feel, but I cannot even do that now, because some days I feel about 100. So now I have to say that I am only as old as I act...

I will see how much mileage I can get out of that one.... lol

 

[Rigster]

Wow does time fly... tonight I got to rechecking my front hubs for play since replacing the front axle housing 2 months ago.

Left side was good, right side had some slight play, so I dismantled and reset the preload. Now it is good again. I realize it has only been 2 months, but antiseize on the cone washers is a dream. I didn't even have to remove them - with the nuts off I was able to just pull the outer hub off with the cone washers in place. Total job, including checking all the steering components and ball joints only took about an hour. I even checked the rears since I had replaced the brakes and bearings in the summer, but they were all good.

I enjoy knowing a machine so well that you can "feel" when something is slightly off, or a certain noise appears (this is why I do not like any rattles or squeaks).

 

[Rigster]

Winter time seems to bring out all the little gremlins in vehicles, and as robust as Land Cruisers are, they are no exception.

My rear passenger door has a sticky lock, so I determined to rectify that tonight. I removed the door skin to get at it, and because I have the poverty pack garage (read: no heat, lol) I broke a couple of the retaining tabs.

Fortunately I had the forethought to grab 3 bags of the various retainers, I broke 2 of the red ones. For reference:

To avoid making holes in the vapor barrier, I used the extension on the wd-40 to reach the linkages to lubricate

I buttoned it all back up and the lock is moving much more freely now. Important, as I did not want to burn out the power lock actuator.

 

[Kroll]

I wanted to thank you for getting those window visors off to Garret. I got them this past summer. I have yet to install them, but it seems like no drama.
Your 76 has come a long way since I last saw it in Edmonton.

 

[Rigster]

I wanted to thank you for getting those window visors off to Garret. I got them this past summer. I have yet to install them, but it seems like no drama.
Your 76 has come a long way since I last saw it in Edmonton.

No worries! Glad they went to someone that would use and appreciate them. The Land Cruiser community is a small one!

 

[Rigster]

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season.

For Christmas, I ended up getting a set of these:

OCAM Extendable Towing Mirrors For Toyota Landcruiser 75-79 Series, Black, Electric

OCAM Extendable Towing Mirrors For Toyota Landcruiser 70 75 76 78 79 ELECTRIC, Short Model - OCAM

www.ocamindustries.com.au

I have to say, these were not my first choice, as for the price, you can get new OEM power mirrors. The problem is that there does not appear to be any non-convex options available. Also confirmed with Mr Stedman at japan4x4. I also was not a fan of these aftermarket OCAM mirrors because they also require 2 additional holes drilled into each door to properly mount them.

I could have just got straight glass cut to replace the convex, but for those who have been following my thread, I broke one of my mirror housing last fall and temporarily fixed it. I figured I would rather put that money towards a full fix. With no other options, this now brought the OCAM mirrors back into the picture.

Installation is pretty straight forward, though the power ones that I got were not a "plug and play" option. They came with their own wiring and controller. I ended up splicing the OEM plug from the old mirrors to the new ones so I could plug into the harness.

First impressions were these mirrors are well built and solid. Each side took me around 90 mins to install. They seem huge in comparison to the OEM ones, and create a little more wind noise.

They are also very stiff to fold, so I will need to be careful when off road to make sure they do not get damaged by tree branches, etc.

On the highway, they are solid. No vibration and crystal clear view. Overall, I am pleased with the product. Getting it on sale made it a little more reasonable to purchase as well, since the savings paid for the shipping.

It is so nice to have proper view and perspective when backing up and towing.

 

[Rigster]

Gosh!! I have not posted on my thread for a while, I see... it's past due!

I have not done much on the Land Cruiser because, well... it had been running great. I did recently re-torque the front wheel bearings as I have not done so since the axle housing replacement.

I also took the time to vacuum it out and give it a quick wash...

Ready for some fun again!

The bulk of my time has been to work on the Volkswagen fleet. I'm not kidding! We have 3 tdi's and a GTI in the family with the kids cars too.

Timing belts, egr delete, struts, shocks, transmission solenoids (again), and now my sons tdi needs a front wheel bearing. Can't wait until my kids can help me instead... lol.

I also think I might be getting old... I didn't want to take the Land cruiser out in the evening after washing it because all the bugs come out at that time....

 

[Gun Runner 5]

@Rigster …. “I also think I might be getting old... I didn't want to take the Land cruiser out in the evening after washing it because all the bugs come out at that time”....
——————————————————————————————
As long as you’re not sitting on your front porch and yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off of your lawn, there’s hope.

 

[Rigster]

@Rigster …. “I also think I might be getting old... I didn't want to take the Land cruiser out in the evening after washing it because all the bugs come out at that time”....
——————————————————————————————
As long as you’re not sitting on your front porch and yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off of your lawn, there’s hope.

Now why did you have to go and say that??? I have been fondly looking forward to being able to do just that when I retire. I even have a double barreled shotgun picked out, and have been practicing the line "hey you kids, git off muh lawn!" in a cranky voice.

sh_t....

 

[Rigster]

I have four trips planned over the next 4 months of varying distance and duration. All trips will be pulling my trailer, first trip leaving this Thursday to take the family camping at cultis lake and taking the kids to the waterslides there. Next month is taking the family camping at scotch creek and whitewater rafting. Then 2 weeks later I will be heading out on my yearly 2 week expedition with others from SAR. Then another week of camping 3rd week of October. I love fall camping.

Soooo.... Oil change, and I am happy to report after close to 40,000km with a turbo, I still had no oil loss/consumption.

I also topped up my batteries with deionized water. Incidentally, these are still the batteries that came with the Land Cruiser when I shipped it from Japan 4 years ago. Still going strong, even after they showed up on this side of the pond completely dead.

I think I may need to wash the engine bay next... lol. Sheesh.

 

[mt72]

I have four trips planned over the next 4 months of varying distance and duration. All trips will be pulling my trailer, first trip leaving this Thursday to take the family camping at cultis lake and taking the kids to the waterslides there. Next month is taking the family camping at scotch creek and whitewater rafting. Then 2 weeks later I will be heading out on my yearly 2 week expedition with others from SAR. Then another week of camping 3rd week of October. I love fall camping.

Soooo.... Oil change, and I am happy to report after close to 40,000km with a turbo, I still had no oil loss/consumption.
View attachment 3672146

View attachment 3672148
I also topped up my batteries with deionized water. Incidentally, these are still the batteries that came with the Land Cruiser when I shipped it from Japan 4 years ago. Still going strong, even after they showed up on this side of the pond completely dead.



View attachment 3672149
I think I may need to wash the engine bay next... lol. Sheesh.

What a engine bay wash oh man

 

[Rigster]

I had another one of those rare weekends that I found myself with some time to myself. With a family of six, and a homeless kid from my boys school that we are looking after these moments are rare indeed. So what did I decide to do? Work on my land cruiser of course... duh.
If you have followed my build thread, you may recall I replaced the axle housing that I modified to accept a factory-locking differential, and in the process created my own paper gasket. In hindsight, that is infuriatingly 20-20 - my paper gasket was not thick enough even though I used the thickest they had. So I decided not to mess around this time and picked up some Form In Place Gasket (FIPG):

No one likes to tear apart a perfectly fine, rebuilt hub. But I bravely(foolishly?) bashed through that mental reluctance, and after the initial pang of regret, it became much easier and I went to town

Everything including the axles came apart very easily due to recently being rebuilt, so that was nice.

I decided rather than pop the tie rod and potentially damage it, that I would have enough room to work by pulling the diff back as far as it would go. It worked nicely, I just had to take my time applying the FIPG before slapping the diff back in place.

Overall, it was a success, as I have taken it for a test drive on the freeway and no more seepage. Chalking this labor up as the cost of experience.

 

[Rigster]

Good day to all,

I just returned from a 2 week trip amongst the west Kootenay mountains, further exploring the backcountry, and camping at 3 different locations.

The leadup to the trip was a bit chaotic and hectic with a seemingly comedy of errors and circumstances that appeared determined to thwart our plans. I will share one with you to give you an idea - 4 days before I was scheduled to depart, I took the family for a river float about 20 mins away near the next town. I got there and noticed a rear axle seal leak on the long side (JDM passenger side). Sigh.

I was pretty sure these were one of the common maintenance items I had already grabbed, and sure enough, I had a couple. Because I had done the rear brakes relatively recently, the job only took me 45 mins as there was no need for pounding and convincing any cone washers to move. (It would have taken me even less, but I was teaching my middle son as he had never done anything like this before and wanted to learn).

A mad rush to get things done, and prep for the trip, then a few days later I was headed out with the thoughts that every person has as they leave - "OK, what did I forget???"

More to come... but as with most folks... "getting away" is a misnomer for "vacation" as you really are not getting away with anything. The work and chores pile up in wait - to simply fall over and bury you alive when you return.

 

[Rigster]

This years trip we had planned to search and explore the area around slocan, bc then move to Wilson lake area and explore.

Unfortunately, the slocan area was pretty much closed off due to forest fires in the area this year, so we had to forgo the original plan. We decided to return to one of our favorite spots at Sandon, BC. We visited with some old friends, and enjoyed the town.