84 bj46 long term maintenance, repair and upgrade- making it mine.

[peteinjp]

Couple of shots of it temporarily installed. All the lever hardware bushings etc. are good to go. Just need to countersink and get some conehead screws and figure out how I want to bolt down the back end. For now I'm just gonna leave it as a tray. Someday I might be a little box in the back portion of the tray. But I have 1 million things to do "someday" so who knows....

Baby steps…

 

[Sporty Forty]

I have just purchased an 83 BJ46 in NZ and will be shipping it to Australia soon. Needs some TLC and will put a full floater rea axle and new bar work front and back. Will, read that as 'most probably might', take it back to mustard yellow colour or do a red colour as we don't see too many red 40's here in Australia, lots of beige.

Love your work on the 46 you have. Also your glass blowing is great, some skill involved in that profession, fun to try.

I will be restoring this in due course but have begun to appreciate how rare the 46's are. As I have pulled a few 40's to bits over the years I have a collection of parts I can use. Sold the bell housing with tacho sensor unfortunately, so on the hunt for another one so I can add a tacho there as I have it sitting here as well as the panel work required.

Enjoyed your travels and loved the pictures you have posted here.

 

[peteinjp]

Looks like a fantastic truck to start with there Sporty. I wonder what turbo that is fitted in there. The MWB I think you'll find is a great size. Not too big but room to haul plenty of stuff and even camp with 4 people.

I need to get myself busy on some tube work as well. I want a set of tubes under the factory steps and rocker panels badly....

I did my yearly rust prevention a few days back. It takes a good few hours day just to get the frame rails and underside of the truck steamed clean and free of rocks and mud. The rails are tought to get clean for sure. It feels great to pull the splash guards, get it all cleaned up and a good coat of water repellant on all the sheet metal seams and in the frame rails. The mud flaps are doing thier job of keeping the rear sill from getting loaded up with moisture holding gunk.

A little welding patch work was required on the front splash. They all crack there from repeated bashing intno snow when it gets deep.

The 70 series axle housing that I swapped in has had a cut and turn- which I did not realize before I installed it. Also it geve me really bad tire wear on the right outside tire. So I'm prepping the original unit for the cable locker and will switch it out during the new years break.... Here is sits with a nice coating of epoxy primer.

Pete

 

[peteinjp]

Got some 2" springs. They're just a bit longer than stock. Very similar to the stick springs but as you can see the overload leaf is not tapered like the original. I'll probably slip the original in later. For now I just need to get them on in prep for the yearly snow attack!

Got the rears on today and onto the fronts tomorrow. Also added slightly longer shackles from I think an hzj77.

After the engineering inspection I'll pull the packs again and pull a leaf up front and at least one in the rear to soften up the ride. I figure I'll net 1" lift or so. Then the plan is to figure out how to add a little lift on the shackle and spring hangers so I can fit 7.50r17 tires.


All in all I really only need just a little- I'm shooting for 1.5" total.

 

[Honger]

Man I love this truck... I enjoy hearing your updates immensely.

 

[peteinjp]

Thanks man- hasn't been enough updates recently that's for sure. .....

I just got the rears on. The guy that welded the spring perches onto the 70 series rear axle housing didn't get them in the right places. With the springs bolted to the front mounts and to the axle housing the shackle ends of the springs splayed out about 2 inches more than the shackles. There was pronounced wear on the outside of the shackles themselves when I took them off. I had to use a ratchet strap to get it all lined up right. But there is really not much I can do about it at this point. The work I had done on the 70 series axles has been a constant source of frustration.

Anyway- buckled down and got the fronts on. And flexed it out a bit. The springs dropped down a bit.

Pete

 

[peteinjp]

I kinda balked at the idea of lifting the truck more than I needed for tire clearance but I have to say- it rocks! The springs are only marginally longer than stock so I'll be adding that same length to each pair of shackles respectively. That will allow me to keep the bump stops in place. If I have tire clearance problems in the future I will make longer spring and shackle hangers to solve that problem but for now the 7.50r16 fit just right even with tire chains. The net result in my case is that the spring is simply at rest at a different point in the overall travel than before giving me more compression before I hit the stops. The loss in extension is made up for with the longer shackles. Despite the fact that the springs are not any softer and possibly a bit stiffer than stock the fact that I rarely hit the bump stops makes the ride much better. And I can clear stuff that I could have never gotten over before. I'm still planning on pulling a leaf from each spring after I pass inspection just to soften up the ride but I may find the increased roll a bit bothersome. Just have to try it to find out....


So net result is less reshaping of the transmission skid plate!

Coffee (warm milk) break down by the river.

I'm fortunate to have this little spot not far from home to go play in from time to time. It's literally right down the road and public land with no official over site so anytime I have a free hour or so I can just hop over and have a little fun driving.

Pete

 

[drnekFJ40]

Man,that is an apocalyptic terrain...!!!That video almost look like computer game. it is unbeleivable what these Toyotas can go through....Good job !!!Mike

 

[mongoose2231]

What a great thread!

 

[peteinjp]

It's not much compared to what some of these guys get into but I learn a little every time I get out there. It's great practice. Now I have my snow tires on so its pretty slick!


Pete

 

[peteinjp]

Thanks mongoose- keep looking I have some more stuff to post up soon..,,

P

 

[peteinjp]

That's a shot of that same riverside area a week later. It's just looks like a desert of snow.

p

 

[peteinjp]

Got prepped up for my one yearly event. This was the 26th yearly meeting: Snow Attack. It's happens in the mountains a of Nagano. I can't miss it! This year I'm going alone and will live 9n the truck for the weekend. To this point there. Has not been muc snow in comparison to other years but none the less it will be cold.

This carpet underlay has been a great moisture barrier. Cheap and with just the hook tape very easy to use. It prevents condensation when sleeping in the truck as well as keeping the kids a bit warmer on daily duties.

Still in daily mode but with the seats reversed in prep for the trip :

They love having the seat reversed!

View the way home a day later after some good weather!

 

[peteinjp]

New for the trip- a 5 minute effort that has been a very useful addition:

Clips onto any soft top bow and stays put. The clip is just a standard hardware store item for attaching plastic sheeting to steel tube framed greenhouses cut down to fit the rechargeable light. It's just zip ties together. I've used thsi every night since I put it in.

I have thsi 24v lithium battery for charging portable stuff as well as jumpstarting the truck if needed.

And the red LEDs work great for seeing the dash at night.

The light is totally not distracting for night driving.

 

[JohnnyC]

nice job on the interior carpet idea... i am going to be using a 'moving/shipping blanket' as in insulation and condensation barrier... most of the blankets are mold resistant which is a big plus... i'll be doing this as it gets quite cold up our way

 

[peteinjp]

The hook tape and underlay has a million uses. Here I used it to wrap my French press to keed it from rattling around while driving.

 

[peteinjp]

Pilgrimage

 

[peteinjp]

Snow Attack! I went a day early as I have in the past. I put on chains because you never know what your going to find on the other side of the tunnel and I'm on my own. It was so nice- no tracks- no other people or vehicles- just me and my BJ. For several trips we spent 24 hours straight of shoveling,winching and ramming plies of snow and didn't make it as far as I was able to go on my own this year. It was just beautiful and really fun driving. Challenging but not stressful. The snow had melted and refrozen many times so despite the fact that it wasn't so deep it is dense. It looks thin but it's not the same as driving in powder that you can just paw through till it crests the hood.

There were some spots where snow had slid down the mountain and created some off camber stuff that was a little hairy but I was able to keep the truck on the road without too much compensation. There were some spots where to keep going forward I had to keep the truck at and angle facing up the slope of the snow. It's hard to describe but the truck would kind of drift sideways along a rift of snow. I don't have too much to worry about because even if I lost a wheel off the edge of the road or got into anything that I couldn't winch out of I knew that in a days time there would be 20 experienced guys showing up in their trucks. I got to this point which has southern exposure and the snow is not deep and decided to set up camp for the night. I wanted to get out in my snowshoes a bit before it got too dark.

A little about my set up. I've had few years to get it dailed in a bit. It's really simple relatively. I sleep in the truck when I go solo. I drape this tarp off the back and simply open the rear doors to prop it up. All the wet stuff gets hung up under it.

I go to lengths to keep the interior dry. The spare tire bag holds any wet stuff- straps, snow shoes etc etc.

.........

 

[peteinjp]

Here's the way is sat as I drove.

Strapped to the right side fender is a bad of recovery gear, Coleman stove, and the Coleman heater.

My hang out spot....

Keep it dry- this is the tray that holds the chains doubles for wet feet.

 

[peteinjp]

All the sleeping gear up high and dry for sure. The expend is also wrapped coiled in the carpet underlay The sleeping bag and other sleeping gear is all strapped to the rear bow.

Here it is unpacked. A hot water bottle for the feet, the pump for the mattress and my new pillow.

But first fire up the heater and cook.