85 4Runner - Breathing some new life

[hman913]

And what's with the hitch receiver tube at the front corner you ask? Great question! Most of the time it holds an early 70's Craftsman 5-inch anvil vise. This one was made by Columbian. A little grinding, filing and paint to clean it up.

The vise mount has worked out so well that I ended up doing the same for the JD2 tubing notcher

The tools are held in place with a standard hitch pin and 3 socket head cap screws.

 

[yotadude520]

Nice job on the table! Looks really nice! Trucks coming along great too.

@joseywales I know it’s been a while but I 2nd the Millermatic 211. Being a novice welder the auto set feature is cool and it is an awesome machine for the price. I absolutely love welding with it and it has an awesome arc. I researched a ton before making my choice and I’ve been really happy with it.



**sorry to hijack the thread again*

 

[joseywales]

I’m sure the 211 will be my next machine, but I’m sticking (miging) with my Millermatic for now. I’ve got a front bumper and rear tire carrier in production right now...

 

[hman913]

8/10/18 Loaded up the truck and trailer after work and headed to PA for another outing with the Keystone Cruisers. This time at AOAA. Would be my first time there and had heard nothing but great things. Obviously also the first trip with the lower gears.

A small collection of my favorite pics. 3 cheers to Woody for these pics as I was without a codriver/photog.

The pics of this section truly don't do the incline justice. Difficult to walk up, loose/slick dirt and rock which generally means a good time. As I approached the climb I was lovingly told it's not something you can crawl, but I was going to give that a shot before other means. Turned out the tires dug in and a healthy combination of gearing and lockers got me up without trouble. Lotsa fun.

 

[hman913]

Love watching Mark's 60 lumber along - 38's, crawl box and the mighty 2F make it a formidable adversary

This notch ended up putting a rock outcropping into my rear driver's fender and would eventually pop my taillight. Meh. I think having the bedlined exterior helped prevent some dents and that's really its only redeeming quality.

Token Rover guy. Real good guy and generally wasn't afraid to get into it.

 

[hman913]

At the end of the final trail of the day and nice optional line. Rocky, flowing water, good times.

Shortly after we made our way to the access trail the sky opened up and being near one of the far ends of the park it decided to call it day and head back. Loaded up, said some temporary fairwells, grabbed an icy cold Monster and began my 5hr drive home.

The truck continues to impress and sometimes I just felt like a passenger. Another great weekend with great people.

 

[joseywales]

Awesome pics! I miss my BJ60. Too bad 60s are so expensive these days, but then, they aren’t convertible!

 

[hman913]

Shortly after that trip I started the daunting task of cleaning things up in the engine bay (which I'm still slowly working on). The most obvious starting point was getting rid of the air compressor used for the rear locker. It never gave me problems but just running the locker off the Powertank simplified things a lot, saved some weight, avoided the noise of the compressor, etc.

I already had the hose on hand, so the shopping list was small - 1/4" NPT male brass plug, 1/4" tee, 1/4" ell, push-lock fitting and a 1/4" 125# safety valve...should I forget to the turn tank valve down from tire pressure. This assembly can be purchased via PT's website, but this DIY version using identical parts cost me about $14.

The line snakes along beneath the rear platform, under the door trim and up through the kick panel...

...to be tucked up under the dash where the locker switch resides.

 

[hman913]

October was another trip to PA for the Fall Crawl organized by the Bay to Blue Ridge Cruisers and Capital Land Cruisers. Again drove down after work Friday night, and had the good fortune of crossing paths with some Virginia guys in the hotel parking lot. Telling stories and drinking beer till late on a cold October Pennsylvania evening.

Saturday morning brought cool temps, rain and people getting a slow start that camped at Rausch Creek. Myself, @matzell and a few of his buddies from VA stuck together and did a couple trails to warm up right around the main office area. By time we got back, @Stumpalama joined in and off we went. The group consisted of an FJ45 buggy, 2 first gen 4Runners and 2 FJ40s. Kept a good pace throughout the day and hit a number of good trails. A handful of which had been passed on in my previous trips because they would take too long. I believe we ran the bulk of Boot Hill in about 10 minutes. Hard to say if it was the complete trail because of logging operations going on at the time, but all of the technical sections were hit.


@Stumpalama going up the red section of Cemetary and high-centered on his flywheel cover

@matzell ‘s impressive 4500 class buggy

Wrist bone no longer connected to the arm bone. It was at this point I became super thankful for having the FROR keyed steering arms.

Loaded up for the trip home after a mediocre dinner stop

No huge issues for the group. I lost a couple inner beads, a 40 had a loose front pinion nut and unseated outer bead, @Stumpalama had sparks and smoke when high-centered and of course the sheered steering studs on the other 4Runner. Between all of us we had the tools and parts and snacks to get them fixed enough and back out without issue.

 

[Stumpalama]

October was another trip to PA for the Fall Crawl organized by the Bay to Blue Ridge Cruisers and Capital Land Cruisers. Again drove down after work Friday night, and had the good fortune of crossing paths with some Virginia guys in the hotel parking lot. Telling stories and drinking beer till late on a cold October Pennsylvania evening.

Saturday morning brought cool temps, rain and people getting a slow start that camped at Rausch Creek. Myself, @matzell and a few of his buddies from VA stuck together and did a couple trails to warm up right around the main office area. By time we got back, @Stumpalama joined in and off we went. The group consisted of an FJ45 buggy, 2 first gen 4Runners and 2 FJ40s. Kept a good pace throughout the day and hit a number of good trails. A handful of which had been passed on in my previous trips because they would take too long. I believe we ran the bulk of Boot Hill in about 10 minutes. Hard to say if it was the complete trail because of logging operations going on at the time, but all of the technical sections were hit.


@Stumpalama going up the red section of Cemetary and high-centered on his flywheel cover
View attachment 2005928

View attachment 2005929


@matzell ‘s impressive 4500 class buggy
View attachment 2005931


Wrist bone no longer connected to the arm bone. It was at this point I became super thankful for having the FROR keyed steering arms.
View attachment 2005932


Loaded up for the trip home after a mediocre dinner stop
View attachment 2005940



No huge issues for the group. I lost a couple inner beads, a 40 had a loose front pinion nut and unseated outer bead, @Stumpalama had sparks and smoke when high-centered and of course the sheered steering studs on the other 4Runner. Between all of us we had the tools and parts and snacks to get them fixed enough and back out without issue.

That was a good “stuck” on that rock. Too bad no one got a pic of that banana’d highlift when I was backing off that rock. I also wish I could have gotten a picture, from my vantage point in the drivers’s seat, of your guy’s faces when it was bending.
Good times for sure, and your truck is a well put together rig.

 

[hman913]

That was a good “stuck” on that rock. Too bad no one got a pic of that banana’d highlift when I was backing off that rock. I also wish I could have gotten a picture, from my vantage point in the drivers’s seat, of your guy’s faces when it was bending.
Good times for sure, and your truck is a well put together rig.

I could have sworn I had some pics of the hi-lift, and still amazed it didn't fail spectacularly. We'll have to do this again sometime...minus the stuck.

 

[Pacer]

I could have sworn I had some pics of the hi-lift, and still amazed it didn't fail spectacularly. We'll have to do this again sometime...minus the stuck.

Was it a red and black tractor/farm jack, or a proper silver Hi Lift brand?

 

[hman913]

Hi Lift brand jack. Probably the reason it didn't fail.

 

[Stumpalama]

I could have sworn I had some pics of the hi-lift, and still amazed it didn't fail spectacularly. We'll have to do this again sometime...minus the stuck.

We'll be there for CMCC...

 

[Stumpalama]

Was it a red and black tractor/farm jack, or a proper silver Hi Lift brand?

Yes, 60" Hi-lift.

 

[hman913]

And this brings us up to today. I was never too much of a fan of the hoop on the bumper or the LED bar. So off they both went. Ground down the welds and DA'd the areas so you'd never really know there was anything there. Gives the front end a cleaner look imo.

...really need to get the garage straightened up.

 

[G-Cat]

^^^Much better

 

[hman913]

Small update... drove the truck to work this past Wednesday. A [mostly] lovely back-road drive with some speeds up to 55mph. Handled it real well and comfortable once the flat spots of bias tires disappear. About 5 minutes from work the coolant temp got to the point where I HAD to stop. Pulled into a gas station and first checked fan ground and relay connections - all good. Check the 30A in-line fuse...popped. Thankfully one of the gas stations nearby had a variety pack of fuses which got me going again (my tote of random small spare parts was unwisely left at home). Work was semi-slow being right before a 4 day weekend so some light reading about the Volvo fan told me that on high speed, the fan draws just shy of 30A and about double that when it kicks on. Though low speed keeps things cool just fine. What exactly caused the fuse to blow is still an unknown. That fuse also blew just about a year ago under similar conditions. Following that I cleaned up some wiring which I thought would alleviate that problem.

After some discussion with @GLTHFJ60 I think the proper fix for this is going to be swapping to a Flex-a-lite 674 and no longer worry about a fan motor of unknown age and number of miles/hours/etc. The 674 will also be a cleaner setup with less wiring.

In much better news I removed the rear tube bumper on what was probably the hottest day so far with astronomical humidity.

Before

During

After

I like the style of the [old] bumper but its execution could have been better. Clean looking without anything hanging off the back end but protection is obviously needed. I started mocking up for the new bumper this afternoon. Stay tuned.

 

[hman913]

Took this past Friday off work to take care of some things at home and made some time to get started on the bumper. The main structure of it will be 2"x4"x.25" rectangular tube, with 3/16" plate for rear quarter protection. The current plan is to mount to the outside of the frame rails like most other first gen bumpers.

Ends are cut at 45* for the quarter protection -

Cut with the Evolution chop saw are super clean and cool to the touch right after, much unlike abrasive saws. Burrs were basically non-existent as well.

With the main tube cut down and in place it was time for some CAD work for the rear quarter protection. Out came the press brake and got to work -

Close enough for mock-up

 

[hman913]

The plate, as mocked up, is 10.75" from the rear of the bumper. Why 10.75" you ask? Because that's what I had on hand for 3/16. It was decided shortly thereafter to extend it 3-4" due to the unprotected gap between that 10.75" and the wheel well. A little later in the afternoon I stopped by the steel supplier for a piece of 12"x7'x3/16 plate. I always seem to want 3/16 when all I have is 1/8 or 1/4 so some extra never hurts.

The rect. tube is located 3/8" below the tailgate when closed. When dropping/closing the tailgate, that gap is about 3/16" at its narrowest. I'm planning for 1/2" gap between the plate and rear fenders. The plate will be braced along the bottom edge to the bumper mounts (on the frame) to prevent deflection.

Now I just need time to finish.