Builds 93 80 Beater.

[darwink1]

Yup, had it in the garage all day to let it thaw before touching it. Its the damn sand/salt that falls all over you when your pounding on the fork under the van. Now Im regretting not throwing the 100 series pads on when I had it in there. Could have put on the new to me cruise cable too. Next time.

D

 

[greentruck]

Are you going to put new rotors on with the pad or just let 'er rip? I know that the 100 series pads sweep a wider area of the existing rotor and people say you should wait and put them on with new rotors.

On the other hand, I figured it might not make much difference, depending on the rotor wear, the condition of the caliper, etc. For a winter rig, it may not make much difference.

 

[darwink1]

Meh, Im pretty sure the pads will wear around any ridges in the rotor. You have to remember that most folks here on mud are super duper anal retentive and to take anything that is said with a grain of salt. Kinda like the whole wheel bearing fish scale preload thing. You could dick around with said fish scale or you could tighten as tight as it will go, back off and torque to 14ft/lb and be done... Theres always the anal retentive approach and the real world approach. Dont get me wrong, I do appreciate their way of doing things, thats why this place is such an awesome data bank.

D

 

[projectcruiser]

Meh, Im pretty sure the pads will wear around any ridges in the rotor. You have to remember that most folks here on mud are super duper anal retentive and to take anything that is said with a grain of salt.

agreed

 

[greentruck]

Gotta agree that sometimes things get over the top around here on PMs, etc

The wheel bearing fish scale thing is pretty overkill. I've always done it by hand and had good results.

On the other hand, I'd rather someone be anal with my stuff, than what happened on the one and only trip to the local stealership I paid for. Had the bearings packed then, along with a bunch of other baselining. The mechanic must've just slapped it back together. less than 4,000 miles later, the bearing failed.

They acted like it was just its time to go when I returned to have them check on it. They thought they were going to sell me a wheel bearing R&R for a truly ridiculous amount of cash. I brought it back to them because they F-ed up.

I walked out in a huff and basically told the service writer to forget about it when he called back afterward. Probably had at least an hour of labor he couldn't account for with his boss -- but he should have just admitted that it was a come-back. No way, it was their problem and if he didn't want to explain the F-up to his boss to start with, as it seemed, then he could explain why they pulled some guy's front wheel off and then had no customer to charge for it.

Come on. The bearing was trashed, as I found when i pulled it apart at home. Now, I've seen my share of bad bearings. There's no way that 4,000 more miles of normal wear and tear took it from good-to-go to trash. If it was anywhere near as bad when he serviced it, he should have pointed that out. Nope, the only way this can happen is if they weren't adjusted right -- 4,000 miles back when he did it.

I'll bet the dealership mechanic didn't use a fishscale -- but maybe HE should have

 

[ktmracer01]

So, I just wrote a very long paragraph and my "fat finger" syndrome got the best of me and I deleted the whole thing. grrr..

anyway, I was mentioning that I am not trying to throw my stealership under the bus by any means, but I understand how most stealerships will try to avoid having to pay for repairs on "come-backs." I know that I am nowhere near being the all knowing Land Crusier expert, but I certainly am around my stealership. All of the technicians know that I will find out who the owner is and assist in diagnosing any problems on any Land Cruisers that come to our service department, they also know that I'll be hovering around somewhere eager to lend a helping hand. I have personally witnessed price gouging on parts and labor to either get out of having to work on a cruiser or even tempt the owner in to selling one, and worst case, send the business somewhere else because the technician is either too lazy or just not educated in Land Cruisers. It is a terrible thing, but technicians just don't know how to "work" on vehicles any more, we have moved in to "plug and play" and also " parts replacement" in most cases.

If anyone is in my area, please feel free to stop by with any issues and concerns and I'll make sure that your issues and vehicle are well taken care of. If they are not, I will cetainly get you in touch with the right people to get it resolved in a quickly and orderly fashion.

 

[darwink1]

Nobody at my toyota dealership knew what a land cruiser was let alone that it was made by toyota except for 2 of the parts guys. Seeing as though there arent many 80's around town to begin with and all the owners I know do their own work, I can understand when a mechanic at the dealer would look at it and scratch his head. Dont get me wrong, I'm by no means a mechanic, but the day my 80 goes in to the dealer for anything will be the day...... meh, it just wouldnt go to the dealer. Ever.

D

 

[greentruck]

...Dont get me wrong, I'm by no means a mechanic, but the day my 80 goes in to the dealer for anything will be the day...... meh, it just wouldnt go to the dealer. Ever.

D

Definitely the way I feel about it -- now.

At the time, there was a bunch of no-brainer baseline type stuff and the wife and I had a little extra cash to spend in the budget, since we ended up paying less than we thought we would for the 80. My back is pretty iffy, which was a part of things, so thought I'd ease into learning by working on it once things got caught up, PM-wise.

While I sympathize with a guy who has to work on something he's not familiar with, heck, that why there's a dealership. The consumer presumes that he's investing in access to the Toyota knowledge network when the big bucks are laid out for work there. So I don't have much sympathy under the circumstances.

Did learn my lesson though. One of the reasons I bought the truck was the great support group here on MUD.

I'm back to DIYing it. Most things I can do, although sometimes I have to think about how to do them and it's going to take much longer than a young, healthy mechanic. I can live with that. I can't live with taking the truck to some folks, who claim they have the expertise, that are going to charge me out the wazoo, then F-it up and expect me to cover the cost of fixing their incompetence.

I just can't afford that.

 

[darwink1]

Its not that I sympathize, its that only the lexus was sold in Canada and there werent that many of them around back in the day let alone now.

As far as the back thing goes, you need a helper. Bribe a friend to come over and lend a hand. I like to have someone around that has more wrenching experience even if it isnt LC related.

D

 

[Wheelingnoob]

While I sympathize with a guy who has to work on something he's not familiar with, heck, that why there's a dealership. The consumer presumes that he's investing in access to the Toyota knowledge network when the big bucks are laid out for work there. So I don't have much sympathy under the circumstances.

As far as Toyota Canada is concerned the Land Cruiser Died in 90 when the last FJ62 was sold, if they were even sold in Canada it may have been earlier.

No 80 series Land Cruisers were sold here at all new. The LX 450 was sold in Canada for 96-97 but that was a Lexus and I believe only a few 1000 were sold here (all came with lockers tho ).

I would not take my LX450 to a Toyota or a Lexus dealer up here for any work. Even if they did sell them none of there tech's have worked on them of if they did it was long long ago. They do not even stock most the parts for them in Canada and have to get them out of California. I waited a week for a heater hose.

Good job on the TRE's and arm's I had thought about getting those arms too but my budget is not there for them right now. My stock ones seem to be not "Canadian locktighted" so I hope I can change them with out much drama.

 

[greentruck]

I'll just count my blessings on being in the USA as far as parts support. Thank goodness for CDan and crew!

Not that I expect that kind of expertise at every dealership, just that wheel bearing adjustment ain't rocket science.

I didn't realize that Land Cruiser support in Canada was so limited, although I knew y'all only got the LX450 new and no 80s. I guess it's seeing all the neat JDM stuff you get years before we get a look at such things that had me thinking you folks had some dealer support.

Heck, by the time us 'Mericans get a chance to pick from that sort of stuff, someone will have beat us to the good ones

This does point out how you guys gotta be hard-core Land Crusier fanatics to own one north of the 49th parallel.
My hat's off to you for that!

 

[darwink1]

My dealer isnt too bad about ordering stuff, only one of my 4 new tie rods had to come from Kali lol. Another bonus is that the mining industry uses the 75-79 series cruisers so there is another option for parts. The 79 has the exact same front end set up as the 80 which is cool.

D

 

[Wheelingnoob]

I didn't realize that Land Cruiser support in Canada was so limited, although I knew y'all only got the LX450 new and no 80s. I guess it's seeing all the neat JDM stuff you get years before we get a look at such things that had me thinking you folks had some dealer support.

Heck, by the time us 'Mericans get a chance to pick from that sort of stuff, someone will have beat us to the good ones

This does point out how you guys gotta be hard-core Land Crusier fanatics to own one north of the 49th parallel.
My hat's off to you for that!

We did get all the cool Land cruisers of the 80's HJ60, BJ60, BJ70, BJ42..... For some reason after that they totally pulled the line. All the Toyota parts guys I know my self included (back in the day) know Land Cruisers well. There is a very die hard bunch of Land Cruiser owners up here that still love and drive there trucks all the time. Problem is now is finding a 60 series with a body and frame worth the motor its got. Some like my brother are swapping in JDM rust free frames.

My dealer isnt too bad about ordering stuff, only one of my 4 new tie rods had to come from Kali lol. Another bonus is that the mining industry uses the 75-79 series cruisers so there is another option for parts. The 79 has the exact same front end set up as the 80 which is cool.

D

Yeah my parts guys are good, Always can get me the parts some just need to come from some distance. You live in the right area if you want to get parts being close to the mines. Back when I worked at Toyota we went for training at the Toyota Canada head office and in there shipping lot they had about a dozen 75's fresh off the boat. One of my customers had a 75 that he some how got off a dealer in the Okanagan before Toyota shut them down.

 

[darwink1]

Nothing to do with the 80 but...

Gave the tacoma some lovin and did a stupid little grille mod Ive been thinking about. I had most of the parts and picked up some mesh the other day so I had no excuses. Turned out okay I guess, could have sanded a little more but meh.

D

 

[julstirn]

No go do it to the 80, looks good

 

[greentruck]

D,
So you had the sombrero emblem in the grille as a previous repair and put the mesh with Toyota in instead of it?

That mesh looks good and probably holds up better to pushing brush.

 

[darwink1]

The sombrero came on the stock grille from the factory (98-2000 4x4 tacoma), you can see it in the first post of this thread. I cut out the big middle bar and the two smaller bars above and below it and bent up the mesh to fit in from behind. After cutting I was left with 3 big holes that looked like ass (one on each side and one where the sombrero was) so I used the plasma to cut out some steel pcs., bent them up and tacked studs to the back side. They cover the holes and help hold the grille insert in place. Its the lazy mans "satoshi" grille mod since I didnt feel like fing around with fiberglass. The emblem is from a 60 series that I repainted, the Toyota is silver to match the tacoma body.

D (shhhhhhhh, secretly testing on the tac before cutting the 80 grille lol)

 

[greentruck]

OK, now I understand. As usual, you've got things whipped together and looking good faster than I can pay attention

 

[darwink1]

Wow, she never stops impressing me.

Ive had xc skis, hockey sticks, and a bunch of random crap rolling around the back of the van all winter. I guess I just got used to all the thumping and clattering they generated over the winter. I cleaned it all out the other day and was amazed at how freaking quiet the 18 yr old pos was! Seriously man, aside from the 2 row seats/seatbelts making a tiny bit of noise its quiet as hell.

Had to tell someone.....

D

 

[greentruck]

Wow, she never stops impressing me.

Ive had xc skis, hockey sticks, and a bunch of random **** rolling around the back of the van all winter. I guess I just got used to all the thumping and clattering they generated over the winter. I cleaned it all out the other day and was amazed at how freaking quiet the 18 yr old pos was! Seriously man, aside from the 2 row seats/seatbelts making a tiny bit of noise its quiet as ****.

Had to tell someone.....

D

D,
I know exactly what you mean. When I took the Cow on a test drive, the quiet was simply amazing. The comparison between the 80 and my old 93 Rodeo was shocking. The Rodeo only had about 4,000 more miles on it than the 80, but it was a rattletrap in comparison to the hush inside the Land Cruiser.

The Rodeo was still running good, but it was clearly an old truck that had seen better days. I made a trip to the East Coast in 2009 in it, so still trusted it. The 80 was like driving a new vehicle in comparison.

The build quality on the Toyota is simply amazing, although we know they have their little weaknesses. That speaks to what a great investment these trucks when are you find one at a reasonable price. I don't feel like I'm throwing money at it just to keep it running, I'm investing in it as an asset.

What other at least 14 year old or older vehicle can you say that about? None of the 80's peers, that for sure.