So I am finally going to start putting some time into the cruiser. I have been focused on our house and it was my kids that snapped me out of it. I have two (10 and 5 years old) and they have both asked recently, "When are you going to fix the Landcruiser?" Since I am with out a welder to fix the rust, I figured the first order of business is to at least get it on 4 wheels again. This is going to require the rebuilding of my front axle. Which requires an axle alignment tool... which I can't afford... I do however have access to an amazing machine shop so I think I will make one. So I dug around on the forum and found NikP's post with a nice drawing and dimensions to make the tool. Here is his pic for reference. Thank you! @NikP
Got the little man out to help today. Took the front axel housing out to start the rebuild. Took 4 trips with the wagon from the barn to the house to get all the parts
Dropped the head off at the machine shop to have it checked out. Cleaned up the front diff today, primered and painted. Have a gasket coming from Cruiser Outfitters and when it arrives I’ll start on assembly.
New gasket, cleaned and assembly lubed the 3rd member. Pressed out the knuckle bearing races and installed new ones. I have no shop so I am working on my covered porch... kind of a disaster
Happy Father’s Day to you all. My wife asked me what I wanted to do for the day and I said, “work on the land cruiser all day!” Not sure it was the “right” answer but it was the truth!
Used my home made tool today to figure out the knuckle shim thickness. Installed new knuckle bearings and got the proper preload. New inner axle seals. New wheel bearings new spindle seal. New brake rotors. Then had to stop because I don’t have a socket for the wheel bearing nut.
Got the head back from the machine shop. New intake valves and valve stem seals. Milled and checked for cracks. Installed the head and torqued to 90ftlbs in sequence.
Put the wheels on and rolled it out to the barn. Spent 2 hours like a monkey doing inappropriate things to a football, but the pig is on all four wheels again!
Started installing accessories on the engine and set the inner fenders in place to check clearances. Looks like I will have to throw out the smog pump (darn) and replace it with a tensioner pulley. The good news is that it looks like I can use the existing power steering, alternator and AC compressor locations. Torqued the intake/exhaust manifolds.
