Build Anyone recognize this 80

[Godwin]

A little over a year of ownership with this 80, a lot of work put into it, and I'm putting it to use. This week was hauling canoes for a couple of days of river work on the Calvert Prong of the Locust Fork in the Upper Black Warrior River in NW Alabama. A few pics but none of the more gnarly white water sections.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Canoe action this week on the Little Warrior River and Calvert Prong this week.

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Ok, really curious about the abs pipes lashed to your centar thwart in the second picture. Is this a DIY sponson for stability? You have mentioned pulling turtle traps, is this to help give you some stability when recovering traps or some other gear? Or is it some other research/ collection tool? I'm enjoying the intersection of paddling and Land Cruisers here!

 

[Godwin]

Ok, really curious about the abs pipes lashed to your centar thwart in the second picture. Is this a DIY sponson for stability? You have mentioned pulling turtle traps, is this to help give you some stability when recovering traps or some other gear? Or is it some other research/ collection tool? I'm enjoying the intersection of paddling and Land Cruisers here!

The PVC booms are part of a portable water filtration system to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) samples. At the end of the booms are a filters connected to tubing that runs back to a 12v peristaltic pump (brand is Geotech) and I set this up, filter a pair of water samples, partially break down the system and move to the next. Collection of eDNA is to survey for the presence of rare aquatic species and the canoe and portable pump system allowing covering a few miles of remote access water in a day. Not often (not often enough) are Land Cruiser capabilities needed to reach some remote access point on a stream, but sometimes the access is down a rocky road, muddy track or just a trail through the woods.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

The PVC booms are part of a portable water filtration system to collect environmental DNA (eDNA) samples. At the end of the booms are a filters connected to tubing that runs back to a 12v peristaltic pump (brand is Geotech) and I set this up, filter a pair of water samples, partially break down the system and move to the next. Collection of eDNA is to survey for the presence of rare aquatic species and the canoe and portable pump system allowing covering a few miles of remote access water in a day. Not often (not often enough) are Land Cruiser capabilities needed to reach some remote access point on a stream, but sometimes the access is down a rocky road, muddy track or just a trail through the woods.

Ok That makes a lot of sense. I was trying reconcile the need for stability and the sweet little whitewater section you obvious ran to get to your sample area. I was thinking "If @Godwin can confidently run that section solo without much/any floatation loaded with a boat full of collection gear, it's probably not some odd sponson system for him, but for some poor graduate student that is in way over their head!" Thanks for explaining!

 

[Godwin]

Several weeks back the alternator on my 80 quit. While swapping out the alternator I discovered a coolant leak where the hard pipe is bolted to the head. The PO had the head gasket replaced by a shop in Colorado, Nomad Cruisers based on paperwork I've seen. This was just one more example of crappy work because when the head was reassembled this coolant pipe was reattached to the head. This pipe is to be secured to the head with two studs and nuts, not one stud and nut and a bolt that bottoms out and fails to securely clamp the pipe and gasket to the head. Fixed that yesterday. Couple of photos of crusty coolant on the base of the coolant pipe and where it had accumulated on the upper alternator mount. Alternator and mount had to be removed to access the lower stud (bolt). With only 1/2 clampage on this mount resulted in coolant leakage.

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Two months later, no coolant loss.

 

[Old Nick]

Two months later, no coolant loss.

I'm jealous that your work is outside so dang much. BTW, are you and @cruiserinsanity coming to the ACC meet-up on the first weekend in May? It would be very nice to see you two.

 

[cruiserinsanity]

I'm jealous that your work is outside so dang much. BTW, are you and @cruiserinsanity coming to the ACC meet-up on the first weekend in May? It would be very nice to see you two.

I will hopefully be camping in Oregon the first weekend of May, so I unfortunately wouldn’t be able to make it. I haven’t found the thread for it, could you link it please?

 

[Old Nick]

I will hopefully be camping in Oregon the first weekend of May, so I unfortunately wouldn’t be able to make it. I haven’t found the thread for it, could you link it please?

I don't have a link, just info from @BMThiker

Happy camping out West!

 

[thatcabledude]

I don't have a link, just info from @BMThiker

Happy camping out West!

Been meaning to ask him about that since there wasn’t a thread

 

[cruiserinsanity]

I don't have a link, just info from @BMThiker

Happy camping out West!

Thank you sir, I will try!

Been meaning to ask him about that since there wasn’t a thread

I actually mentioned that you my dad earlier today. If it wasn’t the first weekend I would definitely be there, but the camping trip is almost free for me, so I can’t turn an opportunity down.

 

[BMThiker]

I'm behind on posting and planning anything but it's still in Choccolocco and the first weekend of May.

 

[Godwin]

I've been rollling on the locked axles since mid-January and started on the locker wiring in February. Today I finally wrapped up the locker wiring and tested them.

Left dial is rear and the indicator locked light is lower one. Right dial is for the front and upper light indicates locked. These are momentary Carling switches. Clockwise locks, counterclockwise unlocks. Locker combination can be high or low range, with or without center diff locked, rear only, front only, or both.

 

[Godwin]

I used a wiring diagram I found somewhere that uses relays, one to lock, one to unlock, therefore for my use 4 total, plus a metric butt load of wire. The run from the engine bay to the rear locker was ca 20 ft.

 

[Godwin]

Plugs and wiring pins came from Corsa tech.

 

[Godwin]

A word about relays. When I first purchased relays I simple went to the Del City site and ordered what I thought would work. The Picker relays pictured. What I did not know is that some relays have a resistor or diode in them. These did, and because of that the lockers would not work. I spent way too much time chasing this down. Wasn't until I went to the shop, Eagle Imports in Auburn, AL, where @cruiserinsanity works and Jonathon put a Power Probe to this stuff and discovered the relay issue. Today I swapped out the Picker relays for standard Bosch relays, and lockers now work.

I have a complete OEM wiring harness for both lockers, plus the dial and computer and could have plugged that in and been done weeks ago but I decided to do something different. Will it be worth? Maybe or maybe not, but at least the lockers work.

 

[Broski]

A word about relays. When I first purchased relays I simple went to the Del City site and ordered what I thought would work. The Picker relays pictured. What I did not know is that some relays have a resistor or diode in them. These did, and because of that the lockers would not work. I spent way too much time chasing this down. Wasn't until I went to the shop, Eagle Imports in Auburn, AL, where @cruiserinsanity works and Jonathon put a Power Probe to this stuff and discovered the relay issue. Today I swapped out the Picker relays for standard Bosch relays, and lockers now work.

I have a complete OEM wiring harness for both lockers, plus the dial and computer and could have plugged that in and been done weeks ago but I decided to do something different. Will it be worth? Maybe or maybe not, but at least the lockers work.

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IMO being able to lock front only is a really nice option.
Not sure what the cost difference is but there are plug and play locker harnesses available.
I don’t think they use relays but I would have to look again I procured one to run the front lock independently buy never got it installed

 

[Godwin]

IMO being able to lock front only is a really nice option.
Not sure what the cost difference is but there are plug and play locker harnesses available.
I don’t think they use relays but I would have to look again I procured one to run the front lock independently buy never got it installed

One reason I did it this way is that I now know how it works and if there is an issue I may be able to sort it out. I have an old Slee locker thing that I used for a time with the rear e-lock 80 axle in my 60. I swapped it out and went with this relay system.

 

[Godwin]

This is the diagram I followed for setting up the wiring for lockers, so this diagram x 2.

 

[Godwin]

I'm at the point where the major items have been dealt with and I'm just driving it. I finished up the locker wiring this week and met up with the ACC/Atlanta crowd on Saturday 2026 ACC Family Reunion Campout - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/2026-acc-family-reunion-campout.1378458/ and spent few hours on the trail. Finally getting to drive and test out the capabilities of this 80. Most of the morning was spent following @Old Nick behind his 80

I ran the day in low range with CDL locked plus rear locker engaged. On one steep rocky loose soil hill I used the front locker. 80 handled everything well and without issue.

Another post from the day https://forum.ih8mud.com/goto/post?id=16305744

 

[Godwin]

After the Pig trip we, @cruiserinsanity and I, said no more towing with the 80. Then he found 1985 Ford F250, straight 6, with Warn 8274 in Knoxville. Only 300 miles away, but hey, it has a tow bar, that should work. We drive up and meet Mike the 81 year old man that's selling it. It cranks up great, the inline 6 has gobs of power, shifts good enough, kinda sloppy (transmission mount is not bolted up), no parking brake, brakes are kinda soft but grab at the bottom, brake MC may be leaking or not, no two tires match in brand or age, spare is rotten, and right front tire is cracked.

Prudence would say, "Just go home, leave this with Mike." Prudence missed out on the trip. Gavin works a deal and we hitch it up. Well, the short drive, never over 30 mph, tells me that tow bar towing will not work as the F250 was pushing the back of the 80 around, as bad as towing the Pig but with a different element of sketchiness. The short drive was to be to a Harbor Freight to pick up tow lights but I plugged an Ace Hardware into the gps instead. Short drive was very informative.

Where was Gavin and his girlfriend during this short drive? In the Ford working the brakes and lights. That's was one option we considered. Gavin sits the cab while the Ford is towed and works the lights.

Option 1 out. Option 2 find a tire store and purchase at least one good tire. It's now past 1600 hrs in Knoxville and stores are nearing their time of closing but we find a Discount Tire, two tires for $280, no deal. Firestone next door, one tire for a decent price and the counter guy was good to work with. New tire mounted up and we rolled back the 300 miles home. 16 hours on the road. Sorta of a mini-version of Roadkill Garage.