Builds Bean! The Adventure Continues (1987 FJ60) (2 Viewers)

[Bullzi]

The next night @NookShneer came in late and explored with us after a few hours sleep. It was super great to see him. It had been since SAS last summer.

We explored some really cool washes and a few mines! It was a great time.

The wind was really whipping and so we decided not to camp in the park that night.
You can see the sand storm behind @NookShneer!

Photo below - credit @NookShneer

We hauled back and it took us a day and a half.
Overall it was an amazing trip. There were a bunch of roads that were closed in the park due to unprecedented winter storms that washed them out, so we will need to go back and do some more exploring!

 

[MANUCHAO]

^^ Great shots..!!

 

[Bullzi]

Been a while since I posted anything…I’ve been super busy on a house project.

I’ll finally have a place of my own to park the Bean!

Anyways, we just completed at trip to Colorado and back for SAS8. We had a great time! Before the trip I did a few small odds and ends to the truck:

1- added a cup holder and USB to the back of the console (for back seat passengers) and relocated the fire extinguisher to the driver’s seat base.

2- I was getting some clunking in the steering while going over bumps and found that my steering shaft U-joint at the firewall had a lot of play. I removed the column and replaced it, but not before snapping the yoke. Luckily Torfab found one for me in their parts container.

New OEM u-joint:

This totally fixed the issue.

I also cleaned and greased the column controls (headlight/signals) while I had the column out.

I was able to go out and see the northern lights when they were visible a few months back. It was amazing!

Those photos are not edited…they were really that bright and colorful!

We also went out for some camping over the 4th of July and saw all the firework shows from my favorite camping spot in the mountains. It was a great view!

 

[Bullzi]

SAS8 was a blast! We took my 16yr old nephew and I think he’s a full fledged cruiserhead now.

The Bean looking nice and clean before we left:

Our first camp was on the Snake River in Idaho. The fish were jumping like crazy. I need to bring my rod next year.

We stopped by Cruiser Outfitters to see where all the magic happens:

Then we camped up in the mountains above Salt Lake and I surprisingly did not take one photo .
The next morning we went to the Land Cruiser Herrirage Museum and got a tour from the ledgend Kurt Williams (@cruiseroutfit)! It was epic!

Our next camp was at a really nice reservoir at a place called Electric Lake. It was a good spot to relax and make dinner.

The next day we made it to Ouray, Co and joined the rest of the groups for SAS8.

The rest is just going to be a small photo dump from the trip:

 

[Bullzi]

On Tuesday we hit up Mineral Creek trail to Poughkeepsie Gulch. This was the hardest, but most fun trail of the week.

I got o few good spots from @NookShneer, who did all of this in his stock 100 series.

On Poughkeepsie, there is an obstacle called ‘the wall’ and it is arguably the hardest obstacle in the San Juan mountains. We took the easy line and all made it up. At the base of the trail, there were some side by side dudes telling us to turn back because the trail would be too hard for us…Land Cruiser for the win!

Pictures never do it justice!

We even got to see a fox in the ghost town!

 

[Bullzi]

I can’t exactly remember which day this was, but at some point I was pulled over on a steep section of trail for a 4Runner to pass and they got way too close (even though they had plenty of room) and ended up hitting the bean with their bumper and mirror. It was a hard hit and shook the whole car. They were flying up this hill and were out of control. Luckily it only made a few scuffs and scratches in the paint…no dents!! I was very surprised.

Back to the trails - Ophir Pass

The group picture:

Some shots from the top of Imogene:

 

[Bullzi]

And then it was time to leave. This year we took the northern route back. On Friday we made it to the Tetons and camped with a great view.

On Saturday we drove all the way back to Washington, but not before driving through Yellowstone. This is a place I am going to have to re-visit and spend some more time in!

We made it home around midnight and had a crazy colorful sunset with all the smoke in the air…and bugs on the windshield.

All in all it was a great trip. Thanks to everyone who helped make it so fun!
I was also really impressed with the performance of the Bean. It didn’t skip a beat. I do have a small noise/vibration coming from the suspension (I think?) that I need to figure out… but it wasn’t bad enough to keep me from driving the trails or anything. Once I’m a little less busy on the house I’ll look into it…….

Oh and I should also mention that the Bean is now in the morbidly obese category. We were at 7020lbs on the way back with only 1/2 tank of fuel.

 

[Bullzi]

I forgot to mention that there was a guy flying a drone at the wall on Poughkeepsie and he took some cool drone videos of us. Here is the one he took of the Bean!

 

[rlocke49]

Excellent write up! Great spending the week with you guys. Looking forward to seeing how that house turns out!

 

[Bullzi]

Already can’t wait for next year! Can’t wait to see Lewis with those fresh tires too!!

 

[rootscrewer]

Here's a couple pictures I found that show some of the front carpet and Lloyd floor-mats:

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Any ideas where the chrome shifter came from? Im really looking for a billet one, but could make chrome work.

 

[PeterEdm]

Lokar shifter is installed on this truck. I would search silver shift knob on Lokars website.

Any ideas where the chrome shifter came from? Im really looking for a billet one, but could make chrome work.

 

[Bullzi]

Lokar shifter is installed on this truck. I would search silver shift knob on Lokars website.

Correct, it’s a Lokar.

 

[rootscrewer]

Perfect timing for this post, because I am sitting here looking at getting a Toyota dome light, or the Odd Iron ones.

The thing I would love to find more than anything (when it comes to dome lights) is a muti-light dome light. One light could be standard, and the other would be a red light (like in police cruisers etc.)

You ever find anything like this? Would be nice to have a small amount of ambient light. Was thinking green to match the instrument cluster display but red would be good if idling and not running the headlights as to protect your night vision.

 

[rootscrewer]

@NookShneer - Here are a few glamour shots just for you!

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Any idea on the offset of your wheels? Really digging into this thread, making notes, getting ideas. So well documented. THX!

 

[Bullzi]

You ever find anything like this? Would be nice to have a small amount of ambient light. Was thinking green to match the instrument cluster display but red would be good if idling and not running the headlights as to protect your night vision.

I never did. I’m sure something is out there that could do the trick tho!

 

[Bullzi]

Any idea on the offset of your wheels? Really digging into this thread, making notes, getting ideas. So well documented. THX!

Thanks for the kind words!

I think they are the same or very close to the FJ Cruiser Steel wheels:
+15mm offset
4.5" backspacing

 

[Bullzi]

So here’s a little update on the Bean

We were driving it about a week ago to the overland expo in Bend, OR when the line from the transmission to the cooler blew off the barb fitting and dumped all the trans fluid. It was strange because I was going around a corner when I went totally sideways and almost put the truck in the ditch. It was raining and I thought to myself I must have been going too fast but I knew I wasn’t going very fast ...well it was all the fluid on the tires. Anyways about 30seconds later I had a really hard 3-4 shift and then lost all power from the transmission. I pulled over and luckily my dad was in front of us in his GX550. I decided it would be best to tow it back to the house (we were 1.5hrs from home) so we grabbed a friends trailer and towed it back. The GX550 is a total beast! Towed my fully loaded cruiser with no issues … even over a small mountain pass.
Took the Subaru to the show and had a good time.
Put a new line on the trans cooler when I got home and refilled the transmission. The truck drove totally normal for two days. On the third day I made it about 1/4 mile when the trans died…no power.
Now it will run for about 10ft before it loses all power. Took it to the trans shop today and they basically said it needs a rebuild. Not sure how extensive though.

The cleanup was really extensive. The fluid was hitting my cooling fan and spraying all over the truck!

So I think I’ll drop the pan this week and maybe pull the trans if I have time. Would still love to make it to SAS but that’s feeling a little unlikely at this point.
My wife and I are building a house (doing a lot of the work ourselves) and I just don’t have time for this. I’m going to try my best though!

On a better note, I did get my awning put on the Bean. This was a great Craigslist find! It basically goes all the way around the truck. My buddy helped me make some super rad mounts so I’ll have to grab some close up shots of those. The entire awning installs and un-installs in a matter of minutes.

It is also super quick to deploy and put away.

I’ll keep this updated best I can with the transmission saga.

 

[Bullzi]

Transmission is out! Will be taking it to the trans shop tomorrow so they can assess it and see what it will cost to rebuild.

Took about 3hrs on my back by myself…until my nephew Noah came by and saved the day by helping me get the last few bell housing bolts out and lowering the trans/t-case without killing myself. Then we had to get it off the jacks and onto the ground so we could have enough clearance slide it out from under the truck. A lift would have made this much easier haha.
I think the hardest part is all the ancillary items that have to come out to get the trans out (drive lines, sway bar, exhaust, cross-member, air-tank, etc.). Anyways, it’s done and I hope to have word on it next week.

I dropped the pan first and it had a decent amount of clutch material in it.

My nephew Noah flashing the double peace sign to end our evening. Thankful for his help!

 

[Bullzi]

Transmission shop got back to me. Looks like I roasted the ‘4/5/6 clutches’ and scratched up the pump stator a little.

4/5/6 clutches:

1/2/3/4 clutches for comparison:

Stator scratches:

So it sounds like they should be able to have the parts on hand and the scratches machined out of the stator by Tuesday morning. They said I might even be able to pick it up Tuesday night if everything goes to plan!

I really hope it all works out and I can still make SAS!