Hi all,
I've previously posted on Mud about 'Biscuit', our 1992 Middle East spec Model 77 I bought here in Dubai, did some work on, and then shipped to my home in Virginia. I still have a bit more time here in Dubai and the truck was not going to be used much in the US for the time being. Just in the garage. But I happened to watch a youtube video of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum in Salt Lake City and the museum staffer mentioned they were looking for a 77. Our family already has a Packard on loan at the Packard museum in Dayton Ohio so I thought I would check if the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum would like a loan of our old truck. Museum staff were enthusiastic and very helpful and we agreed on a 2-year initial loan. It was just a matter of getting the truck to Salt Lake, a distance of more than 2000 miles (over 3400 km):
I decided that I would try to drive our old truck, together with my son, Jonathan, during a 1-week break between classes in August. I mean, what is the point of buying these things if not to drive them?! I was a little worried both because of the small 4-cylinder engine and because of the couple of mountain ranges we had to go over.
I had about two weeks to prep the truck and drive it across the country. There were two things I really wanted to address: nonfunctional oil pressure and tach instruments and cleaning up the bull bar I had found at the scrap yard in Sharjah and had had installed before the truck left Dubai. My son also had been driving the truck a bit and noticed some coolant leaking when the weather was hot. Turned out to be the heater hoses at the back of the engine which looked to have been original and were in poor shape. I looked like I could order them online but the timing was troublesome so I went to a local full-service parts store and they allowed me to hunt around in their collection of Japanese heater hoses until I found ones that had sections similar to the odd shapes on our 77, which we then cut down and installed:
Note use of 'proper' clamps!
On the bullbar, the first thing I did was pull it off, learning that they guys in Dubai had not done that great a job putting it on. But in fairness, it was very rushed getting it ready for shipping and there was only enough time to throw it and the OEM Toyota/Asin winch physically on the truck and not much more. I will have to be redone as the bolt holes don't line up well enough to allow installation of the two hooks. (Right now the two hooks are in a box in the back of the truck waiting for that.)
Here is the bumper as it came off the truck just after I had cut the hole for the winch:
And here is the same bumper after straigtening, sanding, polishing, scuffing, masking, priming, and painting with bed truck liner:
On the instruments, I had picked up a instrument cluster at the scrap yard in Sharjah before sending the truck and I tried installing it but when I applied power my son reported a tiny puff of smoke...so that was that. Time for Plan B. Admittedly a kludge. I bought inexpensive oil temperature and pressure gauges on Amazon, as well as a combined digital tach and hobbs (engine time) meter, and an inexpensive housing. I did not want to remove any of the existing sensors so I used a 'pancake' adapter under the oil filter with 4 ports, two of which were filled with the pressure and temp sensors. I really was out of time and was reduced to going to Home Depot and getting whatever wire they had. I asked for 3-conductor (one for each sensor and a shielding ground) but they gave me 2-conductor. I used it anyway. As I said, I was running very short on time, and my son was taking his exams so his time was a bit limited.
Here's the wiring going in:
Long story short, I got the gauges in with the help of my son and they worked--with a quirk I will tell you about later.
Next time: setting off on our journey...
I've previously posted on Mud about 'Biscuit', our 1992 Middle East spec Model 77 I bought here in Dubai, did some work on, and then shipped to my home in Virginia. I still have a bit more time here in Dubai and the truck was not going to be used much in the US for the time being. Just in the garage. But I happened to watch a youtube video of the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum in Salt Lake City and the museum staffer mentioned they were looking for a 77. Our family already has a Packard on loan at the Packard museum in Dayton Ohio so I thought I would check if the Land Cruiser Heritage Museum would like a loan of our old truck. Museum staff were enthusiastic and very helpful and we agreed on a 2-year initial loan. It was just a matter of getting the truck to Salt Lake, a distance of more than 2000 miles (over 3400 km):
I decided that I would try to drive our old truck, together with my son, Jonathan, during a 1-week break between classes in August. I mean, what is the point of buying these things if not to drive them?! I was a little worried both because of the small 4-cylinder engine and because of the couple of mountain ranges we had to go over.
I had about two weeks to prep the truck and drive it across the country. There were two things I really wanted to address: nonfunctional oil pressure and tach instruments and cleaning up the bull bar I had found at the scrap yard in Sharjah and had had installed before the truck left Dubai. My son also had been driving the truck a bit and noticed some coolant leaking when the weather was hot. Turned out to be the heater hoses at the back of the engine which looked to have been original and were in poor shape. I looked like I could order them online but the timing was troublesome so I went to a local full-service parts store and they allowed me to hunt around in their collection of Japanese heater hoses until I found ones that had sections similar to the odd shapes on our 77, which we then cut down and installed:
Note use of 'proper' clamps!
On the bullbar, the first thing I did was pull it off, learning that they guys in Dubai had not done that great a job putting it on. But in fairness, it was very rushed getting it ready for shipping and there was only enough time to throw it and the OEM Toyota/Asin winch physically on the truck and not much more. I will have to be redone as the bolt holes don't line up well enough to allow installation of the two hooks. (Right now the two hooks are in a box in the back of the truck waiting for that.)
Here is the bumper as it came off the truck just after I had cut the hole for the winch:
And here is the same bumper after straigtening, sanding, polishing, scuffing, masking, priming, and painting with bed truck liner:
On the instruments, I had picked up a instrument cluster at the scrap yard in Sharjah before sending the truck and I tried installing it but when I applied power my son reported a tiny puff of smoke...so that was that. Time for Plan B. Admittedly a kludge. I bought inexpensive oil temperature and pressure gauges on Amazon, as well as a combined digital tach and hobbs (engine time) meter, and an inexpensive housing. I did not want to remove any of the existing sensors so I used a 'pancake' adapter under the oil filter with 4 ports, two of which were filled with the pressure and temp sensors. I really was out of time and was reduced to going to Home Depot and getting whatever wire they had. I asked for 3-conductor (one for each sensor and a shielding ground) but they gave me 2-conductor. I used it anyway. As I said, I was running very short on time, and my son was taking his exams so his time was a bit limited.
Here's the wiring going in:
Long story short, I got the gauges in with the help of my son and they worked--with a quirk I will tell you about later.
Next time: setting off on our journey...
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