BJ60 DD Slow overhaul (1 Viewer)

[scottslalande]

Picked this up from BC last January. We just had our first child in December so I was making a lot of sense to take the wife and infant up to Canada and drive it back down to Oregon. :/

It was predicated by the fact our two vehicles gave up the ghost within a few months of each other and I was sick of putting money into depreciating crappy cars. If we're going to have a moneypit it might as well be fun to drive.

So it had the typical Canada rot. Plenty of kms. But decent interior and well maintained overall. and a ton of spare parts and body panels.

But it roared its way with me and my incredible wife and our baby down from BC to home with no problems... Other than typical Royal Canadian Mountie free car ride when my days worth of insurance expired at midnight... Dang. Should have driven faster!

As an aside I had just started a job in January 1st. My second job since college... And having nothing to do with my degree... So the Landy was a way for me to get away from the stress of learning new systems and people...

And so I began the overhaul...

First got the oil changed... Because I don't trust Canola oil. JK. I also had the tires balanced and rotated. They were difficult to remove due to the extensive rust. Seriously. So. Much. Rust. We should call the Canada truck forum ih8rust!

The pic is us stopped somewhere in Washington. My wife took the wheel after that. She handled the 5speed better than I did. It was like an extension of her. -Ok, no lies. when your wife a few weeks post partum bosses a diesel land cruiser... Respect.

 

[dkyuss]

Picked this up from BC last January. We just had our first child in December so I was making a lot of sense to take the wife and infant up to Canada and drive it back down to Oregon. :/

It was predicated by the fact our two vehicles gave up the ghost within a few months of each other and I was sick of putting money into depreciating crappy cars. If we're going to have a moneypit it might as well be fun to drive.

So it had the typical Canada rot. Plenty of kms. But decent interior and well maintained overall. and a ton of spare parts and body panels.

But it roared its way with me and my incredible wife and our baby down from BC to home with no problems... Other than typical Royal Canadian Mountie free car ride when my days worth of insurance expired at midnight... Dang. Should have driven faster!

As an aside I had just started a job in January 1st. My second job since college... And having nothing to do with my degree... So the Landy was a way for me to get away from the stress of learning new systems and people...

And so I began the overhaul...

First got the oil changed... Because I don't trust Canola oil. JK. I also had the tires balanced and rotated. They were difficult to remove due to the extensive rust. Seriously. So. Much. Rust. We should call the Canada truck forum ih8rust!

The pic is us stopped somewhere in Washington. My wife took the wheel after that. She handled the 5speed better than I did. It was like an extension of her. -Ok, no lies. when your wife a few weeks post partum bosses a diesel land cruiser... Respect.

View attachment 1274864

Congrats on the Canadian Rust! It'll be fun (so he says)!

 

[scottslalande]

Thanks dkyuss. I put together a list of many to-dos in Feb. It has continued to grow. Extensively. I'll list it later and show the few things that have gotten done. Plus I'll post a few adventures of the last 6 months... But now I got to go to work... To get money... So I can get back to working on my 60

 

[scottslalande]

My ambitious list that I wrote up a couple of months ago... Its the first edit so no ryhme or reason. Just as I remembered or thought of them. Some of the mods/repairs were added after I got in a bit of a wreck in March...

Since I wrote this I have rejected the SOA mod in favor of OME setup.
After using as my DD I have determined that seat upgrades would be nice.
And after getting inspired by hj 60 I'd like to add the troop fold down seats instead of a third row.... But much work to do... And the list keeps growing... But I'll detail a few things I've done... Later.
Bj60 mods

Fender replace x2
Quarter panel/doglegs replace x2
Brake pad cowling clean
Rear bumper replace
Headlight passenger replace
EDIC replace
Lock repin x4 door X1 ignition
Hood straighten
Antenna replace
Add brush guard to front bumper
Roof rack fence and windbreak
Roof rack ladder
Roof rack tent
Original roof rack delete
Off road lights x4
Fog lights x2
License plate light fixed
Bug deflector
AC recharged
Battery replace X1
Battery terminal wiring repaired
Windshield wipers adjusted
Exterior mirrors replaced
Exterior swing-away tire mount
Fuel can holders
Snorkel
Wheels de-rusted and blacked
Goodyear ATA KO2 tires tall skinnys
Windows tinted
Body paint
Winch
3 inch lift and stabilizer (SOA)
Slider bars and steps
Steering aligned and damped
Cruise control module
Biodiesel unit reinstalled
Exhaust full cat back roof vent
Air filter replace
3rd row add
Dash replace
Injector replace

 

[Cruising Canuck]

Good luck with the project.

What do you mean by, exhaust full cat back roof vent

My Bj60 never had a cat, and what is a roof vent

 

[scottslalande]

Just an idea. Just building an exhaust system that vents from the roof rather than underneath. Less things to get mashed by rocks. The previous owner welded a beast of a muffler under the passenger seat... It was to make it compliant with the then strict BC emissions laws.
It kills 8-10 inches of clearance.

If I could fabricate a exhaust that matched the snorkel that is destined for the flip side I'd be ok with that!

 

[scottslalande]

A cat back is a catalytic converter that allows little or no back-pressure to the engine. For performance and mpg improve. I'll prolly go straight pipe/turboback... but catback is just what was in my head as I was making this list...

 

[scottslalande]

So near the end of March... a gal in a 1981 GMC Sierra pulled across traffic. The sun was in her eyes and I was in the far lane neatly hidden by two lanes of traffic. I saw her pull across my path but it was too late. I locked up the landy and left two black strips of rubber across this rural intersection. I hadn't gotten to 3rd gear yet although the speed sign directly after the intersection is 45mph.

I struck her rear axle and sent the GMC spinning around. It swung in a wide arc and slammed sideways into a 2005 Ford Mustang.
I shook the cobwebs from my brain and pulled the landy into a gas station parking lot on the corner. I grimaced at the GMC. I wasn't mad. Just dazed. And hoping my Land Cruiser wasn't hurt too badly!

I noticed the Mustang was leaking a ton of fluid down the street and the engine was starting to smoke. The passenger was not getting out. Fearing the worst I made my way through the broken glass and leaking fluids. I wrenched the Ford's door open. It was crunched shut but I still had plenty of adrenaline going. I assisted the driver out of the vehicle. She was in a bit of shock. But she still remembered to grab her purse and phone.

It took a while to get everything straightened out, It must have been a dull Thursday because four PD cruisers, an ambulance, and FD engine and support vehicles showed up. An angry SO threatened to beat the *&#@ out of me... I tried to keep him calm by quietly denying his assertions. He thought I was at fault. I kept eyeing the back door of the landy where I keep a 12gauge. Not that that would have made things better and honestly I would have just endured a beating then to have used a weapon on a distraught guy. But he was a head taller than me and very muscular. It was later explained to him and he apologized... People get messy when they are scared though. He raged at the other driver. And a PO had to back him down and threaten him with arrest.

I picked up a black hose that had come from under the landy. Not sure what it was for but after all the commotion was over, and the GMC driver was ticketed for failure to obey a traffic device, I walked over to the landy. It fired right up. I was glad I had gotten around to installing the winch bumper. It took most of the impact. The GMC had pivoted into the passenger fender. It was rusty and I was going to replace it anyway. The the impact sheared one of the right side bumper bolts. And cut a bit into the frame. You can see the brown paint from the GMC on the front. I was shook up a bit. Whiplash, banged knee and forearm. But I drive a tank. So no big.

I went home, with some very messed up take and bake pizza. It wasn't wearing a safety-belt.

 

[scottslalande]

The GMC's insurance was a royal pain. It was like pulling teeth to get anything happening. March turned into April and April into May... And still endless phone tag and rudeness from the insurance people... We had wanted to get it fixed up enough to take it on our vacation to Baja toward the end of May but with no dinero$ to fix it up, we began to make other plans... But then my wife said "You are going to fix it up anyway" ""You might as well work on it and at the end of May we'll see if its ready." Wise woman!

The pic below is a few days before the wreck. The Lexus belongs to a friend of mine, whose FJ60 introduced me to Land Cruisers.

 

[scottslalande]

One of the easy/cheap mods that I knew I could do before the end of May was window tinting. I ended up spending 105$ total and had around 80ft of butcher paper leftover. And a nearly full bottle of baby shampoo. And a professional water sprayer. So I think it was a 100 well spent. The tint looks real great in some places. In others its a bit wobbly. I miscalculated on the rear windows and cut them short etc. But the difference was immediate. It cut heat quickly and well. The front windows are tinted to the legal max of 35% and the back are 5%. The rear and windshield strip are 40%. No Mexico/California sun will burn my little daughter now!

It took me several hours over a weekend, running in and out of the rain. I appropriated the kitchen and my patient wife worked around my cutting table. We all hung out in the landy as I slowly worked out bubbles. My dog decided it was a good place for him to because as I sat on the spare tire in the back, he jumped in and proceeded to sit in there till I was done.

 

[scottslalande]

The landy seems diminutive next to this Tundra. You can also see the new tailgate and hatch I put on. It was an easy swap and it felt great to say adios to the super nasty, rusty back!

 

[lovetoski]

Good stuff!

 

[cruisedeisel]

Great little story. Dam land cruisers are tanks eh! Ha you know you are in the states when your packing a 12 gauge.

 

[scottslalande]

Thanks cruisedeisel. When I was in my early twenties, I was on my way to work and came across a whitetail that had just been hit. It had a broken back and it was desperately trying to scramble its way across the road. It was awful. I borrowed a rifle from a neighbor and euthanized it. After that I started carrying a firearm in the car. Its been more than a decade since and no need for it yet so I'm grateful.

 

[scottslalande]

The fenders were a bit intimidating. The passenger side anyway. The drivers side was just a bit tweaked. I began the surgery. I used a cutoff wheel and trimmed away the damage. Once I got past the headlight area it was smooth sailing. I had hit all the bolts with WD40 earlier so most of them surrendered easily. A few had bound up pretty bad and snapped. But pretty soon the old panels were off. I sanded down to clean metal and blasted the raw steel with red Rustoleum. I figure we have quite a bit less rainfall than BC. But this ain't SoCal. Rust begone!

Once the fenders were off I gently jacked the radiator support back into place. It had actually been pushed back several inches on the passenger side. Then with no major problems I bolted the fenders into place. I replaced a few bolts with new, due to rust, stripping etc. On the back seam I used Rutland silicone sealant. I pulled the curl in the hood out enough for it to close, but after examining the multiple bends, decided the hood would be replaced, rather than repaired.

 

[SteveH]

Making good progress!

 

[scottslalande]

At the end of May I had oil changed and a few other odd n ends maintenance. But I was confident the landy could take us on our vacay. And if something broke I could get it fixed. For less than the price of a rental. And besides what is the point of having an adventure rig that stays home? Our first stop was Sacramento. My father-in-law is a mechanic and staying at his place first was a good option. In case anything went wrong...

I took off the roof rack as we didn't need it and the extra drag = $.

This is an overview of our trip. There were a few hiccups. Which I will detail in the next few posts. But overall we had a grand adventure and it was blast to trundle our way to Mexico and back. Over 2500 miles. And about 22mpg, which is not bad considering we had it stuffed to the gills with luggage(mostly unnecessary, but it was our first real trip with the baby... so we really did have to bring everything

 

[scottslalande]

As we headed into California my wife tried to play some music. It worked well until the climax of the song. The radio and all the electronics cut out. They came back on but It became apparent that the batteries were not charging. I knew we could make it to Sacramento before dark, but it was a check. I wanted to take the fam in the landy, but I also wanted to be responsible enough to know if it was a foolhardy endeavor.

Being a diesel it doesn't need electricity to run, so I just parked on inclines and push started it. Easy. Then the hood kept popping up. Dang I thought the guy at jiffy lube might of damaged it

I bungee'd it down and we cruised to Sacramento. My Father-in-law and I rebuilt the alternator and checked the wiring harness and and replaced the battery terminals. Batteries responded well and charged better than before. It still cut out later in the trip, but then kicked back on the next day... gremlins? I think so...

 

[scottslalande]

In Sacramento I called a few local junk yards. I found an 87 hood for 65$. Sweet. It had a "Dent" somewhere. I still haven't found it...

After that we made a run for the border. Which went well, batteries charged great. Cal traffic was the worst and we waited about 2 hours at the border. The Mexican Border Agents flagged us and I ended up having to pay a duty(150 pesos) for the hood strapped to the roof. Then we trundled down through Tijuana. We got turned around a bit but the thanks to the landy's rough terrain capabilities and my wife's amazing sense of direction, we soon got onto Hwy1 and finally to our destination.

My fellow cruiserhead friend and my brother helped me install the new hood. I'm still tweaking it to sit perfectly straight, but it felt great to get that done.

I'll tell you though, street tacos and working on land cruisers... Good times!

After staying a few more days of running my brother's family around in the cruiser and eating lots of tacos and tejuino, we headed north up the coast into California. We camped on the beach for the night... and than made a run for Jackson for a family reunion. Toward evening the batteries began to slowly drain. I was running lights and occasional heavy slow traffic, but it looked like a similar issue at the beginning of the trip.

But we made it. The next day the I needed a jump start, but then it was charging. It has continued to charge well since. Another issue presented itself: a rumbling/vibrating on the high gear. I just kept it in four and drove slower. But anything much past 55mph would start the rumbling.

Now it has settled down to a slight buzz as I gear in or out going more then 55+/-. Engine mounts? Tranny? Tires needing balancing?

But we still got home just fine and it was fun and a great way for the fam to grow closer, while on an adventure.

 

[scottslalande]

Steady progress. Some little, some prep for big.
Got a replacement headlight. Repaired the wiring damaged from the crash.

Actually I think that is the last of the damage needing repair!
Pick up some Aussie/Euro mirrors from reevesci.
It was a bit of a splurge but after driving for almost 2 weeks now I don't regret it at all.
I love the clarity, field of view, look etc. Thanks reevesci!

Had the ignition re-pinned to match the door locks. Only one key now! The forum proved invaluable for getting the ignition out!

Picked up a parts fj60 about an hour and a half north of me. It was a good deal and the bj pulled it home with no issues. Other than having to travel 35mph up hills

I have already begun to cannibalize it. It was a nice rig before a tree landed on it But the bj will appreciate the new frame and panels!
The F2 is in great shape, as is the tranny and drive train. After I'm done with the bj, I may give it a new shot at life with a tube frame.