Cross Canada Trip (1 Viewer)

[JHeffner]

Hello,

Have a few questions...

I was wondering if anyone has driven their FJ40 across the Rogers Pass, if so wondering how well it did.

I will be driving my FJ40 from Vernon, BC to St John's Newfoundland in August. I see the Rogers Pass as my first and most imposing challenge on the trip.

Also what would you check before you made a cross Canada trip? I'm already making a list(mostly electrical), maybe one of you can think of something I haven't.

What would you pack for tools/ spares?

 

[77cruiser77]

I did a road trip for a couple months out of my FJ40 and lived completely out of my vehicle. Rogers pass will be just fine. I'll post more when I have a chance as I certainly found certain things good to have.

 

[77cruiser77]

carry all your fluids for rad, brakes, engine, diffs and transmission. Fine wire and thick wire as this can fix any host of things. a few feet of 16 Ga wire, zip ties, JB weld, gasket material. spare belts and something to stop a leak in a rad incase something happened. I packed a spare battery incase something happened to mine where it died and wouldnt hold a charge, you can also boost yourself with it. Spare parts were never needed and you can get more things than you'd expect from a lordco if you broke down. I spent many days solo on my own wheeling in very remote regions of Bella Coola so my packing was a bit more extreme but you can do a lot with very little on these things.

Oh and dont forget a BCAA membership

 

[cruiserpilot]

BCAA RV Plus.

 

[JHeffner]

carry all your fluids for rad, brakes, engine, diffs and transmission. Fine wire and thick wire as this can fix any host of things. a few feet of 16 Ga wire, zip ties, JB weld, gasket material. spare belts and something to stop a leak in a rad incase something happened. I packed a spare battery incase something happened to mine where it died and wouldnt hold a charge, you can also boost yourself with it. Spare parts were never needed and you can get more things than you'd expect from a lordco if you broke down. I spent many days solo on my own wheeling in very remote regions of Bella Coola so my packing was a bit more extreme but you can do a lot with very little on these things.

Oh and dont forget a BCAA membership

I never thought of the JB weld. That is probably a good idea to bring. A little embarrassed I didn't think of the hay-wife too.

I was mulling about the BCAA membership. I'll do some more reading on that. Make sure it's good all the way accross Canada.

Thanks a lot for the help. Really appreciate it.

 

[77cruiser77]

gasket material, rtv, small wire and heavy wire along with the the spare battery was all I used on my trip. I did blow a plug out of the oil galley up front on the block so I lost all my oil on the highway once. Luckily I caught it extremely fast, ordered a new one and was on my way. Apparently they go enough for cruiser shops to be familiar with it but I've never read about it. I have a spare plug if you want it as it takes up no more room than a loonie.

What year is your FJ40?

 

[JHeffner]

gasket material, rtv, small wire and heavy wire along with the the spare battery was all I used on my trip. I did blow a plug out of the oil galley up front on the block so I lost all my oil on the highway once. Luckily I caught it extremely fast, ordered a new one and was on my way. Apparently they go enough for cruiser shops to be familiar with it but I've never read about it. I have a spare plug if you want it as it takes up no more room than a loonie.

What year is your FJ40?

It's a 1975.

I appreciate the offer for the plug but I'm in St John's NL right now. I probably won't have a chance to pick it up when I fly back home in August.

 

[JHeffner]

In case anyone was interested I finished my trip across Canada last summer. Only had 2 breakdowns the whole way, it wouldn't be an adventure withought a couple problems to deal with.

 

[JHeffner]

As I have never really had a chance to drive this much at all since I rescued it from a garage where it sat for 20 years I was really nervous how the rogers pass was going to take a toll on the old girl. Last year the fires were really bad through the rogers pass and in some sections of the hwy you could see visible flames on the hill sides. The old girl handled it like a champ, even kept up with traffic reasonably.

I would like to think that I'm a conscious driver and always try to keep to the flow of traffic when I'm driving my newer vehicle. I was very nervous that people on the hwy would be aggravated that I could only do 85-90km/hr. This nervousness was quickly dissolved as I had numerous honks, smiles, and waves as people passed me. This would become a theme for the remainder of my trip.

 

[JHeffner]

The first day I made it as far as Medicine Hat Alberta and found myself a little motel. Even found a 6 pack of Lucky to wash down all the smoke from the fires out of my throat.

 

[JHeffner]

On day 2 I made great progress through the prairies. A lot of people I talked to said that driving through SASK was boring. I actually quite enjoyed driving on those strait roads. Tons of people were waiving at me. Some 18 year old kids in a small town had never seen an old lancruiser before. They seen my BC plates and asked where I was going. When I told them I was driving to NL they all thought I was nuts... maybe I was.

You can see in the one picture there that somehow in SASK I managed to get the old girl up to a whopping 97.9Km/hr. I'm still not quite sure how I did that.

By the time I made it to Brandon Manitoba I smelled like a mixture of exhaust/gasoline/manure/beef jerky/coffee. I checked into the hotel and I'm pretty sure I was high from gasoline fumes. I was so tired and confused I didn't even look at the engine but I could see that some gas was leaking near the mechanical fuel pump. Instead of trying to work on it in the pissing rain, I got a pizza ordered to the room and I passed out.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Well, the fact is it's downhill from Calgary to Winnipeg. Calgary is 3500' + and it's a straight shot to
Winnipeg at 800'. Westerly winds, tailwind all the way. You'll pay coming home, LOL! Sure nice to see
such a cool old rig tripping along. Are you taking the north shore of Lake Superior? Lots of camping along
the shore, bugs will be at a minimum. If you take the northern route past Geraldton, etc the bugs will be
pretty ugly for camping. Always find a spot with a breeze or wind.
Have a good trip. I'm working in N Ontario in August so I'll follow along here and see how it goes for you.
I know a couple of people in Toronto area should you have issues. Good luck! J

 

[JHeffner]

After a horrible sleep I woke up, ate a few slices of cold pizza and got some coffee. I went outside and fired up the 40 and walked out to the passenger side. It was clear then why I felt like crap, eyes burned and my clothes stunk like gasoline. Gas was now pouring out of the old mechanical fuel pump. I found the nearest part shop. I knew it was going to be a long shot if they would have a fuel pump. Sure enough they didn't. So I sat out in the rain and called a half dozen repair shops explaining that I needed a electrical fuel pump installed ASAP as I was driving across Canada. None of them had time to fit me in that day. Then I tried "Torys Repair", I explained my plight with him. I told him the parts shop I was at and he told me exactly what to buy.

I jumped in the 40 with the parts and risked being burnt alive on the 20 min drive to Torys Shop. Tory turned out to be a great dude. He had a couple other project on the go when I got there and he had his team clean up what they were doing and got everyone jumped on my truck. He took me for a tour of his shop where he had a sweet 1970 Plymouth GTX with a 493 stroker in it complete with an air grabber hood(first one I ever saw.) It made 600HP and he had the 1/4 mile slips on the work bench to prove it(he had just gotten back from the track the weekend before). Everyone in the garage was snapping picture with my rig. Tory knew the owner of the Toyota dealership in town and gave him a call. The owner, Rick came up to have a look and take a few pictures in it too. Once the truck was done (2 hours) Tory took me across the street for a club sandwich and a chocolate milk. We exchanged contact info (he wanted me to let him know when I made it NL safe and sound) and I hit the road again...

 

[JHeffner]

Well, the fact is it's downhill from Calgary to Winnipeg. Calgary is 3500' + and it's a straight shot to
Winnipeg at 800'. Westerly winds, tailwind all the way. You'll pay coming home, LOL! Sure nice to see
such a cool old rig tripping along. Are you taking the north shore of Lake Superior? Lots of camping along
the shore, bugs will be at a minimum. If you take the northern route past Geraldton, etc the bugs will be
pretty ugly for camping. Always find a spot with a breeze or wind.
Have a good trip. I'm working in N Ontario in August so I'll follow along here and see how it goes for you.
I know a couple of people in Toronto area should you have issues. Good luck! J

I actually already made the trip. I'm just now getting the time to get some pictures up for anyone that is interested. I took the northern route. Was a really pretty drive with lots of turns and up and down hills. I didn't break down again until New Brunswick... I'll post those up too here soon.

 

[JHeffner]

After the pit stop on Day 3 I was able to make some good time. Got to stop in at the center of Canada which I thought was pretty cool. Worst welcome to sign went to Ontario for the entire trip. It started raining very hard when I got into Ontario and I noticed that my electric motor for the wiper blades was starting to labour. I had to pull over a couple times and so did the rest of the traffic when the rain started coming down in sheets.

I had the worst scare of my life when I went into a fairly large dip in the road doing about 80km/hr when I got the opportunity to try hydroplaning in a FJ40. This is not something I would ever like to do again. It took ever ounce of nerve not to try and correct my course as I was gliding toward a steep enbankement. If I would have I probably would have rolled that baby 100 times. I think it took a good 2 hours before my heart rate returned to normal.

This was also the first time I got the chance to drive the 40 at night where I marveled at the lack of visibility I had. I managed to find the center line using the lights of the oncoming traffic. I had to get off the road in a hurry in beautiful Wawa at the HWY 17 Motel. I work in the oilfield and working in the oilfield I have had the opportunity to stay in some world class sh@t holes all over the world, but this place took the cake. I bought some whiskey and some ice and went back to my room. I made a cup out of a water bottle, had a few drinks, tried not to touch anything and watched sportscenter. I kept the Gerber beside my bed that night.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Well, I'd never seen that hood scoop before either. I've seen probably a couple thousand old
Dodge's at various venues all over. Very cool.
I'll keep following along anyhow, retrospectively now.