Builds Cruisermatt's FJ62 Build-up (15 Viewers)

[cruisermatt]

Looking back through the last two pages I realized I completely left out a major event in the story, so we'll backtrack a bit... Friday evening, July 31st in FT collins Colorado, I had just wheeled one of the local trails, and was back at Jim @CenTXFJ60 house hanging out with @mcguirejohnson for the evening. He was crawling around under the truck and asked if the transmission crossmember had always been broken in half and why there was a rear shock hanging down!
The next morning local Mud member @ryaneddy16 graciously offered his shop space and I was able to weld up my broken junk. This is actually the third time this crossmember has cracked so this time I plated the whole bottom.

@ryaneddy16 is also the one who was able to go out and get me a replacement bellhousing before coming to SAS with @mcguirejohnson. What an awesome guy and I can't thank him enough for helping save my trip twice.

 

[cruisermatt]

After fixing my truck that day @mcguirejohnson and I hit another of the local trails, Kelly Flats / Heart attack Hill. Not super challenging but great views, great weather and a great time. It was so rad being able to get our 60's together after years of sharing and discussing ideas

 

[cruisermatt]

After that Jim @CenTXFJ60 and I convoyed to Classic Cruisers, met a big group which then all traveled to Ouray for SAS.

 

[cruisermatt]

Next up was SAS4, firstly I would like to give a huge thanks to @bdyer12 for gifting me his registration. Secondly a big thanks is in order for Casey @POTATO LAUNCHER and @CenTXFJ60 for organizing and putting on a nice event, and for Jim for letting me use a space in his campsite and to his brother Kevin for making sure I was fed the whole time thank you for making me feel welcome.


Sorry about the Slim jims in the RTT Jimmy!!

My bellhousing swap was thursday and I only lost one day of the event to fixing it. Thanks to those who helped wrench and @The Eradicator for the ride to Harbor Freight for the transmission jack.

There are plenty of pictures from the event on the thread (SAS - Solid Axle Summit #4 Official Thread 2020) and a few posted here as well. Here's on of one of our lunch stop during a group ride and the whole SAS group picture including my broken truck that managed to get in.

 

[cruisermatt]

After SAS I pointed towards California to go do the Rubicon trail solo. I left colorado at 2am Saturday morning, stopped in SLC at Cruiser Outfitters (Mentioned this already), and reasealed my rear diff in a ACE hardware parking lot. Halfway through the brutal Nevada crossing I had a phone call with @nukegoat who recommended I start at the Tahoe side and run the trail backwards to save myself some road miles. I pulled into the Tahoe side Staging area at about 9:30pm and went to bed. The next morning I started the trail at 7am after airing down and swapping my rear driveshaft for my heavy-wall off-road one.

 

[cruisermatt]

About 30 minutes and 200 yards into the trail I was met with a group of Jeeps who asked if I knew that I picked the worst day of the year to try to run the Rubicon backwards! This was the weekend of the Jeep Jamboree that was kept hush-hush because of COVID, and 150 jeeps were heading up Cadillac hill. So I parked and hiked forwards and chatted with some of the trail guides who were all super friendly and helpful. After a few hours they were all cleared out and I made my way down Cadillac Hill towards the Springs. There I got stopped briefly while they helicoptered out trash from the event. After that I made my way forwards and got my obligatory bridge picture. The fun was about to begin.

 

[nukegoat]

So we were literally on the phone when your trans decided to grind it's last hurrah?

 

[cruisermatt]

So we were literally on the phone when your trans decided to grind it's last hurrah?

shhh we aren't to that part of the story yet. But yes.

 

[nukegoat]

shhh we aren't to that part of the story yet. But yes.

Wow I feel kinda special but also rude for not calling you back that night. But I am a corporate slave

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Yeah, it rolled in on the transport this morning.
It’s a long story, I want to write everything up in detail. In short though I had a transmission failure on my home on I-40 30 miles before the New Mexico border (in Arizona) on Wednesday and decided to ship the truck home from there.

Yep, That's 30 miles from nowhere on I-40

 

[cruisermatt]

Yep, That's 30 miles from nowhere on I-40

yeah man. I got really fortunate with the car hauler. Before that plan happened I was reserving a U-haul in the next town 200 miles away, calling AAA to tow me there, etc, and it was going to be like $3K plus I would have still had a 2000 mile drive and gas on top of that. It worked out as well as it could have.

 

[cruisermatt]

So back to the Rubicon - after the springs and the bridge I continued onwards up Big Sluice. Things were going well up to that point. As I was cresting what I think is one of the few really challenging spots - when running the trail in reverse - i managed to not only blow another rear crosspin but also shot half the locker through the axle housing in the process of gassing it over the obstacle. Other then the Jeeper staff at the Springs I had not seen anyone else on the trail at this point. So after about a half hour of a mixture of shock, nervous laughter, and defeat at the sight of my locker sticking out of the axle, I manned up and got to work on getting the third out. I had to wiggle the truck around in front-drive enough so that I could get the left side axle to clear the surrounding rocks so I could get it out of the housing. Then I spent about 45 minutes prying on the third member with my 48" bar. At this point a group of two Jeeps and a Bronco came up and I was completely blocking the trail. They helped me get winched out of the way, and up to a nice shady flat spot. From there I finished getting the third out, the one of the carrier bearing races and threaded adjuster had been pushed out so far that it was getting caught on the housing. All the threads for that adjuster had been pulled off. Several teeth were missing from the ring gear and pinion. This diff was trashed. I contemplated the option of putting the front diff in the rear, but figured since it couldn't hold oil anyways it's not like the good front diff would be able to get me down the road after I finished the trail, and I was now worried about breaking that one having it in the rear. I figured since the rear diff was already toast I couldn't really hurt it any more, and I had a set of spider gears and another crosspin so i might as well just see what I can do with it from where I am. It should also be noted that there is zero cell service on this trail other then one spot (that I didn't know at the time)
So I hammered a crosspin in there, hammered the carrier bearing and adjuster back in, tightened the carrier bolts as much as I could, put it in, and ran the rest of the trail open rear with no oil in the housing Amazingly it held for the remainder of the trail and I was able to make it over everything.

I will have to take pics of the third when I get it unloaded. These are the only pics I actually took.

After breaking a crosspin Friday in Colorado and another on Sunday on the Rubicon, I am now done with lunchbox lockers for rear diffs. Time for a real locker.

 

[cruisermatt]

As I continued forwards I actually managed to catch up to the Jeep/Bronco group. Here they are getting winched over a obstacle by the Placier county Sheriff. I tagged along behind them for a few miles until Buck Island Lake where they set up camp, and I continued on just past mile mark 4.2 as it was getting dark and I stopped to camp for the night.

 

[Saucerman]

I gotta say, I love the pictures...of the blown out rear end I mean. That's awesome! I tell you what, Matt tears up and fixes things on the road that would take me days to get my head around. 'My crossmember is in half? No big deal, I'll weld that sucker up lickety split. My bell housing flew apart? No biggie, I'll lay right here in camp and put a new one on. There's a fist sized hole in the rear end? Ahh, I'll rig it up to work in 2WD AND THEN go further up the trail and continue on my adventure.'
You have a 'can-do' attitude that's for damn sure. I can't wait to see what you do with the cruiser next. You did say you wanted another automatic someday.

 

[nukegoat]

Who carries spare spider gears? Wow dude.

 

[cruisermatt]

The next morning I awoke at 6 am just as a big red FJ40 on big tires was passing by where I was parked. I hit the trail and about 45 minutes later I caught up to him where he was stopped, making a phone call at the spot known as "Cell phone" (the one spot on the trail where there is service). His name is Glenn @rockthedog and he helps run the Rubicon Trail Foundation. After chatting and explaining my situation, he had perfect solutions, another RTF director who had a welder on his jeep, and a direct HAM line to @pardion who was able to bring out a third member. At this point I only had a few trail miles left and was confident about my semi-destroyed rear diff holding for the remainder of the trail, so we elected to just have the diff brought to the Loon Lake parking lot instead of having someone retrieve it and bring it back into the trail. I should also mention I also had a motor mount almost completely rip off the frame so I had that welded as well along with the hole in the rear axle. Thank you to John Arnz for the welding. Lifesaver.

 

[klinetime574]

Love the pics. I can also x2 that @ryaneddy16 is an awesome dude. We used to hang out all the time when we both lived in Houston. Did many a wheeling trips with him. I need to attend the next SAS.

Keep the story going, enjoying every word!

 

[cruisermatt]

I rolled into the Loon Lake campsite at about 11:30am Monday morning. If it wasn't for the Jeeper Jamboree I think I would have finished in one day even with my breakage It should also be noted that I only used a 1/4 tank of gas for the whole trail!

@pardion meet me at the parking lot with a fresh 3.70 third member (I normally run 4.11's but decided I was done wheeling this trip so I took the cheaper diff, I'd also been curious to see how the truck does with 3.70's on the road) and we got that swapped in, with some oil
After the truck was put together I jumped in the lake with my dish soap because I was a complete mess.
Then I hopped in the truck, went down Ice House road and all the way to Santa Rosa where I spent the night at a friend's, and did a lot of laundry.

 

[Hojack]

That SHERIFF has one kick job

After everything you went through Matt you seemed to take it in stride
Did you even have time to see the difference in 3.70 gears

 

[cruisermatt]

That's almost where the story of this trip ends, the next day I started my 3000 mile trek home to Orlando. I decided not to do any more wheeling so I actually cut the trip short a day or two and wasn't going to cannonball it home like it did on my way out west. I made it Needles California, stayed in a $32 Motel 6 for the night. I am now informed about how dangerous that was but I got out of there safely the next morning and hit the road.

I made it as far as about 20 miles from Sanders, Arizona, about 40 miles from the New Mexico border when I all the sudden had burning smell and then my rear tires locked up. Quickly clutching in let the truck free roll to the side of the road. Quick investigation had me realizing that my transmission is most likely toast and that my trip behind the wheel was over. Fortunately I had cell service where I was at in the middle of nowhere and after about four hours of sitting there organizing, google, phone calls, (and drinking a very warm Modelo), the ultimate plan came together and I was picked up by a private transport that was heading east on 40 towards Amarillo to pickup a FJ40 that needed to be shipped to Atlanta. It could not have worked out better. I rode shotgun in what was the sketchiest semi truck I have ever witnessed for the ten hour drive overnight, we pulled into Casey @POTATO LAUNCHER house Thursday morning, loaded the FJ40, and the semi took off without me, and Casey drove me to the airport and I flew home concluding the trip.


Picked up on the side of Highway 40 in Arizona

Loading up @GA Architect super nice FJ40 at Casey's place

Spotted by @RocketCityCrzrs outside Birmingham