Builds DougCruiser build (1 Viewer)

[Ma son]

After driving like a dickhead through all the water on Hackett, my motor sounded like s***. The pulley bearing were squealing and sounding very dry. Ironic considering they were full of muddy water Fixing those would have to wait because a week after Hackett, my transfer case output seal gave up the ghost.
A quick call to Cruiser Outfitters and the two bearings and seals for each end of the Tcase were on their way. Two days later and they were at my house.

Separating the transfer case from the transmission wasn’t necessarily difficult, but getting it onto the ground was a bit of a process. I had borrowed a motorcycle jack from a work buddy but it wouldnt fit in the tight quarters. Using a HF jack and our cumulative strength, @GreenLandCruiser, another neighbor and I managed to wrestle the transfer case out of its tight little nook. Once it was out, the fun began.

Insta saw these first

Pressing everything back together, praying my initial measurements were solid.

1/2 of success

At this point, I realized I needed to stop taking pictures and get this s*** done. Heres some shots of the back side. I was really impressed with the conditions of the internals. No metal chunks anywhere, no signs of oil change neglect.

The second night, Antoine, Adam, another neighbor Dash, and myself got her put back in. The install was mostly drama free, other than getting the case angled properly to seat on the dowel pins. We reinstalled the driveshafts, removed my wheel chocks (firewood), and started the old girl up.

She was all good.

Btw @Leroythe02LX ‘s youtube tutorial for the tcase was on repeat for a couple days. Highly recommend taking a peek at this if you’re diving into this job.
Transfer case reseal tutorial

 

[Ma son]

Another casualty of Hackett was/were my crank position sensor & oil pressure switch wires The dirtbag PO didnt secure the wires behind the fan clutch bracket so they were just hanging out dangerously close to the serpentine belt.
Thankfully I checked the engine when we were on the trail and saved them from being completely eaten by the belt. Some heat shrink solder butt connectors got it all cleaned up again.

Then it was time to replace the transmission fluid. It was definitely time:

In my quest to quiet down the sound of failing pulley bearings, the serpentine belt tensioner was the first shot out of the parts cannon. It did not fix it. A new serpentine belt was also fitted at the same time.

While contemplating the source of the transfer case leak, I realized that clogged diff breathers could be the reason for my seal blowout. New hoses, unions, and breathers were ordered installed from HERE.

 

[Ma son]

The final few days of October, we received our first real snow of the year on the Front Range. Naturally, we had to go out and play. We headed up to Rampart Range for some good fun.

It was all fun and games until the 4runners get involved. A couple of local HS kids were out romping in the snow when we came upon an icy hill. I attempted to stop so I could avoid hitting my Jeep buddy in front of me. He got over the radio to let me know there was a car coming behind me. As I looked in the rear view, a 4th gen was barreling down the hill towards me. I quickly floored it, hoping to minimize the impending damage. Well, thankfully I drive a Cruiser with a steel rear. The 4runner didnt fare well

The Cruiser, on the other hand, received only a small dent from where the swingarm bent forward and kissed the upper hatch.

We exchanged insurance info and went out separate ways…. There was more fun to be had!
We found a fire ring in the snow, built a fire and cracked a couple brews while the dougs frolicked in the snow

 

[87warrior]

After about 3 weeks of funemployment spending most of the day perusing Marketplace, Craigslist, and the classifieds, I found exactly what I had been looking for. I came across a post by Garret from Valleytech. This was one of the first bumpers he had built and wasnt perfect, which he was completely upfront about. Perfect for me to beat the everloving s*** out of! The best part? I only paid $1200 for a dual swingout bumper with a tire carrier and jerry can holder. I paid him that Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was on the i70 heading east to Kansas City.

Remember when I said the Cruiser never let me down until it did? Well this is when 21 years and 358,000 miles of use/abuse started to show itself. About halfway to Kansas City, I look down at the dash to see the battery light on. f***!!! Not only was I in the middle of nowhere Kansas, but I had no idea how to change the alternator on this vehicle. I pulled off at the next exit looking for a gas station, only to find a marine repair shop. I pleaded with the receptionist to sell me a battery or hook me up with a charge from one of their vehicles. She looked at me, annoyed, and said no. I continued begging her until she finally gave in and went to get the owner of the shop. The owner, who was an absolute gentleman, told me to pull around the side so he could hook up his battery charger. SCORE! While the battery charged, he called around to all three of the the local auto parts stores to see if anyone had an alternator for the 2UZ. Within 100 miles, one O’Reillys had the part. It wasnt OEM, but I really didn't care at that point. I’d have to drive about 25 minutes east to pick up the part without the battery dying on the way. I hopped back in the cruiser and headed down the interstate going way faster than anyone has any business going in a 100 series. Luckily, I made it to Salina, KS and set up shop in a truck stop parking lot.

I called Garret to let him know the situation, to which he replied, “Want me to just pick you up an alternator in KC and bring that and the bumper to you? We can install them in the parking lot.” ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! So I sent him some more cash and began figuring out how the hell to get the alternator out. I didnt have much spare coolant, I opted to try to fish out the alternator without removing the lower coolant hose. What a bitch! After about 2 hours, the bad alternator was free!
View attachment 3201624
At about 4p, the angel also known as Garret showed up, alternator, pigtail and wires in hand. He also had a beautiful chunk of steel to hang off the back of my rig. View attachment 3201626
We split up, I installed the new alternator while Garret installed the bumper. View attachment 3201628
By 8pm, the installs were complete. We were both exhausted and ready to get the hell out of that windy, cold truck stop parking lot. I thanked Garret endlessly and headed back to Colorado, proud to have successfully repaired the rig in less than ideal circumstances.
View attachment 3201631
I will forever be thankful for Garret’s generosity and kindness in this situation. He is a genuinely decent human being in a world full of dickheads He is also a great business owner to deal with, so if youre looking for a custom bumper or sliders, I will always recommend people to reach out to him

I am glad Garret was able to hook you up and help you out, in several ways! When you posted for help in the UZJ group I was a goon who reached out since I am close to Salina. None of the parts stores around here had an alternator in stock Thanks for sharing your build, it's been a fun read.

 

[Ma son]

I am glad Garret was able to hook you up and help you out, in several ways! When you posted for help in the UZJ group I was a goon who reached out since I am close to Salina. None of the parts stores around here had an alternator in stock Thanks for sharing your build, it's been a fun read.

Ha! That’s crazy you remember that! I appreciated you reaching out- I was feeling very helpless in that moment thank god for Garret!!! Thanks for readin!

 

[JunkCrzr89]

was all fun and games until the 4runners get involved.

Ain’t that the truth.

 

[Ma son]

Supplemental Doug content

 

[Ma son]

Continuing on the quest to eliminate the failing pulley bearing sounds, I decided it was time to take on the timing belt job. I didnt suspect any of the associated TB pulleys to be bad, but instead the fan clutch bracket. Obviously this is most of the way into a TB job so I’d do some while you’re in there work. The TB/WP kit was ordered from Cruiser Outfitters, with the bonus being cam seals and a crank seal. A new fan clutch, fan clutch bracket, thermostat & gasket were ordered from Rock Auto. I also called up Bob from Stevinson Toyota in Aurora and got a pretty good deal on an OEM radiator as well.

I also had noticed a while back that the metal engine oil cooler hose that runs down to the filter wasn't properly attached to the driver side cam cover as it should be. There is a stud that bolts into the head that is supposed to protrude out of the cam cover, and the oil cooler slips over the end. Well mine was just kinda hanging out, rubbing on the serpentine belt lightly. I ordered one stud for each head and the nut for each. More on that later.

Day 1: tear down! The Otramm videos are great for this. Both the original and updated version were on repeat for a few weeks. Everything came off easily, thank the lord. Removing the radiator made things ALOT easier. Also, no need to loosen the rear AC compressor bolt, just bend the harness bracket to remove the fan clutch bracket. Here’s where she sat at the end of the day-

With everything removed, time to assess the carnage. Both cam seals were leaking, crank seal was leaking, the mouse door was just plain gone, and the lower timing cover had two wholes drilled in it (wtf). PLUS, that stud in the driver head had been snapped off and left for the the next guy (me) to deal with. Fml

I ordered a lower timing cover and mouse door at Stevinson and grabbed my EZout set to get to work on my broken stud. I had plenty of practice extracting bolts/screws that I mangled in my previous work as an aircraft mechanic. 3 hours later, the stud was not out. In the end, I had to drill out as much of the stud as I could and run a tap into the head to fix the threads. That was as good as it was going to get. The problem was, when I threaded in the replacement stud, it was sticking out too far to sit flush against the cam sensor. So, I grabbed the angle grinder/flap wheel and shortener her up! Good as new. There would only be about 4 threads of engagement into the head, so some loctite would assist. However, the stud is also kept in place by the dowel on the head, and is held by a nut on either side of the cam cover. Heres a shot of the head after the battle

After that, it was time to wait for parts and hope that the job could be finished the following Wednesday.

 

[Ma son]

Day 2 of the TB job started with the cam & crank seals. The cams didnt look OEM but the crank did. Either way, I drilled a hole in each, inserted a wood screw and pried the old seals out.

Next, it was time to clean up all the dirt and oil residue that was caked onto the front side of the motor. This was probably the most time consuming part of the job. Once that was done, it was time for reassembly. Look at how nice that new cover looks. Too had itll never be that nice again

Reassembly went smoothly, with no issues whatsoever. Otramms video was very helpful here too, saving alot of time looking up torque specs. When I finished, I added a little bit of bling to the cruiser.

The best part of the job-

 

[Ma son]

Few days later, I replaced the bearings in the spare tire carrier swingout. They needed it!

Much better

 

[Ma son]

I just happened to be looking on the Upull site in Denver when I found a 2000 LC that had been brought to the yard that day. The following morning, Antoine and I headed over to see what we could scavenge.

A new rear driver door card and window switch with some beautiful wood grain

A new third row grab handle that actually bolted into the ceiling unlike my old one

A new cubby cover that didnt allow the tool roll to fly out constantly

 

[Ma son]

Picked up a set of 4 Rock Warriors with no bling rings and a s***ty paint job for $250

Turns out the paint is actually plastidip and the paint underneath doesnt look too bad! I may send these to OMF someday to get converted into real beadlocks

 

[Ma son]

Took care of some minor stuff here recently. Battery terminals had been corroding pretty badly for the last couple months, causing a no start condition. I decided to pull out the battery and tray and give everything a good cleaning with some CRC battery cleaner I had laying around. The battery hold down had seen better days, so I cleaned that as well and applied some Rust Reformer in hopes of giving in a little more life. The positive battery connection got replaced with new OEM and the negative got a thorough cleaning. Everything got a healthy coating of dielectric grease in hopes of staving off that nasty corrosion. Next step will be to replace the battery with an AGM.

The plastidip Rock warriors also got some love. The previous owner of these wheels obviously didn't do any research into the proper application of plastidip, so I got to pay the price. These wheels were super cheap so I guess this was the universe's way of equalizing things. The lip will need to be refinished and then I will mount my winter/snow tires on these so that they can get thrashed in the mountains by mag chloride on the way to shred Winter Park.

Finally, I decided that it was time to swap out the transmission shifter. The original leather wasnt damaged, just old and not quite soft anymore. So I decided to drop in a vinyl covered replacement from an 80 series. It feels great in the hands and wasn't a very difficult job. Now I need to decide if I want to swap in the matching rubber transfer case shift knob. As much as I would love to have a poverty pack 100, its just not in the cards. I've been trying to source a set of cloth seats to swap in with no luck so far. Hoping that I can snag a set from LandCruiserheaven or another importer.

Chefs kiss

 

[Ma son]

It's been pretty quiet over here, got the chance to mount up the de-bling ring'd Rock Warriors and drive around with those for a bit. I ended up really liking how they look without the rings. Almost considered attempting to remove them from the other set, but I think I'd come to regret that.

Also got the tip on a cheap "drawer" system from my buddy @dsw1020 locally. $50 later, I had a good starter platform for some drawers/storage and possibly a sleeping platform in the future. The platform can hold 4 Front Runner Wolf Pack Pros inside, which coincidentally, I had just gotten 3 for Christmas just a few months earlier. The addition was Doug and H approved!

 

[Ma son]

With a big Utah trip looming in mid-March, it was time to start assessing camping gear and rush to get some needed maintenance done beforehand. Our 4 season backpacking tent was not cutting it anymore. I came across the Shiftpod Mini and decided to give it a shot. The fact that it was on sale definitely helped with the decision. A few days later, it had arrived. Setup (in the house) was a breeze.

Then came the maintenance. A quick oil change, filter, driveshaft & UCA lube, tire/wheel swap back to the summer setup, and we were good to go. I gave the ol girl a quick wash and she was looking mint.

 

[Doug H]

Enjoying the story about your well-loved cruiser. I just did the timing belt on mine and glad I won't have to do that for a while. I'd love to get out to Colorado someday to do some exploring in the mountains. My only trip there in the Cruiser was to Estes Park and the rear was full of antique radios, so didn't get off-road, but did get enough altitude - sister lives in Estes Park - to where the old gal was suffering some serious hypoxia.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

MOAR DOGGO PICS PLEEZ

 

[Mike NXP]

With a big Utah trip looming in mid-March, it was time to start assessing camping gear and rush to get some needed maintenance done beforehand. Our 4 season backpacking tent was not cutting it anymore. I came across the Shiftpod Mini and decided to give it a shot. The fact that it was on sale definitely helped with the decision. A few days later, it had arrived. Setup (in the house) was a breeze.
View attachment 3283991

Then came the maintenance. A quick oil change, filter, driveshaft & UCA lube, tire/wheel swap back to the summer setup, and we were good to go. I gave the ol girl a quick wash and she was looking mint.
View attachment 3283993

Report back once you have had time to test out the shiftpod. I was checking them out but the material looks weak, does it seem solid so far?

 

[Ma son]

Enjoying the story about your well-loved cruiser. I just did the timing belt on mine and glad I won't have to do that for a while. I'd love to get out to Colorado someday to do some exploring in the mountains. My only trip there in the Cruiser was to Estes Park and the rear was full of antique radios, so didn't get off-road, but did get enough altitude - sister lives in Estes Park - to where the old gal was suffering some serious hypoxia.

Man, that timing belt was a good one. Not too bad overall, really just depends how good the last guy was. If you ever make it out here, holler! The ol girls definitely do not appreciate the lack of oxygen!

 

[Ma son]

MOAR DOGGO PICS PLEEZ

As requested