FJ80 Newb (Toyota Vet) Checking In (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 17, 2019
Threads
5
Messages
29
Location
Western Slope, CO
Hi all...checking in for the first time after lurking for a couple of weeks, and then picking up a 1995 LC.

What I picked up:
  • 1995 Land Cruiser, 282K, $4,500
  • Bone stock
  • No locks
  • Perfect body and new paint in original Moonglow Pearl (bought it from a legit body and paint fella)
  • Typical interior for the age, better than a lot, but far from perfect
  • Very clean under the hood; no leaks
  • Leaky (very) front axle driveshaft pinion seal
  • Good birfs: No clicking or other noises. Leaking on the driver side, overly dry looking on pass. side
  • Rear axle looks good
  • No unusual squeaks or rattles
  • Antenna works! I couldn't believe it...
  • Clock works, too!
  • Cap, rotor, plugs and wires are done
A bit about me:

I'm a car guy, having owned around 30, or so, vehicles in my 43 years. I work on all of them. My first vehicle at age 16 was a 1983 Toyota Pickup that needed valve cover gaskets and clutch master cylinder. I fixed that rig on the street in front of the house one weekend and was hooked on wrenching. Since then, it's been diesel trucks, Nissan, Honda, Mistubishi, BMW, Mercedes, several other Toyotas, Ford, Volvo....you get the idea.

I moved to Colorado from Oregon and instantly realzied I wanted a real trail rig. I bought a single owner, 2000 4Runner Limited garage queen with 150K. After having it shipped to me, it was outfitted with a Toytec coilover lift, Addicted Offroad bumpers and sliders, winch and number of the tasteful and common 3rd gen mods. In a momentary lapse of judgement, I sold the vehicle to a friend back in Oregon and replaced it with a Volvo XC90 with the 2.5L turbo. Yeah, I did that. I've kicked myself too many times to count.

Shortly after purchasing, my uncle passed and left my dad his 1994 Toyota Pickup. My dad had a 1993 Toyota Pickup Xtra cab with V6 with whoping 88K on it. It had already had the notorious head gaskets replaced. Additionally, he had already installed 33's, a Warn bumper and a Warn winch. I took the '93 and dad kept my uncles old truck. I spent a lot of time massaging that truck and putting tasteful upgrades on the engine, mostly from LC Engineering out of Arizona. As my family has grown (my incredible wife, 2 kids and a hound), fitting in an xtra cab Toyota started getting a bit tight. We found that out over this past Labor Day weekend when we trailed it for 4 hours on the Flat Tops. Fun, but very cozy. I was originally considering another 3rd gen 4Runner, then moved to a 4th gen V8 4Runner with a 3rd row, then realized the FJ's were the best overall rig, and just plain cool. I sold that little truck for $7,200 and turned around and bought my FJ.

So here I am.

In the past week, I've ordered the following:
  • 2.5" OME kit, heavy front, med rear from Slee
  • 20mm OME spacers from Cruiser Outfitters
  • Rock Defense tube bumper (w/stinger) from Low Range (I already have a Warn winch with synthetic line that will mount to this).
  • Birf rebuild kit with bearings from Yotamasters
  • Pinion seals from Cruiser Outfitters
  • Piles of fluids and grease for baselining and maintenance: Lucas Oil, Red Line, Purple, Mobil 1
  • Extended axle breathers from Low Range. Still need to get lines to run. I drive from 5,000 feet to over 11,000 feet regularly. I want my seals to last. If you've ever bought a bag of chips in Denver and driven over Loveland Pass, you know why it's a good idea to have functioning breathers to keep your axle seals alive.
  • A few tools that I've been meaning to replace: snap ring pliers, specialty sockets, brass and steel drifts, etc
  • A set of studded 305/70R16 Cooper S/T's on Toyota Tacoma wheels for $200. The lowest depth was 12/32's. I couldn't give the guy cash fast enough for those. The best part: I discovered I can fit those tires side-by-side in the back without laying the second row down (3rd row seats were in the garage). They're already on the truck, with an overall height gain of 1 1/8" over stock.
I'm completely open to suggestions and feedback.

My experience in these forums has been mixed over the years. I will say this: the Toyota forums have been the best. From what I can see after reading many of the threads, this one shouldn't be too different.

If anyone is travelling across the Western Slope of Colorado and needs to stop, shoot me a message. I'm in a little town called Silt, and always have a porch with cold beer and whiskey. My toolbox doesn't suck, either.

-Josh

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Engine (2).JPG


Interior (6).JPG


Interior (8).JPG


Interior (11).JPG
 
Welcome josh, great looking 80!! :flipoff2:

Flat tops huh??? We might be neighbors... where on the western slope are ya??
 
Nice! Silt Mesa is under-rated, great views!

I live basalt and work in glenwood, I’ll keep an eye out for ya...
 
Nice! Silt Mesa is under-rated, great views!

I live basalt and work in glenwood, I’ll keep an eye out for ya...
Do that!

I’m pretty well acquainted with Ray Alexander, of Roaring Fork Swap Facebook group. If you haven’t seen his yellow FJ40, you’re missing out. That thing is a beast.

A lot of good trail folks out here.
 
Lolz... small valley, I work with rays son Austin...

I’ve definitely seen a big yellow 40 in glenwood, probably his...
 
Clean, i like.
WELCOME TO THE ADDICTION
 
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Hi all!

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I picked up my 80. I drove it through most of last winter without any any headaches. The only CEL it throws is the EGR, which will be addressed. For the past several months it's been on jack stands in my buddie's shop. I work on it when I can, but time is precious. Of course, the 'Rona put a big damper on progress. Trying to get everything done for hunting season this October.

In that time, though, I've managed to completely rebuild the front birfs, including new front rotors and pads, paint and install the bumper, replace the alternator and nearly complete the 2.5" OME lift. The rear shocks, steering stabilizer and caster correction bushings are all that is left on the lift. Of course, a proper alignment will follow.

There's still pile of things left to do: R&R all fluids, new axles breathers, pinion seals, oil pan gasket (I'm dreading this), gears for power seats, replace the worn steering wheel with much nicer one, 7-pin mod/center diff lock switch...I know I'm forgetting a number of things.

In the end, it didn't suck before I got started. Pretty much all deferred maintenance and the "basic 80" mods. Here's a few shots of the work in progress.

A lot of lurking on my part since I've been around this forum. Awesome info in here. Thanks for posting what you do...it's made my silent journey much smoother!

-Josh

More Maintenance Pics
 
Back again! In my last post I was hoping to have the LC up and running for elk season. Well, I was able to get it on the road, but I ran into some serious electrical headaches. On occasion when attempting to start, all power would shunt to ground. This wasn't your typical starter solenoid "click". Everything would lose power and reset, such as the clock and the radio. Even the pesky CEL for the pesky EGR that I still need to address would extinguish. I was getting stranded more and more often, turning my wife and friends into a AAA service. I was about ready to throw a gas can through the window and touch it off.

I had gone through a number of things: ground points, continuity checks, new battery, alternator test on the replaced alternator, replaced main relays, etc. I followed the FSM troubleshooting trees pretty closely (for perspective on my ability to troubleshoot: 4 years working on military weapons systems (CIWS and Mk-92), 3 years as a professional mechanic and 15 years as Field Service Engineer in manufacturing automation (Intel, Applied Materials, etc). It came down to two things when it was all said and done: my starter, the battery cables/connectors, or both.

After leaving my father and I stranded in the mountains during elk season, it was time to quit screwing around. As most of you know, life has priorities and our 80's typically fall toward the bottom of that list. With COVID, two middle schoolers, jobs (my wife teaches and I'm a police officer) and a recently flooded basement after the town's backflow valve in the water main failed and surged into my house, blowing up my hot water heater (I'm not making this up), I made the decision to drop the 80 at Rieger Performance in New Castle, CO and let them work on it.

Mike and Steve and Rieger know what they're doing. In addition to the electrical issues I was having, I had yet to install my caster bushings after completing my 2.5" lift (with 10mm spacers up front), correct a seriously off-center steering wheel and get an alignment. I asked them to finish up these items, along with new pinion seals, an oil pan gasket and anything else that was mechanical glaring.

In the end, they did everything above except the pan gasket. As far as the electrical, they replaced the 3-pin connector on the alternator and rebuilt my positive and negative cables with copper welding cable. Military-style connectors were soldered into place, clothed in heat shrink (black and red for negative and positive, respectively) and then the entire cable was wrapped in braded heat shield. These were made by hand for the rig in house and let me just say that they look amazing. The starter was also replaced with a remanufactured Denso 2.2Kw unit. They also found that my power steering pump was leaking badly and blowing fluid everywhere. With a new pump and hoses mitigating the leak, they recommended that I wait on the pan gasket until I could clean everything up underneath and make a better assessment. The front end was gone through, with all ends and links torqued and aligned. And the caster bushings were installed per the supplied instructions from Slee. Everything is spot on now and the truck drives straight. Due to time constraints, I asked them to skip the steering gear box rebuild. There wasn't any way to get the 105 sector shaft and other necessary parts in time for family visiting over the holidays (we needed all 7 seats!).

All in with parts and labor I was out the door at $1,700. Cheap? Not at all. But my 80 is running like it never has before. After getting it back, I performed the "field" adjustment to the steering gear. It certainly needed it. Being that it is the stock Toyota unit, I'm going to hold onto and rebuild it with the 105 parts when it's ready.

What's next? The list is long. Immediate priorities are a windshield seal leak, remove the nasty ceramic window tint, front seat tracks (I have the new gears) and 7-pin mod/Center Diff switch. Seat covers would be fabulous, as well. Recommendations?

I'm really hoping for my first Moab trip in the 80 this summer. I only live 2.5 hours away and we have started making it down there more regularly for some RZR riding and glamping in the new trailer. But, I'll need a set of tires that are up to the task on the slick rock. I'm currently running a set of 315 studded Cooper STT's. Not exactly what you want out there! But pretty nice up here on the Western Slope of the Rocky Mountains.

Happy New Year, everyone!

NEW BATTERY CABLES AND CONNECTORS. I LIKE HOW I CAN DISCONNECT THE CABLES FROM THE BATTERY CONNECTORS, INSTEAD OF REMOVING THE CONNECTORS FROM THE BATTERY POSTS.
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REMAN DENSO 2.2KW STARTER
Starter.JPG



PITMAN ARM AND SECTOR SHAFT ALIGNMENT WAS STILL GOOD!
Steering Gear Adjust (3).JPG



STEERING GEAR ADJUSTMENT WAS EASIER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE
Steering Gear Adjust (5).JPG


Steering Wheel Removal (3).JPG
 

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