Greetings from Canada's North! (Importing an 80 to Canaderp and other poor choices...) (1 Viewer)

[RoamedYT]

You'd better grab your favourite beverage and pull up a stump, because this one is going to take a while.

This sordid tale comes to you from Whitehorse, Yukon. Living in Canaderp, Mr. T decided we wouldn't have 80's. So be it, I went down the road of the 4Runner.

In March of 2020, someone in Skagway, AK had listed this truck. He wasn't looking for much money for it, and it needed some work. The driver's window was busted and a backyard fix on a rear brake hardline had finally given up. Skagway is only 110 miles from my house so I decided to take a quick trip down and take a look at this thing. It was rough. I had just sold my 4th gen 4Runner (Limited, V8, no X-REAS, Gibson exhaust, etc) and was looking for a new project. The rule in the house is as long as my better 3/4 has her parking spot in the garage, we're good. My diesel Ford will be a little sad to be outside plugged in this winter, but that's just how it goes.

I made a deal to buy the truck on March 10, 2020. Then, well, you know. So the truck sat. And it sat. And it continued to sit until the Canadian Government decided to lift the testing requirements for trips in to the US less than 72 hours long.

The list of what's good about this truck is much shorter than what's bad. So, let's go with that!

The Good:
- Boy oh boy, it flashed up at -10 despite being parked in the back yard for over a year and the battery being hooked up. It did need a boost.
- The D light still works.
- It has 179,450 miles.
- My garage floor is dry after 18 hours of it being parked in there, so no major leaks...
- I got it in to my garage where for the first time in who knows how many years, it got to thaw out

This truck lived its life in Juneau before coming over to Skagway. Despite being an Alaskan coastal truck only the hitch and rear bumper show serious rust issues. The first owner had a boat. With three roads which all end up at dead ends, Juneau is tough on vehicles because of the short trips. Skagway is even harder. This truck did 1700 miles in four years.

The Bad (From the most obvious down, so far):
- It needs a drivers window (ordered, no Toyota inventory right now so it came from the one wrecker in Canada that had one)
- Rear brake lines need to be replaced (ordered, one side was backordered so I'll find out which one soon)
- Downpipe has a lovely crack in the y-pipe, that's where my exhaust leak is coming from (so far)
- No interior heat (upper rad hose is hot, lower is cold)
- Tires are done
- The hood and tailgate struts need replacing (as noted by the bloody mess on my head when it bit me yesterday!)
- Front and rear bumpers are trashed (cue sad face here, and a phone call to Coastal)
- Exterior trim is either missing, weather checked, or mossy (?!?)
- Rims may be salvageable, but like the tires that are on it, I'm not holding any air either.
- Drivers seat needs a rebuild
- Interior is generally very rough and will need a full stripping
- Paint is mediocre
- Lower tailgate is very stiff and binds
- It requires a complete baseline - gaskets from top to bottom, and on, and on, and on. I have no service history on this truck.
- NO MAGIC DIAL!


I brought it across the border yesterday and back to Canada last night. Exporting on the US side was easy as I had a broker file the AES and get me an International Transaction Number. Bringing it in to Canada was even easier as it is over 15 years old, making it exempt from the Registrar of Imported Vehicles Program. Bring them your bill of sale, title from the seller, completed "Form 1" document. Pay your 6.1% tax on the purchase price and you're on your way.

Plans going forward are as follows:

- Make it stop.
- Make it go reasonably quiet and safely.
- Make it more capable.


I'll go from there. I have an idea and will likely set it up similar to my previous 3rd gen and 4th gen 4Runners. It will be nothing extreme, but it will be able to get me and the kids to wherever we want to go (for the most part) in the north! I'm a T4R veteran, having owned two 99's, an '03 Sport (dubbed the Trash Runner), and an '06 Limited V8.

This increases the population of 80's in the Yukon by 33%!

Here we go, it's going to be messy!

 

[RoamedYT]

Tonight I got the wheels off. Not without some trouble, as they had decided to become one with the hub. The ol' Fubar helped out with that.

Initial assessment: It's bad.
It needs a complete suspension refresh, the spring perches on the rear axle are rotted out, complete brake refresh (I may just do calipers along with everything else to make it a bit easier), birfield refresh, the bump stops need to be rebuilt, and the list goes on. Someone has strung what is left of the exhaust up with wire, and it's not pretty.

That said, it seems to be localized. The fuel tank skid plate doesn't have a speck of rust on it and the frame itself is relatively clean. The rockers are solid and still have original paint on them, yet the running boards are just rust. Funny thing about that is the same era of 4Runner had aluminum boards and hardware, where the LC is (was) steel.

I tapped the license plate bolt that I had broken off and cleaned up the stiff lower tailgate tonight. Little things while I wait on parts to start showing up. I did notice that the upper tailgate doesn't seem to close properly. There's no signs of it being hit in the past, but I guess I'll have to check the FSM to see what, if any adjustment procedure there is. It's out by almost 1/2" at the bottom.

 

[NLXTACY]

oh man you are brave

 

[FMC80]

This should be fun to follow. Congrats on your new 80. It’s almost sad to see it in such condition but it has a new lease on life now!

 

[LINUS]

…….when you wish you could just throw an entire vehicle in a ultrasonic cleaner

You flat need to spray every piece of hardware in PB Blaster / etc - just let it marinate & repeat until when ever you happen to need to toss a socket on anything.

Or drive it into a swimming pool 2’ deep w/ WD-40, let it sit there a week or longer.

Best of luck, living up there I’m betting you are versed in heat & lube……well, for any activity.

 

[SpenserAK]

Greetings from Juneau - love your neck of the woods. The PO of my 80 used to tour around the golden loop every year, but I haven’t yet gone across the border with it. Never get tired of those drives.

Correction - four dead ends I drive about 10-12k a year, depending which part of town I’m living in.

Fortunately with all the rain, things aren’t as salty here as they could be. Luckily we don’t really use road salts either, and rust hasn’t been an issue for me unless something else started it (exhaust leak, bad paint, etc). My rear hitch and running boards are a little rusty, but that’s about it. Underside & frame actually look pretty good on my rig, thankfully. Don’t believe it had ever been treated, but I started fluid filming after purchase. Definitely something you’ll want to do, if it’s not already a habit.

Welcome to the club and good luck!

 

[RoamedYT]

oh man you are brave

There's a lot of words to describe me... I don't know if anyone has ever used brave! Stupid? Sure! "Not suited for a job in retail sales"? Absolutely.

That said, how's your shipping to Canada? I'll be leaning on you!

@SpenserAK - I was hoping you'd pop in here! We love Juneau, mostly for the skiing and well, you have a Costco. If AMHS wasn't so determined to screw coastal communities we'd come down more often. I mean, Skagway doesn't have a single ferry for the month of January!

 

[RoamedYT]

Took a few minutes this afternoon and pulled one of the (formerly known as) side steps off. The bolts on the legs actually spun off with the impact!

It should be noted that the last time this truck was washed likely was around Obama's first term...

Behold!

 

[NLXTACY]

There's a lot of words to describe me... I don't know if anyone has ever used brave! Stupid? Sure! "Not suited for a job in retail sales"? Absolutely.

That said, how's your shipping to Canada? I'll be leaning on you!

@SpenserAK - I was hoping you'd pop in here! We love Juneau, mostly for the skiing and well, you have a Costco. If AMHS wasn't so determined to screw coastal communities we'd come down more often. I mean, Skagway doesn't have a single ferry for the month of January!

No issues. Seems I have stuff going to the land of sweaters daily.

 

[YMT]

That's not as rusty as I would've expected, all things considered. I've seen far worse rust in the great lakes and New England areas.

I've got a ton of misc parts, including windows. I'm sure shipping would be obscene, from California. But, if you're ever in need, hit me up.

You seem very motivated, have a nice garage/shop, and certainly aren't squeamish; I'm excited to see where this goes.

Also, I might have missed it, but what year 80 did you score?

 

[SpenserAK]

@SpenserAK - I was hoping you'd pop in here! We love Juneau, mostly for the skiing and well, you have a Costco. If AMHS wasn't so determined to screw coastal communities we'd come down more often. I mean, Skagway doesn't have a single ferry for the month of January!

Ah yes, I remember your username now.

Yeah, the ferry situation isn’t great. I think they recently got a nice slice of the budget, though? Not that it was “cheap” before, but last I looked it was something shy of $500 round trip

Winter at Eaglecrest is going great so far.

 

[RoamedYT]

@YMT - It's a'95. February production. It's definitely rough, but once I apply liberal amounts of turd polish I'll have something decent! You'd be surprised how inexpensive shipping can be up the coast. If it comes to it, we can get it to the Vancouver BC branch of the company I work for and then they'll take care of the rest.

The only wrecker in Western Canada that had glass for this can't ship until January 16th. Not their fault, it's the carriers who are doing "seasonal restrictions".

@SpenserAK - I'm not sure about the funding - I know that I would go out of Haines when they would do the half-price deals in the winter. Even then I think it was still like $250! One of these days I'll rip Eaglecrest again!

Some previous Toyotas... I definitely miss that V8! Unfortunately, someone comes along and offers wayyy too much for it and like a fool, I accept.

 

[RoamedYT]

Oh man, the deeper I go, the worse it gets! Did I make a mistake? Seems likely. Oh well! My wife commented to me her concerns. "I'm afraid that once you put work in to this one you're going to get attached." She's likely right.

Pulled the hitch and spare tire off tonight to get better access to the rear axle. I also found out what caused the initial rear brake line issue. Of course it was rust. It had the (unused) factory tool kit, complete with the Toyota-branded wrenches, screwdriver and pliers. The rod for the rear tire carrier has now been used for the first, and last time. The spare was the original Bridgestone, complete with the nubs still intact on the tire.

You don't *need* a panhard bar, right?

I guess I'll just drop the rear axle and rebuild it on the bench. Any tips? It'll be easier to work on if it's not under the truck anyway.

 

[Kernal]

And the less than common color of Nightshadow Pearl, worthwhile to restore the old girl.

 

[LINUS]

Oh man, the deeper I go, the worse it gets! Did I make a mistake? Seems likely. Oh well! My wife commented to me her concerns. "I'm afraid that once you put work in to this one you're going to get attached." She's likely right.

Pulled the hitch and spare tire off tonight to get better access to the rear axle. I also found out what caused the initial rear brake line issue. Of course it was rust. It had the (unused) factory tool kit, complete with the Toyota-branded wrenches, screwdriver and pliers. The rod for the rear tire carrier has now been used for the first, and last time. The spare was the original Bridgestone, complete with the nubs still intact on the tire.



You don't *need* a panhard bar, right?



I guess I'll just drop the rear axle and rebuild it on the bench. Any tips? It'll be easier to work on if it's not under the truck anyway.

I’d lube/marinate & heat all hardware & break the torque while still on the vehicle & run them all back down loose so you aren’t fighting the axle on a bench.

Also give you a chance to burn in some new steel for the panhard bracket & the 4-link points if they also are ugly/rotted.

And go crazy w/ a needlegun or wire wheel (face shield) / grinder & drop some epoxy / rust binding paint to the rust left behind if you aren’t sandblasting. POR-15 bonds great to rust, but not nearly as good to clean/blasted steel. (As an example)

—Have you got experience dealing with crusty stuff?
— or is this a new venture / looks to be the oldest rig in your pics

If you don’t own 6pt sockets, get a set before you start rounding off hardware on 12pt sockets. It’ll save you alot of wasted time burning off hardware with a cutting torch if you round off heads of stuff.

-Is it really just the axles, or are the framerails ugly too?
-Asking as if they are ugly, you might need to make some fishplates & build up some trouble spots like the PS box & any weak/cracking spots if the rust is severe.

-Also, how are the brake hardlines? —Crusty to the point/need to swap new ones?

 

[Heckraiser]

Every time you turn a wrench you get a two pound pile of rust on the shop floor. I'd call that "weight reduction."

 

[RoamedYT]

@LINUS - This thing is so weird - I'm convinced that the original owner launched boats in to the ocean with this truck. Reason being, things are very localized to the (former) hitch and rear axle. The frame and body are in slightly-above-average condition for a 26 year-old truck.

This will be a skill stretch for me. I have no issues on the mechanical side. Among things, I started in the Toyota world on the parts counter in 2002. Fabrication will be a new challenge. I actually considered going the route of replacing the rear axle - there's a locker from a '93 down in Nelson, BC that is available. If I did that, I'd have to go the 5-wire route along with the bits and bobs needed to go that way (if I can run a '93 rear in a '95... I believe the fronts have different length birfs). I was thinking if I wanted lockers I'd go with air.

Brake hardware, lines and cables are shot. I've got lines and hoses on order as well as service brake parts including calipers. I have the means to build lines if I need to as well, but Toyota hard lines are dirt cheap so why not?

It's time for the PB soak over the next little bit - I am gone for work as of the 2nd for a couple of weeks. I could pick up that locker rear and haul it back if it was in good shape but I hesitate. There's exactly ONE FZJ80 in a wrecker in Western Canada that I can find right now. I may have to look into some options on the HZJ side, there's lots of them coming in to the west coast from Japan.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Ih8rust

I think you're best option would be to find a complete rear axle housing, hub to hub including brakes. Give it all a refresh on the bench and swap it in.

That would get you the brake parts, lines, handbrake cables etc you need. And then just leave you needing brake lines on the body.

Sounds like shipping could be a pain, but weigh that vs the pain of sourcing all the individual parts, and still having a crumbling axle housing.

 

[Rigpig]

I've come across a few 80's being parted out in the Edmonton area over the last several weeks. Might be a closer option for you.

 

[thecapedcapper]

Good luck with the journey!