HJ47 welcome here? (1 Viewer)

[Henry James the 47th]

Alright, that was too close for comfort. It is the interior light bracket. On 40 series, from what I have seen the interior lamp mounts to the inside of the door pillar. I don't know about 45 series trucks, but on mine the lamp attaches to that little bracket and it can be bolted pretty much anywhere along the inside of the roof panel flange.

I'm trying to decide where the best place to locate the light...I wonder where the factory customarily put it? The wiring for it, if stock, would show the location. I'm creating the wiring as I go, so I gotta decide. In the middle at the back? Above the door pillar area?

The lights themselves are just 1-wire units. I would like to tie them into the door switches of course, and have the option to turn on the light anytime. It seems like I need a 60 series or later light if I want that function, unless there is a 2-wire version of the interior lamp.

Does anyone out there have a picture showing the interior lamp mounting in a 45/47?

Anyway, here's some pictures. I took a break from the wiring and started on the mark II model of receiver hitch. i had some .375" plate and angle iron to work with.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

another set

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I goofed a bit in the design, and came with a beefier solution. The plate i weld on in the third picture I have to cut off later.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

another set of three

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I ordered a forged 2" receiver tube from Napa and got the call today that it was in. That's the next step, after the captive bolt gets welded in. That's tomorrow.

 

[Bear]

Lamp locations:

Just forward of the driver's side "B" door pillar, side dependent upon LHD or RHD.
The post -79 pickups didn't come stock with a rear lamp as did the 1960s pickups.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

do you mean by 'rear lamp', an externally-mounted light that shines out the back of the truck into the bed? Or do you mean inside, at the back above the window? Is the light bright enough to be of any use mounted there?

The location a little forward of the side pillar makes sense to me as well.

 

[Bear]

Lamp locations:

Sorry I was not clearer:

The older pickups used an interior lamp that mounted inside the cab on the inner roof lip exactly in the center of the rear roof line. They're three times as wide as yours, similar mounting bracket only wider, probably the same wattage, so not very bright inside the cab. They are also very old, hard to find, and the lenses by now are pretty shot. And they're not correct to the date of your truck.

From what I have seen others try with the dim factory lighting, when they install a more powerful light bulb, the plastic lens covers bulge and melt. Usually you'll see this with the green lenses that shine down from under the dash top, or the lamps that are cantilevered over the heater controls.

As I see it, restoring these vehicles to an authentic level means you cannot expect a 2008 modern level of comfort, fit, safety, or convenience. For myself, I am pretty much okay with that, but I do make some choices throughout my trucks that an absolute purist would frown at. I personally bend the authenticity rule just a bit, to help myself enjoy the ride a bit more.

So......I choose to mount two of the lamps you have--one on each side. I also keep a good flashlight in the truck.

Since you're fortunate to have the later door-jamb switches to actuate your lamp(s) when a door is open, you might consider adding a dash(or under-dash) switch with a single-grounded wire run to each lamp, so that you can turn on the interior lights when you are inside the vehicle and the doors are closed. There's several ways of wiring this--assuming of course that the door switches complete a ground, and are not the hot wires. But heck, you're the electrician on this project--have it your way!

Optionally, if you are not a purist, which I doubt, you can wire-up just about anything that shows up in other vehicles.

By the way, if you're using the stock instrument/speedo panel, removing the shields around the two lamps for the panel will shed way more light onto the instruments.--just a thought. But don't do that for the directional signal lamps, or the high-beam indicator!!

For what it's worth--I enjoy your build-documentary, and admire your skills and gutsy attitude!

Cheers.
MS

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Er, don't mistake a 'gutsy attitude' for mere desperation!

Some good info there Bear. I'm not a purist as anyone can tell from reading through this thread. That said, I'm not about to turn this rig into pimped-out lowrider either. I've already modified the dash from stock, and remain satisfied with that decision and the way it came out. Same for the Bandie power steering gearbox. I'm thinking strongly of putting in a turbo as well.

There's a balance point between making small improvements here and there to a Landcruiser, keeping it pretty much stock (which I think I'm doing), and at the other end of the spectrum, modding the truck so much that it's hardly recognizable as a Toyota. For me, 'pretty much stock' allows for the 60 series steering column (it made a lot of sense to me), while for the purist that would be an unacceptable mod I'm sure. I figure that there trucks evolved slowly over time and one can learn from the ways Toyota went about slowly improving the LC series over time and through the models - things like disc brakes, power steering, turbo, etc.

For this rebuild, I try to draw the line at using non-Toyota parts, though I will have a couple of exceptions to that rule when I'm done. I'm trying to keep all the bolts JIS metric, and should finish out 99% successful at that when she's done, and am using Toyota wiring parts and components, again 99%.

I would have no problem putting a 12H-T into the truck, if it would fit in with the p/s gearbox (which it doesn't). If I hadn't obtained the Bandierante gearbox, I would have probably gone for the 60 series steering modification, complete with -gasp - Ford shock tower. Luck of the draw I guess.

Anyhow, good point about the higher wattage bulbs melting the plastic lenses. Are you referring to the Superwhite bulbs that SOR sells? What about LED options?

 

[Bear]

Bulbs:

I like and use the SOR bright bulbs to squeeze out that last bit of brightness in the instrument cluster-- but they are very pricey.
No, they do not melt the plastic above their locations. It's the other lamps I've mentioned where folks have melted the plastic covers with a motley assortment of incorrect wattage bulbs.


Along with the incorrect bulbs, I see a lot of horrible cobbled-up wiring; seems like they were part of the add-a-wire of the month club! Bravo to you for doing the entire rewire job-- and with modern wire. I have seen Toyota themselves make connections crimped mid-line in harnesses, then taped up and forever hidden. Not only does that make it hard to trace down a problem circuit, it seems to me to be very bad technique. You would never see a professional electrician do that in a house rewire job, or for that matter, from a professional burglar alarm technician with low volt wiring. So why would you do it in a vehicle when the wire is relatively cheap. Oh, well!

I myself agree with your points about allowable changes to your truck. I personally despise rust so much, however, that I use stainless fasteners almost exclusively, except where strength is critical. Unfortunately many of the available stainless bolts are not JIS, and some are unobtainable, as I have chased these down at quite a few international sources.

Where I live and play here in southern California, future rust isn't as thickly wet/cancerous as other places. Yet after spending huge amounts of time dismantling something that did rot, I cannot in all honesty put it back together and let it ever rust-out for the next guy. Since I also play with LandRovers(I know--traitor) corrosion is a huge issue--so that explains all the plating and powder-coating on my trucks, when Toyota only used plain paint, and often only primer where parts were pre-assembled.

It all adds up to a more expensive build, and attracts criticism from those who either don't want to spend the time or money or cannot see the value. That's why I usually shut-up and don't write too much publically--I can't change their opinions, I do see their point, I just regret the often bitter, angry criticism I see when someone states a conflicting idea.

So, yes, I can see from your work you spend the time to repair what needs done, rather than slap on another coat of lipstick. So again I say, "Bravo to you!" And lucky will be the next guy who someday gets ahold of one of your vehicles! In my country, pride in what one does, has fallen to an all-time low. So I applaud any individual or company that takes the time to build it right. It costs more, but there will always be the cheap knock-offs available. And honsetly, I'm not proud to say that I too have some sets of Chinese-made tools--I just know their limitations--but, man, are they cheeeep, and good for old-fashioned bashing!!

End of sermon!
MS

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Thanks so much Bear for your comments!

I made a New Year's resolution this year not to buy anything made in China, and it's proving to be very difficult. Some things these days seem to come from China and nowhere else.

Anyway, some progress pics. I've been workin' on da hitch

 

[Henry James the 47th]

next set. The forged 2" receiver tube I ordered through Napa.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

more...

 

[Henry James the 47th]

another set. I used some 2" square tube to form a support extension for the hitch

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I wasn't too happy with the weld quality. I think I need to change the tip on the torch and become a little fussier about cleanliness around the weld zone. Anyway, the weld penetration seemed okay.

I also moved the front axle along a bit - finally fitting the axle shafts and adjusting the knuckle housings. One of the bushings that I pressed in to the axle spindle proved to be a little deformed and I had to take it to a machine shop, where the machinist took .002" out and that solved the problem.

I realized that the axle spindle takes a fair bit of load, so I decided to order new mounting bolts w. washers, all 16 of them, from the local Toyota dealer. I also order caliper mounting bolts (4) and the hub selector mounting bolts (12). I'll pick them up tomorrow.

Unfortunately the 4x4Labs set up is not looking so good. There is only 1" of clearance between the top of the tie rod and the bottom of the chassis rails. That's not going to fly, and I have been on the phone with Luke Porter over at that company, and he seems very helpful. It is looking like I will send the knuckle arms back to him and get them bent down further. There is around 1.25" clearance below the tie rod and the upper part of the differential casing with the wheels turned fully to the right, so there is room to move downwards. Still, these little steps backward can be frustrating, especially now with the end in sight.

Another hour or so of welding/grinding/priming/painting and the hitch will be complete. Then I'll return to the wiring and try to button that up by the end of the week.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Hitch is finished up (I think!) I'm think of welding some side pieces to it that will help secure the spare tire a little better. Winched up to the support piece, the tire is a little too easy to tilt up and down for my liking (it's been lowered down in the third pic to give me room to fit the hitch.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Finally got the winch fairlead into epoxy paint.

The TM3 engine management device arrived today from Oz, along with an electrical fuel shut off valve. I'm looking forward to figuring out the installation.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

A few more little steps in the process. Picked some stuff from the Toyota dealer today, mostly bolts for the front hub/caliper/selector install, along with front disc axle brake hoses, and one shock tower rubber cover, which I believe was the last one in North America, at least at the Toyota warehouse in California. I tried to source it out of Japan, but they are obsolete there, same for SOR, so I was surprised to locate one through the local dealership.

I will use the one cover I got as a pattern to make one for the other fender. I can get some 0.125" rubber sheet stock at the local hose/hydraulic shop pretty cheap. Of course, I will still need to make the metal retainers that hold the shock covers to the fenders, but that should be straightforward enough.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I put the fairlead back on the winch, and bolted it down. in the first pic it looks like there are some areas where i missed in painting, though I'm pretty sure that I got it all - first thing I'll check tomorrow.

[EDIT]] No missed areas, so I guess it was some sort of camera effect.

Then I turned my attention to making a catch for the winch actuator arm spring detent. I chose to bolt it to the triangular bumper gusset instead of welding it. Made a start on it and should be able to complete it tomorrow.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Some more progress. I found a spot to mount the engine management box, on the inside of the passenger side vent cowling. There's enough room for the main air duct and the door limiter to be in place, though I won't be able to see the lights on the unit quite so easily. I also spent some time this morning adjusting the wiring diagram for the TM3. I was planning to use a normally-closed type fuel line valve (needs power to open), but I realized I could wire the VSV on the intake manifold into the system, which is a better option since shut down is much more immediate with the air cut off than the fuel cut off.