Builds HJ61 Cruiser build

[maat]

fxxx yes

 

[TLC Norway]

Last day and night on the road now, cleaned car up and blew some dust out of the air filter.
The 61 is so sweet on the road, the 12HT and 5spd really is comfortable.
Running 3.7 diffs is fine on the hwy, but 4.1s would be sweet for the slower stuff...

Got lots of vids and photos coming in a few days.

Cheers!

 

[cruiserpilot]

Do you have a locker? Have you considered lower t-case gears so you can keep 3.70's?
I have the same running gear, with a 3.0:1 t-case gear set, which helps the slow stuff a bit.
Advance Adapters have a good 4:1 low range gear set, wish I had got them instead.

 

[cruisermatt]

4.85 x 2.27 x 4.11 = 45.25

4.85 x 4.00 x 3.73 = 72.36

AA Transfer gears are $$$ but the "best" solution.

 

[TLC Norway]

Wow, sure looks like fun. Cool collection of rigs you are with. What is the one looks like an old CJ but with
a hard non-removable top? Really starting to like the 70 series.
Were you trying to drain the swamp with your bow wave? 2 Likes!

IT was a blast, so much different terrain.
And a big variation in rigs, mostly toyotas, a few jeeps and some really oddballs.
Like this "Donka Motors" Licence jeep. It does pretty well, especially after it got a Ramcharger emblem in the front!
Its really a mash-up. SsanYong produced this licenced cj7 in south Korea as the Korando.
Donka motors was the first ones on board, i think in early 80s, with a 2.2 diesel and dana toothpick axles.
Cool little ride, and very capable. I think its smaller than the cj, more robust and very nimble.
We're talking about a front axle upgrade, better ps and a engine upgrade.

 

[TLC Norway]

when your last 60 burnt I was shattered, I am glad to see the donations "we" (the mud family) and others made has got you back on your feet! love the videos dude!

Thanks, Maat. Many of the people that donated was at this event in Finland, and i was stoked to show off the 61.
Looking back, this has been a quick build through one hectic year. I haven't been lazy, i was inspired by all the people that supported us.
Even the organizers of the Lapland Trophy event donated a day for us, worth 70 euros x2 for me and my gf.
That includes a room, breakfast, 9h of trail time, dinner and insurance. Amazing.

 

[TLC Norway]

That video is awesome. You were definitely the most dramatic through there.
The truck is looking great

When i was getting down that hill before the mud, a few guys were talking on the CB that it would be an extra price for the one who drained the most water from the bog. Horns out!
And i drove that pit earlier that day, heading out, so i knew there was only round rocks and dirt bottom.
A few other pits are really deceiving, with tireslashing, metalshaving rocks in them. (will show up in later videos)

 

[TLC Norway]

A small update of stuff we got done before heading out for the summer.

Simple quarter panels in 9mm birch ply, mounted the 6x9 Kickers in them.
-and a center console to hold stuff in ammo can, drinks and coffee in cupholders, cb in front of ammo can, open storage space under ammo can. Worked out well! All in birch ply, solid and tough paint/liner.
Handbrake even made a bolstered top for the ammo box, ply+2xsleeping pads+impreza seats fabric. Awsome.

 

[TLC Norway]

-I swapped in a set of front ome shocks, from a BJ (add Nxx here) old ones were dead N88's.

-Cleaned up drums, new shoes and cylinders, adjusted and all good!

-Swapped both birfs for empi ones, and packed the spares in the quarters.

-Put cable locking front diff back in, after a couple hours of research. I found it to be all in good order, maybe a thrust washer is worn/gone on the planetary gears.

-I serviced the locking hubs, but i forgot to order o ring earlier, so just clean and lube.
Knuckles are already serviced, to i pulled them camostyle to save some time.

-Buttoned the front axle up again, and adjusted cable lengths for the lockers. now they are almost fully tightened, need to source new ones. (!)
Lockers all in good order!

-Fresh oils all over, no metal on magnets after transfer rebuild.

-I modded my old belly protection to fit, and bolted it up.
Looks low in the picture, but only has about 1/2 slope down from the crossmember. plate is a finger away from the transfer.

 

[TLC Norway]

OEM wheel cylinders are 47550-60120, for reference.

 

[maat]

beer

 

[cruiserpilot]

Your dedication to taking care of your truck puts me to shame! Very nice woodwork, especially like the console. J

 

[TLC Norway]

Your dedication to taking care of your truck puts me to shame! Very nice woodwork, especially like the console. J

thanks, I'd just wish I had a couple of extra weeks before this trip, to make things even better.
I only spent an hour of r/d on the console, 30m cut and drill, then my handbrake did the paint, upholstery and antislide/rattle mats.

Sometimes a quick and easy fix is the best fix.

I didn't have more time on hand, so quarter panels also just got pain and simple, the originals were pretty bad.

More to come

 

[TLC Norway]

Do you have a locker? Have you considered lower t-case gears so you can keep 3.70's?
I have the same running gear, with a 3.0:1 t-case gear set, which helps the slow stuff a bit.
Advance Adapters have a good 4:1 low range gear set, wish I had got them instead.

I have OEM cable lockers in both ends.
I'm leaning against keeping the 3.73's as they are perfect in my opinion on the tarmac, especially when i pump up the 12HT a tad more.
Running stock boost and fuel now, so there is quite the potential here, without going to hot on the EGTs.
I'll just do a slight fuel increase and up from .7 bar boost to about 1.1b

4.85 x 2.27 x 4.11 = 45.25

4.85 x 4.00 x 3.73 = 72.36

AA Transfer gears are $$$ but the "best" solution.

I did have a chance to try a rig with the same drivetrain as me, (mine is 4.85 x2.29 x3.73 = 41.4 ratio) over in finland.
and he did have the 4.0 AA gears. It felt like the right way to go for me.

I'll be on the lookout for a newer h55f and transfer to put it in, and do the job on the side, put it in when my clutch goes out.

 

[TLC Norway]

Back to June, and the prep before the big trip. (big as in first real offroad event with the new cruiser, a country away)

I borrowed a ESAB 220i mig with gas to do the DIY NcMara gear weld earlier, and was out of gas after that and doing the 3" exhaust. (did i post that mod up, anyway?)
Couldnt find gas within my timeframe, 1 day until takeoff, so i bought some coreshield 15 flux wire, its been years since i've used any flux core.
I chopped a couple of test scrap metal, and got to work.
Damn, shielded gas is easy... Finally got the ESAB dialed in, i think around 19.8-20.5V and 9.6m/min feed.
i find the coreshield a great wire, works in every direction, if you just fork fast enough and dont stay in the puddle for too long.

Straightened out the bent rocksliders from the previous 60, it had about a 5in banana shape to it.
Heat and jacks made them "straigt" again, and the 2" round feet came off, and i started rigging up 2" square tube to make them fit. Added guessets at the frame, welded them at the lowest point of the frame.

first foot on:

All feet on:

Last rattlecan i had, was camo green, so that's the color they got!

 

[TLC Norway]

Last bead was passed on at midnight, 4hours after departure time.

Then we arranged this super simple setup in the back, using whatever leftovers:

Note new 1/4 panels, lift gate cover, two solid boxes strapped to the floor, and the makeshift double floor with 1.1m of storage. only as high as needed, 6inches to make room for the two chairs, table, grille feet and other long tools/spares.

 

[TLC Norway]

other small fixes before departure was the battery pole that decided to explode:

So a template from a soda can was in place after some filing:

And i melted down another lead batterypole to fill in the missing piece. soldering flux and a tad of silver lead was added to the mix.

Battery pole ended up good after two fills and filings.

Only last minor issue left... Leaking radiator the shop didnt have time to fix...!
So i got to work, the torch was already warm from the battery emergency fix.
I heated the upper core fold, sucking out the old lead/tinn from the broken area and surroundings.
Filled the rad to a level witch allowed me to use alot of heat, without overheating the tubes close to it.
Put on a transparent hose on the in and outlet, so i could see what level the water was at.
After a good clean and rub, i boiled up a black mass of flux to get the tinn flowin', and added huge amounts of stilver-tinn. (i dont know the exact english term for it) and let it cool down.

(only picture i took, before soldering it back up... gotta work fast with this stuff)

So... after the cool, i added water to the top, and a cut bicycle wheel hose zip-tied to the ends. it allowed me to pressurize it up to around a bar to test for leaks. Sprayed soap and found a atom-sized hole in the center. went to work with a small amount of epoxy-steel, and it was all sealed up!! All tight! Fingers crossed, it mounted the rad, the fan and the bateries, got all the air out, and grabbed another non-alcohol beer.
4,5H after departure time.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

It didn't even occur to me that you could re-solder the tanks on the radiator yourself. Awesome!

 

[TLC Norway]

Next post we actually got around to driving the cruiser, for the first time in about a month! i just gotta sort out the pictures.

 

[TLC Norway]

It didn't even occur to me that you could re-solder the tanks on the radiator yourself. Awesome!

Well, i think this was a bit luck-based... I have soldered radiators before, but just minor leaks, not whole tanks.

5h after departure time, we could actually depart!!!
So we loaded the cruiser up, and last second thoughts reminded me to bring the spare.
And i didnt have a plan for it. It went on the RTT. I'm already driving around with a spare from my last set, and 3xSTT's. The spare needed a spare, so i strapped it to the highest point i could find.

Anyway, we were supposed to hook up at first camp with 5 friends, and we got a line on them, only two were on the road, one hour ahead of us. We were going to meet up in the bush, near a lake we all know just after crossing the Finnish border.
Driving in the night was awsome, cruiser did great and for the first time i got to really enjoy the powerband of the 12HT in a fully loaded Cruiser. Passing the border with the midnight sun low in the windshield made us both forget all the long days, hazzle and stress of getting the rig back together.
I was not very confident of my radiator fix at the time, so i stopped often to check for leaks, and water level. Everything was all good, it just ran cooler than before, waay cooler. During the last month a new temp-sensor was put into the t-stat housing, belts were new, rad was cleaned... I suddenly remembered that I forgot to put in the thermostat after the 3-4 flushes of the cooling system. That explained the fact that it ran so cool. I always stash a t-stat and cap with the spareparts, so all good.
The remainig 3 of our convoy of 6 rigs decided to sleep at home, and meet up at camp next day.
We put in the coordinates to the camp as we crossed the border, and had a good laugh when we got there!

The hilux (that i built a couple years back) was already off the trailer, to tow his own Navara up that bank. And then my mate SW pulled up in the 200 and the trailer dug down hard in the sand on the passenger side. Doesent look all that steep, but it was. All the gizmos and power of the V8 could not pull the trailer with the 88 BJ70 loose.
Hilux towed 200, and i hooked the 60 up to the hilux. Nothing happened, the trailer was stuck. Going back was not an option! SW considered backing off the 70, but me and Cas (hilux owner) was determined we could pull him loose. No. It didnt move, and all the birch around us were too small to use as anchors, we just spun out in the sand.
Until the biggest brainfart revealed itself. SW had put the handbrake on the trailer (because he planned to take the 70 off, and forgot to take the handbrake off.
Solving that brainfart, and we pulled him up easily.
Trip started out fine!! 2x stuck after just 5 hours into the roadtrip.

We camped, laughed and had a good time as the sun was going up, and lit a smokey fire to keep the mosquito away.
We were drooling all over the BJ70 that SW had beautifully restored and beefed up during the last year. Regeared, ARB'd, OME'd, Overhauled, Upgraded brakes, bumpers, @lcwizard u-bolt flip'ed, and all the good stuff. Clean rig, capable and smooth. Only reason for trailering it, was that he hadnt put any miles on it, didnt wanna dial in everything on the first 10 hours of highway.
Next day, things were about to get ugly.