Builds Last of the BJs: 1989 GEN BJ60 restoration, 15B-T swap (1 Viewer)

[Eurasiaoverland]

Going in. I'm using the old bearing race to space out the tube and also protect the fifth gear splines from the edge of the tube:

Done!

Very, very happy to complete this step. It's all downhill from here.

Hard to see in this picture but the bearing is hard against the first gear thrust washer, as it should be:

All looking good in there:

Fifth gear (original piece!) is installed with the same tool and goes on much more easily than the output shaft centre bearing:

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission assembly 7

I drew the new input shaft bearing on with the Kukko puller and my old transfer output shaft gear which conveniently presses on the centre rase of the bearing. I then put on a new snap ring with the snap ring pliers.

Then time for these nice new pieces:

Grease the 17 rollers and add them into the output shaft recess in the input shaft. I love how they make a semi free-standing arch in there.

Add the synchroniser ring:

Then tap the input shaft into the transmission case. This should not require much force. Make sure the cutouts on the synchroniser ring align with the keys onthe shift hub:

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission assembly 8

The input/output shaft should now turn freely without rumbling (make sure you have clearance from the countershaft):

Next, the countershaft bearings:

Invert the transmission case and with an assistant holding a lump hammer against the other end of the shaft, drive in the front countershaft bearing with a socket:

And the rear in the same manner (taking off the protective tape!). I then tried a couple of snap ring sizes on the front bearing. The standard -30214 (marked '0') still had some clearance with a feller gague, so I went up to -30216 (marked '2') which went on perfectly.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission assembly 9

Now for counter fifth gear. I'm adding a new shift sleeve and keys to the original gear.

Install the output shaft centre bearing retainer, add the counter fifth gear thrust washer retaining pin and counter fifth gear thrust washer:

Add a new counter fifth gear needle roller bearing, stick the two halves to the shaft with MP grease:

Take your assembled counter fifth gear cluster and the assembled shift fork and shaft...:

...and install:

EO

 

[John Young]

Your transmission work is quite inspiring. Not sure I wouldn't be tempted to buy an entirely new gearbox!

 

[cruisermatt]

beautiful job on the rebuild. I wonder if the R452 fifth gear can be fitted the same I have done in R151's.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Your transmission work is quite inspiring. Not sure I wouldn't be tempted to buy an entirely new gearbox!

Thanks! Yes, a new gearbox would have been a touch cheaper were I in the US/Australia, but the shiping out here would kill it. With a new gearbox I'd have brand new fifth/counter fifth gears (no longer available as separate items from Toyota, though my originals were thankfully in great condition), but it would not have been as satisfying. That said, I would still have had to partially strip the gearbox to add my BJ input shaft.

beautiful job on the rebuild. I wonder if the R452 fifth gear can be fitted the same I have done in R151's.

Thanks Matt! R452? I'm afraid you've lost me here!

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission assembly 10

If I thought it was going to be a downhill coast from doing the output shaft centre bearing, here was a minor uphill to deal with - installing the fifth gear shift hub.

The new pieces:

The FSM tells you to hammer on the fifth gear shift hub while an assistant hold the lump hammer against the front of the countershaft. Unfortunately, the force required to drive on a new hub was more than my assistant could hold up against, which required a lot of hammering. Had I been a bit more patient I would have rigged up some sort of brace for the front of the shaft, but I persisted with the hammer.

If you are re-using the counter fifth gear and counter fifth gear thrust washer, you can use a feeler gague to check when the hub is fully seated (by comparing with your pre-disaassembly value, which of course you measured...). Mine was not fully home until I torqued up the rear countershaft lock nut to 127 Nm.

Once the nut is torqued (make sure to torque it one final time after the hub is fully seated), stake it with a small flat punch (not a chisel or screwdriver) to make a neat job.

Then add a front bearing retainer gasket. I put a light smear of silicone on the face which goes against the transmission as some idiot had previously marked it with their shoddy work trying to remove the front countershaft bearing.

Remember to put threadlock on the bolts, then bolt down the retainer with a new oil seal in.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission assembly 11

Next, slide on the output shaft rear bearing spacer:

Put on a new output shaft rear bearing:

I made a shorter tube in the same style as the output shaft centre bearing tool, only without a lock pin as I figured if the output shaft turned, I could just double mesh the gears (put it in e.g. third and first at the same time). In the end, the shaft did not turn much.

This bearing is tight, and it was hard work to get it on. The main problem was in fact my tool. I had not got the pressing end of the pipe perfectly flush, so it tended to move off-centre and I realised too late that the resistance I was feeling was the washer at the rear of the pipe scraping down the threads of the drag link end. Oh for a lathe! Still, we got there in the end, using a variety of bits to space the tool out. I could have made a longer pipe but I will need this tool again to press on the trandfer input gear later on.

Almost there! It might seem like the bearing could just be hammered on, but I would be concerned that the blows might work the output shaft centre bearing and fifth gear unknowingly down the shaft. The FSM stipulates a thrust clearance check of first gear after this stage to be sure this has not happened. With a tool like this of course (prescribed by the FSM), there is no chance of this happening.

Done:

Here it can be seen that the shorter splines of the output shaft leave a smooth section of shaft immediately behind the output shaft rear bearing where an O-ring seals the nose of the transfer input gear.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission assembly 12

Now just easy stuff to complete the transmission build. One thing I see often ahppening is people forgetting the counter fifth gear oiler. I think this is because the FSM does not metion it, presumably becasue the earliest H55Fs did not have one.

I also think there is a lot of nonsense around about this oiler. My transmission, with probably half a million kms on (I don't know when the H41 was swapped for an H55F, but it would not have been new when it was swapped in anyway) did not have one, yet counter fifth gear was about the only moving piece of the gearbox which was not junked. So for sure, it is not vitally important. I also read that this cup 'drips' oil into the countershaft. You need only look at the transmission from behind to see that the back of the countershaft will be submerged in oil, unless a very large quantity is in movement around the transmission. The oiler is, in my opinion, there to catch oil running down the front of the transfer case and direct it into the countershaft, which might otherwise bypas the shaft. I don't however believe they had complex computer models in the 1980s to deal with the tribological fluid dynamics of the transmission... so it was probably a guess. It also has no seal with the end of the countershaft, so the oil might just creep around the spout and leave the shaft if the venturi from the turning countershaft is not strong (and the gear will be static on the shaft when the transmission is in fifth gear). I'm not convinced it does anything at all.

Anyway, here you can see what it would look like when installed.

Add your transmission to extension housing gasket, with a thin smear of silicone if your machined surfaces are not absolutely perfect:

Slide on the extension housing, making sure to catch the fifth gear shift fork shaft:

Then bolt on the front transfer case housing and torque the bolts to press the three sections together. The FSM is wrong here in which bolt needs threadlock - it's the one next to the transfer idler shaft bore which starts inside the transfer case and ends on the outside of the transmission. The others either start and end internally or start and end externally. If you were very fussy about oil transfer you might put threadlock on the top two bolts, but the creeping oil leak would in my mind be trivial, so I did not bother:

Add the fifth gear detent ball, spring and plug. Some idiot had previously chewed up the plug and those f***er accountants at Toyota decided to stop producing it, so I had to re-use it. Luckily it torqued up OK. One common issue with high mileage H55Fs is popping out of fifth gear, so I put in a new spring, even though the old one was probably OK.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission cover assembly 1

I forgot to add this before the transmission assembly, so will add it here as an aside to the step where the FSM add the top cover to the transmission. No pictures of the disassembly as this was done a long time ago.

The metal pins in my original top cover were slightly loose, so I decided to replace the whole cover, while it is still available. Note that it comes as a completely plain cover with none of the blanking plugs:

The quality of the casting is horrible. You can see what look like cracks in the mould and these were very high and pronounced with crumbly alloy, maybe even sand. I went over it with an abrasive pad and even fine emery paper around the shifter turret. My original was far better quality. I really despair the degradation in quality of things these days.

Add a new fifth gear shift shaft oil seal:

Look at the quality of finish around the edges of the casting (that was not me!):

Now turn the cover over to start assembly:

Add the reverse restrict pin and secure it with a spring pin:

Then add the 10 mm Welch plug to the top of the cover. I had to wait to borrow a Torx socket to get the top threaded plug. I do wonder what kind of cognitive process led the engineers to think that on a whole vehicle thankfully devoid of Torx fasteners (leave them for German cars please), this hole needed one. Perhaps as securitiy to stop ill-prepared saboteurs from removing your reverse restrict pin while you sleep???

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission cover assembly 2

Take the transmission shifter socket, head and shaft and install them, using threadlock on the lock bolts:

Now take the first-second shift shaft, shift head and shift fork. Add the spring and detent ball to the housing, slide in the shaft through the head and fork, then lock the head and fork with spring pins. Finally, the interlock roller (which stops multiple gears being selected simultaneously) into the housing:

Now for the third-fourth shift assembly:

Add the detent spring, ball, then shaft and fork. Secure the fork with the spring pin, and add the interlock roller to the case.

Then take the reverse shift fork shaft and arm, detent ball and spring, and the fifth-reverse shift head with interlock detent balls, interlock roller and interlock pin. Note that my copy of the FSM forgets to tell you to add the interlock roller.

Once those are installed, take the fifth shift shaft, detent ball and spring. The fifth shift shaft goes through the fifth-reverse shift head installed in the previous step.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission cover assembly 3

All the shafts and associated paraphernalia are now in place, time for the finishing touches.

Add the three E rings and one snap ring to the shafts. I must admit I reused my E-rings... make sure they are tight as all sorts of nastiness would ensue of one were to fly off during a spritied gear shift!

That's everything inside the cover:

Add the plug for the interlock roller bore. Toyota no longer produce this so I had to re-use.

Add the fifth shift shaft boot:

And the shift lever seat:

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Transmission cover assembly 4

Now for the Welch plugs. Before adding them all, I took a look at how the reverse light sensor works:

Just along there is the casting provision for another sensor, which is not drilled or tapped on this cover. Some Japanese 60s came with something called a 'shift point indicator' sensor, which was activated by the third-fourth shift shaft, presumable when the transmission is in 4th gear. I can't think what use this would possible be.

Time to finish the Welch plugs. Front:

...and rear:

Now time to use my home-made SST to torque the reverse light sensor into the case cover and it's ready to install later on.

That's basically it for the transmission. In due course I shall tackle the transfer assembly.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

HVAC - Heater box 1

Although I try to focus on 'critical path' work, i.e. parts that are essential to putting the car back together into a running state, occasionally I focus on secondary items, particularly if I'm sick of seeing the parts lying around. Those who have read through the earliest posts on this thread will know that because this model of BJ60 was only sold in tropical SE Asia, it never came equipped with a heater. The blower motor had been tampered with and there was never A/C fitted to the vehicle from factory. This meant I needed to source used parts of all these and the ebst market by far would be Australia. Time to call an old friend...

Back in summer 2009, during the school holidays, I took a bus up to the far north of Pakistan to escape the terrible heat down in Hyderabad where I was briefly living at the time. I was doing an engine rebuild in the Hilux so was up there with just a backpack. I had the good fortune to bump into an Andrew and Amelia, and British/Australian couple who were travelling in a 1989 HJ60 from the UK to Australia (or perhaps the other way around... I forget). We sepent a few days travelling around together; I showed them some places in the north that I knew, some that I didn't, and they drove me around. I once got to drive their Landcruiser and remember how much heavier and less car-like it felt compared to my Hilux. And that 6-cylinder diesel purr...

Here on a stop on the road to Shimshal, a long, narrow single-track clinging to a vertical cliff face high, high above the Shimshal river. Not a track for the faint of heart. Sadly I have no picture that does it justice, but here is the Landcruiser at least!

Anyway, now living in Perth, Western Australia, I got back in touch with Andrew and asked if he could hold some parcels for me. Foolishly, he said yes, and then his garage started to fill up. When a colleague was moving from Perth to Brunei with an almost empty shipping container, it was an opportunity too good to miss.

Amongst the bits that arrived were all the HVAC parts - here factory heater unit complete with heater core and pipes, and a factory blower unit.

Australia is a treasure trove of used Landcruiser parts. So eventually my parcels became boxes and boxes of used Landcruiser 60 parts, two engine stands and an engine crane...

...packed in Andrew's Subaru.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

HVAC - Heater box 2

Unlike the blower motor and A/C evaporator units, in the case of the heater unit I was able to re-use my original. All it needed were the heater core, pipes and any associated clamps or brackets from the Australian donor.

First thing was to dismantle the heater box, clean the plastic and renew all the flaking foam on the paddle doors. The foam can be scraped off, but the glue would not budge with anything weaker than dichloromethane (methylene chloride).

After cleaning:

Cleaned plastic cam arms:

Assembled linkages:

The heater resistor in my original heater box had been bodged with new resistor coils and the resistor from the donor box looked somehow past its prime, so I treated the heater unit to a new Denso resistor, which was less than US$10 in Japan:

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

HVAC - Heater box 4

The all-important heater core seemed to have some possible leaks around the joints with the pipes that go through the bulkhead. They look like the kind of connections which don't like being touched, but I'm going to try anyway. Leaks from the heater core once the car is assembled would be infuriating.

A touch of corrosion on the ports, but otherwise the heater core appears to be almost perfect.

Pipes look pretty fine too. The all-important C-clips, which cannot be purchased, survived removal with no damage or distortion that I can see. The corrosion on the joints is quite clear though, and I can well imagine they would have leaked. The O-rings are fine and still feel surprisingly supple, but will of course be replaced.

Time for some citric acid cleaning.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

HVAC - Heater box 3

Apologies, a little out of order here.

Assembling the halves of the box with the recovered directional air doors. Since there was no heater in the original heater box, this big bypass door which switches air flow to/around the heater core came from the Australian box. The original box even had a rubber piece to plug up the hinge hole for the door. Same for the white plastic insert which is involved in directing air to the foot-level register.

Top half

Originally, the box had a blanking piece over the aperture for the heater core, which I have removed. Feels odd to screw those pipe clamp screws into previously unused holes.

The original box had no foot-level register, so new plastic rivets are on hand:

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

HVAC - Heater box 5

The brasswork cleaned up nicely, the metal has a nice shine but is pitted from corrosion:

New O-rings are on hand:

I put the tiniest smear of Permatex Ultra Black RTV where the O-ring seats, but not on the O-ring. Just enough to make the surface sticky:

Pushing the pipes into the ports of the core, the C clips push on and make a satisfying snap as the seat:

Very happy with that.

EO

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

HVAC - Heater box 6

Finished. (Actually sharp-eyed watchers will notice that some of the spring steel clips which hold the box together and clamp the cables in position are missing - I am still overthinking whether to clean them in acid or by electrolysis....).

I'm not so keen on the silver spray paint approach, bubt Toyota left these pieces in bare steel, so I need to improve on that. Zinc plating would be great, but it's not available here in Brunei and well, maybe a bit OTT for something that will rarely be seen.

I've used silicone grease on the plastic moving parts. Not sure if that is a good long-term idea... any opinions? I wanted to avoid spray white grease for fear of making the plastic brittle over time, but the original factory grease was white and probably lithium/oil based...

The new foot register:

Heater core looks great. Far better than the A/C evaporator (coming soon).

New resistor:

Somehow I have dedicated six posts to the heater box...

EO