learning to wrench: an impulse purchase (1 Viewer)

[archatom]

Hi all, bought an fj60 this weekend. Ill post some pics below. I got her for 4k, and after some time this weekend im thinking i might have overpayed! oh well. Im looking forward to learning a bit more about these trucks. Im not quite mechanically inclined, but i like to do things myself, and i know a lot of swear words for when things go wrong. My goal is to get the truck back into a presentable position, and get that 2F in top notch shape. The truck has pretty much sat around the last few years. although it did get driven here and there are some weird things going on.

you cant see here but there is a wire ran off the fusebox. looks like it goes into the radio. the antenna is different and im wondering if its something with that. I will be replacing the stereo and speakers here. they are on the shortlist og less functional things.

both these gaskets need to be changed i think. from what ive read i think this is the rear main seal and the oil pan seal. although im hoping the gaskets well a bit after the fresh oil change i did and driving it around a bit. Still these are what worry me the most at the moment. The speedo isnt working. and you can see the cable here is in pretty rough shaped. bought a new one, and ill pull the cluster later this week. the rear main seal doesnt seem to be leaking. maybe its the gearbox gasket? unsure.. any thoughts?

I am wondering if anyone knows what this random cable is (will attach in the comments. looks like i can only hit 5 photos right now). its the underside of the truck about halfway back there is a lone cable coming down the only thing close to it is a line going to the rear diff.

 

[OSS]

Every gasket and oil seal on the vehicle is about 40 years old - they all leak a bit by now.
I’d clean up all the grime to get things clean looking then you’ll be able to spot the source of the oil leaks better.
While unsightly and potentially annoying if you’ve got steady drips marking your driveway or garage, a grimey, oily underside is actually better for an old vehicle than all clean and dry metal — because the grime is an excellent rust preventer.

 

[PBcuiser]

Welcome to the madness!

As long as you dont have any massive holes in the frame or body, running and driving for 4k does seem too bad!

Good call with doing oil change first. Highly recommend doing transmission, transfer case and diffs as well just to get a sense of the truck and to be sure they are running clean oil.

Hose coming off the axel near the diff looks like the diff breather, you could replace it with a length of fuel line or vacuum hose. There should be a little protective cap on the other end of the line.

I would also recommend a thorough check of the braking system, check rotors, pads, drums and shoes, possibly replace the soft lines and bleed it.

Procedure for all of the above is detail in the factory service manual (FSM) which you can find PDF versions of on the forum. This will be your bible!

 

[archatom]

Every gasket and oil seal on the vehicle is about 40 years old - they all leak a bit by now.
I’d clean up all the grime to get things clean looking then you’ll be able to spot the source of the oil leaks better.
While unsightly and potentially annoying if you’ve got steady drips marking your driveway or garage, a grimey, oily underside is actually better for an old vehicle than all clean and dry metal — because the grime is an excellent rust preventer.

thanks for the reply! luckily my driveway needs to be redone at some point in the future! im going to monitor the oil levels as well and see how much im leaking. How hard do you think it is for a beginner to change out those seals? others on this thread make it seem like its a pita.

 

[archatom]

Welcome to the madness!

As long as you dont have any massive holes in the frame or body, running and driving for 4k does seem too bad!

Good call with doing oil change first. Highly recommend doing transmission, transfer case and diffs as well just to get a sense of the truck and to be sure they are running clean oil.

Hose coming off the axel near the diff looks like the diff breather, you could replace it with a length of fuel line or vacuum hose. There should be a little protective cap on the other end of the line.

I would also recommend a thorough check of the braking system, check rotors, pads, drums and shoes, possibly replace the soft lines and bleed it.

Procedure for all of the above is detail in the factory service manual (FSM) which you can find PDF versions of on the forum. This will be your bible!

there are a couple of rusty spots that are going to need to get taken care of. driver side rear wheel rocker panel rusted through the bottom. i see there are some available panels out there, but i dont think they include that pinch weld so im a little concerned about that. there also doesnt seem to be very many mods that add some fender flare or something like the jeeps do. I cant even find any good pics of people who may have done that for big tires or something.

the first thing i did was download that manual! thanks for pointing it out again. a lot of people in other started threads got pointed that way.

 

[884runner]

I agree with the above that you should check the brakes out. very likely that rotors, calipers, pads, shoes, wheel cylinders etc are very old and need replacing. Also likely that the front knuckles are leaking and need work. I started with stuff like this and it helped me gain confidence to do more mechanical/engine work plus it will make it drive better and safer. Good luck with it!

 

[onemanarmy]

yea...most people don't cut and mod fenders for big tires on older Land Cruisers.....these aren't dime a dozen Heeps

looks to be unmolseted under the hood.....which is a great starting point.

And yes, every single gasket and seal is leaking on that thing. Big jobs to do them all, but pretty straight forward if you have hte the time and tools

 

[archatom]

yea...most people don't cut and mod fenders for big tires on older Land Cruisers.....these aren't dime a dozen Heeps

looks to be unmolseted under the hood.....which is a great starting point.

And yes, every single gasket and seal is leaking on that thing. Big jobs to do them all, but pretty straight forward if you have hte the time and tools

yeah im pretty determined to get all those done and getting the 2f back into performing shaped. i am nervous about it though. im good with general car maintenance, but as far as more technical stuff like this im sure ill make some mistakes along the way.

ill look into the brakes asap. the oil leaking seems to be pretty self sustaining and but ill have to clean up the undercarriage a bit and see where things are the worst. probably will take a weekend and do a bulk of them. good info on this forum of others doing the same thing.

 

[Pighead]

thanks for the reply! luckily my driveway needs to be redone at some point in the future! im going to monitor the oil levels as well and see how much im leaking. How hard do you think it is for a beginner to change out those seals? others on this thread make it seem like its a pita.

Before I'd rush into an oilpan gasket renew, which is almost a PITA, I might put a socket (probably 12mm) on all those oilpan bolts and snug them up. Feel how many of them seem too loose.

 

[archatom]

Before I'd rush into an oilpan gasket renew, which is almost a PITA, I might put a socket (probably 12mm) on all those oilpan bolts and snug them up. Feel how many of them seem too loose.

roger captain. ill give that a go. are they supposed to be torqued to certain pressure? ive heard tightening too much can cause the gasket thats in there to splay. its raining out today so no work on the cruiser for me. but i am shopping. got a period correct stereo and speakers on the way as well. looking for headlights now. also doing some research on the brakes. want to make sure all the safety stuff is squared away[

 

[bcolvin]

Before I'd rush into an oilpan gasket renew, which is almost a PITA, I might put a socket (probably 12mm) on all those oilpan bolts and snug them up. Feel how many of them seem too loose.

Just make sure to follow the torque specs or you will definitely be leaking. It is something in the ball park of 80 inch pounds (definitely look this up).

 

[Pighead]

are they supposed to be torqued to certain pressure? ive heard tightening too much can cause the gasket thats in there to splay.

I'm sure there is a recommended torque spec for those bolts, I don't know what it is and I don't have a torque wrench that small. One hand on the center of the ratchet and just snug it up is how I do it. You can squeeze that gasket out the sides if you go too tight but that's more often right after installation before the gasket cement has time to dry thoroughly.

 

[archatom]

Well, ive been plucking away at some stuff. Currently the dash is out and im trying to figure out the stereo install and upgrade the door speakers as well as add a couple extra speakers in the back as ive seen some do. apparently this is going to be a bigger project than i thought! lots of content on this site, but there is a lot of dead links for mounting brackets and the like. Anyone know of some good mounting options? ill take a look in the classifieds here in a minute. Otherwise i saw a couple people had 3d printed them, if anyone has a link to any plans or would be willing to send them to me let me know also!

Also had a bit of a grinding noise when i was throwing it in reverse. i took the transmission fill plug out and a ton of gear oil came out. im thinking that someone couldnt get the bolt free and filled it from the top. It was over filled by a good half a quart or more. After I drained a bit of that out she is shifting good!

Also switched out the spark plugs. I just went with the coppers NGK, although those iridium ones seem great, i bet these are going to be fine until i need to change them again. check out the pics for how sooted up they were.

Ive got a camping trip coming up at the end of october. its about an hour and a half away. need to get the headlights, all the bulbs changed and stereo installed by then. wish me luck!

 

[archatom]

Ive also got my eyes on some bmw e30 heated seats. no promises yet!

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

I’m no expert…..

Re your overfilled transmission, it may be the seal on the output shaft. The good news is there’s an inexpensive “fix.” Or maybe it’s just overfilled. Hear’s a place to start reading Theory - Extra oil in transmission and low in transfer case - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/theory-extra-oil-in-transmission-and-low-in-transfer-case.813362/

 

[Bryan062087]

Check your transfer case oil level. Gear oil could be migrating between the transfer case and transmission and vice versa. At one point in time there was an equalizer hose you could buy that would connect the two via the fill plugs.

EDIT -- Sorry, the poster above seems to have beat me to it.

It's the inner seal between the transmission and transfer case which, as the post above indicates, rides around the output shaft of the transmission. If it is bad, you can use the bypass hose or replace it with a double-lipped FJ62 seal. Replacing it requires a significant teardown.

More information about the bypass hose and some apparent dangers of using it. Transmission to Transfer Case By Pass Hose Concern - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/transmission-to-transfer-case-by-pass-hose-concern.912445/

 

[archatom]

Yep that seems to be the case. the gear oil level was a bit low in the gearbox. good info there. im going to have to tear down and replace a bunch of the seals at this point. everyone has been warning me that its a huge pain. But how is the technical requirement? outside of fairly basics mechanical stuff i havent done a ton. but i did get the landcruiser to get my hands dirty with some of that.
thanks again for the info guys!!

 

[archatom]

fyi found the 3d print files here... ended up already buying metal torfab mount already though... damn

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

New FJ60 Owner + Stereo Install

First, thanks to everyone for the great content here. I’m a new FJ60 owner, but my background in mechanical engineering and automotive. It’s been really fun learning this truck through the factory manual and the mountains of info here. I’m the second owner of my 85’ and I feel a ton of...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[archatom]

More progress this week. Got the speedo put in properly. the old one had snapped off in the last 1.5inches or so, hoping that will fix my speedo issue!

as far as the stereo goes. still not installed, but im thinking tomorrow ill be finished up. Then a test cruise for an hour and a half to make sure shes good for the journey up north.


installed a small amp on the inside of the das(kicker key 200.4) got a couple kicker speakers in the front, and i ran lines to the back although im not sure that ill have time to make some boxes for them in the trunk area. I saw another guy recessed them and just made perforations in the card to let the sound through. i think that ill go that route.
I did go through and clean everything behind the dash. Im sure no one has done that before. I am still a bit confused on some of the wiring. PO had some wire going into a clip snipped. ill have to see if i can find the picture.. anyone heres some more pics.

 

[batthewmrown]

Yep that seems to be the case. the gear oil level was a bit low in the gearbox. good info there. im going to have to tear down and replace a bunch of the seals at this point. everyone has been warning me that its a huge pain. But how is the technical requirement? outside of fairly basics mechanical stuff i havent done a ton. but i did get the landcruiser to get my hands dirty with some of that.
thanks again for the info guys!!

It's a pretty straightforward job to reseal your t-case and trans, it's just heavy components and the clearances are tight. You'll need a jack and some pretty tall stands, first of all, but while it's out you can address the rear main seal, clutch, pilot and throwout bearings, and a few other bits and bobs. It's been documented pretty extensively on Mud. Main thing is to keep all your bolts well organized because that's about 95% of what that task is, just removing bolts.