Build Let's Baseline my new to me 1993 Land Cruiser

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@Fj80oregon, It’s on the list as it is getting worse (slowly).

@LINUS, I have some worries about trailhead vandals as well. Ecogroovy or Oldschool its not hard to dig a little hole, my seven year old can manage it, but I think he’s more qualified for being outside than quite a few adults. That being said he has had to suffer endless lessons and stories about wilderness travel and etc. I‘ll try and be patient, but I’ve stepped in people poop too many times teaching in the woods to be polite.
 
PNWTreeOctopus said:
@FMC80, Your advice is well put and I appreciate it. So far every time I’ve actually stopped crying and started the project it’s been so much less daunting...and usually pretty fun. ITs just the sheer number of little things that tend to weigh on me, then I remember I didn’t buy a 2021 200 series, but rather a 1993 80 series so its all appropriate.

@baldilocks, that’s a good way to look at it. It also means a lot from you as I reflect upon the scale of your project and the massive amount of time and no doubt cash that it took to accomplish. It’s good to have y’all cheering me on!

Now as far as caster, I had an e-mail exchange with the folks at Torfab down in Everett, and they recommended plates or radius arms. I can’t really tell if this is a project I can tackle on my own. I’m leaning towards plates since they much more economical, but there is no doubt that the delta radius arms wold be an excellent solution. I only have some old alignment data from the limited records the PO provided for me, I’ve never had it checked out. I realize that getting some numbers is step 1. Ive looked at the Ironman plates, the Dobinson’s, and the land tank plates. I was thinking that process would roughly be something like taking of the radius arms and having new bushings pressed in, then installing the castor plates into the radius arms with the fresh Toyota bushings. I’m not a welder, so I think for all these solutions I would need someone to finish the plate install with a little bit of welding. It seems like there are huge amounts of forces that could be applied to this part of the vehicle so getting it right seems critical.

Improving highway manners is a top priority so that Mrs. TreeOctopus can drive it without me being worried on the 3500 mile trip.

Thanks for the encouragement folks, I’ll try and keep things entertaining.
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I’m in the middle of a lift and also studied up
On castor, I am going delta all day! Dave has great customer service and has been walking me threw doing it the right way. After I am done lifting I will Get a alignment and send him the data and he will guide me to the correct set up. Good luck
 
PNWTreeOctopus said:
Correct, I according to the limited receipts I have from the PO, lift is an ome with heavy springs, but no castor correction-bushings are just regular ones.
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Castor plates would serve that lift well. If you were closer I would assist with the plates.
 
I just had so much fun tracking down an electrical issues: the two low stop light were apparently not functioning.
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I even inspected the bulb...both looked intact. Went exploring with the EWD I bought. Found the right connector in the inner rear quarter panel. Checked the ground, cleaned the ground. Checked the fuses. Nothing wrong. Started to grab the multi-meter for a safari into the unknown, but thought that I might try and open up the bulb housing and see if it was just this rare direct spring sunlight that I am unaccustomed to. And, it’s just a burned out bulb on the right side, which I couldn’t see because I’m in my partial shade driveway. :doh:. This is my NSS trauma resurfacing. This Land Cruiser is an excellent teacher.
 
But let me tell you, it wa so efficient to look into this with my paper EWD. Best $35 for the cruiser ever. I really only wasted about 25 minutes, including cleaning the ground with some sand paper.
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Don’t you just love the simple things that are so easily overlooked? I hate to admit this but as you may recall, when I was going through my wiring, I ended up ripping a ton of it out. I took it for a drive and recognized the extra fast tick, tick, tick when I engaged my turning signal. Turned out my rear lights were not working at all. I freaked out thinking I jacked up the wiring. I’m not very saavy with troubleshooting electrical issues. So I went and ripped out the panels and went over my work 6-9 times and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I phoned a friend and he came over and in 6.9 seconds immediately recognized I hadn’t plugged in the wiring harness. Doh! My excuse is it was during exercise week and I was very deprived of sleep. 😏

Anyway, glad you got it sorted. By the way, how are those drawers you made working out?
 
Hundreds of miles of dirt and gravel later...

And I’m home with the Cruiser in one piece. I’ll post up a brief trip report soon along with some photos/ glamor shots. But highlights were in no particular order:
  • Never running out of gas
  • Bumming a grease gun off a friend’s neighbor while in Bend for tacos to help my squeaky u-joint
  • Getting through on an old track obscured by sand dunes over Big Sand Gap on the far side of the Alvord Desert.
  • Finding eleventy-million pieces of agate and jasper for the rock tumbler.
  • Using a not so fine layer of dust as sunscreen
  • Wild horses
  • Pronghorn Antelope
  • Drams of whisky with my wife in the 19 degree starlight looking at UFO’s....later identifies as “army jets” by me because whisky at 4,500’ works better than at sea level.
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more later including the inevitable repairs.
 
Ok, I promised more of a trip report, but life with family compresses all time (in a good way) so it will have to wait. I'll offer up a couple of photographs. But we will be back to baselining soon, because all that washboard revealed some issues that need addressing.

Desert Playa Glamor Shot (now you can look up my License plate and send me fan mail--or money)
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Just before Whiskey Hour...which is when temps shift from about 60 degrees to about 20 degrees in an hour. Also before I observed "UFO's" Note whiskey's glowing golden aura on the tailgate.
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Unnamed Track out of Big Sand Gap (look it up) heading SE towards the Trout Creek Mountains, and the most fun Ive had in my Land Cruiser to date! This was after a short sand dune climb, and before several other sandy sections. We had no idea if we could get through to the BLM Willow Creek Hot Springs campground, would we encounter washouts, mud pits, Locked gates? The track was only on a 15 year old top map and and a BLM map. Now, remember I'm running open diffs, 315 general grabbers and eleventy hundred pounds of kids, dogs and whiskey. I aired down to about 25 psi and the cruiser just went where I wanted it to go. Granted the two sand dunes that required climbing encouraged me to approach with speed to the squealing delight of my passengers (or possibly screaming in fear). Cruiser rallied up the sand without a worry. We even made it across a huge hole where somebody had gotten very bogged down in the deep sand. I though I would also get stuck, but no worries. I never needed my knockoff Treds. I know this isn't anything difficult in the realm of wheeling, but for my mild family adventure vehicle and my level of off-road driving experience, I was more than satisfied. Despite my 27 year old bushings, Mrs. TreeOctopus and I agreed that the LC is really comfortable for exploring these old roads, way more comfortable than the old 1st get 4runner we took to SE Oregon 20 years ago. Anyhow this photo sums it up for me--a lonesome track heading to unknown points beyond.

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And after all those sand dunes it's a couple hours of track SE towards the Whitehorse Creek Ranch and the Trout Creek Mountains. It was very dusty and very windy. It would be brutal in the summer heat, but it was a comfortable 65 during the day and a chilly 19 at night. Despite the mild conditions this cow was dead and blocking the track. This track exited and entered a seasonal drainage and this cow was at the entrance of a huge dried (maybe) muddy hole. When it rains in SE Oregon, which is infrequent, the roads simply turn to bogs.


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So that's a Cruiser oriented highlight reel from the trip, I wish I took more photos, but I was just too busy having fun.:flipoff2:
 
So my radiator is weeping coolant, and I’m planning a deeper coolant system overhaul. Current plan is:
  • New Radiator, 93-94 TRAD
  • New Heater Control valve (PM)
  • T-stat (~2 years old)
  • T-Stat o-ring
  • Water pump (no issues, but this is my moment to get a fresh one in there
  • Little cooling hoses under intake manifold (sounds like a PITA)
Since the Radiator will be out this is a great time to deal with my oil pump oring, and front main seal. I’m also planning on replacing the power steering Reservoir and hoses below them. I have the parts for a PS pump rebuild. I need a bearing to finish the job. I also have a set of new belts to put on.

What am I missing?
 
Looks like a good plan and you've covered all the bases for this job. I assume you're replacing all the associated radiator hoses as well.
 
Here’s the thing, I replaced the hoses with my thermostat in May 2019. I could get a new set, but it feels kinda over the top. Maybe 7k on the hoses? I’m torn about that. The OCD part of me wants it all to be on the same time stamp, the pragmatic part of me knows that they are all fine and will last longer than many other parts of the truck.
 
PNWTreeOctopus said:
Here’s the thing, I replaced the hoses with my thermostat in May 2019. I could get a new set, but it feels kinda over the top. Maybe 7k on the hoses? I’m torn about that. The OCD part of me wants it all to be on the same time stamp, the pragmatic part of me knows that they are all fine and will last longer than many other parts of the truck.
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I figured that was the case; you don’t seem to be the type to short cut anything. I wouldn’t change them out again. BTW, what are you using for the crank case to hold it while torquing? I am considering grabbing up OTRAMMs tool but undecided yet.
 
FMC80 said:
I figured that was the case; you don’t seem to be the type to short cut anything. I wouldn’t change them out again. BTW, what are you using for the crank case to hold it while torquing? I am considering grabbing up OTRAMMs tool but undecided yet.
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Just build one it’s super simple if you have a friend that can weld! I had a guy at my shop
Make one in like 10 min. I’ll try and find the measurements, we used a 1 1/2 piece of tube iron and a 1/4 plate.
 
Fj80oregon said:
Just build one it’s super simple if you have a friend that can weld! I had a guy at my shop
Make one in like 10 min. I’ll try and find the measurements, we used a 1 1/2 piece of tube iron and a 1/4 plate.
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I wish this was the case, but I’m probably going to get the otramm tool. I’ll justify it because his videos are solid gold. Makes me sad his shop is like 3k miles away.
 
How about the fan clutch?
 
Fj80oregon said:
Just build one it’s super simple if you have a friend that can weld! I had a guy at my shop
Make one in like 10 min. I’ll try and find the measurements, we used a 1 1/2 piece of tube iron and a 1/4 plate.
Click to expand...
I have no friends 🥺
 
baldilocks said:
How about the fan clutch?
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I was thinking I’d buy a new o-ring from wits end and go the hobby silicone route and do a little upgrade. The clutch itself seems to be working ok. I was under the impression from reading the tools-r-us threads that the clutch seems to be ok but the fluid seems to degrade. I like the idea of rebuilding vs tossing the old one, but I’ve never rebuilt one before.
 
Replacing oil is not really rebuilding and is very simple. Your rig is a 93 so the original clutch should have a black hub. These clutches have a greater oil shearing area than the blue bib clutch that you read so much about here on mud. 45ml or a tad bit more of 15k oil will do the trick.

Inspect the fan for cracks.
 
I’m feeling the Cruiser love!
 
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