HDJdreams
SILVER Star
Regardless of your political affiliation, I'm sure you'll agree that MAGA is overused. But as that slogan was getting tossed around all the time during the campaign, I couldn't help but think: Make the 80 Great Again! (M80GA)
A few years ago, I was getting discouraged about the condition of my 1997 FZJ80 that I have owned since 2001.
80 Series Lament
When I bought it, I had every intention of being one of the OCD Mud owners and taking fanatical care of my 80 while building it up to a great trail rig. Well, a whole lot of life happened and I was luck to just hang onto it through a lot of career changes and moves back and forth across the country.
Well, I finally have some time and resources (and a garage!). My wife has a 2004 for her daily driver. So it was time to start catching up on long overdue maintenance and then hopefully move on to upgrades. I picked up a rolled 97 for parts a couple years ago and recently acquired a stock, very well maintained 96 (PO owned a lube shop) with 380k miles. It had different issues than my 97 and driving it reminded me of what my 97 can be.
I debated whether to create this thread or not, what could I add to the Mud Community? There have been many amazing restro-update threads, @Boltripper , is a marvelous example. His rig is in better condition and far more capable than when it left the factory.
This will not be one of those threads, I almost called it "Rattle Can Restoration". I decided that while my rig is nothing special, hopefully it will help others out. I'll post what I did, then later one you can ask what worked and what didn't. My thread will not likely have much unique stuff compared to other threads, but it can be another data point.
"Use the search" is a favorite mantra on Mud. I have had mixed luck with it, a lot of times the results are old. For example, group 31 batteries, back in 2003 I put an Optima Yellowtop 31T in my Cruiser (in anticipation of a winch that I still have not got yet). It did great for 12 years, then I finally killed it. By then the word was that Optima's quality had gone down, but lots of people like the Sears Platinum AGMs. I replaced it with a 31 Sears Platinum Marine AGM, I thought it was the same as the Odyssey battery. It died in less than a year, the one I got was not at all rated for starting duty.
A few years ago, I was getting discouraged about the condition of my 1997 FZJ80 that I have owned since 2001.
80 Series Lament
When I bought it, I had every intention of being one of the OCD Mud owners and taking fanatical care of my 80 while building it up to a great trail rig. Well, a whole lot of life happened and I was luck to just hang onto it through a lot of career changes and moves back and forth across the country.
Well, I finally have some time and resources (and a garage!). My wife has a 2004 for her daily driver. So it was time to start catching up on long overdue maintenance and then hopefully move on to upgrades. I picked up a rolled 97 for parts a couple years ago and recently acquired a stock, very well maintained 96 (PO owned a lube shop) with 380k miles. It had different issues than my 97 and driving it reminded me of what my 97 can be.
I debated whether to create this thread or not, what could I add to the Mud Community? There have been many amazing restro-update threads, @Boltripper , is a marvelous example. His rig is in better condition and far more capable than when it left the factory.
This will not be one of those threads, I almost called it "Rattle Can Restoration". I decided that while my rig is nothing special, hopefully it will help others out. I'll post what I did, then later one you can ask what worked and what didn't. My thread will not likely have much unique stuff compared to other threads, but it can be another data point.
"Use the search" is a favorite mantra on Mud. I have had mixed luck with it, a lot of times the results are old. For example, group 31 batteries, back in 2003 I put an Optima Yellowtop 31T in my Cruiser (in anticipation of a winch that I still have not got yet). It did great for 12 years, then I finally killed it. By then the word was that Optima's quality had gone down, but lots of people like the Sears Platinum AGMs. I replaced it with a 31 Sears Platinum Marine AGM, I thought it was the same as the Odyssey battery. It died in less than a year, the one I got was not at all rated for starting duty.
