Meet $56 bucks, aka, howlie 2.0 (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 15, 2015
Threads
8
Messages
48
Location
Bend oregon
Hello,
New pig owner, long time landcruuser owner/fan.
Creating this as a kinda build thread/repair thread as i chronical the journey to the 56 dollar land cruiser.
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The pros are,
Big lift 10+ and chevy 3/4 ton axles
What could be a 383 stroker, or a very nicely built 350, Sm465, and a 205 t case
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A painless performance wiring harness, jankily(if thats a word) installed by pcp taking squirrels
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all the windows roll up and Down, doors lock, and the bench seats are the nicest i have seen in a wheeler.
Best of all, the heater blows very hot!
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Cons
Rust in the passenger side floor board(my bro has a old stop sign we may use)
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Rusted rear body mounts
Tailgate motor works fabulously! The handle is busted and the gate is jammed up bad will not open
The screws of the tailgate are rusted solid and need drilled out
The entire electrical wiring harness needs gone through
The front axles shock mounts where cut off
A general lack of any sort of hanger for the very nice brake lines and the fuel lines

Here goes the backstory
Our journey begins with me and my uncle knocking on a door asking if the old, dilapidated chevy dually in a ladys yard was for sale. Low and behold it was a "get it the **** outta here" kinda deal. The lady explained it was her dead brothers, I said " I am so sorry for your loss"

"Well someone has to be" she deadpanned. (Not paraphrasing, those are the exact words)

A 454 4x4 chevy dually only needed a 26$ fuel pump to run, and then it drove right outta the spot it occupied. Well, there had to have been a problem right? No title, and it had been brought to oregon 15 or so years before. Sadly there was no paper trail to follow.

I jokingly offer the truck to a friend in trade for his lifted fj55 and he whole heartedly agreed. "Its a deal, I want to throw some 4 foot king coillovers and a set of rockwells under a truck and i cant butcher the 55" was his reply.

He delivered the truck for 30 dollars from eugene. The fuels lines where clogged with mud, but running a line from the fuel pump into a bucket made a 2 pump start to a healthy engine.
Replaced the lines and a "fun" trip to the dmv (no front shocks, no passenger side flasher, no headlights, questionable brakes, and a very loud rattle/grind/clang from the trans during deceleration) later and she is running down the road.
So in summary,
Free chevy dually-->$26 fuel pump-->$30 gas bill-->fj55 for $56 dollars

More to follow
P.s. gonna be maxing the photo limit every time
 
Great story. I like the fact you metioned the windows roll up and down. Good reminder how something so basic, should be appreciated. Your new 55 is a head turner.:cheers:
 
An aft overlooked feature on a "mud truck" are working doors. If I can find the picture of this on 44s again ill post it

And the front doors have to come off........cause rust "nuff" said!
Its a pbr and welder kinda day

On a brighter note she made it to work
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So the next project is going to be the tailgatr and getting it open

The door has a gap on each side and i can see the spinny latch on each side. However the handle is broken. I was able to have my uncle push on the tailgate and it rolled up and down but the gate isnt actually shut. Here are some photos I got last night
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So I am thinking roll it up, drill out the screws on the access panel. Then trying to manually "persuade" the linkage to open the gate.
Does this sound like a wise course? I can pull on the stub of the handle that is left in the door but it isnt opening so far

The other plan is to try and wedge a screw driver or other utensil to try and spin the latches while someone pulls on the handle to see if it opens that gate.
 
So I am thinking roll it up, drill out the screws on the access panel. Then trying to manually "persuade" the linkage to open the gate.
Does this sound like a wise course? I can pull on the stub of the handle that is left in the door but it isnt opening so far

The other plan is to try and wedge a screw driver or other utensil to try and spin the latches while someone pulls on the handle to see if it opens that gate

You'll need to get the internal linkage to move by whatever means necessary, I don’t believe you’ll be able to rotate “spinny latch” externally if the internal anti-spinny locks are engaged.

Remove the tailgate access panel and if you damage it in the process I believe I have another you can have for the cost of shipping.
 
Roll the window up, get the access panel off and see if the connecting rods from handle to each side are still secure. Pull on those rods and she should open, but you will have to lower the window before totally opening or take off the rubber gaskets that hold the glass secure when up. Two guys and six beers should do it.
 
Roll the window up, get the access panel off and see if the connecting rods from handle to each side are still secure. Pull on those rods and she should open, but you will have to lower the window before totally opening or take off the rubber gaskets that hold the glass secure when up. Two guys and six beers should do it.

Thanks for the tip, luckily when I roll up the window its completly out side the truck and since I work for 10 barrel there is a ton of beer in the beer fridge(just traded 2 six packs for a rockstar mini fridge actually)

You'll need to get the internal linkage to move by whatever means necessary, I don’t believe you’ll be able to rotate “spinny latch” externally if the internal anti-spinny locks are engaged.

Remove the tailgate access panel and if you damage it in the process I believe I have another you can have for the cost of shipping.

When i get off I'll try not to mess the access panel up, hopefully it wont take to much to drill out the screws but I will keep your offer in mind

And thanks for tip. Anti spinny latch mechanisms, I didnt believe these old tailgates where that advanced to thwart my efforts for a quick fix, honna need 2 beers when I climb up there!
 
since I work for 10 barrel there is a ton of beer in the beer fridge(just traded 2 six packs for a rockstar mini fridge actually)

I know what you're saying. I worked at A-B for 36 years and all the free beer you could handle. I miss that now that I'm retired. :beer:
 
Well luckily we can roll the window up without it going in the track

So I was able to get the latches freed up after drilling the rusted screws out. My bro cody did the honors of drilling since he is a airplane mechanic
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Windows went up and down Just fine the p.o. did a great job on the wiring for the tailgate.
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He did not, however, do a good job on the latch mechanism. The gate could be opened from the inside but .The handle is bound up and will not cycle the latches.
So we closed the tailgate for now until my handle gets here

Also there is a massive amount of dirt and mud on the inside of the tailgate.
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Gonna have to hold off on tailgate repair and fix the electrical........
Hard to drive when all you have backlit is a semi "functional" gas gauge.
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I almost thought they wired a tach cause it bounces with the rpms, then realized the ground is so bad that is it constantly shutting off
Luckily it has all new summit gauges and those work. Just no dash lights, and the turn signal indictator is un mounted
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On another note, does anyone have a pin out for the headlight switch? Everything works on it but the headlights. I ran a relay and toggle for the headlights but want to fix this right since the switch is there
 
Points for “Jankily”
 
Not sure what year you need but one of these should work.
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Last edited:
I don’t recall seeing what year your pig is
Blinkers look like early 70's, he has a painful wiring harness and there is a good chance they installed an early GM style light switch with that kit.
 

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