Builds Meet “Marge” our new Piggy (1 Viewer)

[jestlurnin]

I’ll try and keep this as concise as possible but do have a tendency to ramble so if it gets outa control someone call me on it.

The cruiser that got me into cruisers was a 72’ pig I bought when I was a sophomore in college. Blue on white. It was my first vehicle ever. Did a lot of bike/bus riding in high school. Didn’t realize how bad a vehicle could nickel and dime you to death so upgraded to an 85’ 60 . So started the obsession

The fam and I just got back from central Oregon where we picked up this sweet 78’ piggy. Build date November 77’. I recently sold my 60 and my 40 to thin the herd. Still have my 45. I bought a guys “project piggies” about a year ago. Tho “project” consisted of one body, chassis and 2 of everything else. He had taken apart 2 76’ pigs 20 years ago and they sat in his shop until he listed them locally here in Portland on Craigslist. Took me 5 trips in my 4X8 trailer to get all the parts.

The Mrs. has told me I can’t touch the projects until the house remodel is done but she never said anything about buying more pigs! Well now it’s decision time. Do I use the body off of Marge or the body from the project piggies I have. No decisions are crucial at this time as I said I have to finish up the house remodel before I get to touch

 

[Pigeaten]

The best body always wins, body and paint will kill your project, and maybe your marriage if over $5000

 

[jestlurnin]

Sorry about that! My last post didn’t all post!

—-The pigsty.

Wasn’t completely sure if she was gonna make it but my 11 year old and I decided to give it a go with the Mrs. and other boys trailing behind us in the LX470. Bought AAA before we started the drive back hoping to not have to utilize the 200 mile tow.. She made it.


Sooooo, for the time being I just plan on enjoying her. I need to work on steering (it’s really freaking sloppy), heater core, back window track (driving over the mountains with the back window down accentuated the fact that the heater needs attention , and bench seat rebuilds, foam and covers. I think I can hide these “fixes” in the barn while I am supposed to be working on the house.

I plan on utilizing the pig knowledge here in the 55 section to guide me. Not going to be a super poster but will ask questions and post up whenever I touch her. Glad I can now post and not just lurk in this section!

 

[jestlurnin]

Meet Marge...

 

[71greenpig]

That’s a nice piggy

 

[bobm]

You got a nice 1 .

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

Congrats on a really nice pig! What does your 45 look like?

 

[jestlurnin]

The 45 was scheduled to begin restoration approximately 3 years ago. Then we bought a farm and I actually started using her multiple times a week to rehab the farm and can’t afford to have her out of commission...so hopefully this pig will scratch my itch.. Not the best picture of the 45 but first one I came across. RHD originally from NZ.

 

[jestlurnin]

@bobm she sure would look nicer with a full assortment of your patch panels! I spotted a few pin holes in the floor under the factory floor mats when I was looking at her in person for the first time Saturday. If you ever decided to fire up the workshop again I’ll throw my name in the hat!

 

[jestlurnin]

Here is my youngest inspecting the project piggy the day we brought her home. I think it passed the inspection.

 

[jestlurnin]

Sorry, picture now attached.

 

[Pigeaten]

Sorry, picture now attached.

View attachment 2629264

That kid is hooked

 

[jestlurnin]

Ok first advice post. I’ve always purchased TRE’s from Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters. Anyone have a better suggestion? Looks like they have an entire piggy steering set up reasonably priced. Is OEM still available? Thanks in advance!

 

[RUSH55]

No better suggestion than Cruiser Outfitters. Buy them, install them, and onto the next.

 

[jestlurnin]

Thanks @RUSH55 Is anyone out there selling rebuilt manual steering boxes? I’m concerned that might be in the cards as well.

 

[jestlurnin]

Little background on the rear window before I ask my question. The gentleman I bought the piggie from had the entire wiring harness rebuilt. Now I’m not sure to what extent they actually went to but he said the dash was taken apart and everything gone through. All the lights etc. work all around the rig. All of the harness that I can see has new cloth jute wrapped around it. He said the tailgate window worked for the first time after he had the harness rebuilt. They rolled the window up and got it got stuck in the track and cracked a corner so he had them “disconnect” it. The disconnection consisted of them disconnecting the circuit breaker. I attempted to attach the loose connection and all that happened was an intermittent clicking from the circuit breaker and no window movement.

My question is can I bench test the circuit breaker? If so how? Electrical is not my strong suit but I can operate a multi meter.

Next question. The wires are not the same color as in the FAQ rear window thread. Does it matter which wire I hook up to which post? I’m assuming it does. Thanks for any help!

 

[PabloCruise]

Did the breaker click when you were attempting to move window?

If yes, sounds like it may be working.

You might want to go into the tailgate panel and see if you can move the window manually. You will have to disconnect it from the motor, details in the window thread.

 

[jestlurnin]

The breaker began clicking as soon as I hooked up the connection that had been disconnected to it. And it continued to click in some sort of interval over and over. Key was in the off position at this time and I wasn’t touching the remote switch on the dash.

I’m having a difficult time figuring out where to start with removing the window manually while it’s in the full down position. With the access panel removed and the glass all the way down it blocks access to anything and everything in the tailgate.

 

[jestlurnin]

Picked up some more bacon today. This 55 was picked up by the gentleman I bought Marge from as a parts rig. It’s a 78’ as well. The story he got when he bought it was that it had been restored at some point (I have no idea to what level) and some time after the restoration it was stolen and rolled. It has a branded title. Was part of the package for Marge and has some good parts on it so I didn’t mind the 9 hour round trip drive today to pick it up today.

 

[jestlurnin]

I also got the rear window working again. Did it Easter Sunday with my brother in law. Mama was busy eating ham and we went outside to play with the pig. All I had to do was hook up the circuit breaker with the wires on the appropriate leads and boom. I could hear the motor. I had to help the window up by hand cause it appears to be getting caught and going up cockeyed. Not sure if the teeth are off or the weather stripping is so mangled that it catches the glass. Regardless I have a piece of slocruiser weatherstripping to throw in when I get a sec. hopefully that works.