Builds My '78 FJ40 "44"

[Solace in Solitude]

x 2

Thank you Tom!!

 

[handcannon]

Danny, yes I'm aware that my chances are much greater. Dad has three other brothers, and the youngest has had prostate surgery. I'm not sure about the other two. Also, my grandfather had prostate cancer, but dealt with it without surgery. I do have an enlarged prostate, and have periodically checked my PSA. But haven't had it done recently. It's been about a year since my last blood test, but I'm not sure if my Dr had that checked. He's been focused in on watching for any reoccurance of medical problems that popped up after my accident. So, I know my A1C levels have been good, but I never thought to ask him about the PSA.

I've been pushing off any Dr appointments I should be dealing with for now due to the high medical bills we are dealing with currently. My wife has had close to 60K of medical bills in the past year, so we are currently buried with bills that the insurance hasn't paid for. She goes for another CT scan on Tuesday, so hopefully the results are good.

Don

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Danny, yes I'm aware that my chances are much greater. Dad has three other brothers, and the youngest has had prostate surgery. I'm not sure about the other two. Also, my grandfather had prostate cancer, but dealt with it without surgery. I do have an enlarged prostate, and have periodically checked my PSA. But haven't had it done recently. It's been about a year since my last blood test, but I'm not sure if my Dr had that checked. He's been focused in on watching for any reoccurance of medical problems that popped up after my accident, so I know my A1C levels have been good.

I've been pushing off any Dr appointments I should be dealing with for now due to the high medical bills we are dealing with currently. My wife has had close to 60K of medical bills in the past year, so we are currently buried with bills that the insurance hasn't paid for. She goes for another CT scan on Tuesday, so hopefully the results are good.

Don

Hope everything works out for y'all Don!! ...and a better 2016!!

 

[lostmarbles]

I loved that commercial Tom!!
Thanks for sharing Tom!!

Just stumbled across another old Toyota Advertisement video today Danny:


Filmed in Indonesia rather than New Zealand and old-age has made the film quality suffer but I reckon it's worth watching all the same.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Good stuff Tom!! Do you know what year it was filmed?

 

[lostmarbles]

Good stuff Tom!! Do you know what year it was filmed?

Unfortunately - No. My guess is 1977 or 1978..

 

[Weber Sarge]

Odd that they show the trucks being jumped towards the end ...
Sarge

 

[lostmarbles]

Odd that they show the trucks being jumped towards the end ...
Sarge

Vehicle-marketers think that most viewers will assume no damage was done and therefore consider there's a strength-advantage over competitors' vehicles.

- Well that's what I reckon anyway.

And some people think there's a coolness factor in jumps..

PS. Merry Xmas .... It's just dawned Xmas day here...

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Odd that they show the trucks being jumped towards the end ...
Sarge

My thought is that they felt jumping the trucks would make it appear that they are so high powered that you can easily get airborne in them...

Vehicle-marketers think that most viewers will assume no damage was done and therefore consider there's a strength-advantage over competitors' vehicles.

- Well that's what I reckon anyway.

And some people think there's a coolness factor in jumps..



PS. Merry Xmas .... It's just dawned Xmas day here...

You could be right, Tom... that may be part of it as well...

My son-in-law (Tommy) and I took 44 out on the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and drove the 50 mile Mormon Well Road, from east to west this time, and when I found that 44 had lost her tail/marker/dash lights and only the right turn and brake lights were working, I found the tail light fuse blown. I swapped a new fuse in and the lights still didn't work and it didn't blow the fuse this time.

So, I knew we were cutting it close on getting home before it w I had her up to 30as fully dark... so I drove 44 faster, down that road, than I normally would... I had her up to 30 mph at times and down to 5 mph at others... a couple of time, we were cruising along at 30 and I hit a couple of unintentional jumps... she performed admirably!! Tom was quit impressed with the big difference from last Christmas.

We were in great shape, time-wise, until Tommy saw a strap flapping behind us. I stopped and we found the strap holding my RollaBag, with our sleeping bags, blankets, etc., had broken... we had to backtrack 5 miles and strap it back on... needless to say, we made it back to the pavement after it was fully dark... had to drive 21 miles home, down US95, with a single left turn blinker in the back... didn't get stopped and made it home fine.

The high point of the drive was the foot of snow on the ground at the 7k' , near the campground, Chester got to romp with his Pit Bull and Border Collie nephews. I left Gunner with Dianna, he wouldn't have enjoyed the close confines of the back of 44. The snow was left over, on the dark (shady) side of the mountain, from the last storm, about two weeks ago. As soon as we cleared the summit, to the sunny side, the snow was gone.

Mark (@Coolerman) is building me a new rear harness with 'extras'... I'll pull the rear harness after the holidays and send him the connectors. I can drive it in the daytime, with only brake lights, but I've gotta be more careful to be home before dark... kinda anti-vampire...

Can't wait to get that new harness on... along with the new taillights that have ore than 1/2" pigtails

Tommy took pictures and will upload them to GoogleDrive before he leaves and I'll pull and post some of his pictures... I didn't get my camera out... just took thi picture after we finally got back to the highway..



MERRY CHRISTMAS Tom!!

And Merry Christmas, Prettige Kerstdagen & Feliz Navidad everyone, allemal, todos!!!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Since 44's brake lights still work, daBoise and I followed Tommy and his dogs (in his T4R) to the Pine Nut area of the DNWR, off Mormon Well Road. What a pleasant surprise, it snowed up there last night!! daBoise had a ball in the snow and Tommy and I explored and took pictures.

I'll pull the rear harness this weekend and send the connectors to coolerman, so he can finish my new rear harness... then 44 will be able to see in the dark again!!

 

[Lycent]

Just stumbled across another old Toyota Advertisement video today Danny:


Filmed in Indonesia rather than New Zealand and old-age has made the film quality suffer but I reckon it's worth watching all the same.

Anyone else find it odd that their commercial started with one of them with the hood up working on his rig? I don't think I've ever seen a commercial before that so honestly represented the reality of car ownership

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Anyone else find it odd that their commercial started with one of them with the hood up working on his rig? I don't think I've ever seen a commercial before that so honestly represented the reality of car ownership

Odd, yep! But, I thought he was admiring the huge power plant...

 

[Lycent]

Odd, yep! But, I thought he was admiring the huge power plant...

Could be that I made the assumption (based on my past experience) that he was wrenching up until the last minute and had to leave..."Hang on, I almost got it...hang on...hang on...DONE! Let's go jump these Cruisers!!"

 

[Solace in Solitude]

As some know, I discovered a LOT of something on my rear end after my last run in 44... its all here --> Can anyone isolate this leak?? Or, 'Depends' for an FJ40...

To pick up where that thread left off, I initially ordered a tcase cover gasket from SOR, but when Rick (@GA Architect) pointed me to Georg, for a t-case-saver (since I had the hump off and easy access to the tcase), I called Georg and ordered the 'saver' and learned he stocks all the gaskets, plugs, seals, etc for tcase and trannies. I cancelled the SOR order and ordered the gasket, seal and new (diff/tcase/tranny) plugs from Georg.

They arrived about two days later (thanks Georg!! @orangefj45) and I put the gasket and seal on and installed the t-case-saver. George sent new grade 8 30mm bolts to accommodate the thickness of the 'saver', but it turned out that two of the threaded holes wouldn't allow the bolts to tighten down (maybe this is why the bolts were all loose in the first place).

I was going to tap the holes and use larger diameter bolts, but I measured the holes and found I could use 35mm bolts... so, I ran over to O'Reilly and picked some up... they worked perfectly!! I applied a little blue threadlocker and torqued them to 23 ft/lbs.

I jacked 44 up and replaced the warped rear wheel with the spare and allowed the engine to warm up, with the rear wheels spinning... then, I ran thru the tcase gears to ensure it shifted good... it did. The spare wasn't warped... I either need to buy another wheel (with clips) or a set of 5 8-spoke wagon wheels, so I can use my Hi-Lift Lift Mate to lift 44 at the wheels... I'm leaning toward the wagon wheels...

I had a "great" idea... since the majority of 44's miles go on while the temperature is WELL above 90*, I decided to fill the tcase, tranny and rear diff with 85-140wt gear oil. The tcase and tranny were easy (with the hump off), the rear diff was a different proposition altogether... 140wt flows SLOW thru a hose. I finally just measured out what I needed (2.5 qts) and hung an IV overnight. Since I don't drive with the front diff engaged much of the time, I used 80-90 wt oil in the front. It flows quite a bit better!!

I couldn't find any leaks anywhere, but will drive it a bit, with the hump off, once I have everything back together... which will be a couple of weeks. I have a lot to do before I'm ready to put the seats and gas tank back in.

I just want to have everything done and and 44 back together before I have my left eye cataract surgery on Feb 3rd (right eye on Feb 17th)... it will be great to be able to see clearly again!! But, I'm afraid, if I don't have 44 buttoned up beforehand, I will forget where it all goes...

EDIT: Oh! I also tied my tcase breather into my breather hose that runs to the air cleaner.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Since 44 is laid up, I decided to take daBoise and drive out to the DNWR and see the snow Friday morning... these pics fit here 'cuz I was driving my Tundra and missing 44... Technically, we only went about 4 miles into the Refuge... I would have driven the whole thing, had I been in 44...

The snow level was down to about 4k' (we turned around at about 3800', we had naps to take...) in the Refuge (Sheep Mountains) - the Spring Mountains are MUCH taller and had 26" on Mt Charleston and about 16" in Lee Canyon.

This is coming up on the Refuge Visitor Center and the end of the pavement:

About 4 miles into the Refuge, facing the Spring Mountains to the west

The light snow covering is on Gass Peak, which looks down on the other side, on the Las Vegas Valley

More of the Sheep Range

daBoise enjoyed themselves too

 

[lostmarbles]

Sheep? ...My ears have pricked up....

Great photos again Danny and well done on the wrench-in. (See ... I'm learning more of your language too.)

 

[GA Architect]

As some know, I discovered a LOT of something on my rear end after my last run in 44... its all here --> Can anyone isolate this leak?? Or, 'Depends' for an FJ40...

To pick up where that thread left off, I initially ordered a tcase cover gasket from SOR, but when Rick (@GA Architect) pointed me to Georg, for a t-case-saver (since I had the hump off and easy access to the tcase), I called Georg and ordered the 'saver' and learned he stocks all the gaskets, plugs, seals, etc for tcase and trannies. I cancelled the SOR order and ordered the gasket, seal and new (diff/tcase/tranny) plugs from Georg.

They arrived about two days later (thanks Georg!! @orangefj45) and I put the gasket and seal on and installed the t-case-saver. George sent new grade 8 30mm bolts to accommodate the thickness of the 'saver', but it turned out that two of the threaded holes wouldn't allow the bolts to tighten down (maybe this is why the bolts were all loose in the first place).

D - Georg is a great fella and a straight shooter! He has been very informative and helpful when I've asked questions as well as buying/selling parts. Thanks to @orangefj45 for the knowledge and parts you supply, both are quality products....

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Sheep? ...My ears have pricked up....

Great photos again Danny and well done on the wrench-in. (See ... I'm learning more of your language too.)

Thanks Tom!! Yes, you're definitely picking up our slang!!

I've noticed, you seem to have a real affinity for sheep My daughter bought me a very nice spotting scope and I'm going to mate it to my camera and set up looking down on a Big Horn Sheep watering hole and see if I can get some pictures... but, that will be in a few months. Hope I can get some good photos!!

Did I ever send this (About the Refuge - Desert - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) to you? It gives insight into just how big the Refuge really is... and there is probably at least as much land again, not in the Refuge, that is Big Horn habitat as well.

Here's a picture of a Nevada Roo... not really a marsupial, but a native Jack Rabbit nonetheless

 

[Solace in Solitude]

D - Georg is a great fella and a straight shooter! He has been very informative and helpful when I've asked questions as well as buying/selling parts. Thanks to @orangefj45 for the knowledge and parts you supply, both are quality products....

Yep! I've bought a number of things from him (always used)... my aux tank comes to mind... I didn't realize he was selling new stuff as well... I know now!! Thanks Rick!!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

@lostmarbles

Have you heard from Peter (@Bambi Girl) lately, Tom? Last I heard, he was heading to NZ, just before Christmas, for a new business account...