Build My Costa Rican BJ40 search begins

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Drove the big white wheel barrow to Beaumont this weekend to pick up some axles for the 40 I don't have yet. Front has 60 series knuckles and disc brakes. I'm going to attempt to sand blast and paint along with a rebuild. Mainly got them to give me something to do. My downtime has been pretty boring lately without a project.
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Man you beat me to those axles! I saw that part out down the road in Beaumont but alas I was too late to the party. Anyway good luck with with CR 40 expedition my friend, absolutely been a dream of mine as well. As much hell as I've had with my rust bucket I wish I would've went the direction you're headed in. Kudos bro.
 
Started to tear down the front axle tonight and surprisingly everything came off without to much trouble, at least on the side I finished. I have a Terrain Tamer rebuild kit on the way from @beno along with new a pair of new rotors. I'm making a list of other things I will need along the way. Noticed it's missing a wheel stud this evening. Probably a good idea to replace all of them.
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I started cleaning the knuckle I removed when I got home from work. Lots and lots of grime. Still have more to do on the knuckle itself but it is almost totally clean. I dismantled both Aisin hubs and got them clean enough to bring into the house to finish. They were painted black at some point but underneath they look pretty good. One has a bit of rust that I need to remove and the other seems clean so far. I will let the wife choose what color the hub dial will get powder coated. My vote would be the gold to match my 80.
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It rained all weekend which didn't give me much time to do anything outside. I planned on stripping and repainting the front axle but ending up cleaning parts inside the house. I still have one knuckle and hub that need cleaning as they were still coated in grease so they weren't allowed in the house. Managed to clean all the bolts, washers, and nuts. My process was soaking in jar of simple green to clean off gunk, then soaking in vinegar to eat off any rust, and finally spraying with some liquid wrench to keep from rusting. Bag, tag and store away for now. With the humidy around this weekend everything started to rust instantly after cleaning. I had to soak the knuckle into a bucket of rust remover to remove the flash rust. Hub still needs a good wire wheeling before paint.
I am leaving for work for two weeks so nothing will get done for awhile. Nothing new on the 40 search either. Still waiting a bit longer before I decide to pick something.
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While I was going in and out of the utility room during cleaning I failed to close the door once which gave my a****** dog a nice treat for himself. When I caught him he thought freezing like a statue would make him invisible.
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The kitty-roca bandit strikes again. I don't know what it is about litter boxes, but dogs think what they find there is candy.

Don
 
Please don't get one with cut rear fenders. Just reinforces the idea that doing that is ok. It is not, and kills the classic lines.

Just my 2cents.

Really like that first one you posted.
I'm not a fan of that either. I have been noticing that the ones that look good from far and far from good. They all a lot of bling covering up rust. The more original ones that are a bit ruff looking actually are better.
 
While I was going in and out of the utility room during cleaning I failed to close the door once which gave my a****** dog a nice treat for himself. When I caught him he thought freezing like a statue would make him invisible.
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Our laundry room isn't that big so we stacked the washer/dryer to have room for the litter box. Solved the dog getting into it by buying a table that would fit next to the W/D stack keeping it out of reach. Worked out great.
 
After being gone for two week due to work I finally got the front axle completely torn down. Once the third was removed the housing was light enough for a solo move onto the bench in the garage. Hopefully this weekend I will have enoug time to clean and paint.
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No new bj40s posted recently. Nothing's moving so I'm still not desperate yet to jump on anything. I still have a month or so before I need to choose.
 
Just when I thought I was done cleaning parts I found a 60 at the local pick n pull this morning. I pulled the front axles, knuckles, and calipers off it. Worked out good because one of the 60 series birfs I had for disc conversion was toast. Can't beat having spare parts.
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I finally booked travel for next month to find my BJ40. Plan is three days of looking in the central valley around San Jose.
 
I finally booked travel for next month to find my BJ40. Plan is three days of looking in the central valley around San Jose.
Good luck down there. I lived there for a couple of years and would just recommend you give yourself plenty of time for travel. The traffic is usually pretty bad and slow moving getting around the city. Pura Vida!
 
Good luck down there. I lived there for a couple of years and would just recommend you give yourself plenty of time for travel. The traffic is usually pretty bad and slow moving getting around the city. Pura Vida!

Ya this is good advice, traffic can get really bad, last time I visited the taxi drivers were going on strike and protesting by parking their taxis on the busiest highway blocking traffic, there is usually a long way around everything that is more scenic anyways.
 
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Picked up my Terrain Tamer lift yesterday. Thanks @beno. Forgot to unload it and open it up last night due to working on the 80. Trying to get the 80 all squared away before the BJ40 steals time away from it.
 
I'm getting ready for Costa Rica this weekend. So far we have six confirmed to look at with a handful more in the works. The first orange one in this thread isn't listed anymore but still available as well. My buddy still thinks that is the best bargain so far. I tried to line up a few 70's to look at but so far the two we called on have been sold.
 
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