My first HJ61. What to do now? (1 Viewer)

[Colington]

First off, great site! I've participated in other forums for years and had several Toyota pickups, but this is a new animal and you guys/gals are awesome!

I recently splurged and purchased an 1989 HJ61 12-ht RHD (my first) as I live in San Diego. It has 337,xxxkm so just shy of 210,000 miles and seems in very good order. This will be my first nonFord diesel and my first 25 year old toy so I have a bit of nerves going into this. I purchased it from an import specialist CCCruisers.com and "duke" the owner has been really great. The title and reg is being taken care of as I type this as well as some PM maintenance. To be clear, I haven't taken delivery yet. I'm having the knuckles rebuilt, the turbo rebuilt (since the Chinese replacements seem crappy) and a general facelift cosmetically and some suspension refreshing with new bushings, rear shocks and front shackles. As far as I can tell it's a solid rig. ZERO RUST!! Clean interior, working lockers and 4x4, good AC, 24v system with some wacky converted nav and radio that both work (in Japanese) lol.

I want to draw on the collective knowledge here and ask what needs attention on these outside of what I'm doing? Engine turns over cold in one second, no excessive smoke, tranny feels right, brakes are so so for a heavy rig. It does sway and rock in corners, but the bushings, normal size shakers and shocks should fix that.

Oh, it has that HUGE FRONT BUMPER WITH TOTOTA AS-1000 winch. Keep, or replace??

 

[Colington]

ADD: It's a 5-speed manual.

 

[MicahMan]

Love the truck. I enjoyed my HJ61 but one of the first things I did was replace the front bumper with an ARB. Your winch would install inside just fine. Secondly I had all my heater and radiator hoses replaced as I blew one early on. It was just peace of mind and simple maintenance.

I then lifted mine with the Heavy OME Kit. I ended up doing the super heavy up front due to the weight. I then put a lockrite in the rear and rebuilt my knuckles and such.

So get a baseline on maintenance and then start using it!

 

[HoJo 61]

Welcome!
Damn.. every introduced HJ61 lately have been Highroofs.. i am so jealous!!!

However, looks like a very nice rig, hope you enjoy it.

 

[Colington]

Thanks for the feedback! I was so juiced to find a high roof under $25k I almost soiled myself! I'll have to see about an ARB front that fits around my winch. That bumper is HUGE! sadly, it does make perfect seating for 2... Oh well.

Does anyone think new shocks and shackles will help these flat leafs, or are they pretty past it to your eyes? See below.

 

[hj 60]

Very nice 61, please just keep it as it is, that winch can do what you want.

Here is the maintenance manual, very nice reading: 1986 Maintenance 26 pag.pdf

The engine is missing its under protection plate and that plate keeps that pulley free of debris/rocks.

It is visible in this picture:

Found a better one, left side with the holes, the bigger one goes under the transmission.

 

[Colington]

Awesome! It looks like it was taken off but I found it in the rear cargo area along with the rear headrests

 

[Colington]

I'm thinking I'll run my 31"x10.5"x15" Nankang mud tires they're knobby and should bolt roght on from my pickup. Do you folks think that's an appropriate size for an Unlifted example?

 

[Oldtoy74]

Great tractor, you will not be dissapionted, check oil leaks, rear and front crank seals, intakes, oil cooler gaskets, you could go through and check and replace vacum lines, adjust/ correct your valves clearance, flush and redo coolant, wheel bearings, all new oils in everything, once you get basics done, it's just fun building it up from there, yes get some good springs, , good luck with it, it looks great,

 

[jgoptions]

Nice Hj61 high roof.. First time i drove a right hand drive the other day went on the wrong side.. The steering wheel went missing lol...
Basic maintenance first & enjoy the ride.. You'll find out some stuff to fix once you drive it around..

 

[HoJo 61]

Does anyone think new shocks and shackles will help these flat leafs, or are they pretty past it to your eyes? See below.

New shocks may help a little, no more.
Looks like you already have longer shackles so changing them to new makes no sense, unless you go with new springs.
OME 2.5-3" lift and you are good to go if you wanted to run bigger tires.

BTW, 12H-T engine is easy to take more power out if you like...

 

[Colington]

Where is a good place to get a lift kit and not spend $2000 plus? I like the OME in the old man email but the cost is staggering! This truck is never going to a serious application it's past that age but I would like to drive around and not rub my underside on every rock. I'd also like to be able to fit 33's in the future

 

[Colington]

New shocks may help a little, no more.
Looks like you already have longer shackles so changing them to new makes no sense, unless you go with new springs.
OME 2.5-3" lift and you are good to go if you wanted to run bigger tires.

BTW, 12H-T engine is easy to take more power out if you like...

What do you mean "take more power out of"? Do you mean make it make more power? If so, do tell, or do you mean it has enough to sacrifice some of its immense torque on upgrading tires to 33" from 31"??

 

[HoJo 61]

What do you mean "take more power out of"? Do you mean make it make more power? If so, do tell, or do you mean it has enough to sacrifice some of its immense torque on upgrading tires to 33" from 31"??

Throw in an IC, turn fuel screws for more fuel and block wastegate(or upgrade your turbo) and boom feel the power!

 

[Big Cruiser Guy]

Thanks for the feedback! I was so juiced to find a high roof under $25k I almost soiled myself! I'll have to see about an ARB front that fits around my winch. That bumper is HUGE! sadly, it does make perfect seating for 2... Oh well.

That's why the nickname for those bumpers is a 'front porch'

 

[Colington]

I should finally get my hj61 this Tuesday. I'm pumped! Damn CA for making the title process so hard.

 

[SB Closer]

Man I would be pumped too! That looks like a lot of fun.

 

[gregnash]

Very nice truck!! 31s will look great on it as that is what I have on my truck from the old flat springs to the lifted now (about 2") and they are great. Super knobby tires like those Nankang will probably be a little larger than my Cooper S/T Maxx but should be about the same.

 

[Colington]

Still delayed, but the truck is scheduled to be delivered this Friday. It's sad when parts from eBay Japan arrive before the truck. I ordered a new shift knob since I don't like the dildo handle on it right now. I also had the front grill and bright work rhino-lined since I couldn't source replacements that looked any better than mine. It came out pretty good!

 

[Colington]

Finally got my HJ61! Worth the wait!! Omg this thing is badass! I have several questions now that I've delved in a bit.

Front shocks are leaking badly. Are ranchos a good option on these?

Tach doesnt work at all! Is this a sensor on the innerds?

Do I need Toyota "red" coolant? It has green in it.