Build My First Land Cruiser - Cdn 🍁 BJ60 "Wabi Sabi"

[PapaGiamati]

When you say that you drove in H4, you were on a soft gravel/ sand road? These truck aren’t design for paved road 4x4.

Sadly no, cruised home (like 10km) from run club in H4 on pavement. The drivers manual that came with the truck says to drive 16km a month in H4 to keep everything properly lubricated. Don't believe it indicated what surface to drive on. Although it does say on the passenger glove box to use on slippery or gravel roads. Noted...

I could tell the front is locked and it was pushing through the corners cause of the front wheels being driven and locked, which seems normal for a 4wd (front locked) set up.

Good to know for the future.

As for the TC idle shaft, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if my "transmission" noise is correlated to that leak some how.

Would you guys recommend even trying to sneak it out? It seems minimal enough to just leave it until I have the time and $$$ for a proper rebuild.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Picked up some colour matched paint for the inevitable repairs I have to do over the rear wheel arches.

If you’re in Alberta, Advance Auto Colour is a great shop with crazy fast turn around times.

Also took the truck out into the country side to visit an old WWII RAF Air Force base used to train commonwealth pilots.

You can see how much Land Cruiser lean i have. I’m certain that rear drivers side leaf pack is broken.

 

[duncanrm]

Would you guys recommend even trying to sneak it out? It seems minimal enough to just leave it until I have the time and $$$ for a proper rebuild.

If this were my vehicle, I'd just let it leak until I had reason to have the transmission/transfer out for some reason.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Just like that!

The Land Cruiser passed the Alberta safety inspection.

Ready for insurance and to become my daily driver!

Also, see below if you’re a 3B hater. Cruising speed on highways with the 5 speed is no biggie.
All systems looking great.

And one glory pic to celebrate. Next up, full suspension re-fresh.

 

[duncanrm]

Looking so fine! Well done!

 

[bcsteel]

Looks great, are you going to stay stock suspension height or go with a lift?

 

[PapaGiamati]

Looks great, are you going to stay stock suspension height or go with a lift?

Since you asked, ill think out loud.

I LOVE the look of the stock height of these trucks, even with 31's and stock height they look pretty mean and sit just right.
Sometimes, with a 2" lift they can get a little "goofy" looking, like they're on stilts if the tyre size isn't right.

However;

Would I ever have a moment of regret from buying a lift kit? - Unlikely.
Would I ever have a moment of regret from NOT buying a lift kit? - Likely.

I have already wanted a lift kit, as one time when I was backing down of a steeper dirt mound, I completely buried the tail pipe in the ground.
Completely my fault being too over-confident. Would a lift kit have helped in that situation? Likely. Would me not being over zealous with only 2wd to play with have helped? Absolutely.

An embarrassing recovery call to a friend saved me, since my front prop shaft was out at the time and I couldn't put it in 4wd to get out.

As I want this truck to last a lifetime and be able to go camping and tear up backcountry trails to find the right camping spots, I will more than not go for a lift kit. Also a small factor in the decision, is getting large ticket items from the USA to Canada is not easy, and the cruiseroutfitter's stock suspension kit is more of a pain to get, although there have been some wonderful mudders in Montana willing to help!

so with that brain dump out of the way, I'm thinking a lift kit.
The local shop here can do Dobinson, and another quoted me for that Ironman 4x4 kit I posted about a while ago.

 

[lacalvette]

Here is a two inch lift kit from OME, a bit more than 10 years old. With 235/85R16 (almost 32 inch)

 

[PapaGiamati]

Here is a two inch lift kit from OME, a bit more than 10 years old. With 235/85R16 (almost 32 inch)

okay you sold me, that's the perfect fitment. What tyres are you running on those OEM rims? I would like to copy you.

 

[lacalvette]

I like the way it is, I use this truck on paved and gravel road, nothing extreme. Plan some camping trip so I went with all terrain BF Goodrich on OEM 70 series steely.
My truck went from fj62 with 4.11 in diffs to bj62 with 3.73. At the end I reinstalled 4.11 ratio and feel better. I do lower tire pressure when going off-road.
my engine 3B, h55f and TC come from an Alberta BJ60!
there are other good all terrain tire out there, this particular combo narrow the truck a little, probably same as what the BJ60 came from factory here in Canada.

 

[PapaGiamati]

I like the way it is, I use this truck on paved and gravel road, nothing extreme. Plan some camping trip so I went with all terrain BF Goodrich on OEM 70 series steely.
My truck went from fj62 with 4.10 in diffs to bj62 with 3.23. At the end I reinstalled 4.10 ratio and feel better. I do lower tire pressure when going off-road.
my engine 3B, h55f and TC come from an Alberta BJ60!
there are other good all terrain tire out there, this particular combo narrow the truck a little, probably same as what the BJ60 came from factory here in Canada.

love that you transplanted a 3B/h55f into a 62! Honestly what a great combo for a truck to bomb around town and the occasional camping trip.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Couple electrical projects now.

She’s been running fine once started, but the more I drive the truck, the weaker and weaker the starts became. I seem to still be glowing the engine for it to start even when it’s like 15-20 degrees celcius. A bit odd.

The two batteries were no doubt on their way out. I almost got stranded today when they would barely turn the engine over. It’s a very slow starting rpm. Didn’t seem right.

I remembered that I took off that frayed ground wire under the truck. I think it was connected to the starter motor. Hence why the starter seems to be struggling so bad. That and old batteries.

Got new batteries.

That didn’t help so I re-did all the ground wires. I was able to re-use some of the OEM wire with new connectors at the ends. The drivers side connection to the tray and engine block were in a bad way so I got all new wire and connectors.

Once all was said and done, I tried to start the truck again, but still slow rpm to start. I then added the ground wire to the starter/engine block to the frame.

Made a small difference. But I’m starting to think that my starter is slowly going. Needs a rebuild probably.

Odd thing is the glow piece. Not sure why I’m glowing the engine so much even on a warm day. Is it because the starter RPM is so low? Is a precursor to something worse?
Strange cause once the truck starts and warmed up, it’s a gem!

 

[PapaGiamati]

Also tried another fabrication afternoon making a replacement battery holder as no where sells metal ones for larger batteries!! The cheap plastic one on one side disintegrated.

not pretty, but highly effective. Can see it in action on my previous post above.

 

[duncanrm]

Is your vehicle definitely charging?

 

[PapaGiamati]

Is your vehicle definitely charging?

yeah, when running its usually showing 13.8V on the voltmeter. Haven't tested with a multi-meter yet to confirm. The old batteries were 10 years old, and when I would turn the truck on in the morning, they usually only showed ~10V before cranking.

It started a lot easier this morning with the new batteries and the proper ground straps connected at least! Showed exactly 12V before cranking.

 

[lacalvette]

is your 1984 have a cast iron bell housing? If yes, it should be easier to remove your starter. In case you have the aluminum with reinforcements brackets, you will have to remove the left (starter) side bracket.
Glad it is cranking now!
Once the first start in the morning is done and engine is warmed, you should be able to restart without glowing for the rest of the day (unless it been stopped for a looong time or if it is really cold)

 

[PapaGiamati]

Looking for help finding a new armature/field frame/coil for a 3B starter. I got stranded at the airport picking my dad up. Turned the truck off and once it’s hot it won’t start easily again. Had 3 nice Canadian guys help me out push start it to get her going again!

Check out why mine was so laboured when starting. Turns out that the armateur was completely f*****d!!!

Hectic damage. Let me know if I can buy a similar set up and cannibalize parts?

Looking for the top parts of this.

Check out the armature.

And the brushes!

I think some contaminants got in over the years and wrecked the armature.

 

[Eurasiaoverland]

Wow, not good!

You need a new armature (hard to find) and brush pack (still available new). Also, you will need to find someone who can replace the two brushes in the starter yoke/field coil, which are not available separately from Toyota.

3B starters may be quite hard to find, but any 1980s diesel Toyota starter (LC, 4Runner, Truck, Camry etc) should fit.

I strongly recommend rebuilding with genuine parts (new or good used) rather than buying a cheap generic replacement of inferior quality.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Wow, not good!

You need a new armature (hard to find) and brush pack (still available new). Also, you will need to find someone who can replace the two brushes in the starter yoke/field coil, which are not available separately from Toyota.

3B starters may be quite hard to find, but any 1980s diesel Toyota starter (LC, 4Runner, Truck, Camry etc) should fit.

I strongly recommend rebuilding with genuine parts (new or good used) rather than buying a cheap generic replacement of inferior quality.

Yeah not ideal!

Any idea on part numbers?

I’m honestly thinking in the short term, getting something cheap and easy as replacement while I rebuild the starter with some genuine parts as this truck was supposed to be my daily driver starting next week!!

I sold my other car and then this happened. Whoops!

 

[lacalvette]

on a hurry, you may try a reman one? Seem to be available at 4wheelauto

If you have an aluminum bellhousing, I think you can swap the adapter to make it fit.

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