Builds My First Land Cruiser - Cdn 🍁 BJ60 "Wabi Sabi" (3 Viewers)

[PapaGiamati]

Another good weekend of camping, seeing the northern lights, and a full oil change+filter and fuel filter change.

 

[kirvesmies]

Another good weekend of camping, seeing the northern lights, and a full oil change+filter and fuel filter change.

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That there is the proper place for a 60. Way to get after it mister

 

[PapaGiamati]

drove the cruiser over 2,000km in the last 4 days to drive back to Brandon MB to work on a house I have there and visit some old military colleagues.

The truck looked good blended in with the other military equipment on the shop floor!

Then I drove out to her old stomping grounds to visit the previous owner who owned the truck from 1989 until 2023! 34 years in this little town! He was very happy to see the truck again and we bonded over it once more. Happy to be keeping it alive and well.

Off to Oregon next week! Hope to see some cruiserheads down there.

 

[PapaGiamati]

After I got permission to put us up, here is the previous owner and myself with the truck!

36 years of ownership right here! Pretty sweet stuff.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Took the truck down for another loooong roadie. 14 hours from Calgary to Bend Oregon, and back. I think around a total of 2,600km or more. The truck ran flawlessly!

The transmission hose I installed backed off a bit so I lost 2qz of oil on the way down. Didn’t seem overly detrimental. Was able to cruise at around 65mph (110kmh) range for most of it minus the hills. Using the hand throttle as cruise control hahaha.

Need to change all the fluids again before Alaska in a week!

Otherwise, had a cool shop in Bend take a look at the truck (Technique Vehicle Outfitters). They said it was one of the better driving 60s they’ve had in their shop. I was stoked on that. They topped up the transmission fluid and tightened the drag end links a bit to tighten up the steering and set me on my way back.

Picture of me touring around the infamous Frank slide in Alberta.

In Oregon

A LOT of sweet land cruisers in Bend

And saw a cool Land Cruiser yard in southern BC.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Well I’m “back” from my Alaska journey and there is good and bad news…

The good news is that I made it all the way to Homer AK! The truck ran flawlessly all the way there and was a comfy ride with the new suspension, even on the major frost heaves on the highway outside of beaver creek.

The bad news, is that I think I spun or blew a rod bearing. There was a gnarly knock that got worse and worse until I got to Calgary, and luckily only decided to fail when I got to my old house. I didn’t quite make it back to Bend OR. But I’m looking at engine rebuild options now.

When I left, I had the oil changed at 348,000km. I then got it changed in anchorage at 356,000 or so. The engine blew up around 360,000km.

Before we get into troubleshooting, here is the trip!

Started off in Calgary and headed quickly up thru central BC to go to Bella Coola

Fully loaded up.

After a full stack of groceries I was thinking I should have gotten the medium rear springs!

 

[PapaGiamati]

the drive out to Bella Coola was a long one but was well worth the trip. I made a nights stay at Tatlayoko lake too. Wonderful spot to camp.

I quickly realized that a month was not enough to see everything. I needed 2 months or 3!

The road down into the outlet to Bella Coola was as wild as everyone says. The truck handled it fine but I would not want to have ridden that on a motorcycle.

 

[PapaGiamati]

When I got to Bella coola I found an old FSR to go up and spent the night at the summit.

That was a hard beating on the truck. 4LO and pulling hard in 2nd gear all the way to the summit.

I leaked a bit of transmission fluid on the way up due to the angle of the truck the whole way leaning back.

 

[PapaGiamati]

After Bella Coola it was up to Prince Rupert!

More long days behind the wheel and more looking for camp spots off the beaten path.

Summited the mountain outside of Smithers BC. Mount Hudson’s Bay! Didn’t realize there was a glacier on it until I got to the summit.

Summit of Mount Hundsons Bay

An indigenous nation catching fish during the salmon run north of Smithers BC

 

[PapaGiamati]

Visited the old Northern Pacific cannery south of Prince Rupert! Super cool spot and a salmon cannery that was closed in the 1980’s I believe but still had a lot of the old equipment in it! A lot of the building a were well preserved and the tour was incredibly well done.

 

[PapaGiamati]

One of the biggest wins was driving up Hwy 113 and they the Nsga’a nation territory. There was the most recent volcanic activity in BC and large lava flows and beautiful rivers running through them with clear blue waters.

However the drive included about 100km+ of gravel road!

 

[PapaGiamati]

Then came my favorite place on the trip. Hyder Alaska!
A small town just outside Stewart BC. Had a fun little bar I spent too much time in and a glacier you can drive up to see called the salmon glacier. It was rainy and cloudy when I went but I vowed to be back so that I could see it during the sun.

Bear Glacier on the drive into Stewart BC

 

[PapaGiamati]

More pictures of Stewart/Hyder and some pictures with old equipment!

Toe of the salmon glacier

Check out this adventure rig from a couple I met coming from the Netherlands! Wicked stuff.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Then all the way up the Stewart Cassiar hwy to the Yukon for the first time!

Then back around to Atlin BC

I tried to visit the old mine town of Cassiar but it was blocked by hoardes of old equipment blocking the way.

My first time in the Yukon!

Killer little camp spot just outside Atlin

 

[PapaGiamati]

Then Atlin to Whitehorse Yukon

 

[PapaGiamati]

Then came the long drive down into Skagway Alaska.

I found my first 60 series down by the water at the ferry terminal. It was in a pretty sad state however.

Old and cool geo markers from British Columbia.

 

[PapaGiamati]

Pics of the old sad 60 and me catching the Alaska marine highway to Haines AK!

 

[PapaGiamati]

Just outside Haines is the Chilkoot park where there was phenomenal bear watching!

 

[PapaGiamati]

I brought my Sony A6100 with me and so I have much better quality photos than my garbage iPhone pictures. But those will have to wait until I get back to my place and am able to go through them and edit.
I’m just doing a photo dump here for now to document the trip!

Leaving Haines AK back into BC and then the Yukon was another spectacular drive.

The last two photos from above were on the long ascent out of the fjord of where Haines was located. It was really putting the truck and it’s cooling systems through it’s paces.

I would recommend the drive from Haines AK to Haines Jct to anyone looking for crazy views and a great drive.

 

[PapaGiamati]

More pictures of driving through the Yukon to get back into Alaska! And not the panhandle this time.

The frost heaves on the road in the Yukon were horrendous. I was so lucky to have the new suspension on my truck to ride them out smoothly. I think I would have been o so much slower with the old suspension that was worn out.

Six mile road on the way to McCarthy and the Kennecott Mines!