My HJ61 Rejuvenation

[Fifty Hertz]

Here's a tip for drifting in new bearing shells. I use an old one that's had the OD slightly reduced by grinding on a bench grinder. That makes it super easy to drift the new shell in with a nice evenly distributed force and without risking having the drift slip and score the shell.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

The calipers were pretty shabby. I took them into a local brake specialist, intending to get them rebuilt. Turns out they had decent aftermarket calipers for a lot less than the cost of rebuilding. So you guessed it: new calipers.

I decided to use the LN106 Hilux calipers. These have 4 pistons all the same size which improves the stopping force.

They're a direct bolt-in fit. All they need is a slight trim of the backing plate at the top and bottom.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

The rear end got the once-over too: new bearings, seals, shoes, drums and wheel cylinders.

One hub was a bit distorted, which may explain some of the brake shimmy. I went for a new hub and pressed in new studs.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Unfortunately that wasn't quite it for the brakes. Despite all the work and new parts, there was still some shimmy and pedal vibration. Time to apply some science.

Turns out the new rotors had a bit of run-out. But the new drums were significantly out of round

I had the rotors machined on the vehicle and the drums machined at a shop. Yes, despite being new.

This finally cured the problem.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Time for some new boots. The Mickey Thompson ATZ's have served me well and still had life in them. But I wanted an M/T tyre with a more open pattern for better off-road performance. After reading many positive reviews, I decided to go for the (then) new BFG KM3's.

Here's one alongside one of an old Mickey Thompson.

Yes, they're slightly smaller. I've gone from 305/70/16 to a 285/75/16. Same OD but a slightly narrower section width.

The reason for this is to eliminate the rubbing at full lock that I sometimes get. It's also to help make it nicer to drive on the highway. I figured a narrower section would help reduce tramlining and make it nicer to drive.

Getting fitted.

A 60 with 12 tyres on board.

The verdict? Absolutely love 'em. Awesome off road and they are every bit as civilised as an A/T on the road. Surprisingly, they are noticeably less noisy than the ATZ's, which themselves weren't bad for noise.

I'd highly recommend them to anyone running a multipurpose rig that wants a bias towards off-road capability.

 

[MarkBC]

I had the rotors machined on the vehicle

Interesting, how did you do that? Awesome build thread, I read it all.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Interesting, how did you do that? Awesome build thread, I read it all.

Thanks mate. At the moment I'm playing catch-up with my thread. I'm nearly up-to-date to the Christmas before last

On-car brake rotor machining is really quite simple. Essentially a small motor drive is bolted to the hub to drive it at a constant speed. In my case, the the operator removed the locking hub and bolted the motor drive only the 6 hub locating holes. The device has two cutting attachments (one each side of the rotor) driven by a geared-down lead screw, slowly moving the cutting heads across the rotor as it turns. It's basically using the rotor mounted on the hub as a lathe.

I wish I'd taken a video of it. Here's a link to a good explanation on YouTube:



Machining rotors on-car is arguably the best way to do it. Because the rotor is mounted in-situ as it normally works, the machining process take into account any distortion or misalignment of the rotating assembly. This could occur for example if the bearing shells are slightly off centre (unlikely but possible) or if hub mounting face isn't sitting true, resulting in the rotor rotating with a wobble (not uncommon).

The guy did two passes on mine. The first one was a tough cut to establish a baseline and work out how much to take off. The second one was the actual corrective cut, which included a smoothing process using a pair of grinding stones spring-clamped to the surface.

The results speak for themselves. The brakes are perfectly true now.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Here are a few pics from a random Sunday afternoon trip to the beach with my brother and a mate. It was very windy, so we just hunkered down in the dunes, cooked some snags and had a few beers (lights for the driver of course!)

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Time for an awning. I've been eyeing up the FoxWing awnings for a long time and always wanted one.

Made some mounting plates for the brackets. Conveniently, the front and rear brackets for the roof rack had 6mm spacers. So it was really easy to see a solution. I made up two mounting plates from 75 X 6 steel bar, sprayed then baked them in the oven. I was on the clock.

This solution worked perfectly. It was a bit of a happy coincidence that the roof rack spacers could be substituted for the awning bracket mounts. Love it when stuff like this happens

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Testing it out in the driveway. Works well.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

I'm now up to the point where my dad came to visit from New Zealand for the Christmas holidays. That's Christmas 2018. Yeah yeah I know, I'm still catching up with this build thread

We'd planned to get away camping in South western WA for a week or so, and there were still a few essential things to be done in preparation. First up was some ancillary power. This is slightly more complicated than usual in my vehicle, being a factory 24V system.

My solution to this is a couple of large AGM batteries wired in parallel and a Redarc BCDC1240 DC-DC charger. I've actually had these in the car for years and they've served well, so I decided to retain the basic hardware. The batteries are a Lifeline GPL-31XT, which are a top quality deep cycle AGM with a 125 Ah C20 capacity. Two of them together with a combined 250 Ah are more than enough for extended touring and camping. They'll easily run my fridge, lights and other random stuff for 3 days, allowing for no more than a 50% D.O.D.

I was really running short on time at this point, so my installation is a bit ghetto. I quickly knocked up a battery stand from steel angle and plywood, which is bolted to the rear footwell behind the driver's seat.

The batteries sit in this and are strapped down with a heavy duty tie-down strap.

It's tough and ugly, but it does the job.

The DC-DC charger is mounted in the right rear quarter panel.

This sits beside the 24-12 converter, which powers ancillary electrics that are usually only used with the engine running. More on that later, when I show the schematic for the intended long-term setup. This is very much temporary, so we can get out on the trails!

 

[Fifty Hertz]

So I'm gonna take a break from the project side of things and prove that it actually goes places. Here's a small selection from our NY2019 trip away in the Southwest.

Packed up.

Driving in the bush.

Camping on a big rock.

"Grilling" a chicken parmi - without a grill...

Me officiating on the morning coffees.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

A lunch stop near one of the many reservoirs dotted around the southwest.

As can be seen, the Foxwing nicely does its job of producing shade.

Lunchtime.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Standing around taking photos.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

A couple of the other places we camped. My smartphone pics really don't do it justice, but the bush really is lovely around the southwest.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Me and the orange tank, flanked by a couple of lesser vehicles.

Spot for a quick dip and freshen up.

The day we left. Resplendent in INKA.

The day we got home. Hard to tell from this pic but there are lots of fresh pinstripes. Oh well, I built it to use!

 

[MomoMoto]

Such a great thread, thank you for taking the time to produce it, AND updating it with the fresh inspiring adventures! I'm is all stock right now...but this thread literally has me thinking of my first camping trip ideas with it...

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Such a great thread, thank you for taking the time to produce it, AND updating it with the fresh inspiring adventures! I'm is all stock right now...but this thread literally has me thinking of my first camping trip ideas with it...

Thanks for the props. In a sense posting about the journey is a therapeutic thing for me. It helps to reflect on how much I've done, plan for what's to come - and to keep it all in perspective. That's important.

Get out there and enjoy it. Touring and camping doesn't have to be complicated or super expensive, if you plan a little

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Back to some minor mods and fix-ups. The left rear window had never worked since I've owned the car. I'd always assumed it was the window motor, but that checked out fine during the rebuild.

I traced the problem to a couple of loose connections in the master control panel, which I initially fixed.

That worked for a while, then started playing up. Then the window lock switch fell apart. Time for a new one.

The interior was also in dire need of some better illumination. I had a roll of flexible LED strip lights kicking around the workshop, so decided to try it. I glued Velcro to the back (the "hook" part) and this just sticks to the factory headlining. This was a "temporary" thing about 12 months ago, but it works so well I've just left it there - even though it's a bit fugly.

 

[Fifty Hertz]

Another little Saturday afternoon job: replacing the dash lamps. The 24V wedge globes are easy to find but nowhere local had the right size green silicone sleeves to tint them. So I just soaked the old ones in soapy water until they came off them slipped them over the new globes.